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Balkaar

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Everything posted by Balkaar

  1. Lenin and Stalin aren't to atheists what Jesus or Muhammad are to Christians and Muslims. Atheist does not equal communist. No communist dictator killed in the name of atheism, only in the name of the socialism, a political ideology, not a religious one. Agree with you on all other fronts however. Our Gurdware, our rules. Multiculturalism started off as something quite wonderful. Unfortunately, it's been perverted over the years into a sort of hyper-political correctness, which excuses or attempts to cover up even the worst transgressions of certain cultures, for instance, genital mutilation (an African/Arab phenomenon), honour killings and female infanticide (phenomena particularly rampant among PUNJABI SIKHS) or the rape of young white girls by Pakistani gangs (reported as being 'Asian' gangs by the media, implicating an entire subcontinent in the problems of a very particular group), for fear of appearing 'racist'. Faith schools, including Sikh faith schools, are a bad idea too. Let religion have jurisdiction over temples and churches, not the education of children in a secular country. Children of all faiths should study together in the same schools.
  2. Perhaps not, but if I had to make an estimate, I would guess that most Sikhs agree with them, given the mass of support their initiatives have enlisted, and the total nonexistence of any concerted opposition to their moves by any Sikh group. After Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the second highest authority is invested in the Panth. If this is what most of them want, as seems to be the case, then should it not be so? Panth Khalsa is a democracy is it not?
  3. Sikhs haven't struggled to recognized as a separate ethnic group? I beg to differ, as apparently do these links: http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/30082/board-rejects-sikh-attempt-list-jews-and-sikhs-ethnicity http://sikhsiyasat.net/2015/02/04/uk-sikhs-want-separate-ethnic-monitoring-of-sikhs-section-2-of-the-sikh-manifesto-2015-2020-uk/ http://unitedsikhs.org/docs/kyr/KYRCensusRepresentationCard.pdf The Sikh federation and United Sikhs are among the largest representative bodies of Sikhs and Sikh interests in the UK and US respectively. I can remember that before the British census of 2011, people were standing with petitions in the Singh Sabha Gurdware in Southall advancing the cause of a separate box under the heading of ethnicity for Sikhs. A lot of signatures were collected.
  4. I agree entirely, I can't sympathize with this insistence by some Sikhs that for me to even say that I am of a certain racial descent, that I am of Jatt descent for instance, is anathema to the principles of Sikhi and that I am a casteist fool at the root of all Sikhi's problems for speaking thusly. I don't think my being of Jatt ancestry makes me better than anyone else, its whats written in my genes, it cannot be changed. That's just the thing. The idea of denying somebody entry into the Sikh religion on the basis of their color fills me with revulsion. Sikhi IS open to all. But on the other hand, I also do not like the idea that our traditions, many with explicitly Punjabi connotations, particularly with regards the script and poetry of our sacred scriptures, might have to be discarded in order to accommodate converts from vastly different cultures. Am I a chauvinist for thinking this way? In India, Sikhism and Sikh traditions are routinely attacked by the establishment and by the government of India. The best way to repel their efforts would be self-determination for the Sikh people, but that will only be achieved if we can make the case to the rest of the world that we are an ethnic group and that any devolution of powers is taking place on the basis of nationhood/ethnicity. Not on the basis of religion - as with the creation of Pakistan, which should never have happened. I am conflicted.
  5. Lol as much as I like that title I don't suppose I would actually adopt it. That's exactly the sort of thing I wanted to understand in posting this question. Is the Sikh ethnicity separate from the Sikh religion, or is it one and the same? Does the Sikh ethnicity, if there is one, really matter when compared to our sacred duty to spread the Jot of Guru Nanak to all corners of the Earth? I can't say that any of my doubts have been allayed just yet.
  6. Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh, As I understand it, Gurbani is quite open to the idea that the Hindu deities exist (albeit in not as exalted a state as the Hindus believe) in certain realms of the universe. Is Gurbani also receptive to the idea that the gods of Greek and Norse Paganism may be real? There are a good many parallels between the Gods and myths of Indic and European paganism. A thunder God (Indra, Thor) defeating a great serpent who forms a circle to contain the waters of the world, a sun God (Surya, Helios, Sol) who rides across the sky in a chariot, and a great many more. If anyone well versed in the intricacies of Gurbani could provide some insight on the matter, I would be grateful. I would also appreciate the views of those familiar with Paganism. Would it be anti-Gurmat to incorporate a Pagan reverence of nature into one's practice of Sikhi. I often feel like I wish I could demonstrate my love for the natural world through some spiritually-charged action (humans have an innate need for ceremony and ritual after all).
  7. Brother (or sister, as the case may be ), they were known to be from the Punjab region, not simply believed to be.
  8. It may not have begun as an ethnicity in 1699, but it has become one over the course of 300 odd years. All ethnic groups have to have their beginnings somewhere, cultures and nations don't just spontaneously materialize. Sikhi didn't even start off as a distinct religion (Bhai Mardana referred to himself as a Muslim Sikh), it only became one through the centuries because of the continuous assault and persecution which necessitated a separate identity , hence the conception of Miri-Piri by Guru Hargobind Sahib, and the founding of the Khalsa by our Dashmesh Pita, among other things. Neither of these developments would have taken place if not for Mughal persecution. And without these developments, the Tisar Panth, Sikhi, would never have distinguished itself from Bhakti Hinduism or Sufi Islam.
  9. Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh, The Sikh religion is self-admittedly universal. I do not believe any Sikh would disagree. The Sikhs of the diaspora (and, it may be said, in India) have fought tooth and nail for a long time in order to be recognized as a distinct ethnic group. The argument which is used most commonly to refute this proposition is that Sikhism is a religion, theoretically open to anyone. In order to be described as an ethnic group a people must share a common language, culture, history, religion, and geographical origin. As is currently stands we fulfill all these criteria. But if Sikhi were spread and converts to be made to such an extent that, in the future, a large proportion of of Sikhs did not trace their origins to the Punjab, speak Punjabi and did not share in the history which flows through our veins in the form of the blood of our forefathers, then we could never again advance the idea that we are an 'ethnic group' because the definition of this term would no longer apply to us. In other words, the more converts are made to the Sikh religion, the more the cause of a distinct Sikh ethnicity is undermined and undone. Does the self determination of the Sikh people (the desire to be recognized as a separate ethnic group) conflict with the proliferation of the Sikh religion? Which of these causes do you consider to be more important? I cannot yet decide. I love our people and our traditions and the greatest way to protect the integrity of these traditions would be Sikh self-determination. But I also don't like the idea of denying the Jot of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj to the world and its people, who sorely need it in the blackness of Kaljug. May any offence I might have caused be forgiven, Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh
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