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ਜਪੁ | Jup
ਸੋ ਦਰੁ | So Dar
ਸੋਹਿਲਾ | Sohilaa
ਰਾਗੁ ਸਿਰੀਰਾਗੁ | Raag Siree-Raag
Gurbani (14-53)
Ashtpadiyan (53-71)
Gurbani (71-74)
Pahre (74-78)
Chhant (78-81)
Vanjara (81-82)
Vaar Siri Raag (83-91)
Bhagat Bani (91-93)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਝ | Raag Maajh
Gurbani (94-109)
Ashtpadi (109)
Ashtpadiyan (110-129)
Ashtpadi (129-130)
Ashtpadiyan (130-133)
Bara Maha (133-136)
Din Raen (136-137)
Vaar Maajh Ki (137-150)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗਉੜੀ | Raag Gauree
Gurbani (151-185)
Quartets/Couplets (185-220)
Ashtpadiyan (220-234)
Karhalei (234-235)
Ashtpadiyan (235-242)
Chhant (242-249)
Baavan Akhari (250-262)
Sukhmani (262-296)
Thittee (296-300)
Gauree kii Vaar (300-323)
Gurbani (323-330)
Ashtpadiyan (330-340)
Baavan Akhari (340-343)
Thintteen (343-344)
Vaar Kabir (344-345)
Bhagat Bani (345-346)
ਰਾਗੁ ਆਸਾ | Raag Aasaa
Gurbani (347-348)
Chaupaday (348-364)
Panchpadde (364-365)
Kaafee (365-409)
Aasaavaree (409-411)
Ashtpadiyan (411-432)
Patee (432-435)
Chhant (435-462)
Vaar Aasaa (462-475)
Bhagat Bani (475-488)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗੂਜਰੀ | Raag Goojaree
Gurbani (489-503)
Ashtpadiyan (503-508)
Vaar Gujari (508-517)
Vaar Gujari (517-526)
ਰਾਗੁ ਦੇਵਗੰਧਾਰੀ | Raag Dayv-Gandhaaree
Gurbani (527-536)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਿਹਾਗੜਾ | Raag Bihaagraa
Gurbani (537-556)
Chhant (538-548)
Vaar Bihaagraa (548-556)
ਰਾਗੁ ਵਡਹੰਸ | Raag Wadhans
Gurbani (557-564)
Ashtpadiyan (564-565)
Chhant (565-575)
Ghoriaan (575-578)
Alaahaniiaa (578-582)
Vaar Wadhans (582-594)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸੋਰਠਿ | Raag Sorath
Gurbani (595-634)
Asatpadhiya (634-642)
Vaar Sorath (642-659)
ਰਾਗੁ ਧਨਾਸਰੀ | Raag Dhanasaree
Gurbani (660-685)
Astpadhiya (685-687)
Chhant (687-691)
Bhagat Bani (691-695)
ਰਾਗੁ ਜੈਤਸਰੀ | Raag Jaitsree
Gurbani (696-703)
Chhant (703-705)
Vaar Jaitsaree (705-710)
Bhagat Bani (710)
ਰਾਗੁ ਟੋਡੀ | Raag Todee
ਰਾਗੁ ਬੈਰਾੜੀ | Raag Bairaaree
ਰਾਗੁ ਤਿਲੰਗ | Raag Tilang
Gurbani (721-727)
Bhagat Bani (727)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸੂਹੀ | Raag Suhi
Gurbani (728-750)
Ashtpadiyan (750-761)
Kaafee (761-762)
Suchajee (762)
Gunvantee (763)
Chhant (763-785)
Vaar Soohee (785-792)
Bhagat Bani (792-794)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਿਲਾਵਲੁ | Raag Bilaaval
Gurbani (795-831)
Ashtpadiyan (831-838)
Thitteen (838-840)
Vaar Sat (841-843)
Chhant (843-848)
Vaar Bilaaval (849-855)
Bhagat Bani (855-858)
ਰਾਗੁ ਗੋਂਡ | Raag Gond
Gurbani (859-869)
Ashtpadiyan (869)
Bhagat Bani (870-875)
ਰਾਗੁ ਰਾਮਕਲੀ | Raag Ramkalee
Ashtpadiyan (902-916)
Gurbani (876-902)
Anand (917-922)
Sadd (923-924)
Chhant (924-929)
Dakhnee (929-938)
Sidh Gosat (938-946)
Vaar Ramkalee (947-968)
ਰਾਗੁ ਨਟ ਨਾਰਾਇਨ | Raag Nat Narayan
Gurbani (975-980)
Ashtpadiyan (980-983)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਲੀ ਗਉੜਾ | Raag Maalee Gauraa
Gurbani (984-988)
Bhagat Bani (988)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਾਰੂ | Raag Maaroo
Gurbani (889-1008)
Ashtpadiyan (1008-1014)
Kaafee (1014-1016)
Ashtpadiyan (1016-1019)
Anjulian (1019-1020)
Solhe (1020-1033)
Dakhni (1033-1043)
ਰਾਗੁ ਤੁਖਾਰੀ | Raag Tukhaari
Bara Maha (1107-1110)
Chhant (1110-1117)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕੇਦਾਰਾ | Raag Kedara
Gurbani (1118-1123)
Bhagat Bani (1123-1124)
ਰਾਗੁ ਭੈਰਉ | Raag Bhairo
Gurbani (1125-1152)
Partaal (1153)
Ashtpadiyan (1153-1167)
ਰਾਗੁ ਬਸੰਤੁ | Raag Basant
Gurbani (1168-1187)
Ashtpadiyan (1187-1193)
Vaar Basant (1193-1196)
ਰਾਗੁ ਸਾਰਗ | Raag Saarag
Gurbani (1197-1200)
Partaal (1200-1231)
Ashtpadiyan (1232-1236)
Chhant (1236-1237)
Vaar Saarang (1237-1253)
ਰਾਗੁ ਮਲਾਰ | Raag Malaar
Gurbani (1254-1293)
Partaal (1265-1273)
Ashtpadiyan (1273-1278)
Chhant (1278)
Vaar Malaar (1278-91)
Bhagat Bani (1292-93)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕਾਨੜਾ | Raag Kaanraa
Gurbani (1294-96)
Partaal (1296-1318)
Ashtpadiyan (1308-1312)
Chhant (1312)
Vaar Kaanraa
Bhagat Bani (1318)
ਰਾਗੁ ਕਲਿਆਨ | Raag Kalyaan
Gurbani (1319-23)
Ashtpadiyan (1323-26)
ਰਾਗੁ ਪ੍ਰਭਾਤੀ | Raag Prabhaatee
Gurbani (1327-1341)
Ashtpadiyan (1342-51)
ਰਾਗੁ ਜੈਜਾਵੰਤੀ | Raag Jaijaiwanti
Gurbani (1352-53)
Salok | Gatha | Phunahe | Chaubole | Swayiye
Sehskritee Mahala 1
Sehskritee Mahala 5
Gaathaa Mahala 5
Phunhay Mahala 5
Chaubolae Mahala 5
Shaloks Bhagat Kabir
Shaloks Sheikh Farid
Swaiyyae Mahala 5
Swaiyyae in Praise of Gurus
Shaloks in Addition To Vaars
Shalok Ninth Mehl
Mundavanee Mehl 5
ਰਾਗ ਮਾਲਾ, Raag Maalaa
