Bhangra And Sikhism

[eduardo]

Bhangra is to Sikhi what going out, gettting drunk and getting laid is to Christianity.

Blimey that's a bit of a leap of logic.

I would have thought going out, getting drunk and laid is the same to Christianity as going out, getting drunk and laid is to Sikhi.

You could say rock music is the same to Christianity as Bhangra is to Sikhi or you could say Irish drinking music is the same to Catholicism as Bhangra is to Sikhi.

How about that?

I think the traditional Irish music to Christianity analogy is probably closer to the Bhangra Sikhi relationship but then rock music is massive in the USA which is predominately a Christian nation.

But going out getting drunk and laid is not just a Christian thing at all, most people do it at some point in their lives, it's part of what I would term a normal childhood.

Are you saying that Hindu and Sikh young men don't do it in India, or young Buddhist men don't do it in countries like Thailand?

How about young atheist Chinese guys in major cities in China?

Not sure about young Muslim men, I guess they do aswell.

[Akalifauj]

That's what I am saying.

Thank you

[garch]

What a nonsense topic.

[MisterrSingh]

What a nonsense topic.

It's like something out of the Twilight Zone, lol. Should it even be a question?

[Guest Jacfsing2]

Blimey that's a bit of a leap of logic.

I would have thought going out, getting drunk and laid is the same to Christianity as going out, getting drunk and laid is to Sikhi.

You could say rock music is the same to Christianity as Bhangra is to Sikhi or you could say Irish drinking music is the same to Catholicism as Bhangra is to Sikhi.

How about that?

I think the traditional Irish music to Christianity analogy is probably closer to the Bhangra Sikhi relationship but then rock music is massive in the USA which is predominately a Christian nation.

But going out getting drunk and laid is not just a Christian thing at all, most people do it at some point in their lives, it's part of what I would term a normal childhood.

Are you saying that Hindu and Sikh young men don't do it in India, or young Buddhist men don't do it in countries like Thailand?

How about young atheist Chinese guys in major cities in China?

Not sure about young Muslim men, I guess they do aswell.

Isn't Christianity a personal relationship with "God The Father" through the sacrifice on the cross by "God The Son"(Jesus) and his resurrection? And to be baptized by the holy spirit? But if it's drinking alcoholic beverages, that's not good.

[eduardo]

Isn't Christianity a personal relationship with "God The Father" through the sacrifice on the cross by "God The Son"(Jesus) and his resurrection? And to be baptized by the holy spirit? But if it's drinking alcoholic beverages, that's not good.

Nicely put.

Drinking it not banned as evidenced by communion and drinking wine.

I think the big drinking culture in the UK is a result of culture and history.

I mean the UK has always been famous for beers, ciders and whisky going way back. Big p1ssups and a good sing song are part of the historical fabric of anglo saxon culture.

[Guest Jacfsing2]

Nicely put.

Drinking it not banned as evidenced by communion and drinking wine.

I think the big drinking culture in the UK is a result of culture and history.

I mean the UK has always been famous for beers, ciders and whisky going way back. Big p1ssups and a good sing song are part of the historical fabric of anglo saxon culture.

I'm not referring communion, I know that's the time when people make exceptions for the blood of Christ and flesh.

[shastarsewak]

It should be more like "Bhangra and Punjabism" - it has more to do with culture rather than religion. In Sikh religion, there is no place for Bhangra, and no use either!

[JagsawSingh]

It should be more like "Bhangra and Punjabism" - it has more to do with culture rather than religion. In Sikh religion, there is no place for Bhangra, and no use either!

Bhangra in itself, when you take away the nightclub / alcohol fuelled wedding reception element from the equation, is a seriously wonderfull excercise for the body.

But I'm going to go a bit deeper here now and I loathe to do it because I'm often criticised here on this form for sharing my knowledge of history too much. Way too many people here hate it when I do but the way I look at it, what use is all this knowledge inside my head if I'm not gonna share it with my people, and you ARE my people.

OK....lets start with this simple question. Of all the animals mentioned in Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji which animal is mentioned the most ?

The answer is the CRANE bird. And thats because throughout our history, especially in our Guru ji's times, the Crane bird was the symbol of Punjab, just like the kiwi is the symbol of New Zealand or the springbok the symbol of south africa. Every winter, the Cranes would fly down from Siberia and settle in the plains of Punjab en-masse. In so many ways, the Crane symbolised the character and mannersims of the people of the Punjab and that is why Guru jis and so many of the bhagats used it so often as a metaphor in SGGS ji.

Now, the next question is what does the Crane bird do ? The answer is that it dances. So many people dancing bhangra today don't realise that many of those movements are in fact a mimic of the dancing movements of the Crane. The glorious dancing movements of the Crane are in fact the origins of vigorous movements we make in bhangra.

Now, to the real nitty gritty and trust me this is where we seperate the Sikhs from the Punjabis.

The symbol of Punjab no longer bothers with Punjab. The glorious natural environment of the Punjab is no more. Punjabis knock down trees and build ugly concrete monstrocities in their place. Punjabis reclaim the natural wetlands of Punjab and build ridiculously unesseccary massive houses in their place. So, for the last 20 or 30 years do you know what the great historic symbol of Punjab now does ? This great symbol of Punjab that inspired our Gurus and bhagats so has washed its hands of the Punjab. Every winter, this great bird now flies down from Siberia, takes one look down at the Punjab and decides it would rather fly south to Rajhastan and haryana instead. And therein lies the irony: Ignorant Punjabis express their Punjabi pride by dancing to the movements of what is now a Rajhastani bird !! :surrender:

So how do the Sikhs come into this, in contrast with the Punjabis ? Well, for a start, not only does our concept of sarbat da bhalla teach us to care for the world as a whole but our 7th master Sri Guru Har Rai was the world's first and foremost envionmentalist.

We 'Sikhs' must rise above the septic ignorance of the 'Punjabi'. Just as all the Gurus together are one we must learn individual lessons from them all to become great 'ones' (people). For example, we must reason with ourselves as to why SGGS ji mentions the Crane more than any other living creature........we must implement Guru Har Rai's love and respect for the environment.....we must become great scholars the way Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji was when he out-mastered the Farsi scholars in farsi. That way, we'll begin to develop a greater understanding of things and I think when we do, we'll come to the conclusion that away from vulgar lyrics and presence of alcohol surroundings, the bhangra is a great way of keeping our bodies subtle and fit.

[eduardo]

But I'm going to go a bit deeper here now and I loathe to do it because I'm often criticised here on this form for sharing my knowledge of history too much. Way too many people here hate it when I do.

History is a wonderful thing, I can't understand why anyone would loathe to hear it, especially yours.

History is what really defines a culture I mean look at all the fanatical communist dictators like Chairman Mao, Pol Pot, etc the first thing they did was to destroy the countries history in order to make the people more subservient to their own new doctrines. They smashed religious icons and destroyed temples, churches, whatever they could get their hands on.

Their whole idea was to start again from year zero with no force of cultural heritage strong enough to oppose them.

Then they set about brainwashing the youngsters to turn against their own parents and they replaced religion with themselves and the party.

Strip history away from people and you strip away their cultural heritage and their power as a united group.