Taking Back Your Head

A poem for those who once gave Guru Jee their head by taking Amrit, but took it back...

Guru Gobind Singh Ji tried, to keep you on the right track
You gave Him your head, but then you took it back


Turning your back on Guru Ji, how did it feel?
Or were you too busy convincing yourself, that "It's really no big deal"


Remember that day when you took Amrit and made a vow?
What happened to those promises, who is your Guru now?


You sold out your Sikhi, and that's the plain truth
You ruined this precious life, saying "I want to enjoy my youth"

To make yourself feel better, you can say whatever you want to

But one dreadful day, your words will come to haunt you

And when that day comes, you will regret what you have
done
You lost your honour, in a battle you should have won


This world is just maya, it will take your Sikhi away
Tell me, did you forget that you are gonna die one day?

When this dream called life reaches its end
Then who will be your saviour, your helper, your True Friend?


There is still hope, you need to sharpen your mind

Go towards Guru Ji, and the Truth you will find

To merge with God, you were sent to earth

Trying to impress the world, you wasted the human birth

Did you think of those mothers,
who wore their babies around their necks?
Or did all you think about, was attracting the opposite sex?


The very same hair that Guru Ji put Amrit in
You grabbed the scissors, and committed the ultimate sin


Guru Ji's Sons gave their lives, so you can be a Sikh
Their Sikhi remained strong, with each and every brick

Now is the time, for you to wake up and take control
Guru Ji is the water, that will sooth your burning soul


Do you really want to come back to this hell on earth?
Wandering and suffering, birth after birth

You say you're not ready to take Amrit, thats always your reply
But think about this...are you ready to die?

You think you'll practice Sikhi, in the future when you are old
But tell me, do you know when your body will turn cold?


When it's all said and done, you will be full of sorrow and regret
You'll want to go to Sach Khand, but the requirements were not met

Guru Ji's arms are wide open, and He is waiting for you
It's time to take action, and do what you gotta do

Change your life RIGHT NOW!, don't wait another day
Tomorrow may never come, then what will be left to say?
That Guru Gobind Singh Ji tried to put me on the right track
I gave Him my head, but then I took it back.

Poem courtesy of Sikh Roots

OUR HERITAGE - THE BATTLE OF SARAGARHI: THE REVISED VIDEO

(NOTE: Today, 28 Oct 09, I received this revised video, so I am replacing the old one with it.)

Every time I hear of some young Singh cutting his kesh, shaving his beard because he is teased or out of fear or because of his belief that the girl prefer a more conventional-looking boyfriend, or of some young Kaur shaving her legs and underarms because of the bullying by the "Mean Girls" at her school or plucking her eyebrows for the sake of "fashion," I think of the Battle of Saraghari. Twenty-one Sikhs against 10,000 Afghan tribesmen. Today, we are well aware of the fierceness and determination of the Afghans.

The Afghans fought against the Soviet Union until that country retreated in defeat, bankrupt, only to fall into nonexistence in a very few years.


Now the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom and a few other Western countries are again - foolishly, in my opinion - attempting to defeat the Afghans using military power.

In 1897, against 10,000 of these fierce, determined fighters stood 21 equally fierce, determined Sikh warriors.

My Sister Kaurs and Brother Singhs, these are the people we are sprung from, either by blood or by choice (or by both). This is who we have been, who we can be and who we should be. Guru ji asks this of us and we are strong enough to respond with a shout of "BOLE SO NIHAL! SAT SHRI AKAL!!" if we choose. The choice is ours.

Whether you are Kaur or Singh, if you are thinking of dishonouring your kesh because of fear or fashion or any other reason, please watch this video first and think about who and what you are. Consider deeply those who have gone before, those even now being persecuted (including possibly yourself) and those who will come after. If your choice is to cut, you cannot be stopped; it is your right as a free human being. Just be sure you understand that you are throwing away more than a few strands of hair. You are throwing away the gift of Vaheguru and are belittling the sacrifices of our shaheeds.

The Beard of Swaran Singh - Part Two.

I am sitting here near Seattle on the hottest day ever recorded here. 102F, 38.9C. Not all that hot in Amritsar or Las Vegas, but deadly hot to these weak Seattlites. I'm OK, with a fan and a spray bottle of water.

So, for a summer break...

I know I have posted about Bhai Swaran Singh and his beard before, but I just came across this Youtube video and want to share it with you.

