by SS Shiva Singh Khalsa, Chicago, Illinois 2023 (Third Quarter) The 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions was held August 14-18, 2023. This is the 4th Parliament we have attended. It is a week of presentations; plenaries by world-renowned faith and government luminaries; and most of all, amazing conversations with like-hearted people from every corner of the world. This is the 130th anniversary of the first Parliament in 1893, when the West got its first taste of non-Abrahamic faiths, held at the McCormick Lakeside Center in Chicago, USA. This week started with 1,000+ representatives of more than twenty diverse faith
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Archives for 2023 - Third Quarter
The 2023 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago: a Deep Dive Into a Global Faith Community
My Pregnancy Story
by SS Charansev Kaur Khalsa, Viña del Mar, Chile 2023 (Third Quarter) Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa! Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh! The Ministry Newsletter Team invited me to write an article for the August 2023 issue. As a new mother, I have currently not been active in ministering to our community. Nevertheless the team kindly asked me to share my pregnancy story. This is my personal journey, in preparation for raising a child in the Dharma during these turbulent times. On January 1st, 2022, my husband, Agya Akal Singh, and I visited the mother ashram in Española, New Mexico.
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Supporting Sangat during Times of Challenge
Interview with SS Guru Sangat Singh Khalsa, Great Falls, Virginia This interview was conducted over the telephone by Guruamrit Kaur, Newsletter Editor, on August 25, 2023 2023 (Third Quarter) What are ways that we can support ourselves during times of challenge? For me, personally, Sadhana in the Amrit Vela is the whole deal. Including banis as well. These technologies of Banis, Simran and Sadhana. The technology is
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Contemplations on the Challenges and Gifts of this Moment
by SS Arjan Kaur Khalsa, Mexico City, Mexico 2023 (Third Quarter) It is easier to give an opinion, question, judge, point out or belittle, than—on the contrary—to guide individuals towards values, appreciate their vulnerability, recognize their innate courage, and reveal their magnificence. To understand the human condition is a complicated process. This is not a concept that can be analyzed, nor an object that can be possessed. It is knowing the infinite tints, weights and gradients of the differences between people, accepting them and seeing the totality. Creation is CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE. Therefore I venture to say that a synonym
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Finding Inner Calm and Reaching Out
by MSS Guru Raj Kaur Khalsa, Vancouver, Canada 2023 (Third Quarter) Dear Ministers, How are you doing after these last few years of the revelations about Yogi Bhajan, and from our children, oh, and the isolation of COVID?? How ARE you doing? I am asking you heart to heart. It is so important at this time to be authentic; that we do the inner work as well as the re-connection work. Finding Inner Calm Here are some thoughts on how to find inner calm as well as re-connect to the people in our lives, whom we love and whom we
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Ways to Bring Our Community Together
by MSS Sat Hari Singh Khalsa, Boizenburg, Germany & Guru Ram Das Aquarian Academy 2023 (Third Quarter) Sat Nam, I’d like to talk about our experience in Germany. As a part of the former Guru Ram Das Ashram and Sangat in Hamburg, we were searching for more than 20 years for a Home for the Teachings. We projected always for the combination of a beautiful Gurdwara with a Yoga Centre. In 2016, we had been alerted that in the countryside of East Germany a former Synagogue (founded in 1799 and being used until 1886,
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Minister News & Notes (2023 Third Quarter)
Two new Ministers were ordained in August 2023: SS Inderpal Singh Bola of Berkshire, UK and SS Manjot Singh Khalsa of Gotland, Sweden. Inderpal Singh took his vows in-person at the European Yoga Festival in France, on August 12. Manjot Singh was ordained at his beautiful new home Gurdwara in a Virtual Vows ceremony on August 27. These new Sikh Dharma Ministers were ordained in the presence of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. SS Sukhdev Kaur Khalsa of Estonia performed the vows and oath of a Sikh Dharma International Minister for Inderpal Singh, at the direction of the Secretary of
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Secretary of Religion Column (2023 Third Quarter)
Dear Ministers, Throughout my many years of counseling, I have always shared with clients that everything that happens is purposeful. Yes, even those events that one might call “atrocities.” I certainly have experienced these in my own life many times over. In the midst of the challenge, it is hard to make sense of it, let alone grasp its purpose. However, oftentimes in hindsight the purpose becomes crystal clear, and the growth that comes from having navigated the challenge will have helped one to expand in consciousness, awareness, and strength of character. The “never-ending election” is finally over. Some sangat
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#89 – 2023 Newsletter (Third Quarter)
The concept of Collective Efficacy posits that together we can make meaningful change in our community, whether or not we agree on everything. Working together, anything is possible. Our 2023 Ministry Newsletter series features this concept front and center. What we have collectively experienced in our international sangat mirrors the model of what occurs when an individual undergoes the disruption and dysregulation of a traumatic event. To address this, in the four issues of the newsletter we will share with our readers the progressive arc of the resolution of trauma. For our February issue, we shared tools that Ministers have
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