Monthly Archive for March, 2007

Remembering Being a Kid

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on March 16, 2007
in Family Pictures
. 7 Comments

I while back I was going through some old pictures of myself and family from when I was a kid. It was funny seeing this "other person" that is me, but at a different stage of my life. Now that I have two children, one who is the same age (almost 6 years) as many of these faces in the below picture. It’s an interesting parallel thinking about being the kid…and the parent (having gone through both). When I am tired/serious and Narayan is being goofy/mischievous …the parent (serious) side of me just wants him to be adult like and listen and be responsible. The thoughts like "Why can’t you just do xyz without complaining?" come up and the frustrations. But then again…I have to remind myself of the Kid in me…and that Narayan is just a kid. Childhood and the innocence of that time is so precious that all of us parents have to remind ourselves of that, and not try to hurry them to become adults…or adult like. It’s a challenge for me because I tend to be on the serious side and working all the time. I need more playfulness and just "letting loose". If I had a title that matched me…it might be something like "Mr. Responsible". How would you title yourself based on your personal characteristics?

 

Here is a cute little card that I made for my mother on Valentines Day in 1982 when I was about 7 years old. It is so funny seeing kids writing like this. It brings back the playfulness in me and reminds me of being a carefree kid.

Ps. In case you couldn’t read it…I did my best in translating it to: "Dear mom, I will behave a lot and will do what you say. Wherever we go I will accept it.". I’m not sure about the last part , the dialect in it is hard to understand.

Drawn to the Feet of the Guru

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on March 14, 2007
in Audio and Gurdwara
. 9 Comments

This past Sunday my wife Arjan wasn’t feeling well, so she stayed home while I took my 8 month old daughter Charanjeet Kaur and son Narayan Singh to Gurdwara. I like to sit right up front in the Gurdwara by the Guru where the kirtan is played. I find that I don’t get distracted as often by people who are coming inside or people who are in front of me. My focus can be more on the Guru right before me and listening to the Kirtan. It’s a whole different story when you have kids with you though!

Narayan sat next to me, and Charanjeet was in my lap as we started listening to Snatam and Hari Bhajan Kaur play kirtan. As you might have heard from my previous blog post, Charanjeet Kaur is starting to get quite mobile and crawling all over the place. The next thing I know she pushes herself out of my lap and starts crawling towards the Guru. I let her go a few steps and then pull her back. Then again…she gets loose and crawls again back to the bottom of where the ramalas of Siri Guru Granth Sahib are. While this is going on the shabd is being played: "Darshan Maago Dhaehi Piaarae" (I beg for the Blessed Vision of Your Darshan; please, give it to me, O Beloved!). It started to seem like Charanjeet was trying to Get Guru’s Darshan. So I let her go again and away she goes towards the Guru.


For a baby I can imagine being attracted to Guruji, adorned with colorful ramalas with shiny gold stitching. So Charanjeet kaur went right up before the Guru as she had done before. I allowed her to do what she wanted to do while staying close to her. She seems enamored with the green and gold ramalas. In the front of the Guru is a sort of "railing" made of golden brass with beautiful round marble pieces on the corners. She grabs a hold of it and pulls herself up, and seems to enjoy herself standing there. She loves to stand…and seems very excited. This is right up front….so I again pull her back to me not wanting to make a scene. She wouldn’t stay with me though…and made a grunting sound like I was holding her back from something that she really wanted…so I loosen my hold of her. Again…and again…she crawls over to the same spot in front of the Guru. For whatever reason she just wants to be there…at the feet of the Guru. Sure it might just be her loving the colorful ramallas and shiny gold railing, but I had that feeling like there was something deeper. Like that soul yearning to meet with the Guru. She just wanted to stay there with her bright smiley face.


This is a picture that Narayan sneakily took when my eyes were closed of the area before the Siri Guru Granth Sahib that Charanjeet kept crawling to.

I let her stay there for a while and then moved further back towards the middle of the Gurdwara hoping that she might stay with me. One cannot meditate or listen to kirtan with a baby crawling off. Hahaha…  This worked a bit better…but again she was off towards the Guru. It was pretty funny seeing her determination. My friend Siri Chand Singh was further up in front of me…and he helped intercept her a bunch of times before she finally stopped her efforts to go to the same spot (after me giving her some distractions to play with).

I love the innocence of children. They are so pure and free. It is like they can still connect with God in a way that us as adults have a hard time doing.  Whether it was her actually meeting with the Guru or not…it was an amusing and fun experience seeing my daughter in this way. My prayer is that when she is older she has the same kind determination and love for the Guru; So that she will always be be attracted and drawn to the feet of the Guru just as she did as a baby.

The babies are no longer babies anymore. Here are two two of the kids during the children’s program at Gurdwara. They looked so cute, I wish I had my proper camera to have gotten a better picture.

