11 Injured in knife fight at Sikh temple in Vienna

[SwordoftheVistula]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090524/...emple_shooting

VIENNA – Worshippers of Indian origin armed with knives and at least one gun fought one another in a temple in the Austrian capital on Sunday, and at least 11 were wounded, police and ambulance staff said.

Police spokesman Michael Takacs said the brawl occurred in Sikh temple, but Mohnder Ram, a worshipper who said he had attended services there for decades, said Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and others regularly attend the Shri Guru Ravidass Temple. He said the attackers were Sikhs from a temple in another Vienna district.

Witnesses said the fighting erupted between worshippers in a dispute over the sermon.

Police said at least six men, one wielding a gun and the others knives, attacked the preacher. Other worshippers rushed to his aid, resulting in the melee.

Police spokesman Michael Takacs said all six attackers were in critical condition, while the wounds of the others were less serious. More people may have been slightly hurt and run out of the temple before police arrived, he said. Takacs said he did not know the motive of the brawl. He identified the temple as Sikh.

Ram, 72, said, "I heard four to five shots" in the temple. "People started screaming, children were crying as they ran out. It was like war. There was lots of blood everywhere."

Ram said the preacher, whom he said was Hindu, was among those shot.

An unidentified witness cited by the Austria Press Agency said the brawl was started by fundamentalist Sikhs from a higher caste, who accused the guru of being disrespectful with the Holy Book.

All the wounded were men of Indian origin and estimated between 30 and 50 years old, spokesman Bernhard Segal of Vienna medical services said.

Ram said about 400 people were at the service when the fight broke out in the temple, in a residential building of the working-class Viennese neighborhood.

Four ambulances and three medical helicopters transported the victims to hospitals.

The temple is situated in Vienna-Rudolfsheim, the capital's 15th district near Westbahnhof, one of Vienna's main train stations. Police cordoned off the area.

[Óttar]

Sikh Dharma started out as a practical sect. Their founder Guru Nanak said vegetarianism was not mandatory and that it was up to personal choice. He claimed vegetarians who thought they were superior because of their diet were mistaken as Indian vegetarian food is some of the best in the world, and quite flavorful, so claiming superiority was merely an exercise in vanity.

One thing which I admire about the original Sikh Dharma was an outright and explicit rejection of renunciation, something which so plagues segments of Hinduism and just about all of Buddhism and Jainism. Guru Nanak's main teaching was the belief that worship was internal and between the worshipper and God. As Sikhism was threatened by Islam during Mughal rule, later gurus placed an emphasis on external militancy i.e. not cutting the hair or the beard, carrying daggers etc.

When Indira Gandhi ordered operation blue star in 1982 against Sikh militants in the Golden Temple at Amritsar, Gandhi was stabbed by her Sikh bodyguards which in turn sparked anti-Sikh riots where Sikhs were dragged out of their homes and beaten to death.

This led to further Sikh militancy and separatist tendencies. There are those Sikhs who are very friendly to Hindu dharma. It is not uncommon to see Sikhs at Hindu temples and vice versa, but a segment of the Sikh community wants to seperate themselves from all things Hindu, ignoring their historical and cultural connections to Hinduism.

The story of Sikhism which came about initially in the 17th century is basically how many religions start out. It was about one's personal spiritual practice and communion with God. External aspects such as caste, clothing, diet, superstitions were seen as artificial barriers, which kept people from proper understanding. As time went on, like all religions, they got caught up in those very same external barriers which they professed to denounce.

Now on Youtube, one can see these militant Sikh videos calling for Muslims and Sikhs to unite against Hindus. This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Since Mughal times, the Muslims in Northern India decapitated, terrorized, tortured and boiled Sikhs alive in oil.

Sikhs and Hindus have to forgive and forget and look at the bigger picture, namely their historical, cultural and spiritual connections as Dharmic religions.