Should Sikhs Stand When Judge Enters?

[MisterrSingh]

Koreans also bow, it is just a sign of respect.

The Japanese have also begun to create variations on the classic bowing technique:

[Singhni MiriPiri]

The Japanese have also begun to create variations on the classic bowing technique:

lol

They've also started to use their bowing as a weapon:

[sant123]

Sumo wrestlers dressed in suits! I like sumo wrestling! I tried it as a "weapon" too, but it didn't work cos of my dumalla! The person fell down with a loud chuckle, as if I had just tickled him instead, hehehe!! It was such a giganticuous disappointment, if you don't mind my new made up word!

[MAJHAIL_JATT]

lol bowing is a matha tek... some you guys are confused haha. and in canada the judge represent the queen so he/she does represent a monarch and in most western countries it goes back to british common law traditions even in usa. the judge represents the monarch and you are bowing before the monarch when you bow before the judge. bow/matha tek... same exact thing regardless of how you change the context.

as far as my handle... I view it as ethnic background not caste in the hindu context as we are not hindus. no ethnicity is higher or lower than anyone. are goray a caste? is someone calls themself "Gora Sikh" are they also promoting hindu caste bs? this is unpar pendu thought. if it's offensive to anyone mods can change my name to just "Majhail" thanks.

[buddasingh]

I don’t believe bowing is matha tek. However if that is the only language association for you with respect to lowering your head, then you may not wish to bow. But I encourage trying to view matha tek in front of our Guru as something very different in a world where bowing has so many different connotations and was not a sikh invention. For a Sikh matha tek is certainly not limited to a generalized meaning for bowing already in existence prior to Sikhi. It has specific contextual association.

It is not just the physical act, but the intention and context behind the act, that carries meaning. Otherwise if you are lowering your head and bending forward when you are vacuuming, you matha tek to the dust on the floor? In kabaddi one matha teks to one’s opponent? Mechanics matha tek to engines all day long? etc.

It is a separate question whether a Sikh show bow in certain circumstances. On that point, I don’t believe all bowing across cultures and contexts equates to the respect we give to our Guru.

With respect to your suggestion that the judge represents the queen and therefore we ‘matha tek’ to an individual monarch. There may be an argument to not bow. However, I don’t believe the 'matha tek' association is quite accurate. Keep in mind that individuals have a right to walk out of a courtroom and then appeal the judge, often at multiple stages, saying the judge was wrong. The rule of law is above the judge and we may be bowing before a judge but as respect for the service of the rule of law. It is hardly equivalent to offering our head to our Guru.

Kudos to you bro for your attempt at a mature and measured response to my attack on your handle. Given that approach, I hope that you as my bro might reconsider yourself rather than have mods help you. I don’t really like the idea of mods having to hammer someone who may be open to learning… hope before hammer. I do believe a caste handle is something that is disgusting on a Sikh forum and that it has a negative effect on impressionable kids. There is no doubt that within punjabi culture there is racial segregation and belief in caste hierarchy by punjabi’s. Even if we fashionably call it ‘ethnicity’ cause we can’t disassociate ourselves from the hateful superiority daddy taught, the segregation and hierarchy is no different. With that very sad backdrop corrupting Sikhi, it makes no sense that someone would say, “it’s just my ethnicity”. Many modern day white supremacists say the same thing, ‘we’re just recognizing our ethnicity’ and they believe it just like punjabis.

If a black minority or the gora sikh minority identify themselves as such, all the power to them. In the context, they are marginalized by the majority and their identity is not one stemming from a sense of superiority and segregation, but one of resistance and overcoming.

[singhnihk]

<<<

[WaljinderSingh]

I don't think standing is any crime but a Sikh should not bow before any 'dunyavi' individual be it king or politician or high ranking official.

[kazimakazima]

I don’t believe bowing is matha tek. However if that is the only language association for you with respect to lowering your head, then you may not wish to bow. But I encourage trying to view matha tek in front of our Guru as something very different in a world where bowing has so many different connotations and was not a sikh invention. For a Sikh matha tek is certainly not limited to a generalized meaning for bowing already in existence prior to Sikhi. It has specific contextual association.

It is not just the physical act, but the intention and context behind the act, that carries meaning. Otherwise if you are lowering your head and bending forward when you are vacuuming, you matha tek to the dust on the floor? In kabaddi one matha teks to one’s opponent? Mechanics matha tek to engines all day long? etc.

It is a separate question whether a Sikh show bow in certain circumstances. On that point, I don’t believe all bowing across cultures and contexts equates to the respect we give to our Guru.

With respect to your suggestion that the judge represents the queen and therefore we ‘matha tek’ to an individual monarch. There may be an argument to not bow. However, I don’t believe the 'matha tek' association is quite accurate. Keep in mind that individuals have a right to walk out of a courtroom and then appeal the judge, often at multiple stages, saying the judge was wrong. The rule of law is above the judge and we may be bowing before a judge but as respect for the service of the rule of law. It is hardly equivalent to offering our head to our Guru.

Kudos to you bro for your attempt at a mature and measured response to my attack on your handle. Given that approach, I hope that you as my bro might reconsider yourself rather than have mods help you. I don’t really like the idea of mods having to hammer someone who may be open to learning… hope before hammer. I do believe a caste handle is something that is disgusting on a Sikh forum and that it has a negative effect on impressionable kids. There is no doubt that within punjabi culture there is racial segregation and belief in caste hierarchy by punjabi’s. Even if we fashionably call it ‘ethnicity’ cause we can’t disassociate ourselves from the hateful superiority daddy taught, the segregation and hierarchy is no different. With that very sad backdrop corrupting Sikhi, it makes no sense that someone would say, “it’s just my ethnicity”. Many modern day white supremacists say the same thing, ‘we’re just recognizing our ethnicity’ and they believe it just like punjabis.

If a black minority or the gora sikh minority identify themselves as such, all the power to them. In the context, they are marginalized by the majority and their identity is not one stemming from a sense of superiority and segregation, but one of resistance and overcoming.

It is definitely not a matha tek becose when we do a matha tek we have guru maharaj in front of us. Here we don't.

[S4NGH]

Nahi. Lambe pejo. Soorya namaskar to the judge. Mama lagda a. Jeez.

[kuldipk123]

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