MisterrSingh

Who cares? I think we should all care about the motivations, the integrity, and the honesty of people sitting adjacent to Guru Granth Sahib Ji, sermonising and passing on the wisdom and knowledge of our Guru Sahibs to us, the little people. These individuals who tell us what to think, what to believe, and how to live our lives, should be held to a higher standard. If they truly are closer to God than the rest of us, then a little scrutiny will do them no harm. For if the vessel itself is not whole, then surely the liquid that it holds is diminished? Or is it a case of "Do as I say, but don't do as I do"?

Absolutely. Those are lovely names though. It's the ones that have no precedent in Gurbani or even culturally that mystify me.

I think the 'preet', 'pal', etc., suffixes are purely there to appease the older generation within that family, i.e. grandparents and the like. When the child begins education I reckon the desi part of the name will be quietly dropped in favour of the English part, therefore avoiding the situation of the kid being picked on for having a dodgy name. Just make sure to add the necessary 'preet', 'pal', or 'inder' at the end, lol. On a serious note, some of those pre-1900 names are coming into vogue again, which is great to see. They were very classy IMO.

Came across a kid called Emmapreet recently. Hannahpreet too. No joking. Stevenjeet, Jamespal, and Michaeljeet too. If I have kids I'm gonna troll people (and the kid itself) by naming him or her as Juxtapositionpreet. I'm doing it, lol. Onomatopoeiajeet is a good one too. Name a kid Obiwaninder, then whenever you come from work or something you can say, "Obi Wan, we meet again."

Funnily enough that kind of parlance is common in the United States, yet I've heard lots of our own use in the UK too without a hint of irony. Seems a few Singhs have been watching Boyz-n-the-Hood a bit too many times. Next thing they'll be saying when a cop car drives past is, "Five-O, Five-O."

Quite a slick 21st century operation they've got going on there. Impressive. Calculated but impressive.

Oh I see. I'm assuming the sant figurehead they pay obeisance to is Baba Ranjit Singh? Or am I off-target with that one? They strike me as a hybrid of quite a few groups as you mentioned, notably AKJ and Nanaksar.

What was he up to?

Is this jatha under the AKJ umbrella, or have they splintered off? Tough to keep up with these developments.

Never say never. Existence is more than what we can see and touch. Logic and facts fall short in the face of the Almighty. However, there's a fine line. To deliberately mislead gullible or over-trusting believers, or manufacture myths knowing them to be untrue is what usually happens amongst our people. Unfortunately, when the miraculous does actually occur nobody believes it happened, because those who would otherwise be receptive to such things have become jaded and mistrustful. Ultimately it's all about how far you choose to place your faith in something or someone. The perpetually cynical as well as the devious mythologisers are, ironically, closer to each other than they would think.

I sincerely don't know how to approach a situation such as this one, bro. It would be very easy for Sikhs such as myself to pontificate, sitting here in the comfort of our western lifestyles, talking about not falling prey to incitement, taking the moral high ground, etc. My blood boils just as much as any other man when confronted by nonsense like this. Sometimes the best option is to sit it out and take the flak whilst regrouping and adjudging the situation with a calm head; other times a forceful message needs to be sent. What type of action this particular scenario merits is anyone's guess. Only those over there in the thick of it can accurately decide what to do.

Gotta be strong. Can't hang onto the concept of sangat if the sangat is as lost as everybody else. Ultimately, all we need is Guru Sahib. These little social constructs we cling to are more of a distraction than anything of actual benefit to us spiritually. As with most things the theory is a lot more pleasant than the reality; if the sangat around you is lacking, then you don't need it. There is nothing like good, inspiring sangat, but if you haven't access to it then what can you do? Cling onto the hope they'll see the light and reform themselves? And what happens to you in the meantime?

They're trying to provoke Sikhs. I don't think they truly believe for a moment their "tribute" to the army is genuine. It's just a game to them. There's that saying, "The devil makes work for idle hands." Well in this case it's idle, empty brains too.

Yes, that was the other interpretation I thought was the more likely explanation. Thank-you brother.

Not wishing to go off topic - so anyone can PM if they wish - but the above has always intrigued me, specifically the word "millions." Now we know of only one unique personality as Krishna, etc, yet Guru Sahib clearly uses a word to describe more than one. I wonder if Guru Sahib was referring to multiple universes / realities similar to our own which all had their version of Raam, Krishna, etc? Otherwise I can't quite wrap my head around the concept. Any education on this matter from the sangat will be greatly appreciated.

Sikhs... and stuff. You know! Sikhs...

I had a mealy-mouthed gentleman from the Hindu faith try to tell me a few years back that Sikhi is "a samphradhya of Hinduism." My reaction was thus: He was trying his luck and he knew it.

The English guy's body language was overtly aggressive as he was squaring up. It was the calm before the inevitable storm. Is that not obvious from the video? He was winding up to take a swing at the Singh (or bundle him to the floor and ground 'n' pound him MMA style as he tried to do in the video yet the Singh managed to keep his footing and sidestepped it). Had Singh walked away after administering a couple of punches I can guarantee the other kid would've been up with a second wind, and tried to settle matters whilst his blood was still up. The General Zod dialogues were probably a bit unnecessary though, lol. A bit too Hollywood for my liking.

The English kid threw the first punch. Singh reacted to defend himself. Can't get much clear cut than that.

I'm on the fringes of Punjabi society or the "community", so I've never really been able to relate to what's been described above. It's as alien to me as any of it would be to you. I'm not denying it doesn't go on, but I couldn't possibly comment. I'm sure someone will be along who's had experience or knowledge of such things.

Racist? No more than any other race of people, whether they care to admit it or not. But surely there's a difference between considering another human being to be a lesser lifeform solely due to their race or skin color, and wanting one's offspring to marry within their own culture for whatever reason (that has nothing to do with perceived inferiority or dislike of race)? But, yes, the preferring pale skin thing is an Indian trait, and not solely limited to Sikhs. It's wrong either way.

I can't speak for everyone, but such reasoning for dating a white guy isn't accurate. People - girls and guys - get grief for dating a black person, and even an individual not of the same caste. Have people from these backgrounds had their colonial boots on our necks so to speak? Again, from my experience, a decent Sikh family will frown upon (to put it lightly) their child having that kind of "fun" regardless of religion or culture. Anyone that endorses the kind of behaviour you've highlighted is Sikh in nothing but name.I understand my opinions are commonly what are referred to as out-dated, but that's fine by me.

Brother, when we have the Sikh equivalent of the Rothschild family, world leaders will be lining up to give us our own country, hehe.

Oh right, the name rang a bell. Thanks for the info, bro.