by SS Guru Darshan Kaur Khalsa, Puebla, Mexico
2022 (Third Quarter)

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa, Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh!

Sat Nam Dear Sangat,

I’m happy to share with you my inspiration and love of the Guru and the teachings that have given me strength in these changing and challenging times. I enjoy sharing with you a little bit of my earthly human life.

My motto is: Those who learn and work as a team multiply the benefits of what they teach individually and more easily fulfill their mission, understanding the power that we are ONE.

How have I, or rather, how have we, faced the challenges of these changes in society, while teaching, coexisting, learning, etc?

First of all, I’d like to share with you that, despite experiencing a certain isolation, we have also discovered many new ways of engaging with each other.

In the beginning I may have thought that this new way of relating to each other was cold and not very inclusive. However, over time I discovered that WhatsApp, Zoom, Telmex Communication, Google Meet, Instagram, email, phone calls, etc. were new and wonderful ways of sharing, without risk and while taking care of ourselves. Little by little, human creativity allowed us to say “I love you” through the screen, to say we want to learn with a new system. Above all, we wanted to keep our community practices going smoothly in the face of change.

Nowadays we can do continuous readings of the Guru (Sahej Pad) on Zoom! How could this be? With good organization and effective communication. One way to do this is to assign the pages and allocate the time slots and end times for each reading. Another way is to join by Zoom and allow the participants to go into the room one-by-one to read.

We can attend Gurdwaras in our area, where the local community participates. We can also attend virtual Gurdwaras and Sahej Pads with members of the different states in Mexico online. The most inspiring virtual Gurdwaras take place online with Sangat members all around the world!

I find it fascinating that today we have a virtual community that is much more involved and is inspired to keep serving with a lot of love.

Also, I’d like to share with you that when the pandemic began, many community members immediately said, “How can I get stronger and help myself and others?” So we had the idea as a team to collect food and money to share with those who were losing their jobs, those who were living on half their salary, those who stopped receiving commissions, etc. Before the pandemic we would donate pantry items to low-income communities. Nowadays two brave members of the Sangat deliver the pantry staples to the different communities, to take care of others in the Sangat. During the delivery, a video was made to communicate to the Sangat what we are doing, and to keep inspiring them to support the Dharma with their service.

With these new communication tools we learned to practice Sadhana and 40- and 90-day meditations. Some of us began to participate in 31-minute meditations like the Triple Mantra. Currently we are celebrating the completion of two years of the Aquarian Sadhana! Community members serve on a team that chooses the daily Japji Sahib and Sadhana leaders, the kriyas, etc. We try to read the Hukam at the end Sadhana.

And so in this era of radical change, we are adapting to a new way to live and share in community, with high spirits, honoring this path, feeling grateful for the ability to stay together.

Humbly,

Guru Darshan Kaur Khalsa

Translation from Spanish to English by Harnadh Kaur

   

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SS Guru Darshan Kaur Khalsa is an accountant. She is married to Guru Jiwan Singh and they have two sons, Shivraj Singh and Siri Darshan Singh. Their sons studied at MPA, Shivraj Singh for five years and Siri Darshan Singh for three years. She currently teaches Level 1 and 2 as part of KRI, she has been attending Level 3 training and also teaching the course ‘21 Stages of Meditation,’ sharing this beautiful service with humanity. She is a Children and Senior Specialist, and has served as the Treasurer of Sikh Dharma Mexico for 5 years. She serves on the Women’s Camp staff in Mexico (healing and meditation staff).