O Lord, I am your child

Beautiful shabad by bhagat Kabeer, recited on this occasion by bhai Parminder Singh:

Salute the Martyrs

During the past week in the Sikh calendar we have observed the dates of the martyrdoms of the 4 sahibzaade. Below is a humble attempt to pay homage to all the shaheeds of the sikh faith:

The king of martyrs Guru Arjan Dev Ji sat on a hot iron plate.

but he remained in bliss whilst reciting naam. He embraced martyrdom as one embraces a soul mate.

Bhai Dyal Das was boiled in a cauldron, Bhai Sati Das was hacked to pieces, Bhai Mati Das was sawn in two.

But look at these Gur Sikhs, even when embracing martyrdom they never turned their back on their Guru.

The seed of sikhi was further watered with the blood of Guru Tegh Bahadur.

he sacrificed himself for another faith, and today is known world wide as "hind di chaddar".

The sahibzaadey's were martyred in Sirhind and Chamkaur.

they didnt hesitate to lay down their lives, all four.

Banda singh bahadur made the whole of punjab quake.

He tore down Sirhind brick by brick, lets make no mistake.

he was eventually captured with hundereds of sikhs and taken to delhi to meet a gruesome fate.

All were executed but not for a moment from their faith did they deviate.

Baaj Singh was a brave sikh, stories of his bravery spread far and wide. We should be inspired by this brother.

When the enemy unchained him, he broke upon them like a hungry lion, even the emperor furukhsiyaar ran for cover.

Ahmed Shah abdali attacked Shir Harmandir Sahib, someone had to take a stand.

Baba Deep Singh Ji repelled the invaders, fighting with his head in the palm of his hand.

Bhai Mani singh was another true sikh of the guru.

he was chopped limb by limb but remained true to his guru through and through.

zakriya khan was boasting that he had wiped all Sikhs out.

bhota singh and garja singh proved they were alive and kicking without a shadow of a doubt.

massa ranghar desecrated shri harmandir sahib ji, "i'll teach these sikhs a lesson" he said.

bhai mehtab singh and bhai sukha singh stepped up and chopped off the tyrants head.

The sikhs went through more than one holocaust.

but never once was their faith in the creator lost.

Lets never forget the brave sikh women who were tortured by Mir Mannu and his men in the lahore Jail.

Their children were butchered before their eyes, and yet they remained imbued in naam and did not wail.

So what was their inspiration, what was their source?

i'll tell you, AMRIT, NAAM, and BAANI of course.

Bhai Surjit Singh

The sangat of Bradford is undoubtedly very fortunate that we have in our midst for the next few weeks such a great gursikh such as Bhai Surjit Singh ji. Bhai sahib is an excellent parcharik, all those that have had the chance to have sangat with him will vouch for this.

Bhai Sahib has been doing seva at Guru Nanak Dev Ji Gurdwara in Bradford for the past fortnight.

In his katha this week, bhai sahib described how one should come to the gurdwara, and how one should behave whilst in the gurdwara. You may think these are simple things and easy for everyone to know, however you'll be equally surprised how few of us know what to do.

Bhai Sahib explained that when one comes to the Gurdwara, they must in their heart and mind envisage that they are indeed going to have darshan of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. If we set outside with this frame of mind then we shall indeed get what we ask for. On the way to the Gurdwara we must not partake in any form of nindya or gossip or bad mouthing anyone, instead we should greet anyone we meet with the Fateh granted by our Guru Sahib.

Once we enter the Darbar Sahib we must bow infront of Guru Maharaj, as if we are indeed placing our head at the feet of Guru Nanak Dev ji, almost as if we are offering our head to Guru Ji. Then when we rise then we should face the sangat and again greet (not aloud though) them with the Fateh.

We should then go and sit away from anyone we know, so that we do not start yapping away, as our whole objective of coming to the gurdwara is to meditate on naam, listen to gurbani, and have darshan of Guru Ji. If our objective was to just meet our friends and family, then this can be done away from the gurdwara sahib. In the darbar we should only recite the name of waheguru, and sing the praises of waheguru.

We clearly do not realise or indeed appreciate how fortunate we are that we are born in punjabi "sikh" house holds, which enables us access to have darshan of Guru Ji without any obstacles. We have a great advantage over billions of people who have not even heard of Guru Nanak. How many life forms have we taken to get to this position, and yet the majority of us are wasting this opportunity.

In the past people have waited not days, weeks or year but actual ages (yugs) to have darshan of Guru Ji. This point is illustarted in the sakhi below:

This relates to the sacred pool (sarovar) of santok Sar in Amritsar. When work (Kaar Sewa) was going on for this sacred pool during the time of Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji, a box was found at the site of the sarovar. When the box was opened, they found a sadhu inside. He had pulled his life's breath to the tenth door (dasam dwaar) by way of yoga. This sadhu was in samadhi.Baba Budha Ji informed Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji, who suggested massaging the Sadhu's forehead with almond oil. Upon doing so, the yogi became concious and opened his eyes.

The first question the yogi asked was, "What age (jug) is this? Is it Satjug, Tretajug, Duapur, or kaljug?"The second question was, "who is sitting on the spiritual throne of Sri Guru Nanak Sahib Ji?"Baba Buddha Ji informed he yogi that the age was kaljug and Sri Guru Nanak Sahib Ji's throne was now occupied by Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji.The yogi bowed before Sri Arjun Dev Ji and said he was sitting in the box since Satjug. He had aske his guru for Brahm Gyan and wanted to meet Waheguru.But his guru said that he could only give him material benefits, wealth, sons, etc. but not the Divine Sight (darshan) of Waheguru. The yogis guru said, "I cannot give you immortal life." The yogi replied he did not want any material benefit. His guru then told him that he would tell the yogi the way (jugat) to get salvation. His guru told the yogi to sit in samadhi till kaljug. Then the fifth Guru on Sri Guru Nanak Sahib Ji's spiritual throne would give him salvation. So, the yogi sat from Satjug to kaljug in samadhi. Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji gave the yogi Brahm Gyan and the yogi obtained immortality, for which he had long desired. His light blended with the Universal LightWaheguru.

As can be seen the yogi was prepared to await literal ages to have darshan of the Guru, thats how much he longed for darshan. We have a distinct advantage and yet we are turning our backs on this gift.

More cool Paintings

I've mentioned before about kanwar Singh Dhillon from Canada and his paintings on http://www.artofpunjab.com/. Just recently found another cool artist (Bhagat Singh) on http://www.sikhiart.com/.

Check out some samples below and dont forget to visit the site:

Bhai Taru Singh Shaheed animated movie

Vismaad have followed up Sahibzaadey, the Rise of the Khalsa, and Sundri, by releasing their next installment on Sikh History - titled "Bhai Taru Singh". The story depicts the story of perhaps one of the greatest martyrs of the Sikh religion. Bhai Sahib led the life of a simple gursikh, but never did he falter even under immense duress from the then authorities.

i cant stress enough how important it is for us all to support those that have worked hard to bring this movie to life. Financially it is not viable for these movies to be made, if we do not donate or then buy cheap copies of the DVD. It is for such causes that we should use our Dasvand.

The Next Showing up North will be at Guru Nanak Gurdwara Wakefield Road Bradford on Sunday 13th December at 12:00pm.



Please show your support and attend the event.

Poem

Below is a poem in tribute to Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

O Guru Gobind Singh Ji
How can we ever repay you

At the tender age of nine
you saw your father return to the lord divine

when i read about the events of Vasakhi 1699
many questions arise in this manmukh mind of mine

you asked the sangat for a head
there was an eerie silence as if they were all dead

That day five sikhs answered your call
they went on to become an inspiration for us all

You blessed us with amrit and the surnames Kaur and Singh
but look at us now, we more concerned about looking bling

you had planted the seeds which would cut loose the shackles of slavery
Sikhs would not only be known for saintliness but also for their bravery

you sacrificed your sons, all four
but did not mourn, for you were the spiritual father of thousands more


when your earthly journey was almost complete
you placed us all at shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji's feet

O Guru Gobind Singh Ji
How can we ever repay you.

Acapella Jatha

Acapella Jatha attended the local Gurdwara, and in their unique style of kirtan kept the sangat mesmerised for the duration. It was so refreshing to see the sangat sit quietly and listen to kirtan.

They were even asked to do an encore of one of the shabads. Amazing stuff.

Apologies for the not so great quality of the recording, we are still testing the recording equipment.

Below is the recording of the kirtan program




One of the Shabads by Bhagat Ravidas which was recited by the Jatha in the recording above is as below:

DnwsrI Bgq rivdws jI kI

dhhanaasaree bhagath ravidhaas jee kee

Dhanaasaree, Devotee Ravi Daas Jee:

<> siqgur pRswid ]

ik oa(n)kaar sathigur prasaadh

One Universal Creator God. By The Grace Of The True Guru:

hm sir dInu dieAwlu n qum sir Ab pqIAwru ikAw kIjY ]

ham sar dheen dhaeiaal n thum sar ab patheeaar kiaa keejai

There is none as forlorn as I am, and none as Compassionate as You; what need is there to test us now?


