by SS Gurujodha Singh Khalsa, Coarsegold, California 2022 (Fourth Quarter) Conflict is a flower rising up out of the earth. Conflict is the resistance the mountain gives to the wind. Conflict, movement and change are all part of the same system. Resistance to conflict implies a resistance to change. And since change is the one constant in life on the earth plane, the resistance and avoidance of conflict is the avoidance of life itself. The role of a minister, a man or woman of Spirit or God is to bring change, love, and elevation to environments simply through his or
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Archives for Community
The Minister’s Role in Conflict Resolution
We Are a Force for Good ~ We Must Preserve It!
by SS Sangeet Kaur Khalsa, Phoenix, Arizona 2022 (Fourth Quarter) As I completed our current Sikh Minister exam, this phrase came immediately to my mind. We (our community of Sikhs and Yogis) are a Force for Good in this World. We must preserve it. How do I know this? And how do we apply it in our lives as Sikhs and members of the Sikh Sangat? I have been a minister for almost 30 years, a lifelong counselor and a teacher. I am responsible for what I have and have not done. In my 83 years in this life I
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How You Can Make a Difference in the World from Your Hometown: Women’s Global Forum
by SS Sat Tara Kaur Khalsa, Boulder CO 2022 (Third Quarter) Many years ago, I “accidentally” put together a consortium of international aid organizations. It started with a lunch date for two women whom I wanted to introduce to each other, and it eventually grew to over 100 members. We met monthly for about five years—to share an Indian buffet and to hear informative and inspiring presentations, do fundraisers, support each other, and connect as women both personally and professionally. It was really fun, deeply moving, and very easy to do. I’d like to tell you about it in case
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Be the Lighthouse During Difficult Times
by SS Chioneso Kulwant Kaur Khalsa, Birmingham, United Kingdom 2022 (Second Quarter) Sat Naam, all Keepers of the Flame: “When things are down and darkest, that’s when we stand tallest.” ~ Yogi Bhajan These are the times when the opportunities to live those words present themselves on so many fronts: COVID with all its attendant dire challenges, somewhat ameliorated now, by Guru’s Grace, due to the fastest discovery of an effective vaccine in the history of vaccines Now another of the ‘Dogs of War,’ released this time in Europe where one least expected it—too accustomed as we are to wars ‘elsewhere’
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Dharma Kaya to Navigate Times of Change, Loss, Trauma and War in the Aquarian Age
by SS Guru Dharam Singh Khalsa, Stockholm, Sweden 2022 (Second Quarter) In March 2020 I was in Aukland, New Zealand, teaching the Level Two module on Vitality and Stress. This was right at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Kiwi authorities were rolling out severe restrictions. Day one of the course took place as planned. But a directive of closure of yoga studios was issued, with just 12 hours notice. The studio owner and I scrambled to set up Zoom and deliver the remaining five days of the training through the medium of cyber electronics. Come the time
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Keeping Up During Times of Challenge
by SS Sat Inder Kaur Khalsa, Kansas City MO 2022 (Second Quarter) These times have been challenging in many ways, but Yogi Bhajan said it would be like this—so I am not surprised. I met Yogi Bhajan in 1976, at the age of 33, and moved into Hacienda de Guru Ram Das a few months later. I participated in ashram life and solstices, and attended as many lectures as I could. Karta Purkh Singh and I married in 1977 and became Sikh Ministers in 1979. As co-directors of Sat Tirath Ashram since 1980, we have had a wealth of opportunities
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Support is the Key
by SS Rupinder Kaur Khalsa, Ottawa Canada 2022 (First Quarter) The question I hear the most from new Minister candidates who approach me is: “What is the difference between serving as a Sikh Dharma International Minister and just keeping on serving as I have been doing so far?” I feel that community support is the key. I remember years ago visiting a community center back in Chile, in which we were offering Kundalini Yoga classes and spiritual support to a group of women who had suffered years of domestic violence. I talked with them and heard their stories—but what stuck with me
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Covering the Distance
by SS Shabad Kaur Khalsa, Evanston IL 2022 (First Quarter) What Gorgeous Thing by Mary Oliver I do not know what gorgeous thing the bluebird keeps saying, his voice easing out of his throat, beak, body into the pink air of the early morning. I like it whatever it is. Sometimes it seems the only thing in the world that is without dark thoughts. Sometimes it seems the only thing in the world that is without questions that can’t and probably never will be answered, the only thing that is entirely content with the pink, then clear white morning and,
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A Peaceful Day in LA
by SS Har Simran Kaur Khalsa, Los Angeles CA 2021 (Third Quarter) Guru Ram Das Ashram in Los Angeles is located in a diverse, affluent, peaceful neighborhood that, in 2006, was rocked by gang violence. Across the street from the gurdwara, Robertson Recreation Center was all but abandoned by its usual fleet of nannies with babies in strollers, as it had become a staging ground for drug dealing and turf wars. In the summer of 2006, an article in the Aquarian Times called on 3HO Sikhs to celebrate the United Nations’ International Day of Peace by sponsoring peace-related events for
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Honoring Balbir Singh Sodhi
by SS Gurukirn Kaur Khalsa, Phoenix AZ 2021 (Third Quarter) The attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001 had left our sangat on edge. Images of Osama Bin Laden, with beard and white turban, played over and over again on the news. That Tuesday night we scheduled a memorial Gurdwara service at Guru Nanak Dwara in Phoenix, but many people were too afraid to come. In the next few days, we sent out press packets explaining who the Sikhs were, and we participated in an interfaith prayer gathering. Then, on Saturday afternoon, September 15th,
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