A New Direction

Life: Busy.

Time: Limited.

Solution: The blog will take a different direction.

Detail: Every now and then, I will feature a Sikhee-inspired poem or photograph and occasionally, a Sikhee-inspired film. I have to be realistic and realise that I'm trying to stretch myself too much - so I need to capitalise upon what I am involved in already and get more things out of it, more material and ultimately, more that I can share with the Sangat. This will be the way I do it...

everyday sikhee - through the artistic expression of words as well as still and moving images.

The design of this blog may change to accommodate this new direction but that won't happen for a while because...you've guessed it...limited time lol

See: This Photograph and feel free to comment.

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Please Comment - Don't Argue!

Photo Credit: Piez

Krazy kittens kan't komment!

When starting this blog I decided not to allow comments for the following reasons:

- Questions might get posed to me when really they should be posed to The Satguroo who has all the answers.

- So many Sikhee forums and blog comments sections are full of vicious words, cheap jibes, slander and general negativity.

However yesterday a Gursikh whom I respect emailed me requesting that I activate the comments section. After a bit of thought, I've decided to do so...it's not good to disobey Gursikhs unless you have a really good reason, because they talk lots of sense.

Looking at my initial concerns, I think that they can be positively addressed as follows:

+ The comments section will be moderated.

+ I will only answer questions directly posed to me if I feel it is appropriate and I am fully comfortable...and they have to be easy, ok! Otherwise, I will try my best to respond via GurbaaNee quotes, which can act as a prompt for you to contemplate things for yourself.

* Please don't reply to one another as commentators. You’ll start a debate. Just share your valuable thoughts, without ramming fellow commentators with them, and leave it at that. Others can take and leave from your words what they wish.

* A wise man once said:

“One well-written comment is enough to make and leave
your point.”

Well, a wise man didn’t say that, but he could have, because it does sound kind of ‘wise-manly’, doesn’t it?

* Any comments which might start a ‘I’ll make you look stupid if it’s the last thing I do’ episode will not be allowed.

Well I hope the above does not come across as dictatorial. It’s all meant in a positive way, in order to hopefully make this blog a pleasant, uplifting and spiritual place to be.

( ( ( :-)>>> Atma Singh

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Follow this Blog, without the hassle

Photo Credit: koka_sexton
No - you don't need to be a geek to read this

The ‘Subscribe in a reader' link at the top right of this Blog is seriously useful. An RSS Reader is a software tool which allows you to save a lot of time and hassle if you follow blogs, or browse other types of sites, which are regularly updated e.g. news sites. Have you really got time to visit tonnes of sites to see if they’ve been updated or not? Yes? – well then, you’re a student.

No? – then join the RSS revolution.

Right - this is where it could get heavy because RSS, which stands for Really Simple Syndication, has a habit of not actually sounding really simple. If you do like reading techie stuff (geek!), here’s a good summary re: RSS. Put simply however, by subscribing to 'RSS feeds' instead of physically visiting sites such as this blog, you 'automatically pull’ any newly updated content on those sites, and can then access this content in a convenient manner.

Think of a paper-boy delivering the newspaper to you so you don't have to visit the newsagent, think of an octopus whose tentacles constantly stretch and grab here and there, think of a rainbow...erm, anyway, here are some of the ways you could, for instance, follow this very blog via RSS:

- Click the ‘Subscribe in a reader' link and select ‘View Feed XML’. You will now get to view new content directly via the ‘feeds’ icon which is conveniently located in the favourites folder of Internet Explorer. Nice.

- The above method is very neat and tidy if you’ve got direct access to your desktop PC or laptop when you want to view content, but what if you wish to access content on the go, or on someone else’s machine? Click the aforementioned link and select one of the web-based Readers instead, such as the popular Bloglines or Google Reader. Now you can log-in to your RSS reader anywhere, any time, whatever machine you're on.

- What if you’ve got a Windows-Mobile based Pocket PC (yes, I don’t care about those outsiders who use Palms, or I-Phones or other such contraptions – do your own homework! Lol) and want to view this blog in your browser, but optimised visually and structurally? Download and install a free Windows-Mobile based RSS Reader such as Viigo and simply add my blog’s RSS URL Channel: http://everydaysikhee.blogspot.com/atom.xml – done! Now this blog will be nicely optimised on your PDA/Smartphone, with lots of handy localised software options, and you can read it anywhere, at any time.

Right, that’s enough blog publicity generation for one day. I’m going to have my cake and milk, then off to bed!

((((Subliminal message - You must click the 'subscribe to this feed' link right below this line, ...I command you...mwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-haa!!!)))

( ( ( :-) >>> Atma Singh

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So what's this blog about?

GurbaaNee, The Satguroo’s Form, is such a thing that its ultimate spiritual beauty and meaning cannot truly be conveyed by one human to another.

Like water, The Satguroo's subtleties shift and change the more you try to capture them. Our words are heavy-handed gestures which only serve to squeeze GurbaaNee away from us and the people we hope to engage, as we try to clutch it as though our words will solidify it.

This is because to explain is not necessarily to know - the Truth of GurbaaNee will only seem solid and tangible to us and others when we personally live it:

ਕੇਤੇਬੰਧਨਜੀਅਕੇਗੁਰਮੁਖਿਮੋਖਦੁਆਰ ॥
kaethae bandhan jeea kae guramukh mokh dhuaar
There are so many entanglements for the soul, only as Gurmukh [The Satguroo’s Accomplished Students] do we find the Door of Liberation.

ਸਚਹੁਓਰੈਸਭੁਕੋਉਪਰਿਸਚੁਆਚਾਰੁ ॥੫॥
sachahu ourai sabh ko oupar sach aachaar 5
Truth is higher than everything; but higher still is truthful living. 5

Yes - books, websites, forums, blogs and conversations can help, but no – the experienced reality of GurbaaNee won't hang around long enough for such blunt symbols as words. GurbaaNee has got other things on it’s mind like emancipation and enlightenment – it certainly doesn’t have time for language games.

Of course we should discuss GurbaaNee, but let’s never kid ourselves that we are deft enough to do The Satguroo’s job. The Satguroo is not only the conduit between us and Vaheguroo; the Satguroo is the the very form of The Directly Experienced Vaheguroo. Hence, Satguroo and Vaheguroo are One:

ਦੂਜਾਨਹੀਜਾਨੈਕੋਇ ॥
dhoojaa nehee jaanai koe
Let no one think of some seperate second or other.

ਸਤਗੁਰੁਨਿਰੰਜਨੁਸੋਇ ॥
suthugur nirunjun soe
The True Guroo is The Immaculate.
(Ang/Page 895)

So what place is there for middle-men/women? Well, those truly blessed souls who earn deepest insights and traverse lofty spiritual heights, they give us hints regarding The Immaculate - through their words and their lives. Yet these hints are not answers – they are pointers and the greatest and most experienced souls, the Gurmukhs, always point away from themselves and towards their Satguroo, GurbaaNee.

This blogger certainly doesn’t want the inexperienced to become so reliant on the seemingly experienced to the point that the inexperienced don’t directly connect with GurbaaNee. Did that make sense? Lol.

I definitely can't define the indefinable, or comment on the unspeakable. I simply hope to encourage you, whoever you are, to connect with GurbaaNee and thereby start experiencing The Satguroo, through your experiences – through your everyday sikhee.

( ( ( :-) >>> Atma Singh 

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