"This is a time for us to remember that in the name of religion more people have died than in all the wars and natural calamities put together. Now more than ever we must understand that the purpose of religion is not to separate us. True faiths don’t preach hatred and killing, nor did any of the prophets. It is the people who interpret the scriptures who create the divisions. Division comes if we put our ego into the teachings of these religions. Let us strive to be free of that kind of egoism." - Swami Satchidananda
Archive for the '2006 Picks' Category
The latest interview with Guruka Singh is on the topic of looking different as a Sikh. The question was something along the lines of, "What is the purpose of Bana and looking different as a Sikh?".
A few weeks back I was recording a video message for our upcoming annual fund raiser for SikhNet. I had all the video equipment setup and wanted to make full use of it, so I cornered Guruka Singh with a few of the latest questions that many of you had emailed (this being one of them). I have been trying to get some interviews with other people (for variety), but it’s always hard since most of the people I want to interview are not local here or always busy. Guruka Singh and I office together, so it’s always easy to do these recordings with him. Plus, he’s just lots of fun to record! You never know what is going to come out of his mouth! Hahaha… It always seems to just flow out so easily without any thought or preparation and come from the heart. Wahe Guru!
If you would like to suggest a question for a future video interview with Guruka Singh or others feel free to drop me an email…or post a comment here. Questions/topics should be universal in nature so that others would benefit from it.
Here is a great lecture which is in continuation with yesterday’s blog post about developing an inner connection with yourself and relationship with your soul. It’s always hard to pin down a single title or topic to theses lectures since most of them he covers so many different topics. Anyway, listen and see for yourself :)
This Gurdwara lecture is from July 17th 1988 by Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa
What is Sadhana?
Sadhana is the daily practice of waking up in the amrit vela time (2 1/2 hours before the sun rises) to meditate and chant God’s Name. In the words of Yogi Bhajan, "Sadhana is nothing but where a disciplined one, the love, talks to one’s own soul. It is nothing but where one cleans his own mind."
What is the purpose of Sadhana? Why do we do it?
"Sadhana is nothing but where one prepares for the day to become kind and compassionate for everyone, including the enemies. We get up early in the morning, we rise, and we do our sadhana so that we can match up with the day, so we can match up with absