London Singh

Dhan Siri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib Ji Tegh Bahadar sim-reyai, ghar nau nidh-aavai dha-eh Remember and mediate upon Guru Teg Bahadur; and then nine sources of wealth will come hastening to your home. Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621-1675 C.E) Guru Tegh Bahadur (1621-1675 C.E) is the 9th Guru* of the Sikhs and he attained martyrdom because he spoke against the forced religious conversion of the Hindus. He was born in Amritsar and travelled extensively in the Eastern and Northern India to convey his message. His message was that every path is to be respected and human life is the most precious gift to attain spritual enlightenment. He taught that God is within and one must not loose the opportunity to discover the Divine Spark within. He urged his followers to lead a fearless life and conveyed that one must not have fear in life and God within gives the power and strength. One of his famous quotations is “One who does not frighten anyone, and who is not afraid of anyone else - says Nanak, call him spiritually wise.” 330 years ago he was martyred on November 11, 1675 by the Mughal Emperor Aurengzeb. His sacrifice is unique because he died protecting the religious freedom of the faith he did not belong to. Quotations and sayings of Guru Tegh Bahadur ji Guru Tegh Bahadur’s thoughts on life. 1 ) Message: All our doubts in life are eliminated by being in love with God Cast off all your doubts; prays Nanak, O mortal, focus your consciousness on His Feet. 2) God is the only Giver He has given you your body, wealth, property, peace and beautiful mansions. Says Nanak, O mind listen: why don't you remember the Lord in meditation? 3) Abandon ego when you serve others Those who make pilgrimages to sacred shrines, observe ritualistic fasts and make donations to charity while still keeping pride in their minds (thinking that they are the givers) - O Nanak, their actions are useless, like an elephant, who takes a bath, and then rolls in the dust. 4) Eternal Peace and the sanctuary of God If you yearn for eternal peace, then seek the Sanctuary of the Lord. Says Nanak, listen mind: this human body is precious and difficult to obtain. ||27|| O mind, contemplate that you are continuously in the Sanctuary of God. 5) There is no difference between God and the person who loves God That person, who meditates in remembrance on the Lord in his heart, is liberated - Knows this well. There is no difference between that person and the Lord: O Nanak, accept this as the Truth. Abandon egotism, and stay close to saintly persons in devotion; you shall be liberated in an instant. O servant Nanak, without meditating and vibrating on the Lord God, there is no peace, even in dreams. 6) God is Merciful and destroyer of fear God is Merciful to the meek, forever the Destroyer of fear, and yet you do not develop any loving relationship with Him. 7) God is the dispeller of pain The Name of the Lord is the Dispeller of sorrow - realize this. Without the Name of the Lord, you shall only find pain. Without devotional worship, doubt is not dispelled; the Guru has revealed this secret. 8) God is present in you and yet you look for Him elsewhere The Immaculate Lord is within your heart, and yet you search for Him in the wilderness. 9) Awaken your mind Wake up, O mind! Wake up! Why are you sleeping unaware? That body, which you were born with, shall not go along with you in the end. Like a dog's tail, which will never straighten out, the mind will not change, no matter how many things are tried. 10) God is the only permanent thing in reality. Everything is transient. So seek God’s Shelter. Person gripped in anger and feeling of possessiveness and greed is unable to see the true reality or God’s presence. Thinking that body is permanent but in actuality it is like a dream. (one day it will be gone) Whatever we see will disappear one day as does a cloud’s shadow. Nanak, Accept this world to be a myth and stay within God’s shelter. O mind, embrace true contemplation. 11 )Life is precious; Do not waste it; Remain one with God to be free. O saintly being, always sing God’s praises The human life is the most prescious gift; Do not loose it or waste it. Do not forget God, who is the Purest of the pure and Friend of the poor Always remain in God’s shelter.. Abandon ego and attachment to false things in life. That is the way to liberation or freedom and or to become a Gurmukh, the liberated one. You shall not obtain this human body again; make the effort - try to achieve liberation! Says Nanak, sing praise of the Lord of compassion, and cross over the world ocean and achieve liberation and freedom. 12 )Human body is precious and do not pursue worthless goals in life. Turn your attention to God’s presence around you and inside yourself. This human body is very precious and valuable; some waste it pursuing worthless things in life. God is present within and without and yet we do not feel love and connection with God. Nanak, Consider that person liberated and free, who feels presence of God in his/ her heart and in whose heart God lives. 13 )In life one faces happiness and sadness but one must remain attached to God who is the dispeller of any suffering. O Saintly being! One attains true peace and serenity in God’s shelter The person who is free from the grips of happiness and suffering, consider him/her to be truly realized and wise one. These spiritual sayings are from the Sikh Scriptures – the Guru Granth Sahib. During their own lifetimes, Guru Nanak and his successors compiled their sacred poetic devotional compositions as part of the Sikh scripture. Guru Nanak is the first Guru in Sikhism. Usage of his name by his successors convey that revelation is the same. Compiled and edited by Rajwant Singh and Amrit Kaur Sikh Council on Religion and Education 2446 Reddie Drive, #14 Silver Spring, Maryland 20895 Email: Sikhcouncilusa@aol.com info@sikhcouncilusa.org Website: www.sikhcouncilusa.org 202 460 0630

Panji - you do have a very auspicous birthday indeed! - it's shared with me! (wow, that rhymes! unintentionally may I add). May Guru Ji give the biggest gift of all Naam daan and keep you in Chardi Kala! Waheguruu... :HP:

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh! Just eating my eggless cake....ummmmm! Please feel free to continue showering me with your asseesa (i.e. I want more! ) Thanks all! :lol:

ummm! love 'em! hear you can get in uk now - I haven't seen them here though?

it's true! Even close up they are great.

thanks for sharing paaji. I wander if he is still alive? Dhan Siri Guru Gobind Singh ji maharaj!

I would love to go to ritah mitah Sahib. A very special person brought us back some parshad which is the sweet ritah - amazing. I've only seen it in that punjabi movie- Ucha Ghar Babe Nanak da - and it looks amazing, don't know where it is though . So please take pics when you go. I loved Vibhore Sahib in Nangal - the place is so beautiful and on hilly part so beautiful scenery and.... lots of monkeys! When you go Amritsar go to Taran Taran, it's so close by and has the biggest sarovar

I heard an amazing Shabad I think Bhai Kamaljeet Singh on Sukhsagar radio a while back. I think it was from an atam ras with 5 jathas. Anyone?

Panji, that's a real difficult one. I think being a boy and having similar reaction from family is easier to deal with (btw my family are generally supportive, thanks to Waheguru), like you can go to the Gurdwara yourself! But if your Guru Ghar ain't too close, it might not be advisable for bibia to trek it yourself. So I really don't know what to advise. I like to remember to the shabad Chakar Charke Meho Barse Gur Pir Dekhan Jayi i.e. even if it rains and the path is hazardous, don't let anything stop you going to see Guru Ji. Panji, have you tried discussing it calmly with your family? explain to them how bad you want to go to Gurdwara sahib and what benefits you get. Perhaps remind them of the activities most of your peers get upto and lay the guilt trip on 'em! They may realise how lucky they are to have Sikhi in their household and that they are not having similar discussion with you wanting to go do a club or pub instead. But remember never hurt your parents, be extra nice, do extra chores around the house, show them the good effect Sikhi is having on you. Stay strong panji - you're a Khalsa and Khalsa don't lose spirit. I really hope and am sure that your family will understand you soon. :TH:

Umm, I know what you're getting at. There was yet ANOTHER programme yesterday on C4 8pm and all throughout I just thought, would C4 ever let such a programme to be aired on Sikhs. I.e one hour of Sikh contributions to the country without any negatives spin at all. If anyone saw it, one of the most interesting things she said was about why she decided to wear a headscarf - because she was sick of people asking her "Are you Indian?". Intersting coz the identity issue, like you see a dastaar amongst 1000 others and you know that's a Sikh, and becasue she seemed to be irritated to be thought of as an Indian, yet she was proud that a Muslim from early 1900's brought Indian medication to the UK @ . Also, I never knew the King donated the land for Regents Park Mosque in return for Muslim assitance during the war. It would have been nice if the king also gave a central London plot of land for a Gurdwara as a thank you for all the Sikhs who gave their lives in the World Wars.

I like that - got to memorise! Yesterday 2 mona boys walked by me in busy Central London and shouted "oyeee Sardar Ji!" I was bit bemused :doh: @ but then thought it was quite funny!

Off topic, but, yeah, what is with that! That's kinda childish isn't it, trying to build a replica. Anyway, nothing can compare with Harmandir Sahib When I was in Amritsar, there was a Bengali Hindu guy working in the hotel who was telling me how he loves going to Darbar Sahib and goes every Thurs (his day off). I asked if he goes to Durgiana Mandir and he said nahh, not really!

Thanks MandipSingh paaji, that was a real interesting read :TH: . Well done on collecting so much (that's alot for 4 hours!). I admire the way you continued the sewa in face of such blatant racism. It's always great to hear when complete strangers come in to back you up! After Brum riots good reminder that not all kale are bad! Good luck with your studies and remember: gur maerai sa(n)g sadhaa hai naalae || My Guru is always with me, near at hand.

I thought this was interesting. Sometimes in Southall it seems most of the Sangat is from Afghanistan! I think it's great that they have escaped into better countries (I know this can be debated, but I won't hesitate for a second to say that I would hate to live in Afghanistan) and so I am confused when I see many Punjabi Sikhs who feel concerned that the Kabli sangat's going to takeover Southall. -------------------- Though the nation is called afghanistan, and the people are afghanis,but the Sikhs living in that country and thousands even holding afghan nationality and passports are usually reffered to as Kabli Sikhs.Even locally within Afgahnistan the Sikhs are reffered to as Kabli sikhs or Kabli sardar. It is not known when exactly these Kabli Sikhs came to be living in landlocked mountainous Afgahnistan, but generally it is beleived they may hav ebeen there for since the times of Guru Nanak and possibly the families living there for evenlonger than 6-700 years.Some put it even longer than that. Within Sikh history there are many sakhis- folk stories associated with the Kabli Sikhs. It is also recorded that Guru Nanak ji went to Kabul, and stayed there many days doing the parchar of Sikhi.he helped many people come to the path of Sikhism. These records prove the existence of Sikhs from the times of Guru Nanak in Kabul.The numbers of Sikhs continued to increase within a muslim afghanistan from those times. It is very apparent when the Khalsa was created in 1699 at Anandpur sahib, the influence of this great magnificient deed also reached kabul where Sikhs took to ammritpaan and continued to establish their separate identity as Singh sikhs.It is noted in afghanistani history that by this time some thriving communities of Sikhs were noted in Kandahar, Jalalabad, Kabul, Rangaharr Ghazni and other parts of Afghnistan It is known when the Harimander was being erected by the Guru Sahibaans Kabli Sikhs generously participated in the sewa in various form..Many Kabli sikhs made journies to Amritsar to take part in the sewa of Harimander. During the reign of Maharajah Ranjit Singh many Sikh bussinesmen ventured in to the neighbouring countries like nepal, Iran, Afghanistan,kazakhstan and Tibet, planted the first seeds of Sikh settlements in these countries. But in the case of Afghnaistan the circumstances were a little different, Sikh generals led the fights up the Khyber and entered Afghanisatn on a number of ocassions defeating the afghan kings.Sikh generals Like Hari singh Nalwa became know household name in Afghanistan.During the times of the Sikh armies short accupations many adopted Sikhi, and hence the parchar an dnumbers of Sikhs increased further. Many Sikhs also settled there with their busineses and because they found Kabul and Afghanistan to be a lucarative market.Also because of their great Sikh emopire Sikhs built up a good reputation among the people.It is also intersting to note that during the 1947 killings many Sikhs of the NWfrontier province found refuge in the border areas of Afghanistan as they were safe there and also welcome by the locals.The Sikh population of jalalabad is said to have multiplied five times to about 70,000 sikh families during these times. The majority of the Sikhs were to be found in the busineses.Most of them were extremely rich families.Very few were in services or other professions.It is also noted that most of the estimated 250,000 sikhs (about 150,000)lived within the Kabul region, as it was an ideal centre for bussines being also the royal capital.This could also be another reason that they becoame to be know as Kabli Sikhs to the other Sikhs. It was probabaly blessing of Waheguru from that to the last men and women the kabli sikhs kept to the identity of their faith ,including their children and practices.They were also known to be very welcoming and warm sikhs.They were a well organised and disciplined community to the youngest in the family.All kabli sikhs donned very colourful turbans , standing out majestically from the other afghans, and also displayed the outer articles of their faith without fear, and with pride.They were great shardhallos / and regular attendees of the gigantically majestic Gurduaras built around kabul, and other cities. They met each other and any visiting Sikhs with great humality and love and did great sewa in the gurduaras displaying the unparalled great values of sikhi.I stayed for 7 days in Kabul in 1980, just before the start of the problems, and was very intrigues by the commitment ato their faith and community and their gurduaras.I was moved by their humality to fellow Sikhs.I wrote once , that sikhs need to over come their divisions they need to visit kabul and learn it from their Sikh brothers there. Little children were always attired in patkas from a young age , and girls always used colourful dupattas.They would greet any sikh with great simplicty and humality with a beautiful rustic slanged Sat Sri Akal.It canot be passed by without making a point that all the Kabli Sikhs and their childen that I have seen abroad are all still atired in Guirsikh roop. Once I had the opportunity to visit a Kabli Sikhfreinds home for a path held in thanks of his daughter gaining a degree at university.Simple langger was cooked, and there were many Kabli Sikhs and their families numbering about 200, and I could not help notin that all were in full sikh saroop, including little children.It was such a ocassion with great humility ,thanking the all mighty Waheguru. One noteble ocassion was the ardas where it was very strongly emphasised that hey Waheguru grant bus your blessings to remain your humble sikhs in the code you have laid down for us.It was a moving moment, the manner in which it said. It has been recalled that when sikhs came into this country from east Africa,uganda ,they too were in sikh saroop. Many Sikhs resident here already, copied from them and learnt to don back their turbans, and reverted back to Sikh identity. Although most of the older Sikhs from Africa had cleanwhite turbans, and ful Sikh saroopp, many of the younger children don a trimmed version ofsikhi sadly.This however is not apparent among the Kbali sikh youth, who are fully sikhs. but it is alo heartening that a reversre trend has strated among these youth that came from Africa and India. Now we see a resurgence of amritdhari youth and a return to our Sikh roots by many African, britis and Indian Sikh youth, with their open dharras . Likewise even the Kabli sikhs went through very bad tome during the political killings and upheavel in Afghanistan -it reminde one of the difficult timnes the Ugandan sikhs went through as well.But as the gurbani tuk goes.."kaho Nanak sun re mana, har bhave so hoye"-these sikhs arrival in other counteis like germany and UK has only increased the great identity and roots of sikh panth.It was pain fulto see them suffer in afghanistan, but seeing them in person here ,and seeing humility and their sikh sharda puts us to shame, and encourages others to become proper Sikhs like them. A Sikh wherever he is ..always chants "..Nanak naam Chardhi kala, tere bhane sarbat ka bhala" , we can only wish that other sikhs f rom othr countries will learn the good and strongly simple humality of these Kabli sikhs and turns to become a good Sikh and raises the profile of the Sikh people.God bless the afghan sikhs who hav mainatianed their saroop and identity proudly and without fear in the midst of a predominantly muslim country. Sikhs in Afhanistan were very wel placed even in the government.I recal an old book on aghanistan pprinted in 1952, wher eit was said there were two sikh MPs in the Afghna parliamanet.many more continued until the Russian invasion and the more recent taliban turmoil.They continued to live in most trying and challenging times and mainatained their Gurduaras.Although in thelater internal wars some Gurduaras were destroyed, the Sikhs remainig back have started rebuilding them .Many are going back.One of the biggest Gurduara which escaped damage was the Massive Gurduara Karte Parwan in Kabul, around where most of the Sikh families now in kabul.Sikhs in kabul also ran a very reknowned Sikh school attended by many of the Indian community and the richer afghans. Hopefully the fallen Sikh phoenix will arise again in Afghanistan. gurcharan Singh kulim

Waheguru....

Beautiful kirtan thanks to sevadars

Tribute This is a video tribute of Gyani Amolak Singh Ji - an amazing Gursikh who spent much time with Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh Ji and was heavily involved in Sikhi parchaar evrywhere especially UK. Waheguru

Panji, what time is Gyani ji on? Sukhsagar was also playing some beautiful Shabads sung by Bhai Sahib Jeewan Singh Ji yesterday.

I soooooooooo wanted to, but looks like Guru Ji had other plans! Hopefully make the next one in London! How was it? Who lectured?

Brilliant news! Waheguruu!

I would think it best to donate via United Sikhs or Khalsa Aid but if employers are offering to match your contributions via UNICEF what would you do?

...and here it is..... http://www.salhiyatc.com/se/

This is such a joke! You've got to hear it to beleive it.....

Unfortunately, you're right Raju paaji ........ NDTV Correspondent Wednesday, October 12, 2005 (Tangdhar ): Residents of the Tribuni village in Tangdhar, right on the LoC, are yet to receive any help from the authorities following the devastating earthquake on October 8. It is the only Sikh village in Tangdhar with a population of just 500 people. The destruction is almost complete here with houses flattened and people lying on the road crying for help. Such difficulties are not new for the residents of the village, which was first in the line of Pakistani shelling before the November 2002 ceasefire. But hope is still alive. Seventy-year-old Tirath Singh lost his entire family during the 1948 Indo- Pak war but he did not give up and stayed on in the village to become the priest of the local Gurudwara which is also completely damaged. "We are living here since years, how can I leave my motherland," said Singh. Clearly the shock is intense and it might take some more time for the villagers to start their lives afresh again.