by SS Dr. JivanJoti Kaur Khalsa, Santa Cruz, New Mexico 2023 (Second Quarter) Dear Ministers, I wish to thank the Sikh Dharma Ministry for devoting this newsletter to the Progressive Arc of the Resolution of Trauma. I was grateful to be asked to write an article on this timely and important topic. Even though I am a psychotherapist, Kundalini Yoga teacher and Sat Nam Rasayan healer, I am not writing this article from the perspective of a professional. Rather, my focus here is the vulnerable, intimate and personal journey of healing trauma in my own life. Realizations There are
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Posts by Executive Assistant
The Dharma of Releasing My Trauma
A Safe Harbor in Challenging Times
by SS Mata Mandir Singh Khalsa, MT 2023 (Second Quarter) This is a time when there are some 80 million refugees in the world, uprooted from their homes, families, villages, temples, culture, and way of life. The causes are many, including oppression, lack of resources, racism, religious persecution, and climate change. In the end they were forced to leave behind all that had brought them solace and comfort. At the same time, I would posit that there is another type of refugee. They haven’t been forced out of their town, city, or country, but feel as if their support systems have
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Minister News & Notes (2023 Second Quarter)
This free online course presented by Sikh Dharma International offers an introductory-level overview of the Sikh Dharma path for those seeking a deeper understanding of the question “What is a Sikh?” This is a great course of study for Sikh Dharma beginners – yoga students, interfaith groups, family members and others, who are interested in exploring the path of Sikh Dharma and want to learn more about Sikhs and the Sikh way of life. New lessons will be rolled out weekly on many varied topics including: What is a Sikh? Sikh Beliefs Sikh Practices The Ten Gurus Sikh Saints The Siri
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Secretary of Religion Column (2023 Second Quarter)
Dear Ministers, It’s spring in the Northern Hemisphere—a time of renewal. After the winter season, plants begin a new cycle. Some push up from the ground and manifest into flowers; the barren trees bud and produce new leaves. It’s as if the earth is re-awakening. Yet at the same time, in the Southern Hemisphere it is fall—the precursor to winter. Polarities. Yes, even the cycles of the seasons have simultaneous polarities on planet Earth. Is it any wonder that polarization is so readily experienced in our lives? I’m reminded of the ‘far-reaching’ goal the Ministry newsletter team has aspired to
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#88 – 2023 Newsletter (Second 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. In our February issue, Ministers shared tools for stabilization of
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Enlightenment is a Process of Perfect Self-Organization
This Is How Guru Gobind Singh Did It (By His Own Testimony) by SS Krishna Singh Khalsa, Española, New Mexico 2023 (First Quarter) “Now I relate my own story as to how I was brought here, while I was absorbed in deep meditation. The site was the mountain named Hemkunt, with seven peaks. There I was absorbed in deep meditation on the Primal Power, the Supreme Maha-Akala. In this way my meditation reached its zenith, and I became One with the Omnipotent Lord. When the Lord ordered me I was born into this Iron Age. I had no desire to
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Twice Lost, Twice Found
by SS Sukhdev Kaur Khalsa, Raasiku, Estonia 2023 (First Quarter) Life has presented many challenging times in the past three years. We know that hard times follow periods of peace and prosperity, just as there is winter every year, followed by another cycle of summer. Some winters are harder than others—there is no way to predict or to judge. But we can take hard times as a blessing for us to learn how to grow. It is in the darkest times that we can grow the most, reshaping ourselves and realigning with our core values.
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Hukam: The Sweet Will of God
by SS Kulwant Singh Khalsa, West Midlands, United Kingdom 2023 (First Quarter) Aasaa, Seventh House, Fifth Mehl: Meditate continually on the Name of the Lord within your heart. Thus you shall save all your companions and associates. ||1|| My Guru is always with me, near at hand. Meditating, meditating in remembrance on Him, I cherish Him forever. ||1||Pause|| Your actions seem so sweet to me. Nanak begs for the treasure of the Naam, the Name of the Lord. ||2||42||93|| ~ Guru Arjan Dev Ji – Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji – Ang 394 In this Shabad, Guru Arjan, our fifth
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Holding On and Letting go
by SS Gurucharan Singh Khalsa, Claremont, California 2023 (First Quarter) One time a very wise man and I were sitting close together, across from each other. In what seemed to me a sudden move, he placed his hand in a clenched fist near my face. Looking into my eyes, he said, “This is not a heart.” After what felt like a very long moment, he opened his hand—still near my face— and said, “And this is not a heart.” Then he slowly began to open and close his hand in a fist. He had my attention. As I looked at
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Personal Reflections on Compassion
by SS Satwant Singh Khalsa, Leesburg, Virginia 2023 (First Quarter) Sat Nam, Though not a Sat Nam Rasayan expert, I have taken many classes in it and read up some as well. As best as I can explain it, you open a healing space—a sensitive space where you experience all your sensations simultaneously rather than focus at a particular place. Once you have stabilized that space you introduce the subject/client/patient. The introduction of that subject creates resistances or conflict within the healer. The healer then works to resolve the resistance WITHIN HIM OR HERSELF. As those resistances are resolved within
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