Soulful Journeys Within

Email from a friend: All of you are really busy and it is COVID-19 times as well. Many of you in California have been receiving the Pfizer vaccine that just arrived here last week as you are on the front lines of taking care of those in hospitals. Second semester just ended and I have been following the Protests by Farmers who have been camping in the cold on Delhi's Borders. The songs, the poetry, the stories that are unfolding including the unpacking of the Disputed Laws that have stirred this uprising have absorbed me. We are far away, yet due to technology we are connected in ways never possible before-not even during the 1980’s. I have been reading up on the research articles, listening to news reports from various channels and opposing views, you tube interviews of farmers from Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and even Gujarat (today), viewpoints from Bengal and trying to get to the facts. I must say that I have enjoyed listening to a newly created song on the protest in H...

Post by Sikh Float - Rose Parade Pasadena CA .

http://www.sikhnet.com/news/jaap-sahib-sound-vibration-kundalini-and-translation Jaap Sahib, sound vibration, kundalini and translation July 1, 2010 by Brijdeep Singh Bhasin Source: www.sikhsailor.com Jaap Sahib morning prayer of Sikhs by Guru Gobind Singh, is an Ode to Ek Ongkar, One Divine light. These are my experiences and thoughts on the bani and recitation together with an attempt at translation and transliteration of it. As Khalsa Sikhs we are advised to do certain prayers on a daily basis, some in the morning and some in the evening and night. For the longest time, bringing myself to wake up earlier than usual and reading the banis seemed like a major task and I would get lazy. More so, I considered it almost a chore, a ritual to be performed because it was “required”. However, a part of me always said that there was a lot more to bani or composition than is immediately apparent and it will take some sincere effort to figure it out. So, a little while back I started waking up e...

http://www.indiajournal.com/pages/event.php?id=8244 CAMP SEALY, CA - The one week 71st IIGS camp held at Camp Sealy August 16-22 in the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California, left participants yearning for more, promising to come back next year and saying teary good byes to new and old friends. Over 150 new and old participants came from different states in the US. India, Japan and Canada. In the morning and evening Dewans, campers experienced Nam Simran, enjoyed Kirtan and participated in various aspects of the service. Sardarni Gurpreet Kaur’s singing and Sardar Ranjit Singh’s tabla accompaniment regaled the campers with melodious and inspiring Kirtan. During the day, a plethora of elective classes made it possible for attendees to explore areas of specific interest to them: Meanings and recitation of Nitnem baanies, Shabad Kirtan, Tabla, Punjabi, Sikh history, Sikh Art and Gatka. Mind- Body Fitness classes were also offered along with recreational swimming. An entire aft...

http://indiapost.com/article/lifestyle/3802/ Letters from a Sikh kid Sikh parents living in the Diaspora have for a long time felt the need of a book that would explain the message of Sikhi in simple terms to the friends and teachers of their school going children. Recently I picked up a lovely book, Dear Takuya, Letters of a Sikh boy at the local Gurdwara. The protagonist of the book Simar is a nine-year-old California kid who during his summer break shares his story as a Sikh boy with Takuya, a pen friend in Japan. In sixteen, simple and tenderly voiced letters, Simar sums up his own struggle for acceptance as well as the principles of tolerance, forgiveness and love for everyone that he learns at a Sikh youth camp. Reading Simar's letters is like reading the journal of your own child. Jessi Kaur has shown a keen understanding of how young boys think. September 11th has changed United States in many ways. It has particularly impacted the Sikhs who live here. Numerous Sikhs have b...

Back to school or Back to schedule? It is almost mid of September, schools have started and our families are settling in to this year's schedule. Two of our older children entered High and Junior High school. Even if our children are in the same school as last year, the timetable is always slightly different. Maybe classes start earlier this year, or later. Or maybe it's the before and after activities that are different. For the 7th and 9th grader, the night before registration, I spent a chaotic evening filling out two cards each and several other forms, all asking for exactly the same information. It was just like last year, and all the years before, even down to the part where my fingers begin to hurt and I begin to talk to myself, "Don’t they have good programmers like me at this school district who print the auto filled forms for parents from the school system and have them make the changes if necessary?" On the day of the registration, first I took my daughter ...

........so I took the plunge exactly 11 months ago. I remember those days like it was yesterday. I quit my career of 15 years and accepted the world's most splendid full-time job. While beginning his farewell speech, CIO said "A person should only do what he/she likes the most and here we have Ms. Kaur who made her choice". I was not so sure if I made a choice or I ran out of options to continue to juggle through two full-time jobs. I said good-bye to all with tears, broad smiles, hugs and promises to stay in touch. It was beginning of June 2007, children were getting out of school for summer and here I was ready to welcome them home. The beginning of my new job (Stay-at-home mom) was just like my first real job; enthusiastic, smashed with happiness and daily accomplishments. Just as in my then job, I often worked in my dreams through out night to figure out a new logic for my project and in the morning ran to work to put it in and feel my heart swell with pride when it w...

Sahib-e-Kamaal Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji adorned The Khalsa with 5 K's. These were the gifts that most of us value and protect with our life, though they mean different to different people. Here is the article from a 'Daughter of the Khalsa' that I found very inspiring. Please read on to relate to her sentiments on 5 K's. ******** The date of this year's Vaisakhi, April 13, makes it even more of a meaningful gurparab for me. Not only can I participate in commemorating the Birth of the Khalsa - that incomparable moment when Guru Gobind Singh founded the Sikh nation - but I can also celebrate the first anniversary of my rebirth in the House of the Guru, when, exactly one year ago, I formally embraced Sikhi through the immense blessing of taking Amrit. Becoming a daughter of the Khalsa was an essential way for me to make a solemn public commitment to living according to the tenets of the Rehat Maryada and trying my best to revere, understand, and incorporate into my dai...

