A Warning for Sikhs: The Dera Chief issue continues to Escalate

http://www.panthic.org/news/126/ARTICLE/4184/2008-06-20.html

The Indian Government has failed so far to act upon arresting Dera Chief Ram Rahim for his actions against Sikhs and humanity. Putting aside what he has done against the Sikh community, the Dera Chief is known to be involved in many rape and murder cases, but the Government has yet to arrest him. Instead, when you read the Indian Nationalist publications such as the one below, you will find them using terms to demonize the Sikhs while not stating one piece of falsity by the Dera Chief or the inactions of the Government. Whereas the Dera Chief should be arrested, the Times of India suggests the riots in Mumbai could have been prevented if the Dera Chief had been given more police protection. If this does not illustrate the joint bias against the Sikhs by both the Government of India and its media, I have no clue what will. If the Dera Chief is not arrested and justice delivered, such incidents are bound to occur again and again. The Government itself is planting the seeds for a massive conflict in the coming future.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Sikh_mobs_run_riot_in_Mumbai_/articleshow/3152760.cms

Another Random Quote

this one was really random because one, it came out of nowhere, two it was in third person ( i almost always write in first person), and third it was in hindi...? i havent spoken that in years....here it is:

agar humse bhool hoi, to hume bhool jaana
agar kisi hor se bhool hoi, to une bhi bhool jaana
agar apne aap se bhool hoi, apne aap ko mat bhoolna
aise karna, maanlo khuda se judaa ho jaana

- Sevak -

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The Good, The Bad

The purpose, I believe, in the religion of Guru Nanak Sahib is not of morality, but of the cosmic appreciation of the one Being. Doing good in one’s life, knowing the difference between good and bad, or bringing the qualities of Vaheguru into a person's life is not the purpose of the Sikh, it is but a mere consequence of a life lived in the cosmic appreciation of the one Being. Those personalities who teach and preach to others to be “good people” are I believe the ones who have misunderstood and continually belittle the meaning of Sikhi.

I have for the longest time held the belief that morality is not the purpose of Sikhi, for I believe morality has been taught much before Guru Nanak Sahib came into this world, and can be learned by any individual attending any University by partaking the courses of Sociology and Ethics. If we were to say the purpose of Sikhi or religiousness is to be good people, then I believe the purpose of religiosity and Sikhi for those who think that may have come to an end, for you may gain this knowledge anywhere on the internet or a university.

No, I believe what Guru Nanak Sahib expounded on over and over again was the feeling of cosmic appreciation. The humility in the being which has come to appreciate the harmony in which the Universe works, and the longing of that being to expand the personal self and experience life connected as the Universal self. This feeling is appreciated by and evidenced through one such writing of an inspired-soul, Professor Puran Singh, who in his book The Creation and Purpose of the Khalsa states, “The religion of Guru Nanak is one thing needful to the soul of the individual, as well as the souls of groups of individuals. Nature is God. It is personal and alive with feeling. It is a reservoir of inexhaustible life, inspiration and love. Acceptance, amazement, and the spirituality of things are Guru Nanaks exact words. Religion is function of life, as it is driven to function.” If one reads The Spirit Born People, more of this cosmic appreciation is expounded on by this great inspired soul.

It is furthermore evidenced by writings by Guru Sahib himself when he states “ham nahi change bura nahi koe” Shabad Panna 2784, “jo tho prem khelan ka chao, sir dhar tali gali meri aao, eith maarag pair dhareejai, sir deejay kaan na keejai” Shabad Panna 1412, and “sach kahon sun leh sabhai, jin prem kio tin hi prabh paayeo” by Guru Gobind Singh Ji in Savaiye 9^th pauri. In all of these Shabads Guru Sahib continually speaks of one message, which is the appreciation of the one Being. This appreciation is through living a life of Love, and this Love is discovered in a life of Truthful living; the second word in Guru-Granth Sahib Ji, “Sat-Naam.”. This Love then is expressed in innumerous ways such as service, moral living, sharing, etc. This is why morality is not the purpose. There is no purpose. There is just the feeling of cosmic appreciation, Love. True Love has no purpose other than to Love.

