Simply Er.Amanpreet Singh, an Electrical Power Engineer, a Beginner, a Learner!! Started journey of my life.
Well, as a person i believe i am spiritually religious guy with strong belief in only one god, the Almighty one.
:)
Waheguru Jee!
I request u to read it with open n broader positive view, i never mean anything negative or against any particular person, religion or sect...
Gur Barr Akaal _/\_
Hey Guys n Gals...Weneva some problem comes in our lyf we often feel as if we r the most inferior ones, as if the almighty dont love us at all. Infact, some thinks the almighty cant see us happy for 2mins even.... Waheguru :)...
I dont hav any words to say coz i m also one of these ppl... lol.. But yeah, i m sharing something frm Sri Guru Granth Sahib Jee Maharaj... versed by Guru Nanak... :)
Hope we can understand a bit of it... I hav no intentions to hurt anyone, as one's problem is felt by him/herself only, no one else can hav idea even......Gur Barr Akaal :)
ਸਹੰਸਰਦਾਨਦੇਇੰਦ੍ਰੁਰੋਆਇਆ॥ Branded with a thousand marks of disgrace, Indra cried in shame.
ਪਰਸਰਾਮੁਰੋਵੈਘਰਿਆਇਆ॥ Paras Raam returned home crying.
ਅਜੈਸੁਰੋਵੈਭੀਖਿਆਖਾਇ॥ Ajai cried and wept, when he was made to eat the manure he had given, pretending it was charity.
ਐਸੀਦਰਗਹਮਿਲੈਸਜਾਇ॥ Such is the punishment received in the Court of the Lord.
ਰੋਵੈਰਾਮੁਨਿਕਾਲਾਭਇਆ॥ Rama wept when he was sent into exile,
ਸੀਤਾਲਖਮਣੁਵਿਛੁੜਿਗਇਆ॥ and separated from Sita and Lakhshman.
ਰੋਵੈਦਹਸਿਰੁਲੰਕਗਵਾਇ॥ The ten-headed Raawan wept when he lost Sri Lanka,
ਜਿਨਿਸੀਤਾਆਦੀਡਉਰੂਵਾਇ॥ but he stole away Sita with the beat of his tambourine.
ਰੋਵਹਿਪਾਂਡਵਭਏਮਜੂਰ॥ The Paandavas were made slaves, and wept,
ਜਿਨਕੈਸੁਆਮੀਰਹਤਹਦੂਰਿ॥ even in the Presence of the Lord(Krishan).
ਰੋਵੈਜਨਮੇਜਾਖੁਇਗਇਆ॥ Janmayjaa wept, that he had lost his way.
ਏਕੀਕਾਰਣਿਪਾਪੀਭਇਆ॥ One mistake, and he became a sinner.
ਰੋਵਹਿਸੇਖਮਸਾਇਕਪੀਰ॥ The Shaykhs, Pirs and spiritual teachers weep;
ਅੰਤਿਕਾਲਿਮਤੁਲਾਗੈਭੀੜ॥ at the very last instant, they suffer in agony.
ਰੋਵਹਿਰਾਜੇਕੰਨਪੜਾਇ॥ The kings weep - their ears are cut;
ਘਰਿਘਰਿਮਾਗਹਿਭੀਖਿਆਜਾਇ॥ they go begging from house to house.
ਰੋਵਹਿਕਿਰਪਨਸੰਚਹਿਧਨੁਜਾਇ॥ The miser weeps; he has to leave behind the wealth he has gathered.
ਪੰਡਿਤਰੋਵਹਿਗਿਆਨੁਗਵਾਇ॥ The Pandit, the religious scholar, weeps when his learning is gone.
ਬਾਲੀਰੋਵੈਨਾਹਿਭਤਾਰੁ॥ The young woman weeps because she has no husband.
ਨਾਨਕਦੁਖੀਆਸਭੁਸੰਸਾਰੁ॥ O Nanak, the whole world is suffering.
ਮੰਨੇਨਾਉਸੋਈਜਿਣਿਜਾਇ॥ He alone is victorious, who believes in the Lord's Name.
ਅਉਰੀਕਰਮਨਲੇਖੈਲਾਇ॥੧॥ No other action is of any account.
As both an electrical engineer and a Jesuit priest, Lammert B. ”Bert” Otten can lead a spiritual retreat just as easily as a dam-building project in Zambia. ”As an engineer,” he says, ”you’re cocreating with God to make life better for people.”
