Evidently, it has been a while since I last posted something. I have been pretty busy with school, work and some other things. I am also hesitant to post on a new topic, because of all the time that was wasted arguing on the kachhera post. It wasn't all unproductive, there were some good, educational comments.
I will post some pictures of things that have been going on here. And if you would like to request a topic to be discussed, it could help to make me post a new discussion. Just leave a comment on what you want to discuss, and any details. It will be like a vote, but I will have veto power on topics that I don't know enough about or that I just don't want to post. By this weekend I will count up the votes and hopefully have a good topic to post about.

I have learned, hopefully along with all of the people involved in last discussion, that we all have strong beliefs, and arguing is simply not going to change them. My intention was not to start a debate, but to discuss what people had learned and, especially, what they had experienced with the five K's. There are several Rehit Namas, a few of which were written by people in the court of Guru Gobind Singh (Bhai Nand Laal and Bhai Daya Singh), yet they are still different. This could have been just the Rehit that they had gotten personally, or they could have been changed over time. These things (five K's, Bani, Bana, Seva and Simran) are not just there because "The Guru told us to do/wear it" they all have symbolic, spiritual and scientific reasons. Knowing this, I just wanted to discuss what people knew, not what other people knew or said. So in future posts, please understand this.
In the previous comments, I said that I did not want people to Quote the Siri Guru Granth Sahib or anyone else. The reason for this was because most of the quotes that had been posted were either not translated accurately, or the were misspelled. So, if you are going to post a quote, look over it a couple times so that you are not misquoting the Gurus. And for the translations, ideally, I would like people to translate them by themselves, word-for-word. But if you want to put one please check over it yourself. Also, just so things can be looked at neutrally, please state the page number, so that people can check for themselves. I just want to make sure the Guru is not misunderstood, and try my best to make these discussions neutral and not big, endless arguments. Also remember: there is no good or bad (or wrong or right) only thinking makes it so!
Charh di Kala!

Ustaad Surjeet Singh
Raag classes and performances

Starting on Friday, February 17th, there have been classes on Raag Kirtan with Ustaad Surjeet Singh and his nephew Avtar Singh. I used to play the sitar in 11th grade at Miri Piri, but in 12th grade I stopped for studies. I picked it again, and am recovering my lost skills.

Here are some pictures of all the students of the class playing Kirtan in Gurudwara:



Photos courtesy Gurumustuk Singh (my camera)

And a couple pictures of the Raag performance at Shanti Kaur and Tyaga Singh's House:



And Avtar Singh's short performance:


I also got the audio for all of the performances and I will try to post them later once I have edited them.

The Five K's
Over the next week I would like to discuss the five K's: The original reason for them, what is understood of them now, certain fanaticisms about them, and what we can do about them. It could be more than one post per K, since more things could be brought up about the current K. Please feel free to comment on any posts, with positive and especially negative points. This will hopefully be a learning experience to all.

As the first K, I would like to discuss the kachhera. First, it contains the sexual temptations and reminds the wearer to think twice before taking them off (it is important to have the nala [drawstring] otherwise this value is almost gone). Also, they slightly hug the upper thigh - where the largest bone in the body is (it produces the most calcium). It is ideally made of pure white cotton, a pure color and natural fiber.
Some people say that none of the K's should ever be removed from the body. I can see where that is coming from, because then there is no limit to the leniancy of taking them off. But personally, I believe that it's all up to you. No one is going to be able to tell if you are wearing your kachhera under your pajama, or if you are growing you hair or wearing your kanga under your turban. I have heard that when some people change their kachhera, they take one leg out of the dirty ones, put it into the new ones, then take the other leg out of the old ones and put it in the new ones. There is nothing wrong with doing this, but I think it is a rediculous thing to force on other people, especially your kids. Because, if having one foot in - while you are changing - counts as having them on, then you could just have the kachhera on one leg all the time. Then, you could pull them up, and tie them around your leg, then you could just keep making them smaller until they were just a string around your leg. I know this is rediculous, maybe it is just my mind that can think up these creative thoughts, but if I can do it, there has to be at least one person in the future who could start this and corrupt the whole reason for the kachhera. It's totally fine to me to have a strong and strict discipline but if it becomes fanatic, then you are just becoming insecure about it. Yogi Bhajan once said "Fanaticism is insecurity taken to the next level" - I'm sure that's not exactly what he said, but along those lines. Anyway, I hope this is enough to start up a good discussion.

Sat Nam

Got the Camera!

So my camera finally came in the mail yesterday, which was a day earlier than the minimum delivery time (I usually add a day since we are in Espanola). I am very happy with it, thanks to all of your suggestions.
So, here are some pictures from today's basketball game:

We were probably in the third round of "21" when I was accidentally tripped and I scraped my knee on the ground. You can see the skid mark starting and ending between the orange dots, it's about 2 to 3 feet. It's wasn't to painful except for the thought of what was happening to my skin while I was sliding.








I also took this picture of Harbhajan while he was dribbling:

Skiing and Snowboarding in the Desert



During the construction phase...

Dubai , United Arab Emirates



Completed Building - Look at the palm trees in comparrison



Pictures of the inside.







Pretty awesome, sounds like a ridiculous idea at first, but if I lived there I would definately build one of those.

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Also, good news. I ordered my camera off Amazon.com, it is on it's way. I don't know if anyone else thinks that blogs are more interesting with pictures. I think so in most cases, unless it is a story blog or a educational blog.