Amritsar – Panjab – India, 15 January 2022. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia visited Golden Temple in Amritsar on 15 January. Punjab will go to the polls on 14 Feb 2022.
To see the video click on the link below:
https://www.aninews.in/videos/national/sad-leader-bikram-singh-majithia-visits-golden-temple/
At least 30 people have been killed and thousands have been displaced after severe flooding in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
Consistent heavy rainfall for a week resulted in flooding. Several villages have been cut off from highways, making it difficult for authorities to send emergency supplies and conduct rescue missions.
Officers from India’s navy and air force have been dropping food and water in cut-off villages and towns. They have also been rescuing people from low-lying areas.
Video footage by ANI news agency
To see the video click on the link below:
Singh wants to end the marathon in style – by skipping to the finishing line.
Scroll Staff
London – UK, 01 October 2021
See the video by clicking on the underneath link:
New Delhi – India, 19 July 2021. It’s been seven months since tens of thousands of farmers marched to the Indian capital, Delhi, in protest against agricultural reforms.
Three new laws, which sought to increase the role of the private market in Indian farming, caused huge protests late last year.
The government says the laws will help farmers in the long run, but farmers say they will weaken their position and make them dependent on corporate companies.
Many of them have refused to return to their farms until the laws are repealed – and they have stayed through a harsh winter, a deadly second Covid wave and a scorching summer.
The BBC visited the protest site to find out what has kept them going.
Video by Anshul Verma
To see the video click on the link below
Tribune Web Desk
Chandigarh – Panjab – India, 06 July 2021.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wore a turban and greeted an audience ‘Sat Sri Akaal’ while inaugurating a Gurdwara at Silat Road in Singapore.
Parminder Singh, CXO-Mediacorp, shared a clip of the incident on Twitter saying: “Singapore Prime Minister, @leehsienloong inaugurated a newly renovated Gurdwara wearing an immaculate turban and greeting everyone with a perfect Sat Sri Akaal!”
Also see the article in the Straits Times
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/silat-road-sikh-temple-reopens-after-renovation
You can see a video clip and a picture by clicking on the underneath link.
Sant-Sipahi or Saint-Soldier is a concept conceived by Guru Gobind Singh. Tenth Guru was not the first Guru to keep an army, and I think that for instance the armies of Guru Hargobind or Guru Har Rai were based on similar principles.
When Guru Teg Bahadur went to Delhi to ask Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb to grant religious freedom to the Kashmiri Pandits his four companions were tortured and murdered and the Guru Sahib was beheaded.
That demonstrated to Guru Gobind Rai that it was impossible to negotiate with Aurengzeb. He felt that Sikhs had to stand up for the right to be different and that due to the emperor’s bigotry they had to use the sword.
But using violence is dangerous. There are plenty examples of historical and modern movements which were forced to use violence against dictators, but who ended up losing sight of the ideals they started out with. They became warriors and oppressors like the rulers they fought against.
This is the context in which I understand the Sant-Sipahi. Guru Teg Bahadur tried the peaceful way and that did not work. Guru Gobind Singh felt forced to use the sword, but he wanted his soldiers to remain faithful to the Sikh ethical principles.
Saint-Soldiers should first look for a peaceful solution but when that is not possible armed struggle is justified. The Saint-Soldier should remember God with everything he/she does, should not fight out of anger or because of wanting to take what does not belong to him/her.
The Guru’s principles worked for his army. How well the principles were maintained in the period between the Guru’s death until the advent of Maharaja Ranjit Singh is another matter.
There are stories from that period about Sikhs who did not fight out of anger or greed. But there are also stories that show the opposite, like Misl fighting Misl over the land that was under their protection.
And it is obvious that Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who took over the areas protected by other misls, who was greedy for costly jewels, costly horses and costly women, was not a Sant-Sipahi. That does not mean that he was all bad, but his professional army was not an organisation that a Sant-Sipahi could feel at home in.
Most of the Misl soldiers that he inherited despised him, but in spite of that they were the ones who during the Anglo-Sikh wars remained loyal to the Lahore Kingdom and gave the British army a very hard time. Many of the people connected to the Lahore darbar betrayed the kingdom to the British.
Since then many Sikhs have served in the British Indian Army and fought in both World Wars. The British saw the Sikhs as a ‘martial race’. But is being ‘martial’ enough to be a Sant-Sipahi ? There are also many Sikhs who only do the Sant bit, not the Sipahi, which is not what the Guru wants from us. Guru’s teachings are not difficult to understand, but practising them is challenging.
To see my katha on the Sant Sipahi and Miri Piri click on the link below
Inspirational talk by Bhai Harjinder Singh Ji on Sri Akal Takht Sahib
please read:
I have written about meditation before and made a YouTube video in which I meditated and explained the meaning of the words of the meditation.
The first word I meditated upon was ‘Vahiguru’, followed by ‘Ik Ongkár, Sat Nám, Kartá Purkh, Nirbhau, Nirvair, Akál Murat, Ajuni, Saibhang, Gurprasád. Finally I sang a short passage from the Jáp Sahib : Gubinde, Mukande, Udáre, Apáre; Hariang, Kariang, Nirnáme, Akáme.
Although these meditations are by different authors, and have slightly different ‘positions’ in the Sikh tradition, they are all about qualities, aspects of God.
Words like God, Allah, Har or Prabh all mean the same: God. They are generic words for God. Words like Vahiguru, Gobinde, the Merciful or the Allmighty represent different qualities of God. Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhi are monotheistic traditions, they all believe in the One, but they all use words that describe qualities of God. God is One, but She/He has many aspects.
If you were to know and understand all the words used in the different spiritual traditions to describe aspects of God, you might begin to understand something of the greatness of God.
Nám simran, meditation on Nám, remembering Nám, is about getting nearer to God by understanding and repeating words that try to describe aspects of God.
Vahiguru
Wonderful bringer of light into darkness
Ik Ongkar – Satnám – Kartá Purkh – Nirbhau – Nirvair – Akál Murat – Ájuni – Saibhang – Gurprasád
One Omnipresent, All-powerful – True Name – Creator Being – Without Fear – Without Enmity – Undying – Does not die, is not born – No Needs – Guru’s Blessing
Gobinde – Mukande – Udare – Apare;
World Sustainer – Liberator – Keeps Giving – Without Limit.
Hariang, Kariang, Nirname, Akame.
Destroyer – Creator – Without Name – Without Lust.
Simran, Meditation, thinking about God is not a question of saying certain words as often as possible, as fast as possible. Slowly saying a word, in a loving manner, tasting the sweetness of God on your tongue is what I try to do. It is essential to understand what you hear, Guru tells us again and again that we should do vichár.
Nám, godly essence, is in all the shabads of the Guru Granth Sahib. Reading, listening to, trying to understand the shabads and applying what you learned, is also meditation. Think about God with everything you do and you will be honest, you will share and you will see God in all, without which you will not see God at all. It is that simple and that complicated. But it works, results guaranteed!
http://www.sikhnet.com/news/man-blue-simran-meditation-thinking-about
Recorded on Friday 14 2014 in the Sangat TV studio, Southall, shown on Sangat TV Sunday 16 2014
English Katha & Simran by Harjinder Singh, Man in Blue
Harjinder Singh – Man in Blue
Chandi Kaur interviews Harjinder Singh (Me) for Sangat TV
about the Sikh naming ceremony
Click on the link below
Improved sound quality !
It is all local, known Southall Sikhs in a well known place on Havelock Road
Maninblue1947's Weblog 