I recently received a wedding invitation from two of my close friends, Siri Amrit Singh and Nirinjan Kaur, who are getting married this June (Right after the Summer Solstice camp here in Espanola, New Mexico). They are such a beautiful couple :) Siri Amrit Singh lived with me and my wife Arjan Kaur for a few years and also worked as part of the SikhNet.com team, so I got to know him well. Siri Amrit is one of my son Narayan’s many uncles. He always looks forward to when Uncle "Aama" comes for a visit.
Siri Amrit Singh is getting married to Nirinjan Kaur who is the daughter of Hari Singh and Guru Raj Kaur (from Vancouver, BC) who are also long time friends. I love both families and am excited that they are getting married.
Nirinjan Kaur is one of those friends with amazing voice and devotion that really flows when she sings. I can’t wait till she comes out with a Gurbani CD! I always bug her about it, especially since her father has his own recording studio and does this type of thing for a living. On their wedding invitation website they posted two audio clips. The first one is really nice! Sounds like a draft for an Upcoming Sadhana Music CD? Have a listen to it below…
In case you don’t already know about Miri Piri Academy (which is in Amritsar, India) check out the video at the end of this post. It gives you an overview about the school and it’s focus. This school is an EXTREMELY unique opportunity for a student to grow both academically and spiritually. Myself, my brother and most of my friends went to boarding school in India, and I give a lot of credit towards this experience, which helped shape me into the person that I am today. Chardikala Jatha is another good example of excellence in many ways. Yes… they were Graduates of MPA and the previous Indian School program (that I was also part of).
If you are a student (high school and younger) and want to have an experience that will change your life, then I suggest that you check out the school, which is now enrolling for the next school year (Fall 2007). I know that as a parent I want to give the best opportunities for my children. This includes both standard academics and spiritual education. You may ask where I will be sending my kids when they are older? Take a guess :) Narayan can’t wait till he can go to MPA.
These days the focus is normally given mostly to financial success and academics. There is little attention to the Mind…Body and Spirit. A person may have a lot of worldly wealth and success, but inside is empty and unhappy.
Miri Piri Academy is named after Guru Hargobind’s two swords, Miri and Piri. These swords represent the mastery of both temporal and spiritual worlds. The ideal of the warrior/saint is central to “Miri Piri” philosophy, and a cornerstone of spiritual awareness. The emphasis at MPA is on the values of kindness, courage, discipline and commitment, which form a strong base for the growth and development in the students.
“I want these children to be stronger than steel. They should walk taller than the stars, be brighter than the sun, and be as peaceful, bright and beautiful as the moon.”
“These children are the fruit of prayer and sacrifice. The steel of Guru Gobind Singh runs through their veins and the grace of Guru Ram Das flows from their hearts.”
“To be a parent in the essential sense is to make your child strong to face tommorow. This is what your child wants from you, nothing less…. nothing more.” - Siri Singh Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogi Ji
Since the early days of SikhNet I have enjoyed live internet broadcasting. When I started SikhNet radio back in 1996 I used to broadcast the music that I was listening to while working on my regular job. This was back when I did SikhNet in my free time. Over the years we did quite a few live audio and video broadcasts. There is something exciting about tuning into things that are happening live somewhere else in the world. Actually…even tuning into our local Gurdwara from home is great.
One of the things that I have always wanted to do was to create a network where you could watch or listen to Kirtan from Gurdwaras all over the world. I feel like we are one step closer in this direction. Live streaming audio/video technology, and internet access has progressed quite a bit since the 90’s. It is now easier than ever for Gurdwaras to broadcast live with a simple computer and internet connection.
For the past few days I have been testing different things related to this project. We have added two new radio channels for SikhNet, "Western / Non Traditional" and "Classical Raag" which is in addition to the existing "channel". We have also added live broadcast streams from six Gurdwaras from India, Canada, and the USA. So any time of day or night you can tune into Kirtan that is happening live somewhere in the world.
I have tried to make the radio streams as easily accessible as possible. You can click on the little web page player buttons…or click on the player links to launch the audio in the player of your choice. This way you won’t have to download any software. For those of you who listen at work (and have firewalls blocking web content) I have setup the radio in a way that if you have internet access you should be able to tune in. When I have time I also plan to provide some HTML code for any of you who have websites and want to add a player button so that your visitors can tune in to any of the radio channels.
The next stage of the plan is to help as many Gurdwaras as possible become part of the SikhNet Radio Network. The first choice would be Gurdwaras that have Kirtan on a regular basis every day of the week. Someone in the community would need to be responsible for getting things setup (dedicated computer, internet access, audio feed to computer). I would then help with info on how to get setup and give SikhNet server info for the broadcast. We could also host for single large events…but to start we plan to build the network of regular Gurdwara broadcasters. If any of you who are reading this want to get your Gurdwara broadcasting live online then let me know. Also let me know if your Gurdwara is already doing a live broadcast.
Ok, so now you have read all this and are probably wanting to check it out right? Well, head on over to SikhNet Radio Network to have a listen. Please keep in mind that everything is still "pre-beta" (if you want to call it that) and a work in progress. You might notice things changing around or get disconnected (when I have to restart the server for a config change). It was only this evening that I finished getting some of radio broadcasts setup and added the audio stream from Harimander Sahib. Enjoy….and let me know what you think. If you have problems that are consistent let me know too.
Narayan was a bit mischievous this past winter and as a result I had to re-construct our garden fountain. During the winter he poked the bottom of the fountain and somehow punctured the rubber/plastic fountain lining. I tried my best to patch it up…but the water kept leaking. So in the end I had to rebuild the water fountain which is a project. This will have been the third time doing so since we bought our home. Here are some before and after pictures of the fountain project. The biggest challenge is puzzling all the rock pieces and making sure that the water flows where it is supposed to.
It’s great having a fountain. It creates such a nice atmosphere. Are any of you garden enthusiasts? I love working out in the garden. After long hours on the computer it has a way of "grounding" me.
Here is what it looks like after I de-constructed the fountain and took the plastic liner and rocks off.
After I finished the fountain.
I built a swing set too, so that Narayan would have some more fun things to do at home. Charanjeet is checking out the wood…and Arjan is taking the swing for a test drive.
Here is the lecture that we heard today in Gurdwara by SSS Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji on the topic of "Shakti and Bhakti". This was a recording from March 26th, 1989.
Here is the second part of the series. In this part you’ll see one section where the BBC came here to Espanola and did some interviews with the sangat here.
I was going through some of my older sikhism related videos and found this one. This is a documentary that was created at the time of the 300 celebrations of Vaisakhi (back in 1999). It is quite extensive and worth watching. It has been posted on SikhNet, but this was a lower quality version.
Well… I just got back from three tiring days walking through the endless exhibits at the NAB conference in Las Vegas. I got to see the latest technology related to radio, video and TV. It was a bit overwhelming, but I learned quite a bit. Along the way I met a few Sikhs who are also involved in TV/Radio. I think we will continue to produce educational video content at SikhNet and plan to show this on various TV/Cable networks.
Las Vegas in general was not my kind of place though. It seemed to live up to the nick name of "Sin City". So much Maya…and focus on money, sex, fame, etc. Let’s just say….I’m glad to be home.
One of the endless show rooms at NAB.
Gian, me and Prabhujot…right before we left to drive to the airport. We all went together. They
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