gurbrakaal

wjkk wjkf I'm a definite survivalist. Very interested in self reliance, self sustainability and community sustainability. I find it difficult to be self reliant in an increasingly technologically dependent, globalized and consumerist society. I feel there is more empowerment and spirituality through craftsmanship and barter, than mechanized mass production and wage economies. Any thoughts on literature out there. I've heard of books like '5 Acres and Independence', and those sorts of books. Many articles on animal raising, gardening etc. On a related note, a good book on history, technology and sociology is "The Third Wave by Alvin Toffler"-It's an older book, but very a informative and futurist book. Also, anyone knows where to get cheap/wholesale priced solar panels ?

Was interested in the sangat's view on this article. What is the Khalsa's role in tackling the corrupt international financial system. How can we truly challenge a global political system ? http://climatecamp.org.uk/actions/edinburgh-2010/why-rbs Why RBS, banks, and the fossil fuel industry? RBS is the UK bank that has been the most heavily involved in financing fossil fuels and corporate bad guys around the world. It took part in providing E.ON with $70 billion at the time it was looking to bust out 17 new coal and gas power plants across Europe, and underwritten $8 billion in loans to ConocoPhillips in the last three years, who apart from being active in the Peruvian Amazon are one of the biggest players in the Canadian tar sands. In fact RBS is the UK bank the most heavily involved in providing the most loans to oil companies that are extracting tar sands and in doing so trashing the climate and destroying Indigenous Communities. Since the financial crisis, RBS has received billions of pounds of public money to keep it afloat, to the point where it is now 84% owned by the UK public. Communities in the UK are now facing years of cuts to health, education and social services as a result of bailing out the actions of irresponsible bankers. And now they are using our money to prop up the E.ONs and the Shells of this world. Using public money to support banks in trashing the climate embodies the absurdity of the economic and political system we live in. We need to stop our money from being used to finance tar sands, coal and all fossil fuels, and we need to have democratic financial institutions that serve the needs to people, communities and sustainability rather than just lining the pockets of greedy bankers. The only way to prevent catastrophic climatic change is to stop burning fossil fuels by leaving them in the ground and switching to the alternatives. The current growth-orientated economic system causes our society to be addicted to burning fossil fuels. In order for our species to survive we need to move beyond capitalism by radically transforming human social relations. World leaders, Politicians and the Capitalists they serve are failing to prevent the destruction of our planet because they have a vested interest in maintaining profits through business-as-usual. The false solutions they offer (such as bio-fuels, carbon trading, carbon capture and storage, nuclear etc) serve only to "green" capitalism in the search for more growth. Banks and finance institutions are essential to maintaining the social control of capitalism for the benefit of the ruling class. British banks such as Barclays, Lloyds TSB and RBS are also major investors in companies that extract and burn conventional and unconventional fossil fuels. While the economy is in crisis after the bailouts and austerity measures begin to bite we must ask: Why is it that elites are benefiting from the profits of destructive investments which are killing the planet all loaned with money they stole from the public in the first place? This disastrous investment must stop because fuels such as coal and the tar sands will if fully exploited certainly lead to global climate catastrophe. The building of new coal power stations and the expansion of other polluting industries must also be stopped and existing plants decommissioned. The exploitation of Coal, Tar sands, Oil and Gas affects the health and environments of communities the world over, often causing militarization and conflict. Many are resisting this locally and finding solidarity globally, the climate justice movement works in solidarity with these struggles against these corporations for direct community and worker control. Any transition from this unsustainable system requires the building of energy autonomy, food security and community resilience in order to limit the affect of shocks from the current; energy, climate, economic, food, water and bio-crises. Only a grassroots movement for climate justice and real democratic control can ensure that the earth's current inhabitants, as well as the future generations, are able to limit the damage already being done so as to make it through the 21st century. Resisting the banks and fossil fuel companies they fund is an important part of making these alternative futures possible.

I’m finding the quality of this thread deteriorating. Let’s try to veer the bashing and arguments on disunity to something productive like mentioning solutions, programs and ideas that come to mind. Some thoughts - I would urge every Sikh youth currently in high school to make every attempt to graduate and try to pursue post secondary education such as college/university. Having a higher education often means more academic, social and business contacts within your community and outside as well. Study your sikh history, general history, political science, read the newspaper… Be Aware of the world around you. An educated and well informed community is one that will be able to protect itself and protect others as well. More education often means better leadership and organization. That’s the fundamental issue in my opinion, for the reason of the downfall of our community. Islam is not the problem. Being educated will automatically turn you away from that religion. - Enjoy an active lifestyle. Join sports teams at high school, join varsity at university. Take up gatka/martial arts, stay physically strong and maintain a powerful stamina. You will enjoy your life more by being healthy. And you will sleep, study and have your communion with Guru sahib better. As warriors, stay especially keen on combat arts and begin a culture of bravery and selflessness within ur dojo/akhara and circle of friends and family. Also, try to learn a musical instrument. You will be able to appreciate the finer things in life. - Try being a role model for your friends, and siblings. Be a big brother or big sister. Spend time with your family. In today’s fast paced, msn/facebook, cellphone world, its difficult to allocate time to family. Spend time with your parents doing something together. Cooking, cleaning talking. The point is… establishing better emotional ties will teach you how to relate in a world full of hate, anger and stress. - Don’t fuss over your own or someone else’s spirituality. Guilt and regret are a bag of bricks that we carry. I have witnessed so much waste of energy on issues such as being mona/amritdhari, rehit, meat, different jatheys etc etc. And this is another fundamental issue that is tearing the panth apart. Just follow sikhi as much as you can from what you can understand. And that’s the bottom line. There are no rules, only teachings. There is no ‘rehit’, only wisdom. Again, this is my personal view,. God will understand only your Love. - On a final note, I’ve tried to maintain this posting to stay on topic of unity. I feel the above ideas are steps for an individual to take in order to accomplish wider scale cooperation and unity in our community. Any other thoughts/suggestions ? Wjkk wjkf