And The Ugly

The Ugly is the state of the actions of our personal and communal lives, and I will not say Panthic because the Guru is Panth and the Panth is forever blossoming. To cut this short, and without ranting on for another ten pages, I will briefly say that because we have forgotten the message of cosmic appreciation, living a life of true love, it is why our community and our personal lives are in the state they are in. It is why we have become a group of judgmental imbeciles who cast eyes of opinions, rather than love, upon each other in the community and other human beings. And, as long as we continue this tradition of separation based on our foolish idea of our genius wisdom, proclaimed by our tradition of sourcing evidence on meaningless names and figures of history, and whilst forgetting the cosmically inspirational Shabad of our Guru, not living a life of Love, as a community and as individuals we shall perish into the dust of time and history having accomplished nothing but egoism and self-indulgence.

May Vaheguru have compassion on us for we possess the incredible ability to cremate beauty in our daily lives.

Lastly, stay in chardi-kala! =)

Symphony

I want you, just you
Why can't it just be
Me and you in symphony
Orchestrating a life
Thats in beat
My love is the bee
Your love is the flower
I feed from you
You live through me
Me and you in symphony
Why can't it just be
Your love being the sun
My love being the tree
You feed me your beauty
I make the earth green
Why can't it just be
Me and you in symphony
Your love is the conductor
My love is the melody
This symphony could never be complete
Without me and you in harmony

A Community of Tigers we were, A Community of Dogs we've become

I was reading a weblog entry by MrSikhNet, because a friend introduced me to that site today. He wrote some very interesting thoughts that spurred some of my own. http://www.mrsikhnet.com/index.php/2008/01/06/judgement-criticism-the-mind-being-a-sikh/#more-3028
These thoughts of mine are not written in a poem, but a rare essay-format. Enjoy or Hate, as you wish. =)

I think we tend to forget that Guru Sahib told us to do Naam Japna, Vand Chakna, and Kirat Karni, but no hard-fast rule on how to do it, so there is no one correct way of doing those things.
I guess when Guru Sahib liberated our souls from the tyranny of existing religious thoughts, we would rather have remained slaves to a set of rules of how to live our lives than have become free and independent to make our own choices leading to our salvation.

We bow our heads down to the Guru every Sunday like good little Sikhs we are, but I sometimes wonder for what and why we're bowing. The difference between the Brahman and the Guru lay in the fact that the Brahman wanted to enslave you in his spiritually bankrupt and corrupt kingdom, while the Guru wished to liberate you so you may see the beautiful spiritual kingdom of heaven that He sees. When we bow down to the Brahman's Mat, we bow in slavery due to the fear the Brahman instilled in us. When we bow down to our Guru's Mat, we bow down in love due to the freedom of our souls the Guru gave us. It would be applicable to have Prof. Puran Singh's quote here from The Creation and Purpose of Khalsa, where he speaks of Guru Gobind Singh Ji and what he did for the people. "He poured into our veins that life which could not love without song and freedom. We rose as individuals and as masses shouting for our liberty and victory. He gave us freedom of the soul, and we cried for the freedom of our life. We died for it, never mind, if we never got it. Touched by his inspiration, we could no more remain slaves."

Now, if i maybe excused of being ex-communicated from the Panth for making this statement, we wish to make our Guru our Brahman; for we no longer seek a liberator, we seek a tyrant. We do not want the freedom of our soul, for we no longer know what freedom is. We are so used to our minds being enslaved by the influences of society, people, politicians, goverments, so called religious saints, all telling us exactly how to live our lives, that we no longer know what it means to be conscious of our own mind. We wish to be trained and fed like dogs on this spiritual experience we wish to have, and so we go to whomsoever claims to know this beautiful spiritual kingdom of heaven the Guru sees, and we bow down to their Mat. We have bowed down oh so often that we forget for what we really bowed down for.

