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.