bcnI qor mor mnu mwnY jn kau pUrnu dIjY ]1]

bachanee thor mor man maanai jan ko pooran dheejai 1

May my mind surrender to Your Word; please, bless Your humble servant with this perfection. 1

hau bil bil jwau rmeIAw kwrny ]

ho bal bal jaao rameeaa kaaranae

I am a sacrifice, a sacrifice to the Lord.


kwrn kvn Abol ] rhwau ]

kaaran kavan abol rehaao

O Lord, why are You silent? Pause

bhuq jnm ibCury Qy mwDau iehu jnmu qum@wry lyKy ]

bahuth janam bishhurae thhae maadhho eihu janam thumhaarae laekhae

For so many incarnations, I have been separated from You, Lord; I dedicate this life to You.


kih rivdws Aws lig jIvau icr BieE drsnu dyKy ]2]1]

kehi ravidhaas aas lag jeevo chir bhaeiou dharasan dhaekhae 21

Says Ravi Daas: placing my hopes in You, I live; it is so long since I have gazed upon the Blessed Vision of Your Darshan. 21

25 Years On...Still no Justice!!!!!!!!!!

On June 7th thousands of Sikhs from all over the UK gathered at Hyde Park and then marched towards Trafalgar Square. This is an annual event, but seeing as this was the 25th year there was an extra turn out for the event this year (which is ridiculous really, there should be a similar turn out every year).

It was great to see so many Sikhs getting together to remember the tragic events of 1984. We need more unity on all matters within our community. We as a community may feel that after 1984 we have weathered the tide and the worst is over, we may even think of burying the past. Lets not kid ourselves, theres still an anti Sikh agenda out there. Look at the events in the recent past - we've had the Dera Sacha Sauda fake Baba, the blog site about Sikh Girls, the arson attacks on UK Gurdwaras, and more recently the Austrian incident (which i will discuss later). These issues are still in our midst, and will continue to arise. We as a community need to face these challenges collectively, by putting our petty differences aside.

Back to the 1984 rally, theres been alot of conversations regarding what is achieved by this event and that we are still in the same place as we were 25 years ago in terms of getting justice. Theres even by comments by the Indian Premier to forget those events.

My thoughts and those of friends are that yes this protest march may not be ideal, and we may not be achieving anything in terms of justice etc, but in the absence of any other suggestions then its something that probably will need to continue until the youth step up and think of new ideas. I'd like to point out to the detractors, that look at the sangat that turns up, so many of them were not even born until after 1984, and yet they turn up to this event because they feel passionate about the subject. It was in all honesty great to see the youth participating in this event. The one thing i object to is burning of flags and effigies, which i believe is nonsense and achieves nothing what so ever. It was good to see the youth approaching the non sikhs in and around the area to explain what the march was about etc.. however i think we could do with some professional leaflets explaining the reason for the march.

In terms of forgetting those events. Then i'm afraid that is not an option. The sacrifices made by the thousands of Sikhs during the period of unrest in the Punjab, the desecration of our holiest sites should never be forgotten. We need to raise more awareness within the youth about the events. How can we forget when theres still thousands of innocent sikhs, who have spent their whole youth in prisons and are still languishing in there without any charges. Are these things we should forget, as we are comfy in the West?

My one concern is that those Shaheeds that stepped up to the challenge, and stood against the tyranny as the Sikhs of the Guru would, they laid down their lives, but what of their families? We have forgotten them, we need to do more for them. Many of these Shaheeds were the only earners in their households, they had family responsibilities like us all,they must have had doubts in their minds about what would happen to their loved ones afterwards. Yet they placed their full faith in Guru Ji and literally placed their heads on their palms and embraced martyrdom. But it is our collective responsibility to look after their families, and ensure they face no difficulties. If we do not, then its possible that the future Singhs and Singhnian will think twice before taking such steps.

As for the Khalistan issue, well i think if the issues of the Sikhs had been addressed by the Government, then this demand for Khalistan would never have arisen. Infact i'm sure if the Government made some positive attempts to punish those responsible it would also quell the calls for Khalistan a little, as the Sikhs would feel like part of India. All they want is to be recognised and treated equally.

Finally, if we all become Khalsa first then there aint no Maa da Laal who can stop Khalistan forming.

ART OF PUNJAB - more brilliant paintings

Kanwar Singh Dhillon presents his latest offering, to commemorate the 25 years since the attack on Harmandir Sahib and Akaal Takht Sahib at Amritsar. The latest painting is dedicated to the 6th Nanak Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji, aswell as those shaheeds that layed down their lives in the 1984 attacks.

There are many more paintings at Kanwars website. Please check out the Art Of Punjab website for more details.