Friday, May 03, 2013
Women Who Have Inspired My Path
There is a woman in the Sikh history whose name is Bibi Bani. She was the daughter of the third Sikh Guru, Guru Amar Das, the wife of the fourth Sikh Guru, Guru Ram Das, and the mother of the fifth Sikh Guru, Guru Arjan Dev. Yogi Bhajan, my spiritual teacher, taught that there are three ways for a woman to achieve liberation in this lifetime. One is to serve a person of God; another is to give birth to a child of God, and the third is through your own meditation and spiritual practices. Many people today will start a yoga practice or spiritual practice, but when they get married they say, “ I don’t have time.” Things shift and their spiritual practices go by the wayside.
I am a householder and through the life of Bibi Bani I have been truly inspired to see how we can achieve liberation through serving our family. There is a beautiful story about Bibi Bani. She was taking care of her father, Guru Amar Das, who was the Guru for the Sikhs at that time. He often sat on a small platform doing his meditation practice and she always came to serve him. One time when she did this she noticed that one of the legs of his meditation seat was cracking and about to break. She knew that meditation is the highest practice, and she did not want his meditation to be disturbed at all, so she held the cracking piece of wood together with her hands. She continued to hold it for hours until he finished his meditation. When he came out of meditation he opened his eyes and saw his daughter holding the leg of his meditation platform. Her hand was totally bleeding by that time and shaking and barely able to hold the weight.
He saw this and was in awe of this incredible act of love. He really felt the divine feminine coming through her. And this has been a beautiful example for me in my life—to support each other as a family in our spiritual practice. Her capacity to go beyond the physical pain and give herself in that way is so beautiful. And Guru Amar Das actually told her that because her act of love was so pure, he wanted to give her a blessing. She told him, “If the next Guru can be my child so that I can continue to serve in this way, that would be the greatest blessing.” And so she was given that blessing. Truly the spiritual energy of her practice and who she was came through as the Guruship continued with her divine energy of service.
I am also really inspired by something I read recently from my spiritual teacher. He talked about how Mother Mary was such an incredible example of the divine feminine. Her role was also as the mother of this incredible Light on the planet, Jesus, but when he was born there was no space for her to give birth to him; nobody would take them in. Even the inn keeper told them to go to the barn and there Jesus was born, with all the animals and only hay to keep warm. And then Yogi Bhajan said that even though circumstances were rough then, now if you look at it, Jesus has the most real estate on this planet that the governments cannot even tax. Yogi Bhajan said that when Jesus was at school, the boys sometimes teased him referring to some rumors that he was an illegitimate child. So he came home and asked his mother, “Who is my father?” And she said, “Your father is God in heaven.” He believed her and lived his life accordingly. So what I bow to is this capacity of a mother to instill that belief in her child, and to serve her child in that way. As mothers, we really can give spiritual energy to our children, and I think this is a beautiful example.
Another woman in Sikh history who has inspired my path is Mai Bago. She lived at a time when the Sikhs were fighting the Mogul Empire. There is a story of forty Sikhs who left the Tenth Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, because they didn’t want to die. And it is said that the wives of the village, when they saw their husbands returning, could not believe that they had deserted the Guru and their cause. Guru Gobind Singh was fighting for the religious freedom and cultural freedom of the entire region. Seeing their husbands’ cowardice, the women began to put on their husbands’ clothes and armor and gather their weapons to go to battle. The men just couldn’t believe that their wives were doing this. There was one woman in particular who led the women and her name was Mai Bago. She then convinced the men, these forty soldiers, to follow her back to the battle. They returned at a very crucial time and were instrumental in helping to save the life of the Guru. They eventually all died in the battle but Mai Bago survived. I’m inspired by her story as a Sikh woman but also as a woman who stood up with courage and bravery and service. And so these are the women of the past who have inspired me.
I am also very inspired by my mother, by how she has served her husband, my stepfather, and supported him throughout the years. She prays for him every day and it is really incredible to see how her love has just increased over the years. The level of her prayers is so powerful and seems to just surround him with light and energy, and our entire family as well. She is an incredibly strong woman and has been throughout the years, and that strength has given her the opportunity to be in a very, very joyful place right now in her service. I truly believe in a woman’s power of prayer. My mother has been very inspirational to me as I pray for my own husband and the capacity for us to create a sense of love, joy and freshness in our relationship.
And so my inspiration comes from women who are in relationship with others, and also I think it is important that we have a relationship with ourselves, connection with our divine feminine. I’m very grateful to Yogi Bhajan who has given so many teachings, yoga sets and meditations for women to simply connect with the Divine energy within. You do not have to be in relationship with anyone or married or have children to have a sense of the divine feminine, that you are the caretaker and mother of all. You have to nourish yourself and remain in a sense of abundance in order to do this.
Another modern day woman saint who has inspired me is Mother Teresa. I think about her often, about how every day she would pray and pray to God to show her how to be an instrument of His will on this planet. There are many, many stories about her but one that really stays with me is when she was living close to a war zone. Her prayers had guided her to give relief to the people. Everyone knew it was a dangerous situation with fighting going on right in the middle of the city. But she said, “Let’s go,” and the moment she and her sisters went in, a ceasefire happened without any coordination or communication. Obviously she was connected to that greater divine knowledge of the universe. Mother Teresa and her nuns were able to go in for a couple of hours and serve the people, and then they got out safely. I always remember that that universal knowledge, intuitive knowledge, is available to us, showing us how we can serve as women, if we just take the time to ask God for guidance. And Mother Teresa is an incredible example of that capacity.
The mantra I sing, “Adi Shakti,” is one way that I connect the Divine feminine energy of the universe:
Adi Shakti—the primal Power of the universe, I bow, I bow
Sarab Shakti—all-powerful divine feminine energy, I bow to you
Pritham Bhagvati—the primal one who cuts away all negativity, I bow to you
Kundalini Mata Shakti—the one who raises the energy in the spine, I bow to you
Trying to explain who Shakti is, to me, is like asking a thread, “Tell me what the blanket looks like.” The thread is so woven into and one with the blanket that it cannot distinguish itself from the blanket. I feel like I am so much a part of the divine feminine energy, and my understanding and my experience of it, as it is coursing through and supporting all of creation. As we do our meditation practice, our yoga practice, we tap into that energy. It is a very powerful energy, a very potent energy, but at the core of divine feminine energy is the capacity to bring us calming energy, peaceful energy, Zen energy, being able to relax and feel the flow. With this Shakti we have the opportunity to create, grow and tend, and at the same time we are in the state of receptivity, of being the cooling energy of the planet, a state of intuition and listening in stillness. As a woman, I feel that it is very important and necessary to have a daily meditation practice to be able to maintain both of these qualities of the gardener, so to speak, and the garden.
© 2013 by Snatam Kaur Khalsa. This article was edited from an interview with Snatam in February 2013 by Light of Consciousness. Snatam Kaur is a singer, songwriter, recording and performing artist renowned for her devotional music. Her latest release, Heart of the Universe, with Peter Kater, produced by Spirit Voyage, was reviewed in Light of Consciousness Spring 2013. The Adi Shakti Mantra is available on her album Divine Birth. This August Snatam will be teaching a course with Gurmukh Kaur Khalsa, The Radiant Power of Women, at the Omega Institute. In June and July she will teach at Summer Solstice and Khalsa Youth Camp in Northern New Mexico. In July she will teach a course, Realign with the Light in Santa Cruz, CA. For more information visit snatamkaur.com and spiritvoyage.com and www.3ho.org.
Friday, April 26, 2013
The Road Map to Salvation through Mantra
How can we really enjoy this life? How can we really enjoy being in our bodies, in this rib cage? We must have the capacity to have a still and quiet mind. Because the joy is there. This innocence is there. The love is there. We become too ravaged in our own insecurity, our own misery, our own blindness, to even see the truth. Yes, thrash around if you must, gnarl and gnash your teeth like a wild animal. After enough tearing about, you will be left alone, simply alone, to rebuild the pieces of your life.
Use the sacred medicine of Mantra at this time, and you will find the happiness and the joy that you are seeking. What is despair? What is anguish? It is a simple frequency of the mind. Just as Mantra is a frequency of the mind. Mantra is a word that is thousands of years old. It means projection (tra) of the mind (man). Mantra is the way we project our mind to Divinity.
As human beings we are constantly in a state of being in touch with our darkness and our light, our insecurity and our security, our courage and our fear. We come to this earth with our karma, our past actions from previous lifetimes. Our souls have come here to learn and grow. The yogis say that it takes 8.4 million lifetimes (rock, blade of grass, ant, tortoise, etc. etc. not necessarily in that order!) to reach the human incarnation. We have passed through that animal phase. Yet many of us are still in this kind of animal phase, and even worse then animals. At least with animals there is an innocence about their actions. We have even lost our innocence! So, how do we experience the goodness, the joy, and the love? How do we reach our Divinity? Mantra. Mantra, takes you there. It is a fast track, direct line. Many people do not want to even practice it, because it works too well! They enjoy the neurosis, the anger, the pain, and the anguish! There is a certain kind of satisfaction in it, a knowing, the familiar, and the oh so delicious drama of it all. Mantra, well, sorry folks, mantra is kind of boring. It is that kind of boring, boring, boring, boring a hole into your heart so that your light can finally shine through you. It takes time, it takes patience, it takes consistency, it takes prioritization.
Here is a thousand foot view of the human experience of Mantra from the beginning to the ultimate goal. Someone experiences a Mantra, they get healed, they feel light, they feel love, and they feel joy. Perhaps they heard someone singing it, their yoga teacher, a musician, something. If they are lucky, they will realize that it was not in fact the human carrier of the mantra that brought them joy, but the living presence of the Mantra. You see, because every mantra is alive, a living breathing energy. The mantras find you! So yes, if you know the truth, you will know that the healing, the joy has come from the Mantra itself. With this realization one incorporates the Mantra into their life. The ultimate goal is that the Mantra becomes you, you live it and breath it, it guides your breath, your thoughts, and your actions. These Mantras are simple positive affirmations of the love and light of God that is within and around us, the affirmation of truth and reality that all is Divine, all is God.
Most of us exist with the Mantras on a very peripheral level. We hear the Mantra every once in a while, we cycle in and out, we go to a chant concert or experience one night, to a disco the next night, we chant together, and then we turn around and yell and scream at each other all in the same day! Such is the human life! How do we get to grace, to true experience, and joy?
My teacher taught a very simple practice that in essence gives the opportunity for all of us having a very human experience to transform, and transform completely. It is essentially a road map to salvation through Mantra for the house holder.
It is called the Aquarian Sadhana. I have been practicing this Sadhana since I was a teenager. And yes, with all of my faults and life in its ebb and flow, if there is anything that has worked for me, it is this practice. This is the way it is done; we get up before the sun rises, in what is called the "Amrit Vela" or nectar time; somewhere around 3:30 am. To make this early rising sustainable one must go to bed early as well. So we rise up, and then take a cold shower. And yes, I did just say that. I'll say it again in caps, Cold Shower. If you want to change your life, wake up before the sun and take a cold shower! It is the most awesome experience in the world. It totally wakes you up, for obvious reasons, but also gives you an amazing rush and experience of circulation which is fabulous for your skin and all of your organs. Any emotional freak outs, any craziness, can be completely healed by a cold shower. Alright so, moving on, then we do a recitation called Jap ji. Followed by about a half hour of yoga, and then by seven mantras which we chant. Of course in this article I cannot tell you what all of the chants are, and how to do the practice. You can come and attend one of our courses to have an experience of that. Or check out one of the links below for more information.
What I can tell you is that this practice has changed by life. It has given me the opportunity as a human being, in the best and worst use of the word, in all of my experience, to reach the Divine. Why?
Here is why, and the number one thing I wish to convey.
I do it every day. Let me repeat that. I do it every day. Like the heart beat, I am consistent. With consistency we convince the mind that yes, in fact we are putting our Divinity first, we are prioritizing it at the top, that this is in fact the core experience that we are choosing to have. Daily practice. That is how we are going to change the world. That is how we are going to bring peace to this planet. One practitioner at a time. And so we set aside 2.5 hours each day, we give a little over 10% of our day to God, and as my teacher Yogi Bhajan says, then God gives Himself/Herself to you.
What is my goal with all of this? To have sacred mantras in my mind all day, all night, all the time. Am I there yet? No. Do I have a method to get there? Yes.
Join me my friends. Find a way to have a daily practice. Put Divinity in the front seat, and watch as your life, even if ever so slowly, changes and transforms. We have to start somewhere. And if you are like me, the chaos, the noise, the confusion, the drama, is well, let's just say, not really working any longer. Let us find the stillness, and even for a moment allow for the boredom to set in. Ah yes, the boredom! Where we can finally be still long enough to hear the laughter of a child. Where we can finally be still enough to see how much God truly loves us. Where we can finally just be.
Sat Nam. God Bless You. ~ Snatam Kaur
To experience the Aquarian Sadhana and go deeply into the practice of Mantra with Snatam Kaur, come to her Realign into the Light Retreat, July 19-21, 2013 in Santa Cruz, CA: www.snatamkaur.com/realign
Please go to http://snatamkaur.com/yogic_tools/ to download Japji, the 10 bodies set, and the Aquarian Sadhana chants.
To experience the Aquarian Sadhana with the global 3HO community, come to one of these events at www.3HO.org and www.satnamfest.com
Wednesday, October 03, 2012
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| Photo courtesy of Robin Layton |
I have a friend who has one of those clocks that
makes bird sounds at the strike of every hour in his kitchen. A few years ago, our whole band stayed
at his home in Princeton Junction, New Jersey, piling into every free nook and
cranny that the house could give us. Arriving late at night, we gratefully accepted his invitation for some
ice cream and tea. There must have
been seven of us sitting around his kitchen table. And it was instantaneous, the jokes started rolling out, the
laughter, and the fun. There is
something so wonderful about laughing with a group of people, such as a band,
after the trials and tribulations of the road. Music is so heart centered, so
beautiful, yet the road can be tough at times. It was as if our hearts just poured out in celebration to
have something to laugh about! So,
each one of us began taking our turns at telling jokes. I think I told one of two jokes that I
actually remember, the mole joke. Its so funny! At least I
think so. Actually as I write this
at my ripe old age of forty, I have to confess, this is the only joke I can
remember. Oh well. Its a good one.
In any case, it got to my friend's turn, our
host. For the first few seconds as
he started telling his joke, I got distracted, thinking how absolutely grateful
I was to him and his wife for opening their home to us, for providing us with a
kitchen table where we could sit around and talk, for the tea and the delicious
ice cream, for laughing with us, and especially for laughing at my joke. (Laughing at my jokes scores high marks
in my book, in fact, that's the thing that tipped the scales enough that I
decided that yes in fact I would marry my husband.)
So pulling myself out of my spinning inner world
of gratitude, I tuned into his joke, really trying to pay attention. He was a really good joke teller, a
kind of twinkle in his eye. This
was going to be a good one. The anticipation was building as little recognition
twinkles lit up in everyone's eyes with the joke unfolding. And suddenly the clock went off, and I
think it was a blue jay sound or something, whatever the 11:00 pm bird happens
to be. And my friend, right before
the punch line of his joke, as we were all looking at him expectantly, closed
his eyes, sat up straight, and with a little smile was silent in a moment of
inner reverence. As that
electronic blue jay sound awkwardly filled the silence, it was one of the
longest minutes of my life. My
knee jerk reaction was to laugh. It was crazy. My mind
couldn't grasp it, couldn't figure it out. But, as I looked at him, a little confused, and shocked, I saw this
silence, the reverence, this peace, a breath, a pause. And I thought to myself, "I want
that too." And so like him, I
closed my eyes too, and just breathed, just listened. We all did in fact. In those few moments I did not want anything, I did not need anything, I
was being filled by being in the
moment, accepting what is, what is now, what shall always be.
Something like God I suppose. And then
the bird sound stopped, and we opened our eyes. And my friend finished his joke. And then we all laughed! It was a funny one. (I can't remember though, sorry.)
The next few days we got to stay at my friend's
house. On every hour that clock
would go off in the kitchen. And
my friend without fail would stop during those moments, breathe and meditate.
He explained to me that it his way of remaining
connected to his spirit, to his breath, to gratefulness in his life.
I began to try to do it too. It was such an inspiring concept. And never before had one of those
annoying bird clocks ever felt so refreshing. But it was also just the peace that he so beautifully carried
within that got me. He was filling
that peace up every hour. It was
real, it was tangible. It was
working.
At times I would be getting ready to go to a
concert, putting on my turban or something of that nature, and hear the clock,
and just not be able to stop what I was doing to meditate until the bird call
was almost over and I'd just get in a few seconds. But as our time there passed, I got better and better.
The moments when I would stop got
longer and longer. And the peace,
yes, the peace got deeper and deeper.
In one of the new songs on a collaborative album
that I am doing with an artist named Peter Kater I sing the words,
There is peace in every breath
As my mind dwells on your name
Finding peace, peace within
Treasure of bliss, never ends
These are the words of Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru of
the Sikhs, which is my spiritual path. Here are his words in the original
Gurmukhi language:
Saas Saas man naam
Man naam samaarai.
Eho bisaraam nid paa-ee
Today in the airport terminal on my way home
from a concert weekend, I listened to the words of this song, with the
beautiful piano, and with the hussle of the airport terminal passing before my
eyes. All sorts of people, all
sorts of business, all sorts of disconnection, all sorts of discomfort, stress,
movement, lives, in and out, up and down, crazy food, cell phones, blinking
lights, loud announcements. How do
we stop? How do we get off the
wheel of the makings of our mind? How do we feel peace even in a place like a crazy airport terminal?
And then the words came,
"There is peace is in every breath,
As my mind dwells on your Name
Finding peace, peace within
Treasure of Bliss never ends."
And so I did, for a few moments stop, just like
my friend back there in that kitchen in Princeton Junction, New Jersey. I stopped, I took a breath, and paused,
and yes the peace came.
It's as easy as that. All we have to do is stop, and breath. And yet it is one of the hardest things
to do. To stop, stop the drama,
stop the train of thoughts. We
believe so strongly that in the shear thinking, we are holding the world, our
jobs, our families, our lives in place. When in fact, the thinking itself takes us away from the center of our
being, where we can be most effective in all that we do. It is not that we should not
think. It is just that we are not
just the mind. We are full
beings! We flow with energy in our
entire body. When we get stuck in
our minds, when the energy of our mind rules the day, we loose connection to
the myriad of gifts that our entire beings offer. Our hearts carry compassion. Our feet give us humility and grounding. Our lower back gives us strength. Our blood gives us fluidity. Our bones give us commitment. Our smile
gives hope. Our breath gives life. And it is God, really who gives us this breath, and takes this breath
away. In an instant, as one of my
friends experienced last week, someone's life can come to an end. We may die at any moment, because it is
God, it always has been, it always will be, who gives and takes away this
life. And so like this, we need to
die, for just a moment, stop, breath, and remember that One, that great One,
whose Name, by the mere recitation in a state of awareness, can bring absolute
liberation.
That is my message to you this week.
Take a moment, stop, breath, meditate, and find
God's Name in your breath. That
Treasure of Bliss shall never end.
Sat Nam.
Blessings,
Snatam Kaur
PS.
If you live in the United States, please vote in this upcoming
election.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
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| Todd, Snatam, Jason, Matthew and Bret (in the back) at Niagara Falls |
Sat Nam Everyone.
A poem for you today:
Problems
Troubles
Fears
We've all got 'em
Vision
Courage
Will
To get past them
Breath
Smile
Laugh
Look in their eyes
Enemy
Fighting
Separation
Dissolves in the Light of God's Love
Love,
Snatam
Love,
Snatam
Monday, September 03, 2012
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| Matthew, Snatam, Todd, Jason, and Scott (in back) at Omega for Ecstatic Chant over Labor Day weekend |
Sat Nam
everyone.
Today in my blog is a
poem that I wrote for my daughter.
It is what I know to be true, and in this way dedicate it to all
children on the planet, and all those who take the journey into their heart. We
have put it to music on our new album with Peter Kater to be released soon.
Yay! We are at the beginning of our two week tour which ends at Sat Nam FestEast. Please check out
our tour schedule to see if you can join us along the way.
The Song of Your Heart
by Snatam Kaur Khalsa
You are becoming
The song of your heart
How beautiful it is
As the flower blossoms forth
Feel the earth in your toes
Oh my child you'll never know
What tomorrow brings
So sing, sing, sing
Rise before the morning light
Let your soul take its flight
God is with you listening
So sing, sing sing
Hand in hand we shall go
Through the grassy hills of gold
See the hawk circling
We sing, sing, sing
You are becoming
The song of your heart
How beautiful it is
As the flower blossoms forth
Friday, August 10, 2012
Sat Nam.
We invite you to
light a candle and send your prayers from your home, with your family, and with
your community for those who lost their lives in the Oak Creek Sikh Temple
shooting with these two sacred chants from the Sikh tradition (please click here for the free downloads of
these chants). In the past few
days since the shooting at the Oak Creek Gurdwara (temple) there has been a
great outpouring of prayers, and compassion from the American public for the
Sikh Community in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, and across the United States. As we understand the details of what
occurred we see the pure ignorance that caused such an act, we see the anger,
and we see the terror. We see the
large gap of understanding and connection in our society, that such an event
could occur in our country to such a peaceful community as the Sikhs in a place
of worship. As the Muslim mosque was burnt down just the next day in Joplin
Missouri our hearts wept once again.
However this
blog is to call upon the light, the love, and the strength of human
spirit. So how do we move
forward? In the Sikh prayer that
we recite every morning there is a beautiful line that comes to mind now. "May we remember those who saw the
faults of others yet overlooked them." And so as our eyes turn beyond the faults to find the
connection, to find the way to move on, let us together find the light.
We see the
incredible heroism, in knowing how the President of the Gurdwara in Oak Creek,
Satwant Singh Kaleka, faced the shooter with a butter knife and from what reports
tell us was able to hinder his rampage for a time. We see the absolute shining spirit of humanity come through
Lt. Brian Murphy as he encouraged his fellow officers to go inside the Gurdwara
and help the people inside before tending to his wounds. We feel the love and beauty of the
Sikhs of the Oak Creek Gurdwara who offered Langar (a sacred meal) to the
police officers just hours after the shooting; always serving, always caring,
true Sikhs to the core. We see the
mass media coverage of Sikhs so that the world can better understand who we are
as a community and we are grateful for it. We feel the outpouring of sympathy from people of all walks
of life. We see the turning of the
tide, as people in this country are truly supporting the Sikh American
community in the wake of this tragedy.
So let us pray
together. People of all walks of
life, I invite you. Let us pray
for all of those who died on August 5th in the Oak Creek Gurdwara. Let us pray for their families. Let us pray for the sanctity of the
Gurdwara in Oak Creek, and for the sanctity and protection of all places of
worship of all faiths. Let us pray
for the Mosque in Joplin Missouri, may it be rebuilt as a place for this
peaceful community to thrive. Let
us pray for the strength of our commitment to reach out to each other in our
diverse communities to find understanding and connection. Let us pray for the soul of the shooter
Wade Page that the pain that was in his heart and is in the hearts of others in
this country and in this world may be healed, healed, healed. And let us know deeply within that that
the light of our prayers, our candles, and our courage, most certainly is
overcoming this tragedy with the victory of the human spirit. I invite you to light a candle and send
your prayers from your home, with your family, and with your community with
these two sacred chants from the Sikh tradition. You can chant along or remain in silence. In the spirit of truly connecting in
your prayer, we ask that you cover your head as you recite these sacred words,
as is the Sikh way.
The first chant
is "Guru Ram Das Rakho Saranaa-ee." Guru Ram Das is
the fourth Guru of the Sikhs. His
life, his energy, his gift to us is the capacity to reach out to the homeless,
to the hopeless, and offer healing, tangible, real healing.
Guru Ram Das Raakho Saranaa-ee. Guru Ram Das, protect me and surround me with
your sanctuary.
Surround us with your light, Guru Ram Das. Protect us with your love, Guru Ram Das. Give us your sweet peace, Guru Ram Das. I give my life to you, Guru Ram Das.
The second is
the Mantra "Akaal". This
is the Mantra that Sikhs chant when someone dies. It means "undying" and it identifies the true
nature of the soul which never dies. In the strength of your prayer, and the Grace of God and Guru, this
chant has the capacity to free the soul from this earth plain so that it can
merge with the Divine Deathless energy of God, or Akaal Purkh.
(Please click here for a link to the free downloads of these chants.)
If you are
inspired to donate funds to the families who lost a loved one, we got this
information from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: A memorial fund has been established to help the victims of the
deadly attack at the Oak Creek Sikh temple on Sunday. Donations can be mailed to Victims Memorial Fund, Sikh Temple of
Wisconsin, 7512 S. Howell Ave., Oak Creek, WI 53154.
Two separate websites: wearesikhs.com, and indiegogo.com/milwaukee-sikh also have been created to raise
money to help the families.
To learn more about Sikhs you can visit these two web addresses
for two good summary articles. I invite you to send these links out to your friends so that people can
understand who Sikhs are.
Finally, the last thing that I would like to mention is that if
you have a Gurdwara in your area, and you haven't been there yet, I highly
encourage a visit. There is
usually a service every Sunday morning starting at around 10 am. Generally the
main worship hall will have beautiful live music being played. The entire focus
of the service is to pray and connect with the Guru, whose energy is embodied
in a collection of writings from the Sikh Gurus and masters of other faiths
called the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. These sacred scriptures will be in the main hall with beautiful fabrics
adorning it. Offerings are made to
support the workings of the Gurdwara including the meals. There is always an
amazing cup of chai and the most delicious Punjabi cuisine you can imagine
waiting for you in the kitchen during or after the service. The sound of children, laughter, and
life will most likely surround you as you eat. If you do plan to go, bring a
head cover and plan to sit on the ground for the service and the meal... truly
an authentic and beautiful experience. Then again, I am biased... I am hopelessly in love with this way of
life.
Thank you.
God Bless You,
In the Light of the Holy Naam, Waheguru.
Snatam Kaur
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
"Dharam Singh, you have two choices. You can either control everything, or control nothing."
As Dharam shared with us, he gave this statement some serious thought. Could he control everything? He started going through the list of things that he would like to control, that he wanted to control, and then realized at some point in the cascading of thoughts that passed through his mind in a matter of seconds that he could not control everything. So therefore, he decided from that point on to live life in the reality that he could control nothing.
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| Angels of Awakening |
Why do I tell this to you today?
Well, I suppose I am inspired on this day, to take a deep breath. To let go of needing to cross all the "t's" and dot the "i's". To be alright with a stumble here and there. To let go. To not need to or want to control anything, and therefore everything. To realize that in all truth I cannot, absolutely cannot control anything! Just bring my meditative presence in to every situation, and allow all lessons to be learned for myself and everyone involved. For we are all souls anyway, aren't we? Here to learn. Here to grow. Let us see each other as souls. Let us bounce around in the imperfection of our soul bodies dancing in their pure light way on this dense earth plane.
Love,
Snatam Kaur
Dharam Singh Khalsa's Angels of Awakening is available to sample and purchase at Spirit Voyage Music, www.spiritvoyage.com.
Photo "Snatam Eyes Closed" by Robin Layton, www.robinlayton.com.
Dharam Singh Khalsa's Angels of Awakening is available to sample and purchase at Spirit Voyage Music, www.spiritvoyage.com.
Photo "Snatam Eyes Closed" by Robin Layton, www.robinlayton.com.