First, a still from the video:


Then the caption from the video:

Mar. 11 - A Canadian man who has grown a beard that measures over seven feet long is all set to be endorsed in the record books.

Swaran Singh, a music teacher from Canada who is visiting his native Punjab, is the pride of all the Sikhs for sporting a beard that measures over 7 feet long.

He expects it to be endorsed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

As a devout Sikh, Singh wanted to inspire the young members of his community to retain the hair and not crop it.

(SOUNDBITE) (Punjabi) SWARAN SINGH: "God blessed every man with beard, but I have received special blessing from Him. I have done nothing special except caring it (beard). I have never applied any special hair oil on my beard and of course, I haven't done this for the sake of Guinness record."

And, at last, the video itself:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvnWUftW4uE

Happy summer to all (in the Northern Hemisphere). Happy winter to you in the hemisphere of Oz.

6 June 1984-2009 If Ye Break Faith...

Another sleepless night. I had not intended to write a special post for 6 June this year, as there are so many others. Last night, however, as I lay awake, some thoughts came to me that I feel the need to share.

Again I saw the billowing clouds of smoke rising from Akaal Takht, choked on the acrid air, gagged at the smell of blood and decomposing bodies.




After Sohila, as I was logging off, this very famous picture flashed for a moment on my monitor:



and a poem that I learned in elementary school came into my mind:

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses [and Khandas!], row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.



— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 - 1918)

[For the story of the poem and its historical context, click on the title]

I saw the saffron turbans of the shaheeds as those poppies growing "in Flanders fields" and thought about the meaning of those turbans and the kes they protected. I considered the meaning of our kes.



I know this is a topic that has been beaten to death, and you may well be sick and tired of it. Please indulge me and read on. My husband and son and other family members achieved their shaheedi protecting and honouring that kes; I am left alive to speak for them.

"If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep."

Those are haunting words, aren't they?

Is not dishonouring your kes breaking faith with these brothers who lie dead a mere 25 years ago? Please think about this, think very deeply. Does their sacrifice not serve as an inspiration to honour them by keeping your hairs unshorn? Is it really such a big sacrifice for you to keep your hairs, for my brothers to refrain from cutting and shaving, to tie a turban and walk proudly in the shadow of our Gurus? Is it really such a big sacrifice for you to keep your hairs, for my sisters to refrain from plucking and threading your eyebrows, for refusing to shave the hairs of your legs and underarms and "bikini line." We are all familiar with the picture of the scalping of Bhai Taru Singh, blood pouring over his body from his bleeding head. (If you aren't, here it is:)



Our mothers and fathers, our sisters and brothers, our daughters and sons, have willingly become sacrifices for this part of our bodies we Sikhs hold sacred. If it really is a sacrifice, is it not a sacrifice worth making?

"If ye break faith with us who die..."

Please, if you have kept kes and are considering shearing it, on this Day of Remembrance, think of this great sacrifice of our beloved shaheeds and make your own much smaller sacrifice.

"If ye break faith with us who die..."

And, if you have kept kes in the past and have stopped, today is a good day to reconsider. Words such as mona and patit are easily thrown around, I know, and I have found few Sikhs who want these words applied to them. These words can be left behind. Our hairs are very forgiving. Cut them or shave them, they grow back. Pluck them - it takes a bit longer, and they still grow back. Shearing is a deed that can, to a great extent, be undone.

If ye break faith with us who die..."

If you have never kept kes, today would be a good day to start. Yes, I know your friends, colleagues, co-workers might think you eccentric, strange, even silly, you might face ridicule and lack of understanding, it won't be easy. What in life that is worth accomplishing is easy? And who ever said being a Sikh is easy?

So...please consider the meaning of kes and start today becoming a "visible Sikh" in the tradition and footsteps of our Gurus, our sants and our shaheeds. Tie a turban today. You do not have to wait until your hair are long to do so. If you don't know how, go to your nearest gurudwara; I guarantee that there are those who will be delighted, overjoyed to teach you. And, yes, this applies to girls/women as well as boys/men.

