Inspirations Thoughts And Quotes

[JustME]

think this pic is of Bhai Sukha Singh...................... :lol:

bhul chuck maafi if it isnt

waheguruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

[immortal57]

[JustME]

^^^^^^^^^^^

Im working my way through Bhai Sahib autobiography...........read an amazing sakhi about his time in prison ill see if i can find it and post it up.........i was realy inspiring

[JustME]

Taken from AKJ.org

KARAM - PART 1

Here's a few sakhis that may help explain Dukh and sukh

Two shopkeepers had their shops next to one another. The Gurmukh (follower of the Guru's (Gur) words (mukh)) used to go to sadh sangat every day and have darshan of Guru Nanak Dev ji do seva and come home. The manmukh (follower of his mind's (man) mukh (words) ) used to go to meet a prostitute. One day the GurMukh said come with me to the sadh sangat, after some persuasion the manmukh agreed, on the way the manmukh remembered his prostitute and backed out of going to the sadh sangat. He said I'm going to go to my normal activities but I'll meet you at the tree across the road tonight. The manmukh went to see the prostitute but she wasn't there so he arrived at the tree much earlier than expected. While waiting for the Gurmukh he started poking a twig into the ground. He found a gold coin, he quickly dug more and more but he only found a pile of ashes. When the Gurmukh returned he was limping along he'd stepped on a thorn. The manmukh said I do my dirty deeds and get good luck you do good deeds but get bad luck. The Gurmukh said lets ask Guru jee to explain. Guru ji told the manmukh, in your previous life you donated one gold piece to a Sant, for doing such a virtuous deed you were to recieve the rewards in this life of many gold coins. But because of your sinful deeds you burned your reward away and were left with your original gold coin. The Gurmukh was told, in your previous life you killed someone with a wooden spear, in this life you were to be killed in the same way, but because of your seva to the Guru you bad deed has been reduced to being pricked with a thorn.

MORAL: The Pains and pleasures one gets in this life are heavily influenced by past actions, not just in this life but in countless previous lives. When people suffer at the hands of others its because they made that person suffer in a previous life. Most people will take revenge and so the cycle of making each other suffer continues life after life. A mythical story to explain this is of a goat and a butcher. The butcher would kill the goat in one life ,the goat' soul would be reborn as a butcher and the butcher's soul would be reborn as a goat. In the next life the butcher would kill the goat and so the cycle continued. Then in one life the butcher received a customer who only wanted a goat's leg. The butcher thought if I kill the goat and sell the leg the rest of the goat will rot away. So what he thought was I'll just chop the goat' leg off and bandage the wound, that way the goat will stay alive until the next customer. Just as he was about to cut the leg, the goat spoke 'O Butcher, what's this new bad action you're starting? Life after life we keep swapping roles to cancel our actions, but if you chop my leg now and make me suffer in the next life I'll do the same to you and you'll suffer too!'

If this sounds too unrealistic then heres a true incident that happened to a very holy Sikh in the 1920's. He was Bhai Randhir Singh and he had reached the highest spiritual state - he was one with Waheguru ji. He was a freedom fighter and locked up in jail. The guards used to abuse the prisoners. but they left Bhai Randhir Singh ji alone because they feared his spiritual powers. One night he had a vision of his past life. He saw he was a prince in a hermits' cave. The hermit was in a trance and as frozen as a rock. The prince didn't understand the trance and thought he should wake him up and feed him, so he ordered his servant to wake him up. The servant shook him and called out to him but with out success. Bhai Randhir Singh ji then ordered the servant to force open the hermits mouth so they could pour the food in, perhaps that would revive him. The servant couldn't open the locked teeth so he got a rock and smashed some of the teeth - this woke the hermit up - he was as mad as hell, he picked up his spear like weapon and threw it at the servant, the servant got hit in the leg and later had it amputated. Bhai Randhir Singh ji had the vision and realised Guru ji was warning him that he had to suffer in the same way as he had made the hermit suffer. Next morning a new prison warden came to Bhai Randhir Singh ji's cell with his guards. Guess what? The warden had only 1 leg! Bhai Randhir Singh ji immediately recognised that this warden was the hermit in his last life and because he had thrown his spear and caused the loss of the princes's servant leg he too had reaped his reward and lost his leg in this life. Now what remained was that the warden had to somehow cause Bhai Randhir Singh ji's teeth to be broken like the prince had done to the hermit. The warden wanted to humiliate Bhai Randhir Singh ji and ordered his servants to feed him beef soup (he was a strict vegetarian). Bhai Sahib refused to eat it, the guards grabbed him, so Bhai Sahib went into a trance and all his body was frozen as hard as a rock and his jaws were locked. The Warden then ordered the servants to smash his teeth and to pour the soup in, so they did. The Warden had no idea that he was just clearing a bad action from a previous life. Bhai Randhir Singh ji was warned so that he wouldn't attack the servants or warden. If he had caused them sufferening then he would have to be reborn so they could cause him suffering.

