Notes From the Road

Satnam, the Grace within you, shines through you, forever more, that you may manifest the perfect Name! La, La, La, La!

This is Snatam Kaur's husband, Sopurkh Singh, taking over the mantle of the "Notes from the Road" blog. Snatam Kaur will be jumping in from time to time, to share her experiences, however, I am gladly stepping in to help share the "notes".

The Feb/March 2008 tour was my first full tour with the Celebrate Peace Band. We were a band of six for half of the tour (Snatam Kaur, GuruGanesha Singh, myself, Karta Purkh Singh on percussion, mandolin and vocals, Sat Jot Singh on piano, bass and vocals, and Adi Shakti Singh on sound), and then we were also joined by two video journalists (James Connolly and Rachelle Escaravage) who were brought to document the experience by Steve Robertson's Peace Has Begun campaign. Part of my job is Road Manager, and I was anxious about traveling with eight people for three weeks of the tour. Where would we all stay? Would we go over budget? Everyday I prayed in the morning, and I heard the answer: God will provide, there's no need to be anxious, everything is God's will, this is part of the plan.

Sure enough, we had wonderful accommodations all along the way, with many home cooked meals to boot! I'm going to attempt to thank them all here, the Sivanada Ashram, Deva Singh and Kaur, Mahan Kalpa Singh and Ram Rang Kaur, Guru Sahai Singh and Mukta Kaur, Harbhajan Singh and Hardarshan Kaur, Arci and Dulal, Yogaville Ashram, Tracy, Sat Want and Gurujot Kaur (and the Herndon community), Mahan Rishi Singh and Nirbhe Kaur, Benita, Joan and Per, Harimandir Singh and Siri Bandhu Kaur, Navrattan Singh and Gurpreet Kaur, Ray and Sarah, Saribjit Singh and Jaspal Kaur, Surjit Singh and Mary, Vedic City with Guy Harvey and Michael and Shelley, Guru Dev Singh and Sat Kaur, and the Kripalu Yoga Center - to you all - one big thank you!

Here is a picture us Snatam, myself, and GuruGanesha with Shelley and Michael from Iowa:


And thank you God, you were right, you would provide, not only were our basic needs covered, you covered our spiritual needs, and we all grew from the experience. I saw the plan fully unfolding in ways I could have never "managed" as road manager. You covered us when our van caught fire, you covered us when Snatam couldn't sing, you covered us when we needed faith. You taught me how to manage by bowing my head to you.

Thanks to all the peace makers in the world, including Yogi Bhajan, who inspired us to create peace in our hearts, peace in our homes, and peace in our world. Yogi Bhajan taught us to dial-up You directly. He taught us to repeat Your Name, and that we would be radiant from the inside, and it would be beautiful. He taught that by chanting Your Name, we would have compassion for ourselves, and others, and we would be bountiful. He taught us that if we chanted again and again, we would see the true essence of this beauty and bounty: You, and we would be blissful (from Gurmukh's book: Beautiful, Bountiful, Blissful - thank you Gurmukh).

Satnam.