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<blockquote data-quote="Harjas Kaur Khalsa" data-source="post: 80834" data-attributes="member: 2125"><p>This is actually a very interesting thread, and I thank all the participants. I actually see a couple of points I would like to address differently, so I will use 2 separate posts to do so (and avoid one of the marathon long winding ones.) <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> </p><p></p><p></p><p>I am a woman too. But truth be told, the atma of men and women has no such physical identity. The experiences of men and women is that they have been men and women. Even woman gives birth to males and females. I am not a feminist by any means and am aware feminism as a social philosophy has brought immeasurable harm to women and children by alienating the proper roles of male and female. However, I cannot agree with the Abrahamic distortions I see in this quote. That is why the problem is truly one of imbalance, and not of designated blame of the weaker which is a characteristic of bullying societies.</p><p></p><p>In Auschwitz reports are told of the gas chambers where children are trampled in the center, women are trampled just outside them, and men are found dead having trampled both women and children to save themselves. This is the true ignobility of the human character. And it is a matter of survival hardwiring and not any bad parenting by a eunach bully mother or wife which causes this. The fact that men are physically stronger puts man in a certain moral dilemma. It is easier for him to physically victimize the weaker. Since ALL human beings are corrupted because of panj dhoots, does a bully use physical force and intimidation, or psychological manipulation? Men often resort to physical abuse, women to psychological abuse. Why? Because something is corrupted in the nature of human beings. And this is why there is corruption and imbalance in the entire human race, and not one demonic catalyst of blame, like the Abrahamic aspersions against women. Any realistic evaluation of the condition of women in Abrahamic societies will clearly show a predominance of male aggression. I reiterate, it's a hardwiring, perhaps instinctual trait.</p><p></p><p>Another example, I have a friend who has worked the prison system for decades. The simplest fact, women tend to kill their children. Men tend to kill their wives and girlfriends and other men's children. Hardwiring. The human race in it's most primitive form, is a bully. Is this all the fault of women, as some "root of all discord and mayhem?" Because women are physically weaker, they are the pariah of all societies from time immemorial. Female children are the most reviled, murdered and despised creatures who have ever lived. Yet they are helpless. A spiritual teaching shows in the fruit of how it's religious believer's treat the weakest, most vulnerable members of a population. Does the teaching help humanity overcome hatred and bullying? Or does it justify and enforce it?</p><p></p><p><img src="http://www.islam-watch.org/Assets/islam_taleban_beat_women.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>Taliban abusive to women in the presence of children</p><p></p><p><img src="http://bokertov.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/05/30/hanging_women_and_girls_in_iran.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p></p><p>Men die a few years younger than women in modern societies because the diet of Western cultures in which these studies are conducted is saturated with processed fats. Women have a certain hormonal protection against heart disease until menopause, after which the cases of female heart disease begin to steadily catch up to the statistics of the men. But I will give you some real statistics.</p><p></p><p><a href="http://www.endabuse.org/newsflash/index.php3?Search=Article&NewsFlashID=796" target="_blank">Violence Against Women Pervasive Problem Worldwide, Says New UN Report</a></p><p></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">While women are less likely than men to be victims of violent crimes overall, women are five to eight times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate partner.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Male violence against women does much more damage than female violence against men; women are much more likely to be injured than men.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Women are much more likely than men to be killed by an intimate partner. In 2000, intimate partner homicides accounted for 33.5 percent of the murders of women and less than four percent of the murders of men.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Pregnant and recently pregnant women are more likely to be victims of homicide than to die of any other cause, and evidence exists that a significant proportion of all female homicide victims are killed by their intimate partners.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Research suggests that injury related deaths, including homicide and suicide, account for approximately one-third of all maternal mortality cases, while medical reasons make up the rest. But, homicide is the leading cause of death overall for pregnant women, followed by cancer, acute and chronic respiratory conditions, motor vehicle collisions and drug overdose, peripartum and postpartum cardiomyopthy, and suicide.