The Birth of a Conscience

Writing by shinda on Monday, 4 of June , 2007

“A physical death I do not fear, but the death of the conscience is a sure death”

- Sant Giani Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale

If the death of a conscience is a sure death then by the same virtue, the creation of one must be a true birth. It was on this day 23 years ago that the Indian Army took it upon themselves to storm the holiest of Sikh shrines, Sri Harmandir Sahib aka The Golden Temple, in what they dubbed Operation Blue Star. What followed was the genocide of Sikhs from within the Punjab and India itself. Hundreds of thousands of Sikhs were wiped out in fake police encounters, mob riots and other government sponsored programmes. It was an attempt to cleanse the state of what was dubbed by many in Parliament as the “Sikh Problem”, and they decided the best cure was amputation at its very roots, by wiping out an entire generation of Sikhs.

Now as much as people want to dilute what happened in 84 as being a political problem, or one that was between a minority and the government they fail to recognize the actual facts of what happened. When they ask why was Harmandir Sahib fortified I ask why were hundreds of other Sikh temples sieged? Why did they not convict Sant Jarnail Singh, as they had done previously, if he’s all they wanted? Why did they lock hundreds of women and children in the Parkarma and not let them leave having left the fight between them [the army] and the Singhs? Why was it that those who committed the atrocities, that Human Rights organizations the world over recognize, go on to receive awards, and seats in Parliament? Why was it that hundreds of girls were raped in front of their fathers? Why was it that those who investigated the happenings of 84 were kidnapped and killed? Why is it that any independent news reporter or source who looks at what happened in 84 come to learn of the same reality that Sikhs have been holding onto for years?

1984 was never about a single person or a group of people. It was about sending a message that Sikhi in its purest form would not be tolerated. It was about sending a message through intimidation that we own you, and you are ours. They never did accomplish that in its entirety, instead through Guru Sahibs kirpa, they created a day that is ire marked in the fathoms of history as the day when a few hundred Singhs withstood the brute might of the Indian army for a few days. A day when, with nothing more then a limited supply of bullets and resources, a few hundred Singhs withstood the fury and might of the largest hypocrisy in the World, and gave birth to a relative new  consciousness amongst Sikhs the world over.

A consciousness that inspired thousands at that time to give up their illicit ways and return to adopt the values of their forefathers. A day that continues to inspire hundreds of youth to realize the truth of their not so distant past and make an effort to return to their roots. A day that the Indian army tried to bring death to an ideology and kill away the conscience beliefs of the Sikhs, instead turned into a day that they helped plant the seed that continues to give birth to that very conscience every day. It was the very conscience that made me look into my past and history and dwelve deeper into learning about Sikhi. A day that made me go the Gurdwara and ask why, and a day that I give thanks, as it was the day that inspired me and gave birth to my very own consciousness. It truly is a day of birth, not one that is physical or biological in nature, but a real birth, the birth of a conscience.

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Category: Inspirational, Memorials, Sikhi

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Hands up..

Writing by shinda on Monday, 8 of January , 2007

In light of Satguru Sri Guru Gobind Singh Sahib Ji’s gurpurbh recently its only fair we remember what being the son of our father entails.

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Category: Inspirational, Sikhi, Video

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She ran, she ran…

Writing by shinda on Wednesday, 27 of December , 2006

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Category: Inspirational, Sikhi, Video

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Jakaraaa Gujavay Nihaal Ho Javaay …

Writing by shinda on Wednesday, 20 of September , 2006

 

 

Sat Srii Akaaaaaaaaaaaaaal-ih

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Category: Inspirational, Jokes, Sikhi, Video

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The Ignorant Wolf

Writing by shinda on Friday, 21 of July , 2006

Ever since his designation as India’s PM, I’ve always been sceptical of Manmohan Singhs abilities to really serve the Sikh community. While many jumped and continue to jump with joy thinking that in some perverted way we have once again achieved Khalsa Raaj I can only continue to shake my head at the blind ignorance shown by our people.

I was going around the net and came across something written by, Omali Yeshitela who is a prominent figure and passionate speaker in the continuing civil rights movement in the US, which I feel really sums up whats happening today to Sikhs in India, and even across the world. The speech is from one of his works titled, Resistance of African People, Crisis of Imperialism: Why We must Build the National People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement.

I included the live audio portion which was copped from the Dead Prez intro, and a copy of the written speech that I copped from this other mans blog.

I’m told the Native People in the Arctic, in order to kill wolves take a sharp knife, melt the ice, and bury the handle in the ice and let it freeze over with the blade projecting up. They would cover the blade with blood. Wolves would smell the blade and come to try to eat. They would lick the blade. When they licked the blade they would cut their tongues and they would drink their own blood. They really were thinking that they had a lot to eat then, and of course they were drinking their own blood and killing themselves in the process.

One thing though that I do question though is how much of it is the oppressed (the wolves fault). Where Yeshitela blames the oppressor for everything, which is understandable, but there comes a time when the wolf needs to take responsibility. The first time sure, we were. (it [the wolf] was), ignorant about what was happening, but after everything that’s happened and to still remain ignorant crosses over into the realm of stupidity. We need to take more responsibility for our actions but convincing others about being this ignorant has proved to be no easy task. After all how do you convince the other wolves who continue to lick the blade, that its no good, considering they can bare witness to the hundreds of dead wolves around them. This problem stems into so many different branch’s in Sikhi, there are so many different blades that we continue to cut ourselves with, yet even after realization of this self mutilation we continue on, and keep repeating the same mistakes of yesterday, and then wonder why things got this way.

It all comes back to learning from our history, which no one seems ready to do. Thus repeating the same mistakes that we vowed to never let happen again happen right under our watch. So much for least we forget. I can understand the whole moving forward concept, but how can one move forward until the pains of yesterday have yet to be acknowledged. Basically,

Sins must be forgiven before they are truly let go, penance must be made and forgiveness must be asked for. The past, for better or worse is a shadow that gets longer as the day goes on. It follows our every footstep and though we may forget that we have a shadow it nonetheless is behind us every step we take. No matter how far we run or how far we go, there will always be a shadow looming and following, always one step behind so that if we happen to look back we will be forced to remember or we can choose to forget.

[The Joint: Enemy Tactics]

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Category: Inspirational, Protest, Quote of the Moment, Sikhi

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Roots

Writing by shinda on Friday, 17 of March , 2006

So the last video, in the description I wrote a little about what our community is doing good, after all we have made huge in roads in the past while, but at the same time there’s some stuff that we’re not doing.

Here’s another video by Sartaj Singh:

As can be expected the one thing our community is missing now is our Roots. The comparison of Sikhi to that of a plant has been long made and so like any plant as long as that plant has its roots, it will prosper and grow otherwise it will slowly begin to rot and decay.

In Sikhi the limbs of the Sikhs would always be cut, but they would always grow back stronger because our roots were firmly planted. In Mir-Manu’s prisons a common saying had become,

???? ???? ?????; ???? ???? ?? ??? ?
????? ????? ???? ????? ; ???? ??? ???? ??? ?
Mannu is our sickle, we are his grass.
As Mannu cuts us, we grow back more than twice as high.

Now in Sikhi Gurbani has always been that root, but less and less is stressed on Santhia (proper pronunciation and understanding) of Gurbani with more it seems being put on the actual performance of it.

These days it seems people are wanting to more and more jump into the high-profile type of sevaa but never firmly plant their roots. Any jeevan being raised on a foundation without the Gurbani support will sooner or later tip over.

In many Taksals, and primarily Damdami Taksal, Santhia was always the first step. Regardless if you wanted to learn Tablaa, Kirtan, Kathaa, or Khavta’s step one was complete your Santhia. After that it was all on you, as to what type of Giaan and vidiya you wanted to prapat.

The entire essence of Gurbani being the root and focal point for our Jeevans sometimes seems to get lost in all of the klaraa around us, especially amongst the youth. Soooo, read and learn your bani before becoming the next great prechaarak. Instead of running to Sikhi To the Max or other Gurbani search engines we should try to find Gurbani Tukhs that we have kanth (memorized) and use and reflect on those when doing Vichaar. Understand those more fully, then go out and make an effort to learn more, memorize more and contemplate more, and then we to can claim to have our roots in tact.

Akhooo Satnaaam Sreee Vaheguroooo..

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Category: Inspirational, Sikhi, Video

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#8 with 81

Writing by shinda on Monday, 23 of January , 2006

Mr. Bryant does it again, how? I still don’t know, but he managed to get 81 pts. Simply amazing.

How he scored:

2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 3 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 2 1 3 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1.

I’ll give it to Tejdeep for predicting that Kobe was going to have a big night, whereas I thought he’d brush this game aside, after all he was only playing the Raptors.

So what gave Kobe this power? What made him so good, well heres one theory:

I guess now all thats left to do is wait for him to drop 100, after all he is only 27.

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Category: Basketball, Inspirational, Video

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