Zambia has been Otten’s adopted African home since 2005, when he retired from the University of Seattle. As a consultant in appropriate technology for the Diocesan Promoters Office in Monze, about 180 kilometers southwest of the capital city of Lusaka, he has installed solar-powered water pumps for irrigation, solar vegetable dryers, solar lighting, and refrigeration. He has turned the oil from the seeds of local plants, such as jatropha, into biofuel, soap, and candles. And, yes, he’s built a dam—on the Ngwerere River.
As if his retirement weren’t busy enough, Otten also uses available materials to solve smaller problems. There’s the lamp he made by covering a cardboard toilet-paper roll with an inside-out potato chip bag as a reflector; the solar water distiller he made from glass, poly film, conduit pipe, and a plastic water bottle; and the battery-charging windmills he fashioned from discarded plastic sewer pipes. Otten also hitched LEDs (donated by stateside friends) to flashlight batteries (ditto) as a cheap and safe alternative to burning diesel fuel or candles in a grass-roofed hut.
”Many people in Zambia are living on a dollar a day or less, so cost is a big thing for them,” says Otten. He’s now working on a battery recharger made out of refrigerator magnets and coils from telephone dialing equipment. ”You wave the magnets around the wire coil and get the electrons moving enough to light LEDs,” he says.
He also mentors local high school students; last summer he initiated a Seattle University Engineers Without Borders student group trip to the Zambezi River to build a water pump run by river current.
For his efforts in appropriate technology, the University of Missouri College of Engineering, in Columbia—one of Otten’s many alma maters—gave him a Missouri Honor Award for Distinguished Service in Engineering.
As a child in St. Louis he relished making crystal and one-tube radios in his basement. At the same time, he adds, ”there was always something about my personal relationship with God. I kind of felt called to the priesthood but didn’t want to do it. Then, in high school, I got to know the Jesuits, their lifestyle, intellectual discipline, and mission work in the developing world. I realized I could do things like that in relation to technology, and it all tied together.”
Otten started at the Jesuit-run St. Louis University as an electrical engineering major in 1950 but entered the Jesuit seminary three years later. He ended up with, among other degrees, a licentiate in sacred theology from the University of Saint Mary, in Kansas, and a Ph.D. in EE from the University of Missouri.
Otten first visited Zambia in 1994. Now 77, he lives in a Jesuit compound containing a high school, hospital, radio station, and staff living quarters within walking distance of the village of Chikuni. Africa seemed a natural choice for retirement. ”Most of my contacts were in Zambia, and the needs in Africa were so much greater,” he says. ”One fellow, orphaned at 10, worked his way through teachers college making and selling LED lights,” says Otten. ”Now his life is different.”
First of all, i wanna clear this post is not at all religious, i mean this is not just for sikhs or any specific religious or group, but for every human, its bit practical scientific base post....
Two days ago i was discussing bout hair online with my frnd, so just thot to post bout tht topic here too...
:)
Regarding unshorn hairs...just see every spiritual person in history, may it be some prophet, some avtaar or some spiritually develpoed person, he had unshorn hairs, mean never cut his hair...For ex. All 10 Guru sahibaans, Jesus Christ, Prophet Mohammad etc... infact Rabinder Nath Tagore.....in his autobiography he clearly mentioned tht when he realsied bout God, the first thing he did was he threw hi shaving kit in sea foreva...!! Its not coz these ppl love to make up or want themselves to look like baaba n all....but they had a spiritual n scientific reasons behind tht....
If some one would say, "Well, if the human body is the fabrication of a benevolent and wise artificer, and if we are unjustified to clip the hair and beard, are not the nails on the tips of the fingers and toes by the wish of the same Manufacturer? If they are, why should we feel no hesitation in paring them?" To such a one, one shud reply:
"Inquisitive inquire, why do you raise a question on 'cutting the nails,' rather than on combing the hair; for, verily, the nail-cutter and the comb perform exactly the same kind of functions. The former removing the 'dead nail' and the latter the 'dead hair,' And on no account I solicit you to keep such things. While in the act of combing, by negligence or through any fault of the instrument, if a single live hair is plucked off, what immense pain is felt; and similarly, how exceedingly miserable becomes the condition of a person whose 'live nail' is injured or separated in any way! Again the Creator has already fixed a limit beyond which one may cute nail; for farther than that extremity the nail is dead and decaying. But there is no such hint concerning hair. And either the head should be shaved entirely, like chin and cheeks, or else every part kept natural. And he who adopts the former customs the same must shave the whole body, including eyebrows, eyelashes, hair of axilla and the pubes. For the Deity has made no note of distinction, above or from which place one may cute or remove the hair, as in the cause of the nails. And, therefore, either all which have no limit should be cut right off or kept altogether, being no one considered wise to interfere with the Supreme Design, and draw his own marks of limitation."
Hair v/s Nails
It is often argued that hair and nails are similar, and a question frequently asked: "If we should not cut our hair, then why do we cut our nails?" But even a superficial study of the two shows them to be extremely different from each other. Whereas the hair grows from a tubular pit, the hair follicle, formed by sinking in of the most actively dividing layer of the skin, i.e., stratum germinativum, into the lower dermis, the nails are only modifications of the upper dead layers of the skin, i.e. stratum corneum. Further, the base of every follicle bulges out forming an inverted cup, which receives blood capillaries for nourishment and nerve fibers that make the hair sensitive to contact. An oil gland, known as sebaceous gland, opens into every hair follicle, the secretion of which lubricates the hair. A muscle is also attacked to the base of every hair for bringing about movement. Pigments are added to the shaft of the hair as it grows. None of these features is associated with nails.
Structurally also hair is extremely strong, and resists breaking due to its elasticity and flexibility. Hair is as strong as steel, if we compare the two of the same diameter. Nails, on the other hand, are very brittle and rigid, breaking off easily. Hair number in thousands, thereby increasing the surface area, as if to meet a specific requirement. Nails number only twenty.
The differences between the two do not end with the structural features. Even the body's response towards the two is totally different. Our body, throughout life, tries to maintain a particular length of hair, and if cut anywhere along the length, responds by growing them again to the specific length. It clearly indicates the link of the body with the hair all along its length.
The body shows no such response to the nails, which grow from birth to death at the same rate, irrespective of whether cut or not. As has been mentioned earlier, even the shafts of hair, like any other living organ of the body, respond to ageing (in their length, density of growth, graying, etc.) and condition of health is reflected in the person's hair (in their lusture, shine, etc.), whereas from the dead part of the nail, one can infer no such thing.
Practically also, hair do not interfere in any daily activity, whereas it is impossible to function at all with long nails. And even if not cut, nails generally fall off of their own easily; rather it takes great effort to maintain them, even up to a short length. In contrast to the long list of the functions of hair, only one function can be attributed to nails - that is, protection of the tips of digits.
Hey Guys! While surfing thru net this morning...i got something really gud... so sharing with u all... hope u read it with positive attitude...as i did...n i guess thr is no obligation to anyone personally nor to any community or sect, its just the truth of our community....though its not true for everyone but for a majority of ppl it is....n this article is nothing to take with any seperate state or anything.... My aim to post this article here is an attempt to find out our faults n shortcoming for our overall future developmentas a person, spiritually, socially and as a counrtymen.Let us try to reform ourselves than blaming other n crying over spilt milk....lts work out to improve ourselves first... After reading this article do read my comment belwo..... these are some points we ppl can really improve in ourselves for our overall deveopment for a bright future. n if u hav any idea do share...
Gur Barr Akaal :) Waheguru Jee :)
Here is an abbreviated translation of an article by Baba Inderjit Singh Bedi of the Sikh Vichaar manch printed in the Sikh Calendar 2005 Published by the International journal of Sikh Affairs edmonton Canada. Place: Gurdwara Akal Garh, Ludhiana. Date: Feb 1985 - after the Genocide of Sikhs in 1984
On 31st October, 1984, the killer of over 10,000 innocent Sikh Pilgrims Mrs Indira gandhi was assassinated by two of her Sikh Body Guards . This incident by two proud Singhs proved to the World that whoever attacked the Akal Takhat, always suffered a terrible fate. Indira Gandhi's son Rajiv then orchestrated an India wide Massacre of Sikhs, in which according to non governmental estimates nearly 25000-27000 innocent Sikhs were mercilessly massacred or burnt alive on the streets by roving gangs of mobsters. Thousands of Sikh Girls were assaulted and kidnapped and raped by these Govt sponsored hooligans . After this horrrible acts of carnage, thousands of Sikh Families fled Delhi and other parts of India for refuge in Punjab. A few thousand of these refugees were housed in Ludhiana Camps. A Special Relief Society was formed under my patronage so that these people could be cared for. The Offices of this Society were at the Gurwara sahib Akal Garh ludhiana.