Most of the stuff we think of when we think of Halloween – the candy, the outlandish costumes, the scariness – has a long history.About 2,000 years ago, the Celts lived in what is now Ireland, the United Kingdom and northern France. They celebrated their New Year's on Nov. 1, a day they saw as a demarcation line between summer and winter. The last day of the year, (their version of New Year's Eve), was marked with the festival of Samhain (Sah-ween), their biggest and most significant holiday. The thinking was that during that night, the souls of everybody who died during the previous year traveled into the otherworld.These souls, in the form of ghosts, fairies and spirits, could be mischievous and play tricks on the living. Their presence, the Celts believed, made it easier for their priests, or druids, to make predictions about the coming year. Here's how some of their traditions became ours: RELIGION Halloween, Celt-style, was adapted more than 1,000 years ago by the Cath...

Patricia Klindienst is a master gardener and an award-winning scholar and teacher. She lives in Guilford, Connecticut, and teaches creative writing each summer at Yale University. Excerpted from The Earth Knows My Name: Food, Culture, and Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic America, by Patricia Klindienst. Copyright © 2006 by Patricia Klindienst. ----------------------------------------------------------- A California gardener used the farming wisdom of her native India to create a suburban paradise that restored her soil--and sustains her soul. “I told my father, ‘I will be poorer in America, but my conscience will be free.’” I write the words on a paper napkin and turn it to face her. “Is this right? Is this what you just said?” “Yes. I did not come to America to trade my cultural heritage for money.” I take the napkin back and write the second sentence as well. Her words are so striking that I do not want to rely on memory alone to record them. Ruhan Kainth is telling me why sh...

Wow! this summer was really fast-forward for us. Between Marching Band practices and ASB meetings, my summer is already over. I have begun to follow the 5 Am to 10 Pm routine again to make the things work for all of us. During summer, most mornings went refreshing 'Punjabi skills' of children and evenings on the pool deck. It was full of fun for all of us. Last week came much awaited 67TH IIGS Sikh Youth Camp . It was another milestone in the journey towards self-realization! Even though each camp follows almost the same format, but each one has something new to offer, something new to learn. It was a great experience - once again. Today's kids never cease to amaze me with their love and understanding of Sikhi. There is so much to share from the inspirational stories that campers make in these camps, but I will keep it brief this time. Here is a poem by my son, AnupHarji Singh (Age 12) that says it all, about the camp and about the campers. Hope you enjoy it! We all came fe...

Recently, I was diagnosed with C. A. A. D. D. - Child Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests: I decide to do the laundry. As I start toward the basement, I notice that there are cheerios all over the floor and my car keys are in the cereal bowl. I decide to pick up the cheerios before I do the laundry. I lay my car keys down on the counter, put the cheerios in the trash can under the counter, and notice that the trash can is full. So, I decide to take out the trash. But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash I may as well pay the bills first. I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there is only one check left, my extra checks are in my desk in the office/playroom, so I go to my desk where I find a sippy cup full of juice. I'm going to look for my checks, but first I decide I should put the sippy cup in the refrigerator to keep it cold. As I head toward the kitchen with the sippy cup a vase of flowers on...

"My Mother would tell her family in particular and the world in general "'I will step out on the word of God". Because of her convictions, it wasn't difficult for me to have faith. I grew up knowing that the WORD of GOD had POWER." - Maya Angelou said it while sharing stories from her life. It is very true that a mother plays a very important role in shaping the destiny of a family, a society and the community at large. The strongest influence on children is that of the mother. Children mostly follow their mother’s example and look upon her as a role-model. A small daily effort by the mothers will help in molding their children to become good Sikhs and an asset to the society they live in. Yesterday was the day, that was celebrated in Gurdwara to pay tribute to great Sikh Mothers of the Panth - Mata Bhag Kaur, Bebe Nanaki ji, Mata Tripta ji, Mata Khivi ji, Bibi Amro Ji, Bibi Bhani Ji, Mata Sahib Kaur ji & Mata Gujri Ji who were great examples of daughter...

The word ‘ardas’ is derived from a Persian word ‘arzdasht’ which means a petition or an address to a superior authority. Our ardas is addressed to the Almighty God and to our eternal Guru, Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. When we stand in front of Guru Granth Sahib with folded hands, individually or in a congregation, we are pleading for Gurus’s blessings and forgiveness for our shortcomings. Ardas is not written in Guru Granth Saheb. The format of Ardas has evolved over many years. After Bhagauti ki Vaar, the remaining wording of the current Ardas was decided by a joint body of Sikh Scholars in 1932-33 and was published by SGPC (Shiromini Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee – organization that manages the Sikh Gurdwaras). TU THAAKUR TUM PEH ARDAAS, JEEO PIND SABH TERI RAAS This shabad is from the fourth Ashtpadi (collection of eight stanzas) of Sukhmani Saheb is recited before starting the Ardas. In these verses, Guru Arjan Dev ji says that our body and soul, and everything we have, are blessings ...

M y father was a Primary School Teacher all his life, who has retired from the profession many years ago but never stopped teaching. Education was the most important gift that he gave to me and my siblings. My father’s example instilled an awe and respect for the profession. I realized that, next to parenting, teaching is the most compelling and the noblest of professions. Every young mind needs a spark to light the way to a brighter future through learning and teachers are that spark. In 1984, National PTA established Teacher Appreciation Week - the first full week in May-to honor the dedicated men and women who lend their passion and skills to educating our children. While it is supposedly the opportunity for the parents and students to convey their thanks to the teachers, at grade schools, parents are expected to give gifts to their children's teachers. For many families, there's a fine line between showing appreciation and wrecking family budget. Finding just the right gi...