Today is the third day of waking up early and doing a Sadhana. So far, so good. I have to say though, it is a challenge (but well worth it!). I have had the added challenge of having a baby who wakes up all through the night (and lately has had a cold/cough). The other night was a real test for me (and only on day 2!). Arjan hasn’t been getting much sleep because of Charanjeet being sick and waking up all through the night…so I have been taking the first shift of the night with Charanjeet. This night was much harder than others so I was up till about 2AM with her. I knew I had to keep up my Sadhana and had to get up no matter what (even if I went to sleep at 2AM). So as I had done the previous day I got up…took a cold shower and did my Sadhana, and then went back to sleep (not waking up till 11AM). Luckily it was the weekend and I didn’t have to work that day. Even though I know I can’t really go to sleep early I am pretty motivated to keep waking up. I guess when you really want to do something and really commit, you figure out how to make it happen. I guess that is what it means to be committed.
Monthly Archive for February, 2007
To continue on the theme of “Sadhana” I am posting a video by Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa (AKA: Yogi Bhajan). This video is an excerpt from the DVD “Discover Your Soul“. It is from December 21st 1993 at the Winter Solstice Camp in Florida. The DVD is a full lecture and meditation class taught by Yogi Bhajan, so this video is just a part of it. If you enjoy the video I highly recommend that you get a copy of the DVDs which has the full lecture and the meditations that were taught.
In this video he talks about the concept of Sadhana and why we must get up early in the morning to meditate and clear our sub-conscious mind. He also discusses the topic of cold shower and the benefits.
Over the next few weeks I will be editing and posting more video excerpts like this from classes he taught over the years. If you don’t know much about the term “Sadhana” then you can read this previous blog post on the subject.
Earlier last week I posted a message about having a daily spiritual practice (Sadhana). I invited the Sangat to join me in a commitment to getting up every morning before the sun rises to meditate for (at least) 40 days. Thirty three people made a pledge to come on this journey and have the experience of Meditation in the Amrit Vela.
Today was the first official day and it was great. Starting off with a cold shower really does the trick; waking me up and getting my circulation going. It is such a great feeling to have the quiet time in the early morning to listen and tune into your inner self. Last night I remember thinking…”Yeah! It’s friday night! Stay up late and watch movies…!” (like I normally do). But then I realized that I couldn’t go to sleep too late if I wanted to wake up early. Then as morning time came I woke up a bit earlier than my alarm was set for…and I remember thinking, “I’ll just sleep a bit more”…even though the alarm was going to go off in a few minutes. Then I started thinking how warm and cozy I was in the bed and how much I just wanted to keep sleeping. Hahaha… It’s like a whole movie playing out in my head. Ultimately I just had to tell my mind to shut up…and I got up without any more dialog. I look forward to when I start waking up without my mind playing the games. I remember when it used to be like that for me when I used to wake up early on a regular basis. Eventually when you wake up every morning you probably won’t even need an alarm and will just wake up on your own…and without any mind “battles”.
Whenever you make a commitment and discipline yourself there are always roadblocks and things which come up trying their very best to pull you off the track.There is ALWAYS some excuse or the other that your mind thinks up. The mind does it’s thing and tries to take control. Man-Jeetay-Jagjeet - Conquer the mind and Conquer the World!
Anyways, myself and others have just started this 40 day Sadhana…and I’m sure many of us will go through all these challenges. I invite you to join us in this experience and start waking up early before the sun rises. You can read through my previous post for ideas and info.
The 40 days will end on March 14th and I look forward to hearing your experiences as we go through the days! We are all here to support each other…and I’m sure everyone will do their best to Keep Up!
Related Blog Articles
- SADHANA and the SOUL
- 40 Day Sadhana Commitment (Care to join me?)
- Sadhana, Aradhana, Prabhupathi
- Getting up Early in the Morning
- Banis and Time of Day
- Cold Shower (Hydrotherapy)
- Doing the Daily Banis
- Daily Banis (Nitnem Namaa)
- Simple Meditation Using Your Breath
- The Science of Naad & Gurbani
- The Power of Japji Sahib
Having a hard time getting up early in the morning to do banis or meditate? In this video Guruka Singh talks about reasons for getting up early in the morning, and gives many practical suggestions / inspirations to help you do so.
Download the video
One of the fun projects that myself and my friend Ashvinder Singh have been involved with is RateMyTurban.com. This started as a fun idea to promote the positive image of the turban for Sikhs but has become very popular all over America. Over the past 6 months the site has been talked about on lots of radio stations and linked up all over the web (including Yahoo pick of the week). A lot of the interest is coming from the general public at large who find it interesting to see this type of website. With all the mis-understandings about the turban and mistaken identity, this website has served to educate your average american a little bit more about Sikhs and the Turban. I think it is a great example of how you can be creative about educating people and have fun with it. On the top there are links explaining about the turban and even video tutorials on how to tie a turban.
This morning Ashvinder was invited on the Kevin and Bean Morning Radio show which is a very popular Rock station in Los Angeles. I remember this radio station from when I used to live in Los Angeles and it is quite popular with thousands of listeners all over LA area. I managed to record the interview off the internet so you can have a listen. You don’t have to be a scholar or “expert” to educate others about Sikhi. Just do the best you can and it will make a difference!
Ps. In case you are wanting to add a turban to the RateMyTurban.com we are currently having some technical problems with the image upload, so users can’t add new turbans right now. We are working on the issue.
Related Articles
RateMyTurban.com Creating Awareness about the Sikh Turban
Many of you have seen all the pictures of my 7 month old daughter Charanjeet Kaur, however there are quite a few babies that were born all around the same time. Every month or so a new baby was born. One might think that all the married couples got together and planned to have babies… but…no….it just happened this way. I guess the next wave of Sikhs were meant to come at this time in our community :)
Here are a couple pictures that I took of some of the mother’s and babies…