In 1985, when the Indian Armed Forces retreated from Punjab leaving Sikh Corpses in its wake, a group of five Muslim brothers from Delhi came to Ludhiana to see for themselves the situation on the ground. This Group had visited Amrtisar and Jalandhar and were happy to see that the refugee Sikhs were being well taken care of. One of the elderly muslim memebers of this group, heaved a heavy sigh and told me: Sardar ji, Aisa Hona Hee Thaa. ( Sardar Ji, this was bound to happen ) When he was asked as to why he held this opinion...he elaborated.
Sardar Ji, he said..There is not a Single Sikh leader capable of thinking about the future. In 1947, the outgoing British Administration sat down to discuss independent India with the Official representatives of the Hindus, Muslims and SIKHS. In Punjab there were the SIKH Princely States of Nabha, patiala, Jind, Kapurthala, Faridkot and kalsian - 6 states in which the SIKHS were the MAJORITY. The Moga sub Division also had a Sikh majority population. IF these areas had been amalgmated..a SIKH HOMELAND could have been formed in 1947. The Sikhs already had a viable Govt., Armed Forces, police.. a READY MADE STATE...but all the Sikh maharajas did not listen to the Sikh Leaders and instead threw their support behind Patel. A good opportunity was lost..the simple Sikhs had trusted the sewwt talking but deceitful mean leaders... the Sikh maharaja's lost their Kingdoms and a Sikh homeland died even before birth. Your GURU JI had said again and again, continued the elderly Muslim veer..DONT FOLLOW BIPRAN REETS. Disnt the Sikhs realise that Nehru, Gandhi, Patel, Malviah, Raja gopal Acharaya were all BIPRANS ? Then WHY did the SIKHS take their side ? The SIKHS refused to listen to their own GURU...while Muslims like Jinnah and Sheikh Abdullah "listened" to this GURU HUKM..and one got Pakistan , the other got Article 370 written into the Indian constitution...the Gullible Sikh leadership put their TRUST in the VERBAL "promises" of the Bipprans. You Sikhs had it coming...You all didnt listen to your GURU JI....and so how could GURU JI help you...THAT is why all this had to Happen..Aisa hona hee thaa.
Whenever God gives wealth to a Sikh, he goes far away out of town to make his bungalow/ kothee and gets cut off from his other brothers. When a Muslim gets wealth, he builds his house right in the middle of the Muslim Quarter, so as to be enar his muslim brothers in time of need. Our streets are narrow and often closed on one end....anybody attacking us cannot escape easily. IF nayone dares enter our quarter and kill one, we make sure we kill ten of them. We keep knives to defend ourselves from gangsters and mobs..BUT SIKHS inspite of beign Commanded by your GURU JI to Keep a KIRPAN at all times....how many of you keep even asmall knife on your person ? IF every Sikh ahd followed His GURU JI's command and kept a kirpan on his person, this wouldnt have happened. You SIKHS like to spend money on ALCOHOL and SHOW OFF...BUT Muslims spend money on MEAT,KEBAB and Palao which make for STRONG BODIES. ONLY GOOD strong FOOD can produce Strong bodies. That is why our young men are stronger than Sikh youngsters. In the evening when we hear the call of the Azan... we run towards the masjid....SIKHS run towards BARS to drink and be merry. Today your Sikh leaders are so engrossed in building GOLD DOMES, Marble Gurdawras. All this money could be spent on setting up factories for the employment of unemployed Sikh youth. Rich Muslims and Rich Christians NEVER put GOLD DOMES on Masjids and Churches...there is NOT a sngle Gold domed mosque or church in the World. The GOLD DOMES of Sikh Gurdwaras serve only to collect the Birds droppings. Didnt your GURU JI command you to put SARB LOH khandas and Kirpan-Chakaras on Gurdwaras...When SIKHS disregard GURU Ji's HUKMs then Aisaa hona hee thaa..
Just like the Sikhs, the JEWS also suffered for nearly 2000 years without a home land..but even living in the wilderness for 2000 years the JEWS kept a strong tie to their LANGUAGE, RELIGION and CULTURE. About One KROR Jews were massacred but they never lost hope and in 1948 they succeeded in creating a homeland. Jewish Women dont DRINK and dance on the streets...their women Parade in MILITARY PARADES, they pilot fighter aircraft, drive jeeps, fire cannons... the Jews have created gardens out of deserts....Sardar Ji, a lesson can be learnt from the JEWS SIKHS had 10 GURUS...they married, had children. IS there any historical proof that any GURU JI danced the BHANGRA at His wedding.... danced on the streets, drunk ?? Isnt such behaviour BANNEd in Sikhism ?
