by SS Shiva Singh Khalsa & SS Shabad Kaur Khalsa, Evanston, Illinois 2024 (Third Quarter) When the Catholic Church decided to open dialogue with other Christian traditions, it was called ecumenical dialogue. When they decided it was a good idea to talk to the other Abrahamic faiths—Judaism and Islam—it was called interfaith. When the Parliament of the World’s Religions met in 1893 in Chicago it opened the gate to interreligious dialogue where everyone spoke to everyone. For us as Sikhs this should sound very familiar! Guru Nanak exemplified a life of interreligious dialogue. It is part of a Sikh minister’s
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Archives for leadership
Common Grace
Minister in the Spotlight: SS Dr. Shanti Shanti Kaur Khalsa
by SS Dr. Shanti Shanti Kaur Khalsa, Espanola, New Mexico 2024 (First Quarter) Where There is Courage, There is Happiness Soon after I became a Kundalini Yoga teacher in December 1971, I had the sensation that there was an unseen sangat—a not yet identified community—that I am to serve. When I became a Sikh Dharma Minister a year and a half later, the same sensation filled me. I called upon the Guru to bring me to this unseen sangat, so that we would be known to each another. Over the decades, the Guru has brought me into several communities: in
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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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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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Growing Our Global Sangat: Europe in the ’80s and ’90s
by SS Tarn Taran Singh Khalsa, Espanola NM (as told to/edited by SS Dr. Shanti Shanti Kaur Khalsa) Spring (Second Quarter) Shanti Shanti Kaur: In this issue of the Sikh Dharma Ministry newsletter, we’re reflecting on the evolution of our community over the past 50 years. Within our organization—during the 1980s and ‘90s—the regional director system became less relevant. Sangat community councils and businesses became more prevalent. Also, we became a more global sangat. During this time, Tarn Taran Singh, you were the Regional Director for Europe and Africa. You served as an ashram head, and you were running the
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Code of Ethics for Sikh Dharma International Ministers
Birthing Into a New Era
by SS Sat Tara Kaur Khalsa, Boulder CO Fall 2020 “At the time of the Buddha, there were countless religious and spiritual teachers, each advocating a different spiritual path and practice, and each claiming their teachings were the best and the most correct. One day a group of young people came to ask the Buddha, ‘Of all these teachers, whom should we believe?’ ‘Don’t believe anything, not even what I tell you!’ replied the Buddha. ‘Even if it’s an ancient teaching, even if it’s taught by a highly revered teacher. You should use your intelligence and critical mind to carefully
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Laboratory of Human Possibilities
by SS Sat Jagat Singh Khalsa, Brooklyn NY Summer 2020 It is the challenge and blessing of the Ram Das Puri Kitchen to consciously prepare simple, delicious and nutritious food for more than 2,000 people for eight days. This is made possible because over 100 people make up the dozen kitchen teams. They come to Solstice to leave behind their normal routines and experience the challenge and blessing of working together to serve the saints in the laboratory of human possibilities we call 3HO Summer Solstice. And who are the saints? All of us who make our way up that
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Four Pillars of Support and Service
by SS Mahan Rishi Singh Khalsa, Yardley PA Spring 2020 The four pillars of support and service in the Age of Enlightened Leadership are Love, Devotion, Surrender, and Non-Attachment. A leader is blessed with a vision, the power to live it, the skill to inspire others, and the endurance to carry it forth. As well as being a unique and gifted being, every leader requires support and assistance in their Dharmic responsibility of guiding others. The support beneath may be the deciding factor as to how well a leader can express their gifts and sustain them over time. It is difficult for
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