Halloween

One week from today is 31 October, a significant date for all of us Sikhs. In North America, it is also the date of the second most celebrated holiday (Christmas is first) of the year. I realise that readers inother parts of the world may never have heard of this nightmare holiday, so I will attempt to explain it.

It is Hallowe'en, which is an abbreviation of All Hallows' Eve. All Saints' Day or All Hallows' Day is on 1 November of the Roman Catholic calendar. This is a day set aside to honour all the dead saints. The night before, however, evolved into a time to honour everything evil. I am not going to give a history of Hallowe'en here; if you're interested, here is an excellent website.

I am going to talk about the current celebration. Dressing in costumes is the biggest deal. Traditional costumes are things such as devils, witches, ghosts, skeletons and the like. Modern costumes might be anything - from space aliens to monsters to royalty. Little girls often favour the princess or the ballerina. All dressed up and then what?

Most kids love Hallowe'en.They get to go trick-or-treating, which is simply going from house to house, knocking on the door. When the door is opened, the children shout 'Trick or treat!' The adults are expected to make over the kids, complimenting their costumes and pretending not to know who they are. Then they put candy in the containers the children have brought for that purpose. The name, however, means 'give me a treat or I'll play a trick on you. I don't think that's taken very seriously, though, as I have always ignored Halloween and no one has hassled me.

Parties are also popular for all ages. One traditional Halloween game is dunking for apples. Apples are placed in a tub of water. Hands behind the back, the person is supposed to use their mouth to retrieve an apple.

The haunted house is another Halloween favourite. The point here is to scare people. In a darkened room, a person might put their hand into a bowl of pealed grapes and be told they're human eyeballs. Or long, cooked, oiled pasta might be 'intestines. Human skeletons might jiggle around. Blood-curdling screams are heard. You get the idea.

Often teenagers light firecrackers and smoke bombs boom bombs are much in evidence. Our neighbourhood tends to look, sound and smell like a war zone.

It is also a time when a lot of inhibitions are loosened. Alcohol is consumed in great quantities. Murders, rapes, muggings and other violent crimes abound. Across the street from us lives a 'man' - I call him 'the maggot' - who tried to rape his next-door neighbour girl last summer. He hasn't been around much; everybody knows about it and he isn't safe around here. Nobody, including me, will have anything to do with him. Her brothers beat him up rather thoroughly, but stopped short of killing him. I have no idea how his court case is going, but the charges against him - attempted rape, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, supplying a minor with a controlled substance, supplying alcohol to a minor - are serious enough to send him to prison for many years. I am very apprehensive as to what may happen to his house next Wednesday.

I hate Halloween.

More On Maya - Personal Thoughts

An aside: While looking for pictures I came across something I thought I should alert you to. It is a group of Adventists, evidentally centred in Surrey, British Columbia, who have decided they'd like to convert us to their brand of Christianity. This website post from April this year gives some interesting insights into their methods. You might like to check it out.

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Continuing my theme from yesterday.

So what is it that separates me - myself, me personally, I won't try to speak for anyone else - from God? The Five Great Vices, of course. What else? But let me be more specific. Not all are equally troublesome. I will pick the three that give me the most headaches.

EGO. I had thought maybe I had made a little progress here, until I had that stroke in April, 2006. I learned how self-centred and egotistical I really am. For a long time, I was very reluctant to go in public. I look funny and move funny and run into things and PEOPLE STARE AT ME! And the worst is when they talk to me as if I were mentally deficient. ME! GENIUS ME! OK, I have lost my languages and still have a lot of relearning to do, I admit. I am working on that. I am slowly relearning Gurmukhi. (I wonder why that is so difficult for me?) Even now, it is difficult for me to go to gurdwara because it embarrasses me that I can't bow properly and getting up and down on the floor requires assistance. This is just a small thing, I know, but it is a symptom of a much deeper and larger problem. And I am so proud to be able to admit that. Yow, this ego thing is a slippery problem.

ANGER. Yes, I am angry. After all these years, I am still seething with anger. And my anger is completely justified. Everyone I know agrees with that. My family was murdered for no good reason and I was nearly killed, as well. My friends encourage me to hold on to this anger as both natural and righteous. Perhaps. But forgive me if I quote Dr. Phil: 'Would you rather be right or happy?' Certainly, it's hard to be happy even on this earth while weighed down with a load of anger and hatred. And knowing that is separating me from God adds guilt to the load, as well. Am I justified in my anger? Perhaps. But is it useful to me on my journey home? I think not.

