Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Sikh and tired of bullshit

Every time I turn on the bloody television and put on a Punjabi channel. Every time I hear Punjabi news.  Every time I get on damned Facebook and get a glimpse at the News Feed. All I hear and see is nonsense; complete utter bullshit about Darshan Singh and Dasam Granth.

I am sick and tired of it.

Its one old man, and a Granth that isn't a Guru to the majority of the Sikh population.  And everybody's up in arms about it.  Its like civil war erupting around me.  All I want to know is what the heck is everyone fighting about?

I've heard all the stupid stuff enough times by now.  I just want the real thing, what the heck is the real deal here that everyone's so ready to split each others heads apart for? Is there something I am missing?

Here, let me tell you what I see.  Then please fill me in on what is so important about one old man, and a Granth that isn't the Guru (to the majority of us average Sikhs).

I witness a period in Sikh history where the golden phrase of "Sikh intellectuals" goes something like this: "the times have changed since the Guru period or Khalsa Raj, and due to the change in time we must understand how to combat the new battles we face." These intellectuals mean to tell me that no longer is armed combat an appropriate response for us, for no longer do we face such dangers. 

Everything is about becoming a clever, sophisticated, intellectual with plenty of book knowledge in order to combat the evils that face us on pen and paper, in the academia where the images of civilizations are etched in stone.

I have been bullshitted to for long enough.

I look around me and I see a troubled world much the same as in Guru Nanak's times.  The imperialistic rule of the Mughals destroyed the lives of many innocent human beings because various tyrants thought they were doing the right Islamic thing in the world due to the words of their advisers.  The imperialistic rule of America and the West is continuing to destroy the lives of many innocent human beings because the various tyrants (yes, the Presidency is a tyrannical position when Congress does nothing to check it) are being led by their advisers to believe that they are doing the right thing for Democracy in the world.

Whereas we the Khalsa should have been in the front lines of negotiating diplomacy and peace, and upholding justice in the world; I witness our leaders kissing the asses and licking the boots of puppet politicians so that we may be recognized as “Americans” or be accepted in the Western world.

Sure you can say that oh, well we do not live in an Utopian world. That there is so much from the past which we can no longer change. That the past has so devastatingly affected our present condition.  All that I call bullshit.  Bullshit that we create to cover our own distracted and inadequate asses.

You see my argument here is not on a tangent from where I originally started; it is rather digging deeper and deeper into the root cause of the disease that continues to plague us in the Panth. A disease that if we do not become aware of as Panthic individuals, we are bound by fate to be the cause of our own destruction.

The cause is not simply cleverness, excessive reliance on book knowledge, being sophisticated, or even intellectuality.  The cause is our distraction from Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.  The cause is our inadequacy in upholding Sikhi principles.  The cause is our inability to practically bring Guru’s wisdom in our lives.

Just think about this for a second. During the major period of struggle in Sikh History where we were butchered and tortured in masses, where we lost 50% of our Sikh population in one day, how do you think Sikhi continued to exist, and not just exist but flourish? How the hell is it that we exist today if so many of our people were being destroyed?

Did the Kesh Fairy tell our Shaheeds “hey if you get them to not cut your hair but your scalp and leave the hair to me once you’re dead, I’ll make sure that in the future there’ll be Sikhs to carry on Sikhi?” Did the Kesh fairy do that?

Or how about the Genie? Hmm? Did the Genie give our ancestors one wish and they oh so romantically wished for Sikhi to continue on through their death? I wish. Then we could find this Genie today to solve our problems.

No, we did not have fairies and genies fulfill our wishes. No, we did not have a reproduction farm to fast produce thousands of Sikhs to combat the injustice in the world.  There weren’t a million Sikh women popping out thousands of teenage/older aged Sikhs to continue fighting for the struggle. 

What we had in that time were people that truly believed. What we had was a Panth full of Inspirational individuals.  If the Panth is a glass, then the glass was overflowing with Inspiration.  What we had was a Panth that took the Wisdom of the Guru seriously, not just intellectually or ritualistically, but practically.  It wasn’t like the movies where the death of one inspires many. It was the lives of the few Sikhs that inspired the lives of  the many human beings around them. So that when one Sikh was mutilated, it only strengthened the validity of the truth which Sikhs stood upon. 

Truth.

If we accept Truth as one of the highest, if not the highest, value in our lives to strive for, then we must accept the reality and direness of our present Panthic condition. 

We have a drunken and drugged up Panjab to deal with.  Over at least 60 – 70% of our current population lives there, in the land that contains at least 90% of our history.  We have Sikhs who matha-tek to random self-declared babas, sants, khalse, pictures, idols, whatever is told to them to be holy, etc. We have Sikhs who get drunk and cause domestic problems. We have Sikh boys who are getting caught up in drugs and alcohol, and Sikh girls who are selling themselves.  We have Sikhs committing mass suicides because they can no longer handle the oppression from the State. We have Sikhs killing their daughters because having a daughter becomes a financial liability for them.

Forget other Granths, most of our population barely understands Sri Guru Granth Sahib themselves.  Spoon feeding of Sikhi knowledge from katha vachiks has become a norm and has created a Sikh population that is easily and willingly brainwashed by self-proclaimed Saints and Baabe of the Panth.  Panjab is one of the poorest states of India in education, and consequently our fellow Sikhs are severely uneducated. 

If we begin to list the number of problems facing us in the Panth, this blog could go on forever.  

I want to ask you the question again, what are we fighting about with these Darshan Singh and Dasam Granth arguments? Are these things seriously as important as everything else facing us today? Is an argument about the validity of parts of a Granth which is not the Guru more important than the living state of human beings? Would you see Guru Nanak sitting here arguing about a Granth while a wildfire is rapidly destroying a population of people?

We are distracted from the Katha of Truth, and so we make clever arguments about how we need to tackle the issues of today.  Truth stares us in the face every Sunday when we ritualistically matha-tek.  The real question now becomes, how much longer will we go as a Panth till we accept the Wisdom of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji? Or will be become the sad story in the dust of history of a people that rose from the depths of darkness and death to a Kingdom of Enlightenment, only to die off in the traps of Maya?

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Lor Siraan Di Pai Gi

mere khalse aakh de ne
lorr siraan di pai gi
par je jigar phika hai
fir kaun deve kurbani

dekh mere guru aj de kherr
te vekh aj de haase
jithe tu samjaunda si
aj bolan shinda, aj bolan jazzy

tere baabe, tere khalse
beh gae ttheke laa ke
pyar dian galan ohi karde
jere nashiyan'ch dube ne

baabar nu sacheyai sikhaan li
Guru tu boleya dharam de khaatar
khaalsean di sacheyai vekho
pyar naal choomde baabar de chittar

mere khalse aakh de ne
lorr siraan di pai gi
par je jigar phika hai
fir kaun deve kurbani

larrde  sikh hak de khaatar
kerri seva te keda hak
kerri gadi (seat) te keda hak
seva gadi nu suto bhaabarr
guru bhule nahi hona khaalas

jeri qaum apne guru nu bhul jaae
oh rurrdi firdi mar jaandi hai
ithehaas te magroor ho ke
khalse, guru nu na bhul jaeen

ithehaas nahi tere baabean da gavaah
ithehaas nahi teri jarran di taakat
ban ja ik machli, samaj guru nu paani
khalsean de karam nu hi ithehaas jaanea jaanda

aj yaad kari'eh guru dian kamaiyan
khalseo aj kari'eh guru de bachan
fir asli khalsa jaage ga
te dunia'ch pain guru de chaanan

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Tere Dar te

 

schad dite saare aas sansaar de,

meh peya hun tere charnaan te

bhave menu kabool kar leh

bhave maar de,

hun meh ni jaande kite

par tere dar te

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Many Questions

Why are we here? What is the purpose of life? What is God? Where is God? How do I find God? How do I live a God-inspired life? What is a Sikh? What does a Sikh do?
What is Guru Granth Sahib? What is Guru Panth? What is Khalsa?What is Naam? What is Nitnem? What is Hukam? What is Rehit? What is Maryada? What is Anand?