If you are still not inspired - or even if you are - take about ten minutes and watch this:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnWcEOYR3lE

From Raj Karega Khalsa

This Shabad is by Guru Nanak Dev Ji in Raag Raamkalee on Ang 941 of Dhan Dhan Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj:

The Gurmukh lives in Fear of the True Lord.
The Guru's Bani refines the unrefined of the Gurmukh.
The Gurmukh sings the Lord's Immaculate Praises.
The Gurmukh attains the pure, supreme status.
The Gurmukh meditates on the Lord with every hair of his body.
O Nanak, the Gurmukh merges in Truth. The Gurmukh is pleasing to the True Guru; this is contemplation on the Vedas.
Pleasing the True Guru, the Gurmukh is carried across.
Pleasing the True Guru, the Gurmukh receives the spiritual wisdom of the Shabad.
Pleasing the True Guru, the Gurmukh comes to know the path within.
The Gurmukh attains the unseen and infinite Lord.
O Nanak, the Gurmukh finds the door of liberation.



And while we are at it, think of the blood of our shaheeds that was spilled on this day, the blood that turned the water of our sacred sarovar red, the blood that the army soldiers told our sisters and daughters to drink to quench their thirst, think of their blood, then go to the gurudwara sahib and give some of yours so that others can live.

Hood No Match For Turbanator

Here is a story from Australia that I found in a Google Alert today. Amandeep Singh's actions we can all be proud of.

From the Herald Sun:

Hood no match for Turbanator

A SIKH service station worker attacked by a bandit with a baseball bat says his turban saved his life.

Amandeep Singh weathered a rain of blows from the would-be robber, then managed to disarm him and use the bat to give as good as he got.

"I smacked him," he said. "After that, he fell to the ground.

"When he stood up, he said, 'I'm bleeding, I'm bleeding.'

Thwarted, the bandit fled empty-handed.

Mr Singh said the man entered the Coles Express about 12.10am yesterday and asked him for car oil.

Suddenly, he rushed Mr Singh, repeatedly punching him and striking him in the head and face with the sawn-off bat.

"He just started beating me with his fists and then he pulled out a baseball bat," Mr Singh told the Herald Sun.

"I am a Sikh, and I wear a turban. He hit me on the turban with the bat, and somehow I managed to grab the bat from his hand and I hit him back.

"He came rushing towards me, and I knew something was wrong. All I know is, my turban saved my life."

The 25-year-old TAFE student spent the night in Maroondah Hospital, where he was treated for facial injuries including a suspected broken nose and severe cuts and bruises.

But he said the attack would not stop him from returning to work at the outlet in Stud Rd, Wantirna South.

"I'm not a coward, so I will be going back to work. I'll be back there on Saturday," he said.

Sen-Det Paul Cosgrove, of Knox police, said Mr Singh had been forced to defend himself from a vicious and brazen attack, and had reacted bravely.

"It's fairly nasty, and there's a fair bit of blood everywhere," Sen-Det Cosgrove said.

"There were no demands. He just attacked. He (Mr Singh) was confident enough to take some evasive action and, as a result, has prevented further harm to himself."

The attacker was described as Caucasian, about 177cm tall, of a thin to medium build.

"I don't hate him," Mr Singh said of his attacker.

"But why would he do this to me? What have I done to him?"

The attack on Mr Singh is one of a number of attempted robberies on late-night convenience store workers in recent months.

Lindsay Connerty, 51, was attacked by a man armed with a 30cm carving knife at a 7-Eleven in Barkly St, St Kilda, in February. He suffered stab wounds to his hands, head, chest and back after vainly trying to use a baseball bat to fend off the thief.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

I will admit to a slight giggle as I noted the time of the assault.

There is a slight problem here. The picture, which I have not put on this blog, of Amandeep Singh after the attack, a surveillence picture with his kesh open and exposed. You can follow the link at the beginning to see the picture, if you like.

I made a comment which was published (Note: An earlier comment wondered, 'Where was his kirpan?':

Mr. Singh acted with courage and presence of mind. There was no need to use his kirpan, which would have been used only as a last resort. The bat seemns to have worked very well!

However, I must object to publishing this picture. Showing the kesh (unshorn hair) of a Sikh who normally wears a turban is roughly the equivalent of showing a woman with her upper body unclothed. Surely a more appropriate picture could have been found.

Posted by: Harinder Kaur of Seattle, USA 3:28pm today

Since there are no pictures with this post, I give you some more from professional photographer Charles Meacham. These are of elderly Sikh gentlemen. To see more, go to his website, Charles Meacham Photography, click on Galleries and then on Being Sikh.
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WHY TRY TO FIT IN?
YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT!