by SS Shiva Singh Khalsa, Chicago IL Winter 2019 Being a history buff, I was interested to watch the new documentary, Woodstock: Three Days that Defined a Generation, about the 1969 festival of peace, cooperation, and friendship. What was missing from the event was leadership and a consistent mission. Seeing this reminded me of Yogiji’s lecture, “From Woodstock to Steel-stock.” Post-Woodstock, many of us came to the feet of the Guru, to Sikh Dharma, and to the lifestyle teachings of Yogi Bhajan. Every lesson of our Gurus has given me the tools and spiritual infrastructure to step up. Guru Amar
Read More
Archives for Seva
Seeing No Strangers
A Dream of Service
by SS Sat Bachan Kaur Khalsa, Espanola NM Summer 2017 “Your reliability will give people the courage to trust you. Their trust will give you the power to carry a situation. A leader carries and serves people. Learn to lead as a ‘seva;’ people will love you, and you will continue to expand.”—The Siri Singh Sahib (February 2, 2004) Seva is the path to merger with God without ego. Therefore a life of seva creates a deep joy. The purpose of life is to be happy and this guarantees it. It is the expression of our deepest heart-felt gratitude to
Read More
Journey into the Heart of Seva
by SS Mata Mandir Kaur Khalsa, Herndon VA Summer 2017 “Seva is a conscious and deliberate service to benefit another person even at your cost; and remember, whosoever does seva, it is one to a hundred that God comes through.”—The Siri Singh Sahib (September 9, 1990) Focusing on Seva Seva is a basic human need. It is an expression of gratitude, compassion and connection, that brings our Dharma and our souls alive. Since we started the Journey into the Heart of Sikh Dharma (JHSD) telecourse in 2000, seva has been more and more of a focus. One of our course sessions is dedicated
Read More
Seva From the Heart
by SS Har Nal Kaur Khalsa, Espanola NM Summer 2017 Real seva comes from the heart: “Out of love you give selflessly to those who ask and those who don’t ask. When you are a giver, then your faculty and God’s faculty become the same. That is divinity.”—The Siri Singh Sahib (September 4, 2001) “Love is seva. It’s offering yourself to increase the vitality, the surroundings of somebody, giving somebody grace.”—The Siri Singh Sahib (July 10, 1995) Love, joy, devotion and inspiration are aspects of a shining radiant body, our 10th body, represented by Guru Gobind Singh. Any job you do
Read More
Serving the Infinite
by SS Arjan Singh Dhillon and SS Arjan Kaur Khalsa, Mexico City, Mexico Summer 2017 A common proverb in India is “The seva brings meva.” Meva means fruit or benefit. In Sikh Dharma, the concept of seva implies giving to the Infinite beyond personal identity. This may be the most effective means through which one can synchronize the mind and body, to allow the soul to merge with the Divine. To serve Infinity, a Sikh serves the Guru; and serving the Guru means serving the sangat—the congregation composed of common people. Our Gurus could never restrain their longing and willingness
Read More
Seva in Action
by SS Sangeeta Kaur Khalsa, Yuba City CA Summer 2017 “Seva is a win/win, the total source of victory. The moment you serve with heart and head, and without grinding any axe, you win the person forever. You deliver another person facing difficulty to their own strength. You save the person in the face of calamity. You protect him in the face of non-reality and bring home the reality.”—The Siri Singh Sahib (Aquarian Times, Sept/Oct 2006) By Guru’s Grace, this past February, a longstanding drought in Northern California was ending. Record snowfall and rain were filling reservoirs, rivers and streams
Read More
Guru’s Seva
by SS Ram Dass Singh Khalsa, Espanola NM Summer 2017 Once my noble daughter asked me who was in the picture on the wall in her room. I told her it was Guru Ram Das. She said, “Yes, but who is the person behind him waving the Chauri Sahib?” And I said that was me. It wasn’t really me, but it is how I feel when I do seva. It is my great blessing to help take care of my Guru. Another time, a young lady said that she was always seeing me around the Gurdwara cleaning, and she wanted
Read More
#64 Summer 2017 Newsletter
The theme of our Summer issue is seva. We invited Sikh Dharma Ministers to reflect on the concept of seva as taught by the Sikh Gurus and exemplified by the Tenth Master (Radiant Body). Please enjoy these wonderful articles by Sikh Dharma Ministers. “In any form, shape, or projection, if you can elevate a person’s consciousness, his spirit, his self, his environments, his life, then it is seva. You are here to serve, here to lift, here to grace, here to give hope and action, to give the very deep love of your soul to all those who are in
Read More
World Parliament of Religions
Gratitude and joy were constant and faithful companions during my recent visit to the 2015 Parliament of World Religions that took place in Salt Lake City, Utah, from October 15 – 19. The gratitude and joy that filled me was for the remembered blessing of being able to call myself a Sikh of the Guru; that as a Sikh, I was from a dharma—a way of life—where serving food to people (which the Sikhs did every day of this parliament) was as natural as breathing. I felt grateful that the truth of that resonated deep within the core of my
Read More
Spiritual Awakening in South Africa
South Africa is now 20 years into democracy—not even a generation. The 3HO presence here started with the blessing and directive of the Siri Singh Sahib in the mid-1980s. Since then, the GINI index (universal indicator of disparity between wealthy and disadvantaged) has worsened. The infrastructure and systems of electricity and water supply are deteriorating. At the same time, social conscience and empowerment is awakening and making itself heard, as seen in the recent student revolts. From the yogic side of things, we’re doing KRI Teacher Training Levels I and II. The teaching in South Africa reaches as far as Burundi in
Read More