Thursday, July 15, 2010
Sat Nam everyone.
We had an incredible time at Khalsa Youth Camp up at Ram Das Puri. The kids at the camp range from ages 4 to 12. The children were just so radiant and beautiful. For the second time in my life I served the camp as the Sikh Dharma teacher. The last time was when I was 16. My husband Sopurkh Singh taught some really great yoga classes to the children, and looked after Jap Preet. Jap Preet was running all throughout camp, and learned how to hold her own as all of the children poured over her with love and excitement. During the day, the children had a variety of activities such as rock climbing, martial arts, out door skills, Sikh Dharma and art. The Sikh Dharma class was inside the beautiful Gurdwara (Sikh place of sanctuary) up at the site. In the class I told many stories from Sikh history, and shared my own personal life stories of my experience with Sikhism. It was really cool to see how the children were so interested in really connecting with the Divine....some were Sikhs and others weren’t. It kind of didn’t make a difference in the end. The children really had a way of inspiring us to be real. And so we were able to really go beyond religious differences and just connect to the purity of our practice.
I told a little story to the children one day.... some of you may have heard me tell this story already. I originally heard it from Bibi ji, Siri Singh Sahib’s (aka Yogi Bhajan) beloved wife.
A yogi sat meditating by a river. People came to the river, waded in, and began washing themselves and saying with each splash of water, “please take them away!”
The yogi asked the people what they were doing. The people replied, “We are giving all of our mistakes and misdeeds to the river!”
The yogi in his meditation found the spirit of the river and asked the spirit, “What do you do with all of their mistakes and misdeeds?”
The river spirit replied, “I take them to the ocean!”
The yogi in his meditation found the spirit of the ocean and asked the spirit, “What do you do with all of their mistakes and misdeeds?”
The spirit of the ocean replied, “Oh that’s easy, I just let them evaporate up into the clouds!”
So the yogi in his meditation found the spirit of the clouds and asked” What do you do with all of their mistakes and misdeeds?”
The spirit of the clouds responded, “Oh great yogi, I find the houses where the mistakes and misdeeds originally came from and rain down on them!”
Moral of the story.... well just do good things, and build the grace and beauty of your life step by step, action by action, word by word and thought by thought.
I told that story this year to the 4-7 year old campers at Khalsa Youth Camp, and asked them... what are good things that you can do in your life?
I got a lot of really good answers..... “Share”, “Be Kind”, etc.
But.... this one from a little 4 year old boy named Ravi Das blew me away. He raised his hand up high, and I called on him after many of the children had already spoken. He said with a radiant look of angelic connection and knowledge....
“Be a servant of love.”
Hey now... isn’t that beautiful?!
Well.... God bless you... whoever is reading this. May your summer be filled with infinite blessings.
Oh and by the way if you want to send your kids to Khalsa Youth Camp next year check out, www.3HO.org. I highly recommend it. And a bonus for the parents is that there are courses offered by 3HO in the same general area for you while your children are at camp. So, the whole family gets a big uplift.
Please enjoy some of my pictures from the camp.
--
Humbly Yours,
Snatam Kaur Khalsa
We had an incredible time at Khalsa Youth Camp up at Ram Das Puri. The kids at the camp range from ages 4 to 12. The children were just so radiant and beautiful. For the second time in my life I served the camp as the Sikh Dharma teacher. The last time was when I was 16. My husband Sopurkh Singh taught some really great yoga classes to the children, and looked after Jap Preet. Jap Preet was running all throughout camp, and learned how to hold her own as all of the children poured over her with love and excitement. During the day, the children had a variety of activities such as rock climbing, martial arts, out door skills, Sikh Dharma and art. The Sikh Dharma class was inside the beautiful Gurdwara (Sikh place of sanctuary) up at the site. In the class I told many stories from Sikh history, and shared my own personal life stories of my experience with Sikhism. It was really cool to see how the children were so interested in really connecting with the Divine....some were Sikhs and others weren’t. It kind of didn’t make a difference in the end. The children really had a way of inspiring us to be real. And so we were able to really go beyond religious differences and just connect to the purity of our practice.
I told a little story to the children one day.... some of you may have heard me tell this story already. I originally heard it from Bibi ji, Siri Singh Sahib’s (aka Yogi Bhajan) beloved wife.
A yogi sat meditating by a river. People came to the river, waded in, and began washing themselves and saying with each splash of water, “please take them away!”
The yogi asked the people what they were doing. The people replied, “We are giving all of our mistakes and misdeeds to the river!”
The yogi in his meditation found the spirit of the river and asked the spirit, “What do you do with all of their mistakes and misdeeds?”
The river spirit replied, “I take them to the ocean!”
The yogi in his meditation found the spirit of the ocean and asked the spirit, “What do you do with all of their mistakes and misdeeds?”
The spirit of the ocean replied, “Oh that’s easy, I just let them evaporate up into the clouds!”
So the yogi in his meditation found the spirit of the clouds and asked” What do you do with all of their mistakes and misdeeds?”
The spirit of the clouds responded, “Oh great yogi, I find the houses where the mistakes and misdeeds originally came from and rain down on them!”
Moral of the story.... well just do good things, and build the grace and beauty of your life step by step, action by action, word by word and thought by thought.
I told that story this year to the 4-7 year old campers at Khalsa Youth Camp, and asked them... what are good things that you can do in your life?
I got a lot of really good answers..... “Share”, “Be Kind”, etc.
But.... this one from a little 4 year old boy named Ravi Das blew me away. He raised his hand up high, and I called on him after many of the children had already spoken. He said with a radiant look of angelic connection and knowledge....
“Be a servant of love.”
Hey now... isn’t that beautiful?!
Well.... God bless you... whoever is reading this. May your summer be filled with infinite blessings.
Oh and by the way if you want to send your kids to Khalsa Youth Camp next year check out, www.3HO.org. I highly recommend it. And a bonus for the parents is that there are courses offered by 3HO in the same general area for you while your children are at camp. So, the whole family gets a big uplift.
Please enjoy some of my pictures from the camp.
--
Humbly Yours,
Snatam Kaur Khalsa
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Snatam,thank you for sharing this.
Let me say to you ... I very wished to meet you in my life.. To know you is already blessing. You really do peace. I can feel it in my heart. thank you.
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Let me say to you ... I very wished to meet you in my life.. To know you is already blessing. You really do peace. I can feel it in my heart. thank you.
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