ATTACHMENT. This is the real cause of the anger, I think. I am still attached to my dead loved ones. Although I have a loving husband, I still long for the one who is at home and, I'm sure, at peace. I still ache for my son, my perfect young boy man, so much like the best of his father and grandfather, and maybe a little of me in there, too. My two baby daughters. I never even got to hold them, nurse them, find their names. And my brothers, especially Bert; he was my best friend, the person I could talk to, who had always been there for me, who understood me and always took me seriously, even while seeing everything with a sense of humour

.

There's the list. Ego is slippery and hard to deal with. Anger feels so justified. Attachment is a sort of sweet melancholy. What to do? What to do? I know. I feel my Guru Ji whispering in my ear. Ardaas. Simran. Action. Perseverance. Chardi Kala.

I think this is enough self-reflection for one day. I hope it isn't merely self-indulgence to post it on the Inter net. (Ego again.)





Pictures:





Top- I use a brain to symbolise pride because I have always been proud of my intellect. But this is not just any brain! This is the brain of Albert Einstein.





Middle - I use a nuclear mushroom cloud to symbolise anger. I think this needs no explanation.





Bottom - Anyone recognise what this is? What I use to symbolise attachment is a microscopic view of Velcro being torn apart.

WHY TRY TO FIT IN WHEN YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT?

Reality and Maya

This blog was always meant to be our personal statements. Unfortunately, world events have intervened and I have felt compelled to cover those. I feel the Burmese Uprising in a very personal way. I am deeply moved by the courage and determination of the Burmese people and will continue to support them in any way I can.

Today, however, I am going to be personal. I have had a bad case of insomnia for some years now, about 23 years, to be exact. I often lay awake at night thinking. Last night, I thought about a conversation my Dad and I had had when Sandeep was about four or five. I had never taken Amrit and Mandeep had been on my case about that, much to my annoyance. Of course, I don't really remember our conversation verbatim, but this is how it went.

Query: How is 'Truthful Living' possible, if you can't know what is true?

We were talking about the meaning of 'truthful living.'

I had asked him, what did that really mean, and he answered, 'It can mean a lot of different things, I think, but at its root, it means to live according to what you know within yourself to be true. You have to follow that truth no matter what it is or where it leads you.'

'Something like Shakespeare, "This above all, to thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day, thou canst not then be false unto any man."?' I asked

'Something like that, but it goes deeper, of course. Shakespeare was quite a wise old guy in his own way.' He smiled at me.

But I wasn't satisfied. 'What if it were to lead me away from Sikhi?'

'His eyes narrowed slightly, but he answered without emotion, 'You have to follow what you know to be true, no matter what. That happened with two of your brothers.'

'Charles and Bobby? Those two don't believe in anything except their own miserable selves!'

'Yes. You never saw me try to force them into my mold, did you?'

'No, of course not. You wouldn't do that.'

'So is your truth leading you away?' He finally brought himself to ask it.

I grinned at him. 'No, my problem is different. Completely. You can't really live truthfully unless you know what is true. We are in Maya. How can anyone KNOW anything in Maya. How can you get beyond belief into knowledge. When you're in Maya, how can you know that you're following truth and not just some idea that appeals to you?'

'In Maya, you can't. The best you can do is to find what you can belief to be true and then follow it completely, with yourw'hole being.'

'So one way of believing is as good as another?'

'Isn't that why we Sikhs don't try to convert the world?' And he continued, 'There is one thing. It is possible to step outside of Maya. But let's be clear. What is Maya?'

I knew how to slightly amuse him. 'If you were a Hindu, you'd say all this is Maya,' I waved my hand, 'it's just illusion, not real. Then I'd slug you in the..you know...and ask, do you really believe that's illusion?'

He giggled. 'But I'm not Hindu. And neither are you. And I don't want to be hit.'I quoted. 'Maya is anything that separates a person from God.'

'Samadhi. Moksha. Mukhti. Satori. Whatever word you want to use.'

'Not necessarily. Those are permanent states, under the individual's control. It is possible to just take a short vacation from Maya. Spend a bit of time not separated from God.'

That was really what I had wanted him to talk about because I had had an experience like that when I was pregnant with Sandeep and still had no idea what to make of it. I knew I wasn't enlightened, but I also knew I had experienced something very real, more real than anything else had ever been or ever could be. I had experienced the reality of Waheguru and a love so great that it was overwhelming, even frightening. A reality I had been totally unprepared for. I had told no one, not even Mani about this experience. Now I tried to tell Dad. He understood. I could tell this had happened to him, as well.

I could see the look of relief on his face. 'So Sandeep decided to give his Mata Ji a prenatal present!'

I had to laugh. 'You think he caused it.'

'Unborn children are very close to God. And your son, even now is closer than most people will ever be.'

That was as good an explanation as anyone ever gave me.

This talk was not at all unusual foir us. My Dad and I hads many such talks about the things that wrre really important to us. I was a very fortunate young woman.

Illustration: Vaheguru
Courtesy of Simmal Tree

FREE BURMA - BLOGS FOR FREEDOM

Help the People of Burma -- Post this Meme on Your Blog!
Sep. 30th, 2007 at 12:41 PM

Note: This is a new kind of online protest that uses blogs to spread a petition globally. To participate, just add your blog by following the instructions in this blog post.

These are Burmese Buddhist nuns, called 'The Keepers Of Virtue,' marching for freedom. They have disappeared. No one seems to know what has happened to them.

This not an issue of partisan politics, this is an issue of basic human rights and democracy. Please help to prevent a human tragedy in Burma by adding your blog and asking others to do the same.

By passing this meme on through the blogosphere hopefully we can generate more awareness and avert a serious tragedy. As concerned world-citizens this something we bloggers can do to help.

How to participate:

1. Copy this entire post to your blog, including this special number: 1081081081234

2. After a few days, you can search Google for the number 1081081081234 to find all blogs that are participating in this protest and petition. Note: Google indexes blogs at different rates, so it could take longer for your blog to show up in the results.

3. If you know how to add tags to your blog posts, add the Technorati tag 1081081081234 to your post as well. This will make your post findable sooner in Technorati.


THE SITUATION IN BURMA AND WHY IT MATTERS TO ALL OF US

There is no press freedom in Burma and the government has started turning off the Internet and other means of communication, so it is difficult to get news out. Individuals on the ground have been sending their day-by-day reports to the BBC, and they are heartbreaking. I encourage you to read these accounts to see for yourself what is really going on in Burma. Please include this link in your own blog post.

The situation in Burma is increasingly dangerous. Hundreds of thousands of unarmed peaceful protesters, including monks and nuns, are risking their lives to march for democracy against an unpopular but well-armed military dictatorship that will stop at nothing to continue its repressive rule. While the generals in power and their families are literally dripping in gold and diamonds, the people of Burma are impoverished, deprived of basic human rights, cut off from the rest of the world, and increasingly under threat of violence.

This week the people of Burma have risen up collectively in the largest public demonstrations against the ruling Junta in decades. It's an amazing show of bravery, decency, and democracy in action. But although these protests are peaceful, the military rulers are starting to crack down with violence. Already there have been at least several reported deaths, and hundreds of critical injuries from soldiers beating unarmed civilians to the point of death.

The actual fatalities and injuries are probably far worse, but the only news we have is coming from individuals who are sneaking reports past the authorities. Unfortunately it looks like a large-scale blood-bath may ensue -- and the victims will be mostly women, children, the elderly and unarmed monks and nuns.

Contrary to what the Burmese, Chinese and Russian governments have stated, this is not merely a local internal political issue, it is an issue of global importance and it affects the global community. As concerned citizens, we cannot allow any government anywhere in the world to use its military to attack and kill peacefully demonstrating, unarmed citizens.

In this modern day and age violence against unarmed civilians is unacceptable and if it is allowed to happen, without serious consequences for the perpetrators, it creates a precedent for it to happen again somewhere else. If we want a more peaceful world, it is up to each of us to make a personal stand on these fundamental issues whenever they arise.

Please join me in calling on the Burmese government to negotiate peacefully with its citizens, and on China to intervene to prevent further violence. And please help to raise awareness of the developing situation in Burma so that hopefully we can avert a large-scale human disaster there.

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WHY TRY TO FIT IN WHEN YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT?

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WHY TRY TO FIT IN WHEN YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT?

You Are In Lion Country!

I don't usually do this, but this blog has been so unrelentingly grim for the past few posts, and of course, come October 31 and thereafter, we won't have a lot to laugh about for a while, that I have decided to treat you all to this little gem. It's only 14 seconds long, so even on a slow connexion, it doesn't take much time to download. Please watch it! May such be the end of all our enemies, that is, all the evil people in the world!!

INDIA TRIES TO FRAME KHALISTANIS - AGAIN!!

We supporters of Khalistan had nothing to do with the downing of the Air India airplane and we had nothing to do with this act of terrorism in Ludhiana. Although Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) has been blamed for these horrible murders, they deny involvement, saying, truthfully, that 'harming innocent civilians is against the tenets of the Sikh religion.'
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India Attempts to Defame Sikhs in Bomb Blasts

Wednesday 17th of October 2007

Panthic Weekly News Bureau

Ludhiana, Punjab (KP) – A recent bomb blast that took place at the city's Shingar Cinema left six dead and over 30 injured. Immediately, authorities began to point fingers as Sikh organizations without studying the evidence. The bomb blast took place this past Sunday when the cinema hall was packed with mainly poor migrant workers who had come to watch the premier of the latest Bollywood comedy movie. Forensic Science specialists have confirmed that about 500 grams of RDX was used in the blast. Initially it was held by Punjab Police officials that ammonium nitrate and calcium sulfate could have been used along with RDX, but the specialists have ruled out this speculation. Although so far no group has come forward to take credit for the blast, the Punjab Police Officials had announced less than 6 hours after the attacks took place that the Sikh freedom groups, Babbar Khalsa International Organization and the Khalsa Commando Force were likely to be behind the attacks. It is also being explained that the Harkat-ul-Jehad-al-Islami (HuJI) organization which has roots in Bangladesh could have collaborated with the Khalistani freedom organizations on the blast. Where the Punjab Police officials should have been commended for their swift efforts of unraveling the mysterious plot of the blast, they have actually become the subject of much disparagement by the people of Punjab. Panthic organizations too have lashed out at the Punjab Police for not finding any firm proof even though days have passed since the blast took place. Capt. Amarinder Singh, the former Punjab Chief Minister, suggested that the Punjab Police should do investigation work into finding the actual criminals behind the blast. He held that in the past, the police teams have put the blame on organizations such as the Babbar Khalsa and other organizations without any forethought on the evidence present. Former Punjab Chief Minister also suggested that Parkash Badal's Government should hold meetings of all party officials to come up with solutions to these problems. He said that ever since the new Government has been formed, the communal harmony of Punjab has been disturbed. Punjab Police however is swift in its stand of putting the blame on the Babbar Khalsa Organization. Police officials have come forward to accept the latest revelations of the forensic science team and have stated that in the past, Babbar Khalsa has used RDX in many of its operations. The Shingar Cinema incident is also being allegedly linked to the bomb blasts that took place in New Delhi, even though those were shown not to have any links to Sikh groups. Similar to the "guess and blame" strategy of the Punjab Police, New Delhi also had failed to find any evidence in the tragic bomb blasts and put the blame on Babbar Khalsa International—as during that time, they needed Jagtar Singh Hawara to swear in some court cases that were pending there. Hawara, however, openly condemned the Delhi blasts in the court hearings and held that the Babbar Khalsa Organization was committed to form a separate Sikh Nation but it has never targeted innocents in any of its operations as that is against Sikh ethics. In recent press reports, the Babbar Khalsa and Dal Khalsa has openly codemned Ludhiana incident and stated that their organizations had nothing to do with the violence. A Babbar Khalsa spokesman stated that harming innocent civilians was against the tenants of the Sikh religion. Bhai Avtar Singh Babbar (Pehlvan) became associated with Babbar Khalsa International because it was said that this group ran completely according to Sikh principles and the workers are all very dedicated to religious matters. In his earlier life, Bhai Avtar Singh was not firm in his religious beliefs but later, he faced such circumstances that he became ready to sacrifice his all and die for the Sikh faith and Sikh interests.

WHY TRY TO FIT IN WHEN YOU WERE BORN TO STAND OUT?