by MSS Guruka Singh Khalsa, Portland, Oregon 2025 (Fourth Quarter) Since moving to Portland, Oregon from New Mexico, I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to volunteer with Meals on Wheels. This role allows me to provide companionship and counseling, along with helping with tech support needs like phones, tablets, and computers. I get to visit people in their homes, meeting them where they are, in their own settings and lifestyles. This volunteer work has introduced me to people I wouldn’t normally meet. I might walk into a home with Fox News blaring on the TV and pictures of Jesus and Donald
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Archives for Seva
The Power of Shuniya
Serving the Court of the Guru
by SS Nirmal Kaur Khalsa, Vancouver, Canada 2024 (Fourth Quarter) It is such an honour to serve in the court of the Guru. It is a constant teaching and teacher. It is a reminder that to serve the Guru is a blessing and a nourishment of the soul. I have served as Guru Granthi since 2007, at Yoga West in Vancouver BC, and at our Khalsa Ladies Camps. At Yoga West in Vancouver BC, Canada, we have a beautiful, little Gurdwara. It is truly the heart center of our yoga community and its sacred heartbeat. We have regular Sunday service
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Seva of Body and Seva of Mind
by SS Inderpal Singh Bola, Berkshire, United Kingdom 2024 (Fourth Quarter) Being asked to write about the seva I do is the most uncomfortable thing I could imagine. On one level, it can inspire readers to do more. But it can also go horribly wrong if the ego takes over, and it descends into a gratuitous self-serving, self-promotion. Most in the community will already be aware of what seva can offer, and many will have done more than I can ever imagine. So I’d like to bring the focus to where I try to apply my own focus, so that
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Serving as Granthi: The Greatest Gift
by MSS Hari Dharam Kaur Khalsa, Española, New Mexico 2024 (Fourth Quarter) The Siri Singh Sahib once said that we simply need to be ready to receive the Aquarian Age energy by looking within ourselves, where we will recognize that we are the Guru. Guru Sikh, Sikh Guru hai “The Sikh of the Guru and the Guru of the Sikh are one and the same.” ~Asa Mahala 4, page 444 of SGGS In the presence of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib in Gurdwara, we are in resonance with the same divine Guru in each of us, and this allows
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Food 4 Kids NM: The Guru’s Way
by SS Guru Simran Kaur Khalsa, Espanola, New Mexico 2024 (Second Quarter) New Mexico is #2 in child hunger in the nation. Food4KidsNM began as a volunteer program to serve the elementary school children of Northern New Mexico who do not get enough (or any) food to eat at home on the weekends. In 2009 it became a part of our Children’s program here at Hacienda de Guru Ram Das in Espanola. The Guru is definitely running the show, so to speak. During COVID many changes happened with our program. People from the various offices used to gather once a
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Good Friday Pilgrims Walk
by SS Jivan Joti Kaur Khalsa, PhD, Santa Cruz, New Mexico 2024 (Second Quarter) Sikhs have a long tradition of serving food. One of the earliest accounts of this practice dates from 1481, when the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak, was 12 years old. He took money that his father gave him to invest in business and instead bought food to serve the saints and the poor. Ever since, Sikhs have been serving food in countless situations and to any population that is in need. Whether there is a natural disaster, refugees displaced from war, or food shortages from a
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SANGAT and PANGAT. . . Simple Joys
by SS Siri Chand Singh Khalsa, Santa Cruz, New Mexico 2024 (Second Quarter) When I was asked to share my experiences with the evening chanting and langar program that we hold at the Hacienda de Guru Ram Das ashram in Espanola, it got me thinking about what I could include that isn’t already obvious. As ministers, we all know how deep an impact meditating together and gathering as a sangat can have on us, on our community, and—as studies suggest—even on the world. In addition, we have all experienced the benefits of seva, or the benefits a seva program can
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Nurturing the Radiant Spirit: A Reflection on the Young Saints at MPA
by SS Sukhdev Kaur Khalsa, Raasiku, Estonia 2024 (First Quarter) I’m sitting by the window at our MPA campus. The winter fog has draped the whole of Punjab, bringing a deep calm into the surroundings. Nevertheless, as we celebrate Guru Gobind Singh’s birthday, the air is charged with the vibrant energy of students doing Pantra—the rhythmic recitation of Jaap Sahib—and the captivating tales of the Guru’s extraordinary life. It’s a testament to the enduring spirit of Miri Piri that, despite only a few months since the school’s reopening, the flame of enthusiasm burns brighter than ever. In this moment of
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Ministering in Chile in This Time and Space
by SS Sat Sansar Singh Khalsa, Santiago, Chile 2024 (First Quarter) What does the word ‘Minister’ mean to you? Being a Minister is for me an identity that is shared with a lineage of women and men who through the ages have been an inspiration, through the testimony of their lives. To live the life of a Sikh includes actively supporting one’s community in this way of life. That identity manifests in many ways for me—in deep internal aspects and in actions in the sphere in which I participate. Externally it means for me to stand as a lighthouse, ever
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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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