People ask why do religious people get suffering? They haven't done anything wrong, they haven't hurt an animal or even a fly so why do they get dukh? They get dukh because they caused dukh in previous lifes. All these bad actions have to be cleared. When a holy persons actions and re-actions are all cleared then and only then will they not be reborn and find a place at SatGuru ji's lotus feet in Sach Khand.

I was told that Baba Nand Singh ji, one of the most spiritually high people other than the Guru's died from a leg infection. He used to take pain of other people on his own body so they would survive and he would do simran and ardas to get rid of the pain from his own body. He could have easily cured himself of the infection , he could even have taken medicine. But he recognised that he was reaping the re-action of an action from a previous life and it had to be cleared. When it was cleared then he would not be reborn and find his place at SatGuru ji's lotus feet in Sach Khand.

Bhai Harbans Singh told this sakhi on one of his kirtan tapes. A holy man was blind. When he got to the spiritual state that he could see his previous lives he tried to find out why he was blind. He searched back through 50 lives and there was no reason for his blindness. He went to see a Sant. The sant told him to look back even further, he looked back to 100 previous lives and still no reason for his blindness. The sant told him to look back one more life. He saw that 101 previous lives ago he was a child tormenting a locust. He had a little twig with which he poked out it's eyes. He was now blind because of that action.

Guru ji's have told us clearly, time and time again, that after death when we go infront of the Diviine judge we will be judged by our actions. Some people will be called close to God some will be sent far away (Karmee apo apanee, Ke neray ke door (Japji Sahib)). Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. The reaction can only be reduced and eventually erased by obeying Guru ji's instructions like the shopkeeper. I.e do as much Naam Jap (Waheguru repition) as possible, its like an eraser grinding the spear into a tiny thorn. Do it for yourself and do it for other people.

All of the martyrs suffered terrible tortures -chopped joint by joint, sawn in half, scalped alive, boiled alive but they remained in chard-ee-a-kala because they never lost their love for SatGuru ji's lotus feet (i.e. carried on doing Waheguru repition). When a Sikh gets Dukh it's acceptable as good because it's wiping away bad actions. If a Sikh loses love for Guru ji because of dukh then the Sikh has lost every

thing.

KARAM - PART 2

Sant Ishar Singh ji said everyone plans for the future. You study hard because you want a good job when you get older. You put money away in a pension scheme so you have a good retirement. One step beyond that we need to plan for our next life. What happens to us depends on our actions now. Do good actions (karam) now and reap the fruits in the next life. (apeh beej apeh hee kao JapJi).

Their are many types of good deeds : give money in charity, help people etc but Guru Nanak ji says that these aren't even worth a sesame seed when your accounts are read. (Tirath tap daya dat dan je ko bhavai til ka man - JapJi).

The real karam is listening and obeying the Gurus's teachings, loving SatGuru ji in your mind and bathing in the temple of the heart (Sunnia mannia man keeta bhao, antargat teerath mal nao - Japji).

KARAM - PART 3

Baba Maan Singh ji said the steps to earning good karam are :

SHARAM -> DHARAM -> KARAM.

