Slander & Hatred

• Slander reduces the individual's own respect and kills feelings of brotherhood.

• Unjustly slandering someone is such a serious and massive offence that there can be no recourse for it

• In the world, any patient suffering from a disease can be treated, but there is no treatment from a slanderer

• Spreading information about someone's good or bad qualities without investigating for one's self is idiocy.

• That person that slanders the Guru's beloveds has his face blackened in this world and the next

• If you see a person with a fault, rather than slandering him before others, it is much better to educate him.

• To slander others to hide one's own faults is a very lowly and disgusting sin.

• To see and dwell on someone's faults is very easy, but to see faults and understand them is very diffcult.

• Almost everyone at some time does ninda, but to slander someone innocent or to do so with evil intent is a
• maha-paap.

• There are four types of ninda which are not sinful: that of a fake, that of someone opposed to the Guru, that of the ruler and one's own ninda.

• Someone who unjustly slanders and opposes others will never see happiness or peace.

• Just like a dog's tail can never be straightened, a nindak too will never leave his habit.

• If you give milk to a snake, it still strikes and spews venom. In the same way, if you do good to a nindak, he will still do bad to you.

• It is not wrong to join the ninda of those who are opposed to the Panth

• There is no person in existence who has not been slandered or wronged in some way.

• Only a true Soorbeer (warrior) can hear his own slander and remain uneffected

• To forget someone's good qualities and to look only at the bad is to be even worse than the ant who sorts through the dirt to find the sand.

• The mighty and wealthy may be able to crush the poor and meek, but they cannot crush Vahiguru's justice.

• The Jealous and hateful receive this punishment that their minds are never at peace.

• To cure the diseases of both the mind and body, the greatest medicine is to remain free of hatred and always remember Vahiguru

• Do not reply to the evil with evil. If you throw a rock at filth, it will only end up splattering on you.

• If the individual remains calm and peaceful after hearing hateful words, then the effect will reverse on to the
hateful individuals who spoke them.

• Having hatred towards others is the root of all bodily ills.

The Bag of Nails

There was a little boy with a bad temper.
His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, to hammer a nail in the back fence.

The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Then it gradually dwindled down.
He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all.
He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his Father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.
He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence.
The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one.

You can put a knife in a man and draw it out.
It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there.
A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one".

Wind Of Forgiveness

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: "Today My Best Friend Slapped Me In The Face."

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: "Today My Best Friend Saved My Life."

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?"

The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."

What we have done so far

The list below shows what we have achieved to date
(15 months)

• 15^th Nov 2008 - Sikhi Workshop & Kirtan Darbar
• 14^th & 15^th February 2009 - SAS survival workshop
• 30^th May 2009 - 2 hours Chaupai Sahib paaht
• 2^nd August 2009 - Conversations with God (talk by Bhai Jagjit Singh)
• 29^th August 2009 - Family fun day out
• 31^st October 2009 - Seva day
• 21^st Nov 2009 - Sikhi Workshop & Kirtan Darbar
• Running Sikhi class for one year
• Movie day started at the Gurdwara
• Bought new books for library
• Produced a banner in remembrance of the Shaheeds
• Added 4 educational poster boards in langar hall
• Produced and printed Sikh literature
• Helped set up a Sikh society at Reading University in 2008
• Produced the Reading Gurdwara 2010 calendar
• Started Gatka and Kirtan classes at Gurdwara
• Made website with educational articles & upcoming events for Reading Gurdwara (this blog!! www.rsya.org)
• Started a Reading Gurdwara Football team
• Delivered Sikh presentations to schools and scouts

We have many more things to do this year 2010!! Be part of the change!

Pics of the snow!!

Check them out below: