Recognize!!!

I was walking down a lonely dark road,

Singing my own tunes, finding a new abode...

On my path, I found a crown of gold,

I was astonished to see, it was beautiful as an ode...

I went further and met someone wise,

Who embedded diamonds on the crown very aptly and concise...

Without the crown, I was nothing but a rand...

Putting it on my head, I started uttering commands...

Going down the journey, which felt fatiguing,

I don't know why junking the crown seemed intriguing...

I approached a pile of mud,

sat on the grass and threw the crown with a thud...

I started applying dirt on the crown,

As if the crown's value is going to rise upon...

Putting the muddy crown, I stood up again

weather was getting hotter, with no sign of rain...

I started feeling weary and tense,

is crown getting heavier or am I losing sense?

I fell on the ground, crying for help,

I couldn't hear anyone, except my own yelp...

The wise man appeared again, watching my face frown

Took off the muddy crown from my head, as I was looking down...

The dirty crown was thrown into some water,

I saw the mud drowning away, and my false kingship in a shatter...

He gave me the crown, which was shiny again

Telling me that applying dirt will only give you heavy pain...

I realized the understanding which was due,

threw away the baggage of thoughts which lowered my own value...

We want to live a life with luxury and accessorize,

It is rather the true value within, which we need to recognize...

Cooker and Kukkad???

When I was around 7-8years old, my dad told me a small story -

Once a robber snatched a purse from an elderly lady in front of two policemen (must be a brave robber). The younger policeman started running towards the robber. His older counterpart shouted - "pakdo na jaan deyo" or "ਪਕੜੋ ਨਾ ਜਾਣ ਦਓ"

Now, my dad asked me how would you put the punctuation in the sentence said by the police officer? (it was a kind of on-spot test for me)...

I - Daddy, it will be "pakdo, na jaan deyo!" or "catch him! don't let go!" (ਪਕੜੋ! ਨਾ ਜਾਣ ਦਓ!)

Dad - "Ok, good. Now put the comma after 'na', and see what it becomes?"

I - "Ohh, it totally changed the meaning, as it now says 'pakdo na, jaan deyo!' which means 'don't catch, let go'" (ਪਕੜੋ ਨਾ! ਜਾਣ ਦਓ!)

I learnt something.

This was my first experience of playing with the words and punctuation. Then while I was growing, I would hear my parents do Japji Sahib, and right at the end of the first pauree, there is a word which I loved in winters - "rajaayi" (ਰਜਾਈ)! :-)

Now, that made me thinking and I finally asked dad why he would read RAJAAYI in the paath? And then he explained, it is called "razaayi" (ਰਜ਼ਾਈ) means under the will. I was surprised to know how its meaning changed by pronouncing it the way it is to be understood. Raza (ਰਜ਼ਾ) is a persian word, but written in Gurmukhi.

On another incident I remember, one of my childhood friends (when he was a kid too) had this keertan cassette tape at his home which had the shabad "main daseho maarag santo, kyon prabhu milayeya"...

ਮੈ ਦਸਿਹੁ ਮਾਰਗੁ ਸੰਤਹੋ ਕਿਉ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਮਿਲਾਈਆ ॥

now, if we don't understand Gurbani properly, the sentence would appear as if shabad is saying "I told the path to the saints, why did you meet the Guru?" Didn't make sense!! After I read the meaning, it opened up as "Show me the Path, O Saints. How can I meet the Guru?"... the "kyon" (ਕਿਉ) actually meant 'how?' instead of 'why?'.

Another experience by the same friend - the cassette played another shabad this time... "hum kookar tere darbaar"...

ਹਮ ਕੂਕਰ ਤੇਰੇ ਦਰਬਾਰਿ

poor kid thought "kookar" means "cooker" as in pressure cooker. He got confused as why would Guru ji talk about pressure cooker in his baani? He "analyzed" further. This time he came up with "kukkad" (ਕੁੱਕੜ as in chicken). He was drooling and happy, as he loves butter chicken! Later, Gurudwara Bhaisaab explained the shabad that "kookar" actually means Dog.

*applause!*

One of the common shabads we use before hukamnama is "assi khatey bahut kamavade, ant na paravaar".

