These Guys are crazy.

[terabaap]

Check out what happened in Austria.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090525/ap_on_re_eu/eu_austria_temple_shooting

 

[Saleem]

Wow, that's terrible. I don't know much at all about different 'sects' or followings within Sikhism (which seemed to be the basis of the fighting here). Any suggestions where to read up?

 

[IshB]

wow thats disgusting!!!!

 

[AnkurK]

ish you are disgusting

 

[terabaap]

Wikipedia would be a start. I think there is a website called Sikhnet, and a Sikh version of wikipedia.

 

[IshB]

ish you are disgusting

ur face is disgusting! u dont see me complain

 

[Sher]

Wow, that's terrible. I don't know much at all about different 'sects' or followings within Sikhism (which seemed to be the basis of the fighting here). Any suggestions where to read up?

Thats where the problem is. There are supposed to be now sects or different followings of Sikhism. Most Sikhs do not consider Ravidassis, Nirankaris, Namdharis etc to be Sikhs. A Sikh is one who believes in the teachings of the 10 Gurus and the present Guru Granth Sahib. Ravidassis believe in Ravidas as a Guru, which makes them non-Sikh by the typical definition. I agree what happened is horrible, but the problem is clearly within the creation of new "sects"

 

[BDR Official Fan]

I actually went to a Ravidas Gurdwara in New York and it was way different. They see him as actually one of the ten gurus, which to me seemed kind of wrong becuase of what I was taught. But at the same time I do think it was wrong for them to go into the temple and start shooting and stabbing folks. I think everyone has the right to their own religion because there is only one god anyway. Ik Onkar. Plus Sikh's fought and died for the well being of many hindus during the last two gurus life time. So yea nothing against anyone who believes in Ravidas, to my understanding he contributed alot to the Guru Granth Sahib and was a very pious dude. Thats just my 2 cents.

 

[Preet]

Though this may seem to be a problem of the different sects that have been formed, the situation at hand is actually triggered by politics. As sad as it is, it is true that some Sikhs still follow the whole caste system, regardless of our Guru's telling us not to. Some of you may think that I'm blowing the situation outta proportion but the whole story is part of a political agenda by the RSS and the Indian government. As some of you may know this June marks the 25th anniversary of the june 1984 riots and all this is being done to show that the reason why Sikhs still have not received any justice is because they are violent. It is all being done to make the Sikhs look bad. The weakness of the Sikhs is that they have always allowed ego's and caste systems to prevent them from uniting amongst eah other and the government uses that to its advantage. Because the Sikhs are not strongly united, its easy for outside forces to come in and tear them apart. Notice the key words and key lines sprinkled in the news. "Bimla Lalka, who lives in a ground-floor apartment opposite the building housing the temple, said she saw seven or eight men with lengthy beards and dark blue and orange turbans fleeing the building". No Austrian media would point out about blue and orange turbans, because they don't know the issue and politics behind it.
"It was not clear whether some of the weapons used were kirpans, the ceremonial daggers carried by Sikhs. Police said kirpans may legally be worn by Sikhs in Austria." This is going to start a whole another debate about Kirpans all over again in Europe now. How did a situation in Austria cause chaos back in Jalandhar where the city and its neighboring villages under a curfew? Fights like this and related exactly to this topic have taken place numerous times all over North America but never before has it caused cities in Punjab to be put under curfew. So why this time? Because this is a political move. Tires have been used to set fires and riots all over. Is this not reminiscent of the 1984 riots? That is exactly the reason why all this is being done; to show that Sikhs were violent back then and they are still violent. This is to show that even after 25 years we do not deserve any justice. Yes majority of the time Sikhs that are politically involved in Gurudwaras do get into senseless fights but this fight was purposely caused by outsiders. Sadly, the scene back home is only going to get worst as June 6 approaches. I dont mean to preach and I'm a bhangra dancer myself but I think the youth needs to get more involved in learning what the Sikhs have been through and what the future objectives should be to tackle these issues. Forgive me if I said anything wrong and my intentions were not to offend anyone.
As for the ones who want to learn more, Wikipedia is not the best source.
Also in the article it was mentioned that "attended services at the temple every Sunday, said it is run by followers of Shri Guru Ravidas, a 14th-century founder of a Sikh sect called Dera Sach Khand." That's actually incorrect, Shri Guru Ravidas Ji or none of the Gurus were ever founders of these so called sects such as the one mentioned here. Such sects have been found by other followers who came after him or other gurus.

 

[H.S.]

its pretty scary. I was talking to Harkiran earlier and she told me that all schools, stores, transportation in Northern Punjab is all shut down. Since last night, 75 turbaned Sikhs have been murdered.

Everyone has a curfew and the police are suggesting everyone stays home.

 

[yraparla]

not to seem flippant, but on a side note

newcomer preet = heir apparent to Summy? Lengthy sentences without any seeming structure, colored text. Just throw in some vitriol and a few more colors and he could be there

 

[justAguy]

I agree with Preet, I think it's a planned conspiracy. I'm not one of those wierd conspiracy bloggers or anything but it does make sense

 

[terabaap]

its pretty scary. I was talking to Harkiran earlier and she told me that all schools, stores, transportation in Northern Punjab is all shut down. Since last night, 75 turbaned Sikhs have been murdered.

Everyone has a curfew and the police are suggesting everyone stays home.

Wow that crazy how quickly people resort to violence.

 

[Sher]

Is this not reminiscent of the 1984 riots?

This is verrryyy similar to how 84 started, except it was the Nirinkaris back then and now its the Ravidassis. Both times, the government has failed to break it up. Pre-84 the leader of the Nirankaris, Gurbachan Singh was starting to bring new beliefs into his version of "Sikhism" and killed protesters. Eventually all of this led up to 84. A little bit of background: http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/events/attack841.html

 

[MundeNyDe]

What the hell guys im Chamar i belive in the sikh culture. It is just some sant called ramanad and how they preach that sikhs cant go to
Chamar Gurdwara and some people in N.Y. the new commite are just being assholes and are on the dicks of these Sant's that preach wrong

 

[terabaap]

It's a shame that religion is marred by such violence.

 

[MPElive]

When stuff like this happens, it always effects backhome first.

My grandfather's flight from Delhi was suppose to be in next 24 hours and he had no way of getting there from Punjab considering all the buses, trains, cars are not running as the protesters are burning any means of transportation. Punjab Police is suggesting everyone to stay home as the schools, businesses are completely shut down due to the curfews. Thank God I booked his flight on Jet Airways as there was no charge to change his return ticket.