The questions are endless. The mind is restless. Yet the only thing that tires are my fingers typing all of them. These are not all my questions at the moment, but they are the questions of every Seeker beginning the journey of Sikhi.

I wonder.

At every step, at every stage of our life we ask questions. The most interesting to note, though, are the beginning and the end. We begin as little innocent children with the question “Why?” We die as old wise men with the question “Why?” We fill the gaps in between with our own colorful stories. Our life as the color book. We pick the crayons we like. We draw on the empty pages the figures we want. We color, draw, color, draw, till we reach the last page. Yet, we’re left with the same question. Why?

So.

Many philosophers and religious people alike always like to mention that the beginning and the end are not important. The destination of a journey is of no significance. The beauty of it is what matters. I wonder though what was the point of the journey if it still ended with the same question as it began? Are we simply loud spectators of life?

I hope not.

I don’t know the answer.

But, Guru Sahib says:

Monday, June 29, 2009

Humanity

I must surrender my mind
To this difficult night
Please grant me serenity
O dear mother
It does get cold in here at times

I feel the pain of their graves
Lying here awake
Pour into my heart love
O dear mother
I hear the nightingale at their wake

I saw a dove eat the eagle
Seemingly surreal
Pour into my heart courage
O dear mother
Sometimes unconventional is the only way

Forgive us for what we do
Forsaking humanity
Pour into our hearts responsibility
O dear mother
Force us to hear the screams of the innocent

Living is the unhallowed grounds
Speaking in death
Pour into my heart determination
O dear mother
To never understand its speech
This world I live in is that place
Of deathly speech
Pour into my heart fearlessness
O dear mother
I may weather the storm of apathy

Friday, June 19, 2009

Be My Saturday

if you could be mine
i would want you to be my saturday
if this day was real
i would want you to last forever
come on be my saturday
be my love, be my heaven
when im at hell's bay
be the joy, be the laughter
be my saturday
come on be my saturday
when im at hell's bay

when its cloudy in my mind
and its stormy outside
come be my saturday
be my sunny side, be the clear skies
comeon be my saturday
when im at hell's bay

when the devil screams in my ears
begs for blood, begs for tears
be my saturday
be my turban, be my sword
come on be my saturday
when im at hell's bay

be my strength, be my courage
be my saturday
comeon be my saturday
when im at hell's bay

if you could be mine,
i would want you to be my saturday...

Mengiaan Mangiaan

meh haan ik keerra is srishti vich
tu hain eh srishti, tu hain sabh kich
meh haan ik boond paani da, dariya vich
tu hai eh dariya
tu hai eh aasmaann
tu hai eh dharti
tu hai, tu hai

par, ki mengiaan si mangiaan darshanaan
jo toon darshan ni denda ve

je pyar di hi gal si
fir dil kyon manzoor ni

je ik phul di zaroorat si
fir sir kyon manzoor ni

sirf ik pal di gal si
par darshan vi menge bhe gay

ki tenu enaan masooman naal pyar
ke tu masooman dian jaanaan lehnaan

ki tenu bacheyaan naal ena pyar
ke har ik dhruv nu chuk lehnaan

ki tenu enaan shauk daata hondaa
ke diti hoi zindgi scheen lehnaan

ki mengiaan si mangiaan darshanaan
jo toon darshan ni denda ve

jaandaan haan tera saneha,
jaandaan haan lakeer...

jad ik kiri pahaarr nu chuk ni saki
mera varga eanna tenu kive apnaa lave

jad koi insaan kisi masoom di zindgi lehnda
pucheyaa jaanda, ke Rab nu ki savaal devengaa

par, jad tu masoomaan dian jaanaan lehnaan
tenu ki puchiye? tenu kaun puche? tu kinu javaab den da?

din raat din raat loki tenu poojde
kade darshan vi deh de
maavaan, thiyaan, bhenaa, bharaavaan diaan jaanaan
tu hi chuk lehnaan, vapis ni kardaa.
fir vi tenu loki poojde
ik vaari darshan deh de

ki mengiaan si mangiaan darshanaan
jo tu darshan ni denda ve