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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Archives for banis
Twice Lost, Twice Found
Recording the Guru’s Bani
by SS Dr. Shanti Shanti Kaur Khalsa, Espanola NM (as told to Articles Editor SS Sangeet Kaur Khalsa) 2021 (Second Quarter) SS Sangeet Kaur: Shanti Shanti Kaur, please share with us how you came to make the first recordings of the Guru’s Banis in English? SS Shanti Shanti Kaur: The year was 1993. I had an interest in finding a way to engage young English-speaking Sikhs who didn’t know Gurmukhi and whose families didn’t necessarily speak Punjabi in the home. Many of these young people weren’t connecting to the Guru because of the language barrier. At that time Manmohan Singh’s
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The Nectar of Anand Sahib
Quotes about the bani of Guru Amar Das by the Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji “Bani is Guru, Guru is Bani and all nectars are contained in it. If there is a nectar inside, then outside shall be with nectars. Every sector of life will become nectar when inside there is no façade, but only nectar. Those who do not produce any inside are besieged by ambitions, temptations, desires, adversities, you name it. Our fort is our own radiance and within that fort we need that radiation to just be alive and [we need] that nectar to
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Living In Bliss
by SS Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa Michaud, Espanola NM Spring 2019 Wisdom comes to us as a gift. We can only find it when humility brings us to the state of surrender. When we surrender, we become zero. And this zeroing out creates a vacuum for something new. As wisdom pours into the space created by the vacuum of surrender, we grow. We learn. And that learning transforms us, bringing the hope and the promise of a new and better day. The Anand Sahib, composed by the third Sikh Master Guru Amar Das, was birthed through such a profound
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Hari’s Blessing
by SS Hari Kaur Khalsa, Espanola NM Spring 2019 “Oh my Soul, I am in bliss, for I have seen the True Guru.”—Guru Amar Das, Anand Sahib In the early morning, part of my sadhana is going outside to marvel at the stars, moon, and planets. Each time I step outside I feel my breath catch at the wonders of God’s magnificence and beauty and the timelessness and radiance of space. On January 27, 2019 as I opened the door and looked up, my heart exploded with such joy and bliss. In the eastern sky, smiling at me, the quarter
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Guru Amar Das and the Positive Mind
by SS GuruSangat Kaur Khalsa, Great Falls VA Spring 2019 Guru Amar Das began his spiritual journey as a prosperous, generous landowner who had no Guru. He spent years praying at the Ganges, but because he had no Guru, holy men would not accept his offerings of food and shelter. An ordinary person might react and say, “Oh well, I’ll just stick to my routine and accept that I’ll never be blessed because I have no Guru.” Or some might say, “I don’t need a Guru! I’m a devotee of the universe and these holy men don’t know what they’re
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#71 Spring 2019 Newsletter
As Sikh Dharma Ministers, we are vital partners in addressing the challenges that present themselves in our own lives, in our families, in our Dharma, in our communities, and in our world. We are asking Sikh Dharma Ministers to share how they draw on the gifts of our lifestyle to maintain a “keep up” spirit to be elevated, hopeful, and impactful, using the Positive Mind and the example of Guru Amar Das. For our Spring 2019 newsletter theme, we asked Sikh Dharma Ministers to reflect on the example of our Third Guru, Guru Amar Das, as the embodiment of the positive mind
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A Quiet River
by SS Dr. Shanti Shanti Kaur Khalsa, Espanola NM Winter 2017 Have you heard this story? When Guru Gobind Singh was 16 years old, he received an invitation from Medni Parkash, the ruler of the Nahan State, to select any place in the kingdom to settle permanently. The Guru traveled from Anandpur Sahib, got off his horse at a point along the Yamuna River, found it to his liking and stayed for more than four years. From 1685 to 1689 he built what is now Paonta Sahib. Paonta Sahib is in a green valley located below the foothills of the
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The Highest Meditation
by SS Siri Bhrosa Kaur Khalsa, Anandpur Sahib India Winter 2017 My personal approach to reading the banis has always been a very practical one. I feel that reading the banis in the vernacular (in English or whatever your native tongue) and pondering on the meaning of the words, either one line or one Pauri at a time, is critical to having a meaningful experience. The entire story of how to live is illustrated in the banis, in some form or fashion. Throughout the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, we are reminded that this world is not real at all. We
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Revitalizing the Khalsa Spirit
by SS Dr. Kirpal Singh Khalsa, Espanola NM Winter 2017 Jaap Sahib is Guru Gobind Singh’s Bani (sacred hymn) that uplifts the soul, gives the experience of infinity and expands the radiance of the human psyche. It is Gurbani, the Guru’s hymn, and recited in Naad, the sacred sound current. The Siri Singh Sahib explains that Guru Gobind Singh composed Jaap Sahib to revitalize his people at a time when they were “crippled mentally and physically and downgraded to the extent that if a Moghul soldier spat at you and if you didn’t catch the spit, you could be beheaded.
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