Some thoughts...

School, broken foot, etc were not the only reasons I've been staying off the net. Since some troublesome events at August Samagam I have backed off from the Jatha along with some other singhs. I just felt so dissillusioned. After what happened, my avastha just plummetted, I could literally feel my spirituality and love be replaced with cynicism and doubt.

I don't really want to go into the details of what happened, its not important anymore. But the thing is, I want to stand up for what's right, you know? No matter what the cost. Standing up for whats right, especially in these kinds of situations, is the duty of every Sikh. Why waste our time in duality over such things?

I just feel so dissapointed in all the great panthic jathebandis of today. We have allowed the panth to be filled with corrupt people who do things for selfish reasons. I've had nothing to gain over whats happened since august, but I sure had a lot to lose. Quitting the Jatha and distancing myself from singhs was one of the hardest decisions of my life, but it was the right one--At least for the time being.

The youth of the Jatha and Taksal in North America and UK (not so much UK) just are really dissapointing. Most of the jatha thinks that life is all about going to keertan, they don't care about rehat, or if they do, its a very superficial rehat. They don't care about gurmat, most don't know the first thing about gurbani and its meanings! The youth in taksal similarly have issues that I have seen, they may learn about gurbani, but even that seems superficial to me, its just a way for them to feel superior and they use taksal as a replacement for a gang. These jathas are not clubs, there is a reason for them.

Gurmat is so much deeper than most of us see, but we are stuck in our week to week AKJ or Taksal or whatever else that we forget about whats right. The Jatha is NOT just about keertan. Thats what panchain is about. The Jatha is about much much more. And if you don't care about more, go join the panchain and leave the AKJ name for those who will keep stand up for whats right and fight for the truth and for gurmat. (This isn't aimed at any specific person, so please don't take it personally. I am just trying to make some outside observations, don't take it as a personal attack but rather a suggestion on how we can all improve ourselves.)

Anyway, in conclusion, here is a post I posted on Tapoban.org forum last night:

>>>the real Taksali Singhs don't care about these things. <<<<

Exactly.

I have spent some time here and there with some beloved taksali singhs, and let me tell you, they impress me. Their gursikhi is something to aspire to.

But all these little kids in taksal and AKJ, acting like gangsters, thinking they are the pillar of gursikhi, when in reality their minds are full of kaam and their hearts are filled with selfishness and pride, they ruin the image of such great panthic jathebandis by bashing each other.

Its unfortunate they will all grow up to be the leaders of these jathebandis and in the end lead to their demise, as we can already see happening.

Singh, you may not have seen taksalis bashing akj people. But I have. There are many "taksali" kids that even to this day I have never met and do not know, but they have bashed me from when I was first interested in gursikhi, to now, only because my free thought and logic led me to the AKJ, and
from there I guess I was seen as a voice for the AKJ by them (of course if this ever was true, it definitely isnt anymore). They attacked me in such horrible ways that even today many people beleive these gross and disgusting things about me. Frankly, I dont care, but because of them, I spent a good 2-3 years despising taksal and everything it stood for, because of besharam kids like
them. I know I didnt help the view of AKJ much, not that I ever asked to be their representative.

We have a big problem in the panth today, yes in the west kids are starting to be interested in sikhi, but what sikhi are we introducing them to when we fight like a bunch of dogs every chance we get?