First you need a sense of sharam (shame). If you can't even tell what is wrong and what is right then you have no chance. A sex/nude scene comes on TV the youngsters sit and watch it, they dont get embarrased even though their parents are watching too. Worse still the parents don't say anything either - no-one has a sense of shame. If you have a sense of Sharam then you need to follow Dharam (religion/righteous deeds) by following the Guru's path you earn Karam good actions like seva, simran, paat. These karams wipe away your negative karams and will cause you to go closer to God. Ultimately if you do enough good karam your negative karam is wiped out while you are alive and you merge with God while still alive (Jeevan Mukat),

Our actions decide what happens to us (karmee apo apanee ke neray ke door - JapJi) . Our actions are our own - some will be called close to God some will be pushed away.

KARAM - PART4

karam dharam paakhand jo deesai,

tin jam jagaatee looteh||

nirbaaN keertan gavau karteh kaa,

nimukh simrat jit schooteh||

All the hypocritical 'karam' religion I see,

are robbed by Death while they are awake!

Sing the immaculate praises (keertan) of the Creator,

you are saved by even a moment's remembrance.

Does this mean that we shouldn't get into the plus/minus of paap/pun? or, that even if you have a big negative, simran will erase all of that?

Veer jee, I think you're right, I never worry about all the insects I've probably stepped on in the day........I dont want to end up like a Jain monk sweeping the floor infront of me and a mouth mask to stop me breathing them in. Guru jee is saying don't get caught up in karam...better to be as pure as practical and do kirtan and naam and always ardas for forgiveness. Even if we lived the perfect life of generating no negative actions…never stepped on insects, never hurt anyone etc, we still wouldn't reach the Supreme Waheguru Jee until we sung his praises and repeated his naam. Any religion that focuses on good and bad karam to the extent they have forgotten about praising Waheguru, is hypocrisy says Guru jee.

Here are some of the things Guru Granth Sahib Jee says about actions:

· You shall reap what you sow. This body is the result of your actions. (Guru V, Jaitsri Raag)

· I have been separated from You due to my own actions, why should I blame others?(Guru V, Majh Raag)

· Why blame other people? I have to blame my own actions; As I have acted so are the fruits. (Guru I, Asa Raag)

· On the soil of your mind sow the seed of good actions; Water this field with His Nam. (Guru I, Sri Raag)

· Ignoramus, why do you blaspheme God, when you will receive according to your actions? (Trilochanji, Dhanasri Raag)

· All people are under One Sovereign who holds them responsible for their actions. (Guru I, Basant Raag)

· Our acts, right and wrong, at Your Court shall come to judgement. Some will be seated near Your seat, Some will forever be kept away. The toils have ended for those that have worshipped You. Nanak says, their faces are lit with joyful radiance and they will set free many others. (Guru I, Japji)

· If you sing God's glory, all your undertakings will bear fruit.(Guru V, Kalyan Raag)

[JustME]

A Bundle of Rags.................

A beggar lived near the king's palace. One day he saw a proclamation posted outside the palace gate. The king was giving a great dinner. Anyone dressed in royal garments was invited to the party.

The beggar went on his way. He looked at the rags he was wearing and sighed. Surely only kings and their families wore royal robes, he thought. Slowly an idea crept into his mind. The audacity of it made him tremble. Would he dare? He made his way back to the palace. He approached the guard at the gate.

"Please, sire, I would like to speak to the king."

"Wait here," the guard replied.

In a few minutes, he was back. "His majesty will see you," he said, and led the beggar in. "You wish to see me?" asked the king.

"Yes, your majesty. I want so much to attend the banquet, but I have no royal robes to wear.

Please, sir, if I may be so bold, may I have one of your old garments so that I, too, may come to the banquet?"

The beggar shook so hard that he could not see the faint smile that was on the king's face. "You have been wise in coming to me," the king said. He called to his son, the young prince. "Take this man to your room and array him in some of your clothes."

The prince did as he was told and soon the beggar was standing before a mirror, clothed in garments that he had never dared hope for. You are now eligible to attend the king's banquet tomorrow night," said the prince. "But even more important, you will never need any other clothes. These garments will last forever."

The beggar dropped to his knees. "Oh, thank you," he cried. But as he started to leave, he looked back at his pile of dirty rags on the floor. He hesitated. What if the prince was wrong? What if he would need his old clothes again. Quickly he gathered them up.

The banquet was far greater than he had ever imagined, but he could not enjoy himself as he should. He had made a small bundle of his old rags and it kept falling off his lap. The food was passed quickly and the beggar missed some of the greatest delicacies.

Time proved that the prince was aright. The clothes lasted forever. Still the poor beggar grew fonder and fonder of his old rags.

As time passed people seemed to forget the royal robes he was wearing. They saw only the little bundle of filthy rags that he clung to wherever he went. They even spoke of him as the old man with the rags. One day as he lay dying, the king visited him. The beggar saw the sad look on the king's face when he looked at the small bundle of rags by the bed.

Suddenly the beggar remembered the prince's words and he realized that his bundle of rags had cost him a lifetime of true royalty. He wept bitterly at his folly. And the king wept with him.

We have been invited into a royal family--the family of God. To feast at God's dinner table, all we have to do is shed our old rags and put on the "new clothes" of faith which is provided by God.

But we cannot hold onto our old rags, we must let go of it.

When we put our faith in God, we must let go of the sin in our life, and our old ways of living. Those things must be discarded if we are to experience true royalty and abundant life in God.

[JustME]

Life was Meant to be enjoyed....not endured........

The Crash

The crash this morning occurred just mere minutes before my arrival. No police or emergency crew had yet arrived. There was an obvious victim, loss of life. I saw an imminence of a person lay intertwined and tangled in the metal as I passed by the wreckage. As traffic resumed normal speed, it was like I was launched to go on about my day. The next moment simply came, however I was still stuck in the previous moment, thinking about the poor man and his family. I wanted to stop as grief struck me, but I wasn't allowed to stay any longer in that moment. An impatient motorist behind me honked his horn for me to move onward. He had somewhere he needed to be and I was holding him up.

I felt for the victim of the wreck and his family. I thought how they probably haven't learned of his fate yet. I was consumed with thinking how this was his last morning to do life. It was his last time he hugged or kissed his children. He probably packed his lunch as usual, got into his vehicle and drove to work; not suspecting it would be the last time. His mind was probably occupied on the mundane things that distract us all. Maybe he was thinking about his phone bill, or being rushed to get to work. He may have gotten mad as he approached the traffic jam that claimed his life. I wondered this. If any of us could know that today may be our last, how might we live our lives? Would we be empowered and live on "purpose" or would we be paralyzed in fear?

I arrived at work and parked in my usual spot. As I got out and walked my routine walk into the building, the morning was different. I could not help but notice how everyone that passed me seemed to be lost, preoccupied. They seemed to be sleepwalking and were far away from where they stood in that moment. They all seemed to be daydreaming, like they were gazing into a fire. Then I heard two men in a near argument over their political positions as each defended their versions and concepts. One argued the President was right while the other that he was wrong. Then another conversation I tuned in on was whether the Titans faired well in the draft. All of these people were unsettled and near anger, but they were "charged!" I could not help but think back on the victim in the wreckage who had lost his life and now how insignificant all these arguments seem to me right now. I wanted to turn around and walk up to them and say, " Who cares about this, why are you arguing with one another over this stuff? Can you be kind to each other? If you don't enjoy one another's company, walk away. What is the point? Go call your wives and kids and tell them how much you love them! You may have seen them for the last time this very morning. This could be your last conversation ever! Don't you get it! If you died a few moments from now, is this what you would have wanted to spend your last few moments doing? Is this stuff what your life is really about?"

Our lives are right under us, inside of us, not "out there" somewhere that constantly needs tending, battling, fighting, and changing. Each of our moments provides us an opportunity to love, hate, unite, or separate. It's unfortunate how much energy we use to argue and fight over what we think needs changed in order to make it all the way we see it. We waste precious time arguing and faultfinding in trivial things. But if arguing and faultfinding is what someone wants to experience, then so be it. That will be their experience.

But what peace does that create? What real impact does that make? It is like looking in the mirror and arguing with the image to change into what you want it to look like.

When we are upset we blame others for our misery. This isolates us from one another. We erroneously think "they" made me feel what I feel. We forget that we participated in creating what we experience, and we are the ones who experience what we feel internally. Not the other person. We think that we must change them or our external worlds in order to bring peace to our internal worlds. That's backwards! Real peace and joy is created from the "inside out, not outside in."