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The health-related costs of rape, physical assault, stalking and homicide committed by intimate partners exceed $5.8 billion each year. <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Forty percent of girls age 14 to 17 report knowing someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">In a national survey of more than 6,000 American families, 50 percent of the men who frequently assaulted their wives also frequently abused their children.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Studies suggest that between 3.3 - 10 million children witness some form of domestic violence annually.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">One in five (21 percent) women reported she had been raped or physically or sexually assaulted in her lifetime.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.endabuse.org/resources/facts/" target="_blank">Prevalence of Domestic Violence</a></li> </ul><p></p><p></p><p>Those are the facts. One out of every three women will be physically or sexually abused in her lifetime. Fully 30% of all female murder victims was killed by her male spouse. 22% of raped females was under the age of 12. Murder is the leading cause of death of pregnant women.</p><p></p><p>With facts like this which are a daily reality, who can talk about Lilith?</p><p></p><p></p><p>You know, this is a generalization. I believe special interest groups like feminists and homosexuals actually do harm society because they pull against the established order and norm of proper sexual roles. I do think in many ways this harms the social fabric and threatens and alienates the average man. But on the other hand, females and gay men tend to be abused, denied basic rights of job security, housing, etc, and lead the statistics of murder victims. So some kind of justice system is in order. Let the courts decide on a case by case basis rather than deteriorate the discussion into some form of hate mongering against the weaker and more marginalized populations as is typical of bullying societies which rarely look in the mirror at their own faults. True spirituality doesn't despise anybody. Rather it seeks balance, and justice and harmony and healing. Spirituality is a blessing to the suffering world, not another racist, violent, antagonistic, sexist, divisionary, elitist pox of "us" against "them." Gurbani says the Akal Purakh is pervading His creation. Why do we persist in despising what is weakest or most vulnerable within our own humanity? And this is not to justify indecent or demonic behavior whether it stems from men or women. But to acknowledge that materiality itself is an illusion where our basest instincts are plainly shown and our most holy qualities are also plainly shown. The holy qualities bless. The basest instincts curse. The karam of the world manifests the fruit of humanities blessing and cursing. But let no spiritual teaching mascarade as a curse upon anyone without being demonstrated to be a doctrine of demons to divide, alienate and promote hatred and injustice. The world has seen enough religious bloodshed, hypocrisy and murder to create a million hells. We need no more demonic distortions of spiritual teachings which fail to liberate, or dare equate Gurbani as on the same level as Abrahamic hostility to women and people of other religions.</p><p></p><p><img src="http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/imagenes_vaticano/vatican29_06.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p>Auto de fe (Literal meaning: Act of Faith) setting torture victims on fire for the crime of apostacizing from the accepted doctrines of faith, Spanish Inquisition.</p><p></p><p><img src="http://www.channel4.com/news/microsites/D/dispatches_torture/images/spanish.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p> </p><p><img src="http://myego.cz/img/1/20041114-inquisition.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><img src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_9ks36c549BI/RyFIbFe7iwI/AAAAAAAAAOI/nmZ3rTQyatI/s400/torture-05.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><img src="http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t978/T978459A.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><img src="http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/51246967.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=444ED34A869CB9703C0BE73D5A49AEAF284831B75F48EF45" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p></p><p>When I was a teenager, I used to laugh at a feminist bumper sticker which was common at the time. It said, "Women hold up half the sky." I always used to say, "Well who's holding up the other half?" Men suffer... as if to imply women don't? How absurd. Humanity suffers. Male and female are two faces of the one humanity.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The truth is, women in leadership roles have FAILED to prevent the same atrocities and violence and bullying which has existed in human societies from time immemorial, because contrary to feminist doctrine, women are the same exact atma as men. Sex is no arbiter of virtue or lack of virtue. Communist China has not had a female head of state yet, but the country remains completely willing to engage in atrocities, torture, mass murder of undesirable populations. You cannot over-simplify and merely cast blame if you intend to be realistic and truthful.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Are you for real? Are you aware that the creation story of the Abrahamic Bible is only one version of that creation story? There are others which have been suppressed historically? And the version which made it into modern scriptures is the most unrealistic, antagonistic to women, blaming them for harlotry and demonism. Let's take a look at this history of scriptural editing and what it implies.</p><p></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>And what behavior does this kind of blame and devaluation of women encourage? Imagine a "scripture" which talks about gang-rape of a man's concubine and another man's virgin daughter being cowardly thrown to a mob to preserve their "male" honor. After offering the defenseless women to the mob to save himself, he cuts his concubine's corpse into 12 pieces as a form of requesting justice to the 12 Judges of Israel for the loss and defilement of his property (the woman). And this is a scriptural teaching recording a societal attitude about women. The reality, all men are women and all women are men because there is no such thing as male and female, they are roles we play, bodies are robes we wear, the soul has no sex, no race, no nationality. We ALL derive from the Parabrahm. And injustice is injustice is injustice however you slice it, dice it, blame it or shame it.</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>And this "evil and sin" which plagues mankind is said to come from.... woman right? And not from his own personal shortcomings and physical nature trapped in bondage to Maya and the three gunas. Here is the Lilith story in all it's splendor.</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>What is missing: The Gnostic version (for comparison)</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>In one creation story, woman is created from man and for man. When have you ever seen in nature a man as the birth giver? Shaytan the devil tempts the woman and seduces her to sin, thus corrupting man and cursing humanity.</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong>In another version, Zoe, which means Life, which is the name of woman gives birth to man. Sophia which is Divine feminine wisdom acts through Life to give God's Light to mankind. The Divine forces of creation are referred to as androgenous, containing both masculine and feminine qualities which are imparted to creation, and this is carried over in the orthodox teaching of the Bible in this verse:</strong></p><p><strong></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: Indigo"><em> 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, <strong> and over all the creatures that move along the ground." </strong></em></span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: Indigo"><em><strong></strong></em></span></strong></p><p> <strong><span style="color: Indigo"><em><strong>27 So God created man in his own image, </strong></em></span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: Indigo"><em><strong> in the image of God he created him; </strong></em></span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: Indigo"><em><strong> male and female he created them.</strong></em></span></strong></p><p><strong><span style="color: Indigo"><em><strong>~Genesis 1:26-27</strong></em></span><strong></strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong></strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong>Here is a mysterious verse because the One God calls Himself "we" (plural), and says they created male and female after "our" (plural) image. It only makes sense when you start researching the versions of the creation story which were left out. ("Elohiym" here is used to designate plural implying a One Supreme out of a plurality of gods.) This verse appearing in the Torah, originally in Hebrew has been designated by Christians thousands of years later writing in Greek to originate their later developed doctrine of the Holy Trinty, God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the (neuter) Holy Ghost. Earlier teachings rendered the Holy Ghost feminine. And earlier teachings were rooted in Egyptian paganism where the Trinitarian Trimurti doctrine derives: Isis (God the Mother), Horus (God the Father), Osiris/Mithras (God the Son). All feminine aspects were purged out as Christian religion emphasized centuries of male dominated monastic asceticism which postulated the wiles of feminine evil and formulated a completely male, neutered God. The only worthy feminine was the counterpart of Eve, the Virgin Mary who was elevated to hyperdulia, a form of adoration above the saints but below the worship of God.</strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong></strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong></strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong></strong></strong></p><p><strong><strong>In summation, the negativity, the blame, the demonological elements attributed to women, the curse on humanity are given a completely different rendering in other versions. Imbalance of the physical and spiritual forces would seem to me to be the problematic issue and not blame against some physically weaker person who can then be justifiably reviled, beaten, blamed and murdered with impunity for supposed unhappiness of society. It just seems to be the least mature of the spiritual teachings. Enough of this now, it pertains to injustices and slanders and has resulted in unimaginable cruelties, pograms, massacres and genocide. Even some entire medievel villages were left without a single female when the Inquisition went hunting for diabolical "witches." What a pitiable misguided nightmare of a religious teaching.</strong></strong></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Harjas Kaur Khalsa, post: 80834, member: 2125"] This is actually a very interesting thread, and I thank all the participants. I actually see a couple of points I would like to address differently, so I will use 2 separate posts to do so (and avoid one of the marathon long winding ones.) :) I am a woman too. But truth be told, the atma of men and women has no such physical identity. The experiences of men and women is that they have been men and women. Even woman gives birth to males and females. I am not a feminist by any means and am aware feminism as a social philosophy has brought immeasurable harm to women and children by alienating the proper roles of male and female. However, I cannot agree with the Abrahamic distortions I see in this quote. That is why the problem is truly one of imbalance, and not of designated blame of the weaker which is a characteristic of bullying societies. In Auschwitz reports are told of the gas chambers where children are trampled in the center, women are trampled just outside them, and men are found dead having trampled both women and children to save themselves. This is the true ignobility of the human character. And it is a matter of survival hardwiring and not any bad parenting by a eunach bully mother or wife which causes this. The fact that men are physically stronger puts man in a certain moral dilemma. It is easier for him to physically victimize the weaker. Since ALL human beings are corrupted because of panj dhoots, does a bully use physical force and intimidation, or psychological manipulation? Men often resort to physical abuse, women to psychological abuse. Why? Because something is corrupted in the nature of human beings. And this is why there is corruption and imbalance in the entire human race, and not one demonic catalyst of blame, like the Abrahamic aspersions against women. Any realistic evaluation of the condition of women in Abrahamic societies will clearly show a predominance of male aggression. I reiterate, it's a hardwiring, perhaps instinctual trait. Another example, I have a friend who has worked the prison system for decades. The simplest fact, women tend to kill their children. Men tend to kill their wives and girlfriends and other men's children. Hardwiring. The human race in it's most primitive form, is a bully. Is this all the fault of women, as some "root of all discord and mayhem?" Because women are physically weaker, they are the pariah of all societies from time immemorial. Female children are the most reviled, murdered and despised creatures who have ever lived. Yet they are helpless. A spiritual teaching shows in the fruit of how it's religious believer's treat the weakest, most vulnerable members of a population. Does the teaching help humanity overcome hatred and bullying? Or does it justify and enforce it? [IMG]http://www.islam-watch.org/Assets/islam_taleban_beat_women.jpg[/IMG] Taliban abusive to women in the presence of children [IMG]http://bokertov.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/05/30/hanging_women_and_girls_in_iran.jpg[/IMG] Men die a few years younger than women in modern societies because the diet of Western cultures in which these studies are conducted is saturated with processed fats. Women have a certain hormonal protection against heart disease until menopause, after which the cases of female heart disease begin to steadily catch up to the statistics of the men. But I will give you some real statistics. [URL="http://www.endabuse.org/newsflash/index.php3?Search=Article&NewsFlashID=796"]Violence Against Women Pervasive Problem Worldwide, Says New UN Report[/URL] [LIST] [*]Around the world, at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused during her lifetime. [*]While women are less likely than men to be victims of violent crimes overall, women are five to eight times more likely than men to be victimized by an intimate partner. [*]Male violence against women does much more damage than female violence against men; women are much more likely to be injured than men. [*]Women are much more likely than men to be killed by an intimate partner. In 2000, intimate partner homicides accounted for 33.5 percent of the murders of women and less than four percent of the murders of men. [*]Pregnant and recently pregnant women are more likely to be victims of homicide than to die of any other cause, and evidence exists that a significant proportion of all female homicide victims are killed by their intimate partners. [*]Research suggests that injury related deaths, including homicide and suicide, account for approximately one-third of all maternal mortality cases, while medical reasons make up the rest. But, homicide is the leading cause of death overall for pregnant women, followed by cancer, acute and chronic respiratory conditions, motor vehicle collisions and drug overdose, peripartum and postpartum cardiomyopthy, and suicide. [*]The health-related costs of rape, physical assault, stalking and homicide committed by intimate partners exceed $5.8 billion each year. [*]Forty percent of girls age 14 to 17 report knowing someone their age who has been hit or beaten by a boyfriend. [*]In a national survey of more than 6,000 American families, 50 percent of the men who frequently assaulted their wives also frequently abused their children. [*]Studies suggest that between 3.3 - 10 million children witness some form of domestic violence annually. [*]One in five (21 percent) women reported she had been raped or physically or sexually assaulted in her lifetime. [URL="http://www.endabuse.org/resources/facts/"]Prevalence of Domestic Violence[/URL] [/LIST] Those are the facts. One out of every three women will be physically or sexually abused in her lifetime. Fully 30% of all female murder victims was killed by her male spouse. 22% of raped females was under the age of 12. Murder is the leading cause of death of pregnant women. With facts like this which are a daily reality, who can talk about Lilith? You know, this is a generalization. I believe special interest groups like feminists and homosexuals actually do harm society because they pull against the established order and norm of proper sexual roles. I do think in many ways this harms the social fabric and threatens and alienates the average man. But on the other hand, females and gay men tend to be abused, denied basic rights of job security, housing, etc, and lead the statistics of murder victims. So some kind of justice system is in order. Let the courts decide on a case by case basis rather than deteriorate the discussion into some form of hate mongering against the weaker and more marginalized populations as is typical of bullying societies which rarely look in the mirror at their own faults. True spirituality doesn't despise anybody. Rather it seeks balance, and justice and harmony and healing. Spirituality is a blessing to the suffering world, not another racist, violent, antagonistic, sexist, divisionary, elitist pox of "us" against "them." Gurbani says the Akal Purakh is pervading His creation. Why do we persist in despising what is weakest or most vulnerable within our own humanity? And this is not to justify indecent or demonic behavior whether it stems from men or women. But to acknowledge that materiality itself is an illusion where our basest instincts are plainly shown and our most holy qualities are also plainly shown. The holy qualities bless. The basest instincts curse. The karam of the world manifests the fruit of humanities blessing and cursing. But let no spiritual teaching mascarade as a curse upon anyone without being demonstrated to be a doctrine of demons to divide, alienate and promote hatred and injustice. The world has seen enough religious bloodshed, hypocrisy and murder to create a million hells. We need no more demonic distortions of spiritual teachings which fail to liberate, or dare equate Gurbani as on the same level as Abrahamic hostility to women and people of other religions. [IMG]http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/imagenes_vaticano/vatican29_06.jpg[/IMG] Auto de fe (Literal meaning: Act of Faith) setting torture victims on fire for the crime of apostacizing from the accepted doctrines of faith, Spanish Inquisition. [IMG]http://www.channel4.com/news/microsites/D/dispatches_torture/images/spanish.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://myego.cz/img/1/20041114-inquisition.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://bp2.blogger.com/_9ks36c549BI/RyFIbFe7iwI/AAAAAAAAAOI/nmZ3rTQyatI/s400/torture-05.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t978/T978459A.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/51246967.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=444ED34A869CB9703C0BE73D5A49AEAF284831B75F48EF45[/IMG] When I was a teenager, I used to laugh at a feminist bumper sticker which was common at the time. It said, "Women hold up half the sky." I always used to say, "Well who's holding up the other half?" Men suffer... as if to imply women don't? How absurd. Humanity suffers. Male and female are two faces of the one humanity. The truth is, women in leadership roles have FAILED to prevent the same atrocities and violence and bullying which has existed in human societies from time immemorial, because contrary to feminist doctrine, women are the same exact atma as men. Sex is no arbiter of virtue or lack of virtue. Communist China has not had a female head of state yet, but the country remains completely willing to engage in atrocities, torture, mass murder of undesirable populations. You cannot over-simplify and merely cast blame if you intend to be realistic and truthful. Are you for real? Are you aware that the creation story of the Abrahamic Bible is only one version of that creation story? There are others which have been suppressed historically? And the version which made it into modern scriptures is the most unrealistic, antagonistic to women, blaming them for harlotry and demonism. Let's take a look at this history of scriptural editing and what it implies. [b] And what behavior does this kind of blame and devaluation of women encourage? Imagine a "scripture" which talks about gang-rape of a man's concubine and another man's virgin daughter being cowardly thrown to a mob to preserve their "male" honor. After offering the defenseless women to the mob to save himself, he cuts his concubine's corpse into 12 pieces as a form of requesting justice to the 12 Judges of Israel for the loss and defilement of his property (the woman). And this is a scriptural teaching recording a societal attitude about women. The reality, all men are women and all women are men because there is no such thing as male and female, they are roles we play, bodies are robes we wear, the soul has no sex, no race, no nationality. We ALL derive from the Parabrahm. And injustice is injustice is injustice however you slice it, dice it, blame it or shame it. And this "evil and sin" which plagues mankind is said to come from.... woman right? And not from his own personal shortcomings and physical nature trapped in bondage to Maya and the three gunas. Here is the Lilith story in all it's splendor. What is missing: The Gnostic version (for comparison) In one creation story, woman is created from man and for man. When have you ever seen in nature a man as the birth giver? Shaytan the devil tempts the woman and seduces her to sin, thus corrupting man and cursing humanity. In another version, Zoe, which means Life, which is the name of woman gives birth to man. Sophia which is Divine feminine wisdom acts through Life to give God's Light to mankind. The Divine forces of creation are referred to as androgenous, containing both masculine and feminine qualities which are imparted to creation, and this is carried over in the orthodox teaching of the Bible in this verse: [COLOR="Indigo"][I] 26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [b] and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. ~Genesis 1:26-27[/b][/I][b][/b][/COLOR][b] Here is a mysterious verse because the One God calls Himself "we" (plural), and says they created male and female after "our" (plural) image. It only makes sense when you start researching the versions of the creation story which were left out. ("Elohiym" here is used to designate plural implying a One Supreme out of a plurality of gods.) This verse appearing in the Torah, originally in Hebrew has been designated by Christians thousands of years later writing in Greek to originate their later developed doctrine of the Holy Trinty, God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the (neuter) Holy Ghost. Earlier teachings rendered the Holy Ghost feminine. And earlier teachings were rooted in Egyptian paganism where the Trinitarian Trimurti doctrine derives: Isis (God the Mother), Horus (God the Father), Osiris/Mithras (God the Son). All feminine aspects were purged out as Christian religion emphasized centuries of male dominated monastic asceticism which postulated the wiles of feminine evil and formulated a completely male, neutered God. The only worthy feminine was the counterpart of Eve, the Virgin Mary who was elevated to hyperdulia, a form of adoration above the saints but below the worship of God. In summation, the negativity, the blame, the demonological elements attributed to women, the curse on humanity are given a completely different rendering in other versions. Imbalance of the physical and spiritual forces would seem to me to be the problematic issue and not blame against some physically weaker person who can then be justifiably reviled, beaten, blamed and murdered with impunity for supposed unhappiness of society. It just seems to be the least mature of the spiritual teachings. Enough of this now, it pertains to injustices and slanders and has resulted in unimaginable cruelties, pograms, massacres and genocide. Even some entire medievel villages were left without a single female when the Inquisition went hunting for diabolical "witches." What a pitiable misguided nightmare of a religious teaching.[/b][/b] [/QUOTE]
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