We have seen SIKHS dancing on the streets of delhi... SIKH women wearing short sleeveless blouses showing arms, midriffs, naked backs, half naked legs, loaded with gold jewellery, holding glasses of drink in their hands..have been seen dancing on the streets of delhi. Mobsters and gangsters see such beautiful half naked women, and mark them..as who is to be carried off and made a victim of their sexual desires....Many have disappeared forever. A lot have been sold off in Arab lands, some end up in the Brothels of Bombay. I heard that 200 years ago SIKHS rescued 16,000 of HINDU WOMEN from Muslim Invaders...BUT now couldnt rescue their own women from HINDU Gangsters in their own country.....When You disregarded the GURU Ji's HUKM....and fell so low..Aisa Hona Hee thaa.
The Old man continued: We have vsiited throuh out Punjab...all the news media tell lies about the sikhs..Indian TV, radio, Newspapers all lie. Thousnads of Sikh Youths have been arrested illegally, shot dead adn teh TRUTH is hidden from view. Sikhs are portrayed as criminals, looters, etc. It has been made impossible for Sikhs to live with honour in India. IF only you SIKHS could take the GOLD DOMES of just the Gurdwaras in DELHI and sell it to buy and set up a SIKH NATIONAL NEWSPAPER...there could be some attempt to show the world the true picture. How can Sikhs put their case before the world without a Press. Sikhs should have a DAILY PUNJABI/English/hindi/Urdu Nespaper...BUT when the GURDWARAANAGEMENTS themselves "misappropriate GOLAK FUNDS" fro their own benefit...then AISA HONA HEE THAA. When i heard these words of truth from my muslim brothers.. I couldnt help myself from praising the wisdom of these words. When I think of these I curse those Boot Lickers who place garlands around photos of Indira gandhi, attend Rajiv Memeorial services, put garlands around the necks of HKL bhagats, bootas, and their chamchas....giving out SIROPAS and SIRI SAHIBS to them.... these "sikhs" blacken their own faces but also the face of the entire Sikh Community. They steal the GURU's Golak for their own businesses, factories, ...after having suffered such humiliation, kidnappings and rapes of thousands of daughters, killing of thousands of sons, ..SIKHS can still Drink and Dance the Bhangra on the streets as if nothing ever happened...Sikh Women continue to dance half naked, glass in hand.....and the Sikh SANGAT continues to put forward people who continue vast GOLD DOME and MARBLE GURDWARA projects.... daily licking of the boots of Govt administarators continues shamelessly..YET daily Complaints are also heard,,GURU JI DOESNT HELP US... WHY ?? SIKH Brthers..Please remeber..Logan Raam Khilona Jaan is NOT correct. GURU JI is NOT a PLAYTHING. As long as SIKHS dont follow GURU JI's HUKM and leave BIPPARANWAAD, we cannot expect help from GURU JI..He has already warned us: Jab eh Geh bipran ke reet main na karoon in ke parteet !!!
This article was originally published by the SANT SIPAHI Monthly. Posted by: Jarnail Singh Dhillon "Arshi" MALAYSIA. Guest editor, International Jouranal Of Sikh Affairs Edmonton Canada.
Love.... We all talk bout Love....coz bollywood movies teaches us so..lol.. Isn't funny tht stupid movies teaches us this so big n pure thing Love?? :p :D Is tht Love which they teaches us?? or thts sheer stupidity?? Nothing personal, but i feel tht these movies n media is just misleading us all..so guys n gals just use ur mind in movies n think with ur heart bout love with a bit practical touch...mind it..just li'l bit... :)
Some poet said "yEh ishQ nahi aasaaN itnA tU samajH leY.... aaG ka DarRiya hai aUr doob k jaaNa hai.." so i guess Love is not for coward ppl... ;) but a Singh is not at all coWard...This Singh will also get his Pari somewhere someday.. Waheguru Jee! :) Gur Bar Akaal _/\_
Anyways, i m posting this post to share my little feeling ........Here it is.... Gothru it...but this is not all....still much more is thr....but for nw this much only...hope u will like it... Thanx :)
I Love U for?
I Love U for giving ur heart to me....and trusting me with ur pride.....
I Love U for wanting me n needing me by ur side.......
I Love U for the emotions i never knew i had.......
I Love U for making me smile weneva i feel sad.....
I Love U for ur thots of me where i m always on ur mind......
I Love U for finding the part that of me tht i never thot i wud find.......
I Love U for the way u r n for how u make me feel......
But most of all I LOVE U coz i knw u r mine for real...... :)