An excerpt from Bhai Sahib Puran Singh, 1908. That was also a time when the panth suffered from lack of unity and leadership. ""Sikhism is a wonderful power that has been put in the soil of the Punjab and the flesh and blood of the Punjabis. I raise a warning note, lest the forgetful men may sleep over again on the verities of the sacred faith preached by the Sikh Gurus, and lest they may only apparently continue the babbling of the mere letters in delirium. The time has come that the life of man should be, awakened to its natural position of the Master Witness of Nature, realizing afresh the Law of life, for the good of himself and the whole Society. “My I’d comes when I see the moon,” “They are like dogs and hogs, who live on this earth with heads and eyes and hearts and consecrate them not to God.” “Live in God or do not live at all.” “Know thyself.” The Gurus have preached this and let us justify them by our daily conduct. Let us justify them and their beautiful teachings and their still more glorious life, by our life of love and dedication. In their honor and memory, let us make this Punjab, by living nobly, the “golden land where no monuments exist to Heroes but in the daily thoughts and deeds of men.” Let all the individuals of the nation be the living and moving temples of God. All Truth is alike. It is one and the same everywhere. Only men are needed to realize it and bear witness to it in their own soul. Unless, I am alive to Truth, all writings preaching Truth are meaningless to me. Unless I have some sort of the Hero’s character, the life of a Hero has no lesson for me. Therefore, the true act of following any prophet is to evolve another prophet out of myself. It is to travel along the road taken by the prophets and the victory of faith is achieved, when we scale up the same heights as reached by them and see things as they saw, and read things as they road. Rhetoric availeth not, even learning and scholarship toil in vain. It is a simple inner reaction, wrought by acting upon the best and highest in us, that furnishes us with a new standpoint, an original view-point of looking upon things. “To see through God’s eyes is knowledge.” The world of misery, trouble and pain and death is gone and I see God everywhere. I become twice-born then. My father, mother, wife, master, servant, city, home, country, life, death, joy, sorrow, are all resolved into “the Eternal Me,” the God, the One Reality. Nothing but God is. Men of such high realization and such ample and broad life and experience were our Gurus, the Masters of man. Let us sit at their feet, with respect and veneration, to receive that light from them which may open our eyes and make us fresh and alive to the presence of God. But friend ! Beware! Our love for them is apt to change into an unhealthy zeal which, while trying to build the magnificent superstructure of love’s and devotion’s external show, digs only the grave of the whole Church of Love within. Beware! our faith is apt to take the shape of hatred for others beliefs. Our gratitude to our heroes is apt to degrade into a foolish obedience to the letter of the Truth they lived, when sonship does become idle and bankrupted in the false pride of their fatherhood. Our missionary zeal is likely to change into a morbid tendency of reforming others instead of ourselves. Instead of vindicating the Truth preached by our masters we mar and jeopardize Truth, because of our non -realization of the Facts which came into their inner spiritual experiences. Instead of Life, we only have mockeries in the form of our prayers, and talks and boastings. Stop these mockeries and do not talk but live. Do not be anxious to save Sikhism. Rest assured that Sikhism can take care of itself. Your only anxiety should be to save YOURSELF." Bhai Sahib Bhai Puran Singh 1908

I've been following this thread for the past few weeks and I thought, as a martial artist, I could share my thoughts with the sangat. Without discussing the current political situation and the lack of leadership, unity and organization in the sikh political institutions, I wanted to mention a social phenomena in our community that has in part contributed to our weaknesses. And that, the Sikh Warrior traditions and the 'warrior culture' is extinct. I'm speaking in the general collective spirit. Of course there are individuals who are warriors and live as such, however, from what I can say.. given the current state of affairs, the Khalsa Panth, as a physical/political or fighting force is incapacitated, disintegrated and cannot protect anyone. What I can suggest, is to innoculate a culture of martial arts within yourself, within your family and pass this on to your children. So at least on some level, some minority of the panth can carry forward a martial lineage, that may one day spread. Some thoughts/suggestions - Start training in a martial art. Whatever you like. I recommend NOT doing gatka at ur local gurdwara because its not aggressive enough. Learn pain, lose weight and learn to tie ur hair in a braid. Do full contact sparring as much as you can. At least 3 times a week. Learn to bleed. Take up mma, anything full contact. - Get a firearms license. Procure rifles and shotguns, learn to shoot, learn to clean and maintain as many different kinds of firearms possible. obey the law. - Get out on the land and learn to hunt. Learn to live off the land and learning how to hunt will teach you (a lot about ) sniper and guerilla warfare strategies/tactics. Sikhs are generally vegetarians, so I would suggest learning this from someone else. - Learn Gurmukhi and follow sikhi to the best of your ability. Don't have any guilt. Don't waste time on arguments that are not getting you anywhere. Just pick up your balls and do what you got to do. That is what I do. And I am very comfortable. wjkk wjkf