Here the shabads that Snatam and Hari Bhajan Kaur played during Gurdwara:

Darshan Mangau Dai Piaray
  Download

Dukh Bhanjan Tera Naam
Download 

Sakhi Au Sakhi Vasi Au Saki
Download

Sikh Rock Sensation: Hargo

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on March 13, 2007
in Audio and Videos
. 9 Comments

One of my friends Hargobind Hari Singh (Aka: Hargo) just came out with a cool music video. It’s always great seeing Sikh youth maintain their identity as a Sikh and infusing a spiritual message into their music. I loved the fusion of guitar, tabla…and the dhol beats at the end of the video. Nice Jacket too, with the words on the back: "Only God Can Judge Me".

Hargo is emerging as one of America’s newest rock sensations. Domine is one of Hargo’s feature songs.

 

Send Me Your Pictures for SikhNet Home Page

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on March 12, 2007
in SikhNet
. 2 Comments

Lots of changes are brewing at SikhNet. One of the things we are working on is re-organizing the SikhNet Home Page and giving a fresh new look. With this we want to represent all Sikhs, and are looking for a diverse selection of pictures of the Sangat all over the world.

So, if you have a picture that you think is good and you don’t mind it being collaged in with pictures of other Sikhs for the SikhNet home page, please do send your best ones to me right away! Out of the pictures that we receive we will create a selection of images which will randomly display on the home page.

Photo Guidelines

  • Happy, Smiling, Joyfull
  • Men, Women, Children, Old, Young
  • Picture with friends and family
  • Closeups so that face is detailed and not too small.

Ps. I can’t guarantee that your picture will be used but send it anyway :)

Sending Your Pictures

Email pictures to: photos2007@khalsa.com

Sat Kriya - Dealing with Sexual Energy (among other things)

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on March 12, 2007
in 2007 Picks and Kundalini Yoga
. 38 Comments

One question which I see often in the SikhNet Question and Answer Forum is how one can deal with sexual feelings. This is particularly an important issue for youth who have increased sexual energy and are not yet married. As a youth it can be extra hard feeling this "pressure" as one goes into puberty and starts to have strong sexual feelings. Western society doesn’t help the situation either. It is so common these days for an average person to wear skimpy/sexual clothing out in public and see this in most magazines and TV. This only aggravates the situation…and makes a person think more about sex.

7 ChakrasThis sexual energy is just a creative energy that is in every person. This energy can be used to create life, or other artistic/creative actions. It can come out in the form of a beautiful piece of art, a brilliant idea, or something that you create.

We all have seven energy centers in our body (Chakras). -  "The Second chakra/center holds the basic needs for sexuality, creativity, intuition, and self-worth. This chakra is also about friendliness, creativity, and emotions. It governs peoples sense of self-worth, their confidence in their own creativity, and their ability to relate to others in an open and friendly way. It’s influenced by how emotions were expressed or repressed in the family during childhood. Proper balance in this chakra means the ability to flow with emotions freely and to feel and reach out to others sexually or not. If this chakra is blocked a person may feel emotionally explosive, manipulative, obsessed with thoughts of sex or may lack energy."

So, you may ask, how can a person keep this energy flowing through their chakras and deal  with sexual thoughts and feelings? One particular method is using a Kundalini Yoga Kriya called "Sat Kriya". This kriya has MANY benefits (not just in dealing with sexual energy)! I used to do this Kriya/Exercise every day, and it helped me a lot in many ways (not just as a teenager). I just started doing it again with my morning Sadhana and thought you all could benefit from it.

Sat Kriya is fundamental to Kundalini Yoga and should be practiced every day for at least 3 minutes. Its effects are numerous. Sat Kriya strengthens the entire sexual system and stimulates its natural flow of energy. This relaxes phobias about sexuality. It allows you to control the insistent sexual impulse by re-channelizing sexual energy to creative and healing activities in the body. People who are severely maladjusted or who have mental problems benefit from this kriya since these disturbances are always connected with an imbalance in the energies of the lower three chakras. General physical health is improved since all the internal organs receive a gentle rhythmic massage from this exercise. The heart gets stronger from the rhythmic up-and-down of blood pressure you generate from the pumping motion of the navel point.

The main effect is a control and balance of the lower three chakras or energy distribution centers in the body.  It does this by mixing the prana and apana at the navel center.  This generates a heat in the system and opens the inner channels to the upward flow and rotation of energy. Sat Kriya also rejuvenates the sexual system and helps the brain and body to recover from toxicity and memory loss due to drug abuse.  It is good for removing energy imbalances in the lower three chakras and, as a result, is good for problems in the lower back and alleviating mild depression.

 

Continue reading ‘Sat Kriya - Dealing with Sexual Energy (among other things)’

Love of Poetry and Sikhi

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on March 9, 2007
in Audio
. 3 Comments

Guru Kirn Kaur from Phoenix, Arizona wrote a beautiful book of poetry titled "Pure Longing Fulfilled". She not only does poetry but is a really good artist. and had made some amazing paintings. I was reading through her poetry book today and picked out a few poems that I liked. Here are two recordings of me reading the poems by Guru Kirn Kaur.

After I finished recording the poems I felt like every time I spoke to Arjan or Narayan I had to rhyme my words. It was a funny feeling. Poetry has such a unique way of conveying a message.

If Guru Nanak Came Back Today 

Download 

Daily Bread 

Download 

 

More Poetry by Guru Kirn Kaur Khalsa 

Espanola Happenings…

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on March 8, 2007
in Espanola Life and Family Pictures
. 3 Comments


Driving home and taking a quick picture of the sunset.


Guru Simran Kaur organizes different events for the kids every month to teach them about the Gurus. Tonight they planted various plants in pots and decorated them. I think the activities tonight were related to Guru Har Krishan. (I wasn’t there for most of it so missed the introduction).


Charanjeet Kaur smiling as she always does. She smiles so much!! I love it. It just warms me on the inside. She now has two teeth on the bottom and more coming on the top any day now.


200 Push-ups?? Go Charanjeet…. 50 more!! Actually she is crawling all over the place now. Ever since she was born she has been trying to stand (seriously). She really doesn’t like being on her back…and likes to be mobile. I’ve got to keep an eye on this fast Girl. She is tough! Her latest favorite activities are eating and taking baths with Narayan. She loves the water.

It’s been a while since I posted any family pictures. Now that it is getting warmer out I’ll probably be outside more with the kids. The cold showers don’t have the “juice” that they did a month ago (now that it is warmer). Pretty soon…they will be warm showers. Oh well…there is always next winter.

CMS System Experience? PHP/MySQL Web Programmers?

Published
by
Gurumustuk Singh
on March 8, 2007
in News
. 4 Comments

This might be a shot in the dark, but I wanted to see if any of you reading this have a lot of experience (3+years) with the various open source content management systems (CMS) for websites, and programming in PHP with MySQL databases. 

At SikhNet we are in the process of planning some major changes and need some advice from professionals who have experience in this area. If this sounds like you….please do send me an email with your contact information and let me know some of your experience, so I can get in touch with you.

 Thank you!

….Gurumustuk Singh

SikhNet Flashback - 1991

Published
by
Guruka Singh
on March 7, 2007
in Guruka Singh and SikhNet
. 1 Comment

This is the SikhNet computer in 1991 in Oakhurst California. An new, powerful 12 Mhz AST 286 with 1 megabyte of expanded (not simply extended) memory running DOS. It allowed me to multitask using a DOS program called Carousel and run SikhNet in the background while I was working on other stuff in the foreground. Notice all the boxes of 5.25" floppy discs on the left and the DOS and BASIC programming manuals on the lower shelf of the desk.

Oh yeah, that’s our son, Gurushabd Singh, in the picture getting started on the computer at the age of one.

…..Guruka Singh

 

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    The Taboo of Sikh Art

    Published
    by
    Gurumustuk Singh
    on March 6, 2007
    in Art and Culture
    . 30 Comments

    It seems like that in the old days of India many people were into art, architecture and other creative skills. For whatever reason less and less people seem to be interested in the arts. I remember when I was in second class/grade the teacher asking all the kids: "What is your father", and the kids would pretty much have one of a two answers; "My father is a business man", or "My father is a doctor". Gone are the days of the fine artisans and craftsman. Everyone in their goal for survival, success or wealth have tried to follow some business path that they thought would bring the most money. I’m sure the modernization and globalization played a part in all this, but I don’t think that is the whole picture.

    I can only speculate on the reasons for these changes, however there are certain things that I think have discouraged art within the Sikh community. Within many circles of Sikhs any portrayal of the Sikh Gurus in art has been frowned upon. I suspect that this happened as a result of Hindu influences and some people "worshiping" pictures as if they were the Gurus. This same logic of not portraying the Sikh Gurus in art also discourages any visual storytelling of Sikh history. All of the recent animations/cartoon/videos have all avoided showing any of the Gurus. Imagine watching a whole movie about Guru Gobind Singh and never seeing him in it!? I agree that there are issues in how to respectfully and accurately portray the Gurus but that shouldn’t be a reason to not try. I think there can be a balance that can work. One has to look at the positive and potential negative things, and look at the overall picture. I don’t think there is ever a perfect situation, but I think doing nothing or just avoiding the issue can potentially be more of a dis-benefit to Sikhs.

    Continue reading ‘The Taboo of Sikh Art’