So now, when we see our Guru, when we bow to our Guru, we wish for him to give us set in stone rules like the 10 commandments of how to live our life, and then we become confused when the Guru refuses to give us these rules, for the Guru only tells us Naam Japna, Vand Chakna, and Kirat Karni. The Guru only tells us that with love in our hearts enter the journey to the beautiful spiritual kingdom of heaven. That is not good enough for us, we wish to be treated and fed like dogs, and so like dogs with our tongues wagging we run to the several different Jathe-bandis in our Panth to give us a set of rules of exactly how to do what the Guru told us to do. So the masters of those Jathe-bandis, like the Brahmans, are ever so ready to enslave us under their own Mat. Then we like foolish dogs loyal to our own "masters" bicker amongst ourselves for the other dog doesn't follow the same set of rules, and we continue to rip at each other's throat, while the Guru sits there amused how those he liberated enslaved themselves.

Honestly, we are like the foolish old dog whom the master cut the leash from. The dog no longer knows what it once meant to be free, he only knows to do what he is told to do and not know that he has the freedom to make his own choices. The Guru's love for us is so beautiful, He wishes to set us free so we may experience the journey to the spiritual kingdom of heaven. The Guru did not ever wish to enslave us in bondage, he wished to free us so we may experience for ourselves what He experienced. The bondage the Guru speaks to us of is not slavery, it is a bond of love. The bondage is that of a lover to her beloved. It is like the love of Heer towards Ranjha, where Heer no longer felt seperated from Ranjha through the distance, for she felt her and him were One. Guru Sahib told us "Jo tho prem khelan ka chao, sir dhar tali gali meri aao, eith maarag pair dhareejai, sir deejai kaan n keejai." He did not say "bondange khelan ka chao," he said "prem khelan ka chao," and the bondage often referred to, in Gurbani, is metaphorically speaking of love, except we're so used to being enslaved that we think it is us being attached in chains, rather than us in love.

Alas, the Guru seeks to liberate us and make us Singhs, tigers, but we love being sheeps and dogs too much to become Singhs.

Lastly, stay in chardi-kala! =)

Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa,
Vaheguru Ji Ki Fateh!

After-Life

Swimming in the ocean
diving into the sea
heaven'll be my country
hell beneath my feet

am a pious man on a mission
look down on those don't pray
convertin people to my religion
condemnin others to Hell's Bay
give food to poor & hungry
job is done for the day
Am a being full of compassion
to those listenin to my say
somebdoy going through misery
not converting, its what they pay
salvation's only in my religion
Am passing God's judgement today

Swimming in the ocean
diving into the sea
heaven'll be my country
hell beneath my feet

I am on the road to heaven
before goin to sleep I pray
lose control of my emotions
its okay, confess my sins everyday
condemn people to hell, I create hate
I'll be goin to heaven on judgement day
forget dying for another's pain
won't listen to another's say
God is only in my possession
either convert or you'll have to pay
am a pious man on a mission
passing God's judgement today

Swimming in the ocean
diving into the sea
hell is what surrounds me
heaven is what I dream

Pious man, listen to this take
cuz, hatred is what you cause
you've wasted your life
you forgot to pause
went through the motions
led a life thats false
you gave to charity
but forgot the cause
you never made your life
a paradise for all
heaven was on earth
it was all your call
divinity inside you
since day you were born
recognize your origin
bliss was down the hall

Swimming in the ocean
diving into the sea
heaven as my country
hell beneath my feet

listen up, this is your one chance
life is too short to spend in hate
People are like God's flowers
each one with their own trait
regardless the look, regardless the color
each in its own way is great
for who they are, love them all
then blissful will be your fate
instead of creating lines and divisions
spend your time making a gate
inside your heart, inside your soul
thats where it'll take shape
be universal in its essence
allow for all to congregate
under one one umbrella, one identity
humanity, for that gate it waits

Leaf

a leaf flies in the silent wind
the earth shakes in a sudden grind

the sun shines in its beautiful presence
the stars bend in their humble essence

flowers fragrant the air with beauty
birds sing eloquent praises in their duty

Such is the word of the Saint in Melody
It causes the Creation to sing along in Harmony

- Sevak -