ਅਸੀ ਖਤੇ ਬਹੁਤੁ ਕਮਾਵਦੇ ਅੰਤੁ ਨ ਪਾਰਾਵਾਰੁ ॥

Now, most of the us read it as "khaththey" which means letter (as in post - (ਖ਼ਤ)). Why would Guru Sahib tell that he has earned so many posts, and there is no end to it??!! The khaththey is derived from the word "khata" (ਖਤਾ)or mistakes. Makes sense now?

Time flew... I never gave enough importance to proper pronunciation of Gurbani or understanding real meaning behind those words...

The life was going as it was supposed to be, but then one day, I came in contact with Darpan Guru Granth Sahib by Prof Sahib Singh ji, and when I started reading it, it started becoming clear how important it is to understand the real meaning behind a word and how it should be pronounced. Guru's message started becoming clearer...

In admiration, I started singing

ਗੁਰ ਪਾਰਸ ਹਮ ਲੋਹ ਮਿਲਿ ਕੰਚਨੁ ਹੋਇਆ ਰਾਮ ॥

Obama Vs Emperor Akbar

I was reading all about Obama's trip to Darbar Sahib, Amritsar, and how Sikhs all over the world were excited on that. Now, when he has cancelled his trip, we are not happy. The following thoughts came to my mind:

Mughal Emperor Akbar wanted to visit Guru Arjan Sahib. Why? Because he wanted to meet the Guru and learn something which will help him in life. He learned that even a king is not a king infront of the Guru and the sangat. The king became the part of the sangat.

Other kings, leaders have visited Guru's school in order to see what keeps the sangat so much in chardi kala, and found that the Guru's baani was helping the sangat in each and every step of life...

Do we think those Sikhs cared for Akbar's rank in the society? Ofcourse, Akbar was treated as a part of the sangat, and he received the sewa as well, but he was not treated special. Period.

As I said in the gurbani discussion couple of weeks ago,

A king is a king only when we make him sit on the throne in our mind.

A dear friend of mine, Narinder Singh, sent the vocabulary of Nihangs and they called the donkey as Thaanedar (or vice-versa), which shows they didn't care of anyone with high status in the society. Also, another friend, Baldev Singh told the same thing about the Singhs that we never approached anyone for help/mercy on us. We fought on our own.

Now, when I put the above things in front of me, and correlate Obama to Akbar, I wonder why is he visiting Darbar Sahib?

What is his reason to visit?

Is it to learn about Sikhs?

Or it is just to show that he is dealing with minorities in the world and is a better leader?

Now, if he doesn't want to visit Darbar Sahib, that is his choice (or may not), but who cares?? I don't.

If we want to show him who Sikhs are, we cannot show by showing "our" buildings and our great "history". The buildings and history were created by our great ancestors... We are what we are now.

I really don't think anything related to Sikhs can be resolved by approaching a big leader of some place and asking him to raise the issue of 1984 or any other minority issue at other place. Leaders talk to Leaders in the current society. To be able to talk to the leader, we need to "become" Leaders (Sardars), and as another friend, Gaurav Singh once said, "Khalsa will rule anyway, but for that, one needs to become Khalsa".

I think that if we, as Sikhs, want to get recognized at all (not sure why), but at all, if still we want to get recognized, we need to do those things which our Gurus taught us:

1. Stand against oppression of self and others
2. Fight for the lesser ones
3. Help (we did in Tsunami, Haiti etc)
4. Raise concerns for other affected groups, not just ours
5. Meet other communities which are unjustly impacted by ruling powers, and make connections
6. Approach the real source of the issue, and not get a proxy support of someone else
7. Put our dasvandh together and form groups, join other groups who are in the same cause, and merge the funds if needed
8. Raise money for talented sikhs who can become successful lawyers and moreover, the secretary of the state (who knows?)
9. Create a university
10. We should work hard to become a governor of the state, or any higher post where a Sikh can demonstrate his/her skills as a leader
11. We can then become a part of the decision-making-society and do something which we have not done till now in this "educated" society.

President Obama is always welcome to the home of any Sikhs, but if he doesn't want to visit, one cannot force him...

Discussions welcome...

Breaking our own shell...

It was really hot today!

My car showed 104F when I started it around 5pm! As breeze of air circulated it, the temperature slowly lowered down to 93F... I was like, whoa! That is hot!

Came home, sat for sometime, tuned my dilruba and practiced few tunes. Harshbir, my roomie, joined me as well... :-)

Not wasting time, we thought of making a stride outside and feel the hug of nature. We roamed outside for few moments, then went to another friend's place who lives nearby.

After talking here and there for about an hour, we headed back to our building, just strolling casually...

Suddenly, Harshbir showed me something peculiar in nature, I thought it was a big rock (about 8inches in diameter), but it later turned out to be a Tortoise, standing still near an SUV.

Very interestingly, we leaped towards it, wondering it has come astray from its pond and thought of putting it back.

Suddenly, our amusement went to kind of shock, as its shell was crushed, and it was bleeding... one of its leg was broken.

It was not moving, and we were wondering what to do? I remember once I called my apartment's office to give us Animal Shelter's number which never worked, so I thought of other route!

Harshbir advised to call 311 which is a non-emergency number, and when I called them, they transferred to 911.

Here is what the conversation is:-

Operator (O): 911 - what is your emergency?

Me: There is a tortoise lying on the road, I suppose its shell is crushed by some vehicle and one of its hind leg is broken.

O: Is it moving?

Me: Yes, it can crawl

O: That's what they do.

Me: I know they crawl, but are you going to send any help?

O: Yes, I am trying but Turtle is on their low priority, so I am not sure when can they come your side.

Me: I can wait, how much time will they take?

O: NO idea, it depends, can take 1 hr as well.

Me: What am I supposed to do?

O: Just make sure it doesn't go near the road.

Me: Yeah, we have put in on the curb's grass.

O: That is good.

Me: What about it? It can die like that.

O: There is nothing much we can do as of now.

Me: There is a pond nearby, shall I drop it there?

O: Yes, that should be ok.

Me: Any animal care centre nearby, so I can take it there?

O: There is a centre called Golf Rose Animal care, they will take its care.

Me: Ok, thanks.

I asked Harshbir if he can watch the turtle, so I can get my car keys and a box to put the Turtle in it. He waited there and I ran to my apartment.

From there, I called the Animal care centre, and thankfully, they were open. I talked to them, and in hurry, I could only hear, "Please bring it to us, we will take care of it!"

I was happy and jumping with joy that now the little fellow will be back to its normal life soon, as hospital guys will take its care!

I grabbed the box, drove my car to Mr. Turtle. Harshbir helped putting it in the box.

The survival instincts of the turtle to run away from us was astonishing! It was so clear that it wanted to avoid any foreign contact for any further mishap to already broken shell...

Anyhow, we put it in the box in no time, it was already 8pm and was getting dark. I somehow thought of taking the little one's picture with my phone camera.

Drove to the hospital, and rang the emergency doorbell.

The lady came and did "Aww it is so cute, sir, we will take care of it."

Us: Will it live??

She: No sir, as I explained on the phone, we will humanely euthanize it.

Us: Oh!

She: Yea, it is sad, but it wouldn't live with this condition, so it is better to euthanize it. You did a good and nice job to bring it here. Thanks.

Us: Thanks.

Sad, both of us, walking towards the car... wondering what has happened!

At once, it was about to die, next moment we think it will survive as the hospital will take its care, but then it has to die?

Are we susceptible to such situations? May be, may be not!

If it was "my" Tortoise, I would have paid its cost with pet insurance, and hopefully it may have survived, but no one insures a free tortoise!

I had no idea if I can take insurance of a free tortoise. I could not bring it with me, as we had absolutely no idea how to take its care, and probably make it suffer even more. We just couldn't realize how much pain that little creature would be in.

Dropped it in the nurse's hands, we headed home.

I just could not think of any one to blame for his death...

• Tortoise's shell looks like a stone, so any driver would have easily misjudged it for a rock.
• Police have other human violations issue, so obviously they couldn't come for a tortoise.
• Hospital cannot take a wild animal's care, may be it couldn't survive being the shell its part of the body, OR, there was no insurance over it.

Who died? The innocent turtle...

I just cannot understand this shell of life!

Happy Vaisakhi???

It was a chilly morning of November-December 2009, and winter was starting to dive down a deep slope on the mercury...


After I parked my car, I started walking towards my work building. The windchill was at its peak and I was wondering about the birds and animals who were found nowhere, probably migrated to a warmer place...


When I was about to reach the work-entrance, I noticed that a couple of guys who were Saplings experts, were planting saplings of Lilies, Tulips and other sprouts... making a complete mess of the garden as all ground was dug up to plant the new seeds...


Not sure about the process, I thought to myself, why on earth are they planting seeds in the winter? The snow is on its way, and it ain't gonna flourish anything in future until Sun shines at its peak!


It was fall!! And those guys were planting flower saplings! I thought they were crazy, because I was not sure what they are doing. Probably, my farmer friends know why. :-)


Anyhow, then I thought, if that is a trick, that when snow melts and spring comes, the seeds in the ground will get fresher water and air!


And yes, couple weeks ago, small buds sprouted out of those saplings and last week, Lilies blossomed in those plants!


...




I kind of traced back to my land of five rivers, Punjab, where I used to loose myself in the beautiful fields of flawless flora... especially before the harvest season, the Vaisakhi, when the wind caressed the free flowing farms...


It looked like the farm is dancing to the tunes of the wind! Vismaad!


I am probably writing for the first time on this topic as I realized that we narrate the stories of Vaisakhi to our kids, but don't really recognize the meaning behind Vaisakhi!






So, why did the 10th Master, Guru Gobind Singh choose the beginning of Vaisakh as the day to create the Khalsa?


I reached Mahankosh, by Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, and realized that he mentioned a Gurbani Tuk "Vaisakh Suhava taa lage, ja Sant Bhetae" while describing Vaisakh.


Why the month of Vaisakh - month of Vaishs - worker class's harvest season?


Who is the farmer and what will be harvested?


I realized that before Vaisakh, it was Basant. Is this a coincidence of choosing Vaisakhi as the day or there could be some reason behind this?


For Basant, Guru tells that "ਨਾਨਕ ਤਿਨਾ ਬਸੰਤੁ ਹੈ ਜਿਨ੍ਹ੍ਹ ਘਰਿ ਵਸਿਆ ਕੰਤੁ ॥ ਜਿਨ ਕੇ ਕੰਤ ਦਿਸਾਪੁਰੀ ਸੇ ਅਹਿਨਿਸਿ ਫਿਰਹਿ ਜਲੰਤ"...


while, for Vaisakh, the Guru narrates "ਨਾਨਕ ਕੀ ਪ੍ਰਭ ਬੇਨਤੀ ਪ੍ਰਭ ਮਿਲਹੁ ਪਰਾਪਤਿ ਹੋਇ ॥ ਵੈਸਾਖੁ ਸੁਹਾਵਾ ਤਾਂ ਲਗੈ ਜਾ ਸੰਤੁ ਭੇਟੈ ਹਰਿ ਸੋਇ"


What kind of offering is to be made so that the month of Vaisakh is blissful?






10th Master was testing if the month of blossom, the Basant, has produced any buds which have blossomed with the spirit of spreading fragrance of Truth?


He was testing if those blossomed ones are ready to sacrifice themselves in order to make flower bed for the ones who are walking on the path of Truth?


He was testing if the crops are ready to be harvested as the scorching heat is on its way?




He asked for a head, a head which needs to be cut-off for the sake of righteousness. No questions asked, no reasons given...


All silent... wind blowing...


One by one, the five beloved stood up to bow to the Guru. No questions asked, no reasons given...




I don't know what History says, whether they were beheaded by the Guru or not, but what strikes me, they offered themselves, no questions asked... and alter, they were called, the Punj Pyare!






We sing shabads like, "Gursikh meet, chalo Gur Chaali, Jo Gur Kahe, Soyi bhal maano, Har Har katha niraali..."

ਗੁਰਸਿਖ ਮੀਤ ਚਲਹੁ ਗੁਰ ਚਾਲੀ ॥ ਜੋ ਗੁਰੁ ਕਹੈ ਸੋਈ ਭਲ ਮਾਨਹੁ ਹਰਿ ਹਰਿ ਕਥਾ ਨਿਰਾਲੀ ॥੧॥

Are we doing that? Are we walking on the path what Guru showed us? Are we listening to the teachings what our Guru taught us?


I see, every year, we all get together to celebrate the day which created us, unified us, yet, we have failed to fulfill Guru's desire - to see and treat everyone as equal with no discrimination...


and every hour of every day, we are doing some discrimination with one or the other...


Be it the castes, Gurudwara politics, Dasam Granth issue, Meat issue, different Jathebandis... the list is endless!


We are still not realizing that we have missed alot on nearly every field in life!!


We do not want to sit and discuss the foremost important task given by the Guru - discussion and comtemplation on Guru's teachings in sangat!
We do not want to help other communities at all!
We do not want to do what our strength used to be - cultivation, and just want to sing, dance and drink liquor!
We do not want to fight for 1984 victims!
We do not want to talk about Female foeticides!
We do not want to talk about ill-treatment of women in Sikh community!


But,


We want to discriminate each other on Castes!
We want to fight with sikhs who eat meat and sikhs who do not!
We simply want to take over our local Gurudwaras!
We want to celebrate Vaisakhi by Bhangra festivals and drinking liquor!
We want to wear T-shirts of Jujharoo Singhs, but do not want to live in their shoes!
We want to create a separate land for Sikhs, but not go to India for fighting against injustice for 1984 victims!






Where are we heading??

Asa ki Vaar and Chhants Mehla 4th

So one fine day, I was listening to a collection of Guru's teachings called, Asa Ki Vaar. It portrays a very strong message on the lifestyles we humans live normally and does a strong criticism on the illusions we live in, such as rituals, birth-death, cleanliness etc.

The message really striked to me and my life, but while listening to the Vaar, I realized that before every Shalok and Pauree, the Raagis read "Chhant Mhela 4th", and I could not relate the Chhant's theme with the Vaar.

To dwell more on this, I opened Prof. Sahib Singh's translation on Guru Granth sahib, which is available online at http://www.gurugranthdarpan.com/darpan2/0462.html

To enable some basic understanding, Vaar is a kind of collection which is sung in a folktune associated with some historical figure, and overall, the message and language is quite aggressive in nature. It only contains Shaloks and Paurees. The essence of the Pauree lies at its end and it doesn't have a Rahao, though Shaloks can have Rahao.

Paurees are always supported by Shaloks normally, though some collections like Japjee Sahib, Anand Sahib have only Paurees.

Chhants are another type of poetry which is entirely different from Paurees. Chhants are normally in a collection of 2-4-6.

As per Guru Granth Sahib's structure, the Chhants appear before Vaars, which means, the section of Chhants would appear before the beginning of the Vaar, and when Vaar begins, it would only contain Shaloks and Paurees.

So, the basic question is "Why do Raagis sing Asa ki Vaar which also contains Chhants written by 4th Nanak?"

If 5th Nanak, Guru Arjan Sahib compiled Guru Granth Sahib which separated Chhant from Asa Ki Vaar, who combined it together?

If we read the theme of the Chhants recited along with the Vaar (there are actually 4 chhants each with 6 stanzas, so 4 chhants times 6 stanzas = 24 stanzas, which are an exact fit for the 24 Paurees with Asa ki Vaar???). On a closer look, the chhant portrays a different message than the Asa ki Vaar itself!

I asked many Raagis and musicians, they all say that this is the way it is written (where??) and this is the way it has been happening since Guru's times. I am not able to understand if Guru ji wanted the Sikh to read Vaar like this, why would he write the Chhants separate, around 15 pages before?

The aggression created by the Shaloks and Paurees gets diminished by the message portrayed by the Chhants (because Chhant's theme is different). Just like, if we add "My heart is pierced with Guru's Love" infront of "The liars don't find the place to rest and are expelled to Hell!"
Both lines make true sense, but their message are unrelated to each other. Oranges are oranges and Apples are apples. Both will give different taste, even though both are fruits.

So, I tried singing Asa ki Vaar just like our Guru ji wanted us to read, and I was astonished with the result and the aura that was filled around was unexplainable. Even though I did not sing in Tunde Asraaje ki Dhuni, but the message from the Vaar was oozing out with each Pauree...

.... waheguru....

few nice ones...

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
34. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
35. Your children get only one childhood.
36. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
37. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
38. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
39. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
40. The best is yet to come.
41. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
42. Yield.
43. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.