Soulful Journeys Within

……… Nihung aa gaye………Nihung aa gaye………Nihung aa gaye . She heard these loud voices of children and she ran as fast as she could to get to the firni (dirt road around the village) to watch Nihings. In fact to watch the almost never ending strip of horses on which the singhs came to their village every fall. The echo of the Jaikaras was so melodious that she did not leave her place for hours, not until the last horse passed by but until she could not see the last horse either due to dusk or due to dust of the firni or both. It was the yearly event of her childhood that she looked forward to; each year. Nihungs stayed in her village for about two months and these months were full of festivity. And Nihungs came this year too. She was no longer a little girl; something changed about her. She could tell because her mother would ask her to come home before the sun set. She was not supposed to play gulli-danda or kanche with boys any more. So this year she stood next to bunch of other g...

By Mrs. Wayne E. Hunter Adultery, pornography, broken homes, domestic abuse, abusive children, poor mental, physical, and emotional health, illness, disease, dysfunctional schools, heart disease now killing one out of two women; these problems plague our families and nation. These things break women’s hearts, literally. They not only break our hearts, but our nation. They are of profound seriousness. Families and nations don’t thrive under these conditions, and despite law after law being passed to try to alleviate these problems, they still grow and grow. America , we have hope. The New Women’s Movement holds the key and the cure to these problems. This hope, key, and cure stand to affect us all in more ways than can be imagined. America , your wives and mothers are coming home. Freedom Today’s wives and mothers have found their total freedom. Freedom from tyrannical bosses. Freedom from unfair wages and promotions. Freedom from dividing our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls between wo...

http://www.sikhsangat.org/publish/article_1524.shtml By SSNews, Lakhvir Singh Khalsa Nov 16, 2006, 16:24 The Hindus have their Mandirs, the Christians their Churches, the Muslims their Mosques and the Sikhs their Gurudwaras. All these congregational centres were meant to unite people of faith and help each other grow in spirituality and stick together in times of trials, tribulations and joy. Though Gurudwaras began to be built much after our Gurus, they have nevertheless played a great role in becoming centres of Sikh teachings and in bringing communities together. Over the past few years, however, an unfortunate trend has begun to come to the fore-front. Majority of Gurudwaras around the world no longer inspire new Sangat, mostly because of the wrong people with incorrect ideas are put in charge of the House of the Guru. There was a reason why our Gurus did not establish Gurudwaras and the foresight of Guru Gobind Singh Ji was spot on. Guru Ji’s decision to pass the Gurus...

Gurdwara : Guru Dwara A Place to Recite and Discuss Gurbani ( www.iuscanada.com) Prof. Devinder Singh Chahal, PhD INTRODUCTION One of the outstanding characteristics of the Sikhs is that wherever they settle in the world they build a Gurdwara. Because to build a gurdwara is considered by them as their biggest achievement in their settlements. WHAT IS A GURDWARA? The irony is that the term 'Gurdwara' is not understood properly by many Sikh scholars and Sikh theologians. Gurdwara is a shortened version of Guru Dwara used by Guru Nanak in his bani (words, verse). However, nowadays some Sikhs have replaced the word Guru Dwara with Guru Ghar without paying any attention to the differences in the meanings of these two words. Although both words have 'Guru' in common, replacement of 'Dwara' with 'Ghar' makes lots of differences in their meanings. When Guru Nanak used the word 'Guru Dwara' in his bani he referred 'Guru' to the Guru ...

hmrY msqik dwgu dgwnw hm krj gurU bhu swFy ] hamar ai masathak dh aa g dhag aa n aa ham karaj g u r oo bah u s aa dt ae || My forehead has been branded with His brand; I owe such a great debt to the Guru. Guru Raam Daas Ji (SGGSJ Ang 170) To encourage, promote and instigate Sikhi in the youth is the responsibility every Gursikh. It is the mission of each Gurdwara to promote this everywhere in general and specifically in the western world. We should also be aware that as parents, we must strive to be good working role models for our children; not only to teach them the ideals of Sikhi, but also show them how to not just practice Sikhi…but to live it. This topic is dedicated to the Sangat by the Sangat. Academic Education is the main thing that is being drilled in the mindset of Sikh children all over the world. Very few are lucky ones who also get spiritual/religious knowledge from their elders at home. The core problem of our youth not being attracted to Gurdwara, I b...

'We Are Not Symbols' is a letter from a Sikh Father to his son facing identity crisis at college. Hope the visitors at this blog would like to read it once again. (http://www.sikh-history.com/sikhhist/archivedf/feature-feb2001.html ) The centipede was happy, quite Until a toad in fun Said, 'Pray, which leg goes after which?' This worked his mind to such a pitch, He lay distracted in a ditch, Considering how to run. THE earth on that day was parched and brown, the roads were unusually deserted of the traffic and even the construction workers, otherwise so busy and undaunted by the heat, were looking for a shade to rest in. It was a very hot and humid day. In the well manicured lawns of an elitist college in the Delhi University , many students were stretched out on the grass or sitting on the worn out wooden benches, under a cluster of Banyan trees. They were taking cold drinks and gasping for fresh air. The clouds were gray, the...