On the same day one man prays for rain, while another prays for sunshine. How does life accommodate them both? The man who wants the sunshine will argue with the man who prays for rain. He will criticize, humiliate, shame, battle, and isolate him because his needs and desires tell him he is ok. It is not because he is vindictive, but because his identity has been challenged and he needs others to validate and support what he feels and thinks. Deep down he has fears so he takes the road to criticize and belittle outwardly, rather than explore inwardly to see what he can discover about his true self.

I think this is the very reason we have experiences everyday that we don't like. Instead of seeing these opportunities as a time we can grow and reveal a better version of ourselves, we waste time changing the scenery to make our feelings go away. The scenery will change from moment to moment, and does so on its own. It will change, but it will show us the same old thing if we haven't looked inwardly and found our true power that brings about real change.

I hope for the man in the fatal wreck. I hope he really lived his life! I hope he experienced his purpose in being here. I hope his life hadn't been reduced to embed himself in issues over politics, sports, or trivial matters. I hope he didn't hang onto some passing event that was long gone and had little meaning in the end. I hope he didn't waste his time consumed in petty problems, rather than brilliant discoveries. I hope he had a chance to "happen to life," instead of life "happening to him." I hope his obstacles in life didn't steer him off course and left him bitter. I hope he lived his dreams. I hope he was not afraid to express the love that only he could uniquely express. I hope he left his mark, made his ripple and splash in the sea of life.

And finally, I hope he didn't become paralyzed in fear and give up and drown. I hope none of us do.

I think life was meant to be enjoyed, not endured.

[MPKaur]

Coffee or cup?

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.

Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: 'If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups. Then you began eyeing each other's cups.

Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of Life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us.'

God brews the coffee, not the cups.......... Enjoy your coffee!

[JustME]

Im starting to forget..............................:mellow:

SOON AFTER HER BROTHER WAS BORN , LITTLE sACHI BEGAN TO ASK HER PARENTS TO LEAVE HER ALONE WITH THE NEW BABY. THEY WORRIED THAT LKE MOST FOUR-YEAR-OLDS, SHE MIGHT FEEL JEALOUS AND WANT TO HIT OR SHAKE HIM, SO THEY SAID NO. BUT SHE SHOWED NO SIGNS OF JEALOUS. SHE TREATED THE BABY WITH KINDNESS AND HER PLEASTO BE LEFT ALONE WITH HIM BECAME MORE URGENT.THEY DECIDED TO ALLOW IT.

ELATED, SHE WENT INTO THE BABY'S ROOM AND SHUT THE DOOR,BUT IT OPENED A CRACK - ENOUGH FOR HER CURIOUS PARENTS TO PEEK IN AND LISTEN. THEY SAW LITTLE SACHI WALK QUIETLY UP TO HER BABY BROTHER, PUT HER FACE CLOSE TO HIS AND SAY QUIETLY, "BABY, TELL ME WHAT GOD FEELS LIKE. I'M STARTING TO FORGET".

[Hershi]

From the Simpsons:-

Homer: Marge? Since I'm not talking to Lisa, would you please ask her to pass me the syrup?

Marge: Dear, please pass your father the syrup, Lisa.

Lisa: Bart, tell Dad I will only pass the syrup if it won't be used on any meat product.

Bart: You dunkin' your sausages in that syrup homeboy?

Homer: Marge, tell Bart I just want to drink a nice glass of syrup like I do every morning.

Marge: Tell him yourself, you're ignoring Lisa, not Bart.

Homer: Bart, thank your mother for pointing that out.

Marge: Homer, you're not not-talking to me and secondly I heard what you said.

Homer: Lisa, tell your mother to get off my case.

Bart: Uhhh, dad, Lisa's the one you're not talking to.

Homer: Bart, go to your room.

hahahhaha o mannn...i lhavent seen that show in a whileeeee :s

[GurpreetKaur]

At the feast of ego, everyone will be left hungry

Id rather be hated for who i am than loved for who im not- Kurt cobain

Its better to burn out than fade away- Kurt cobain

Be just, and fear not.

Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's,

Thy God's and truth's- Shakspeare

and my fav one....

LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES, YOU EVER KNOW WHAT YOUR GONNA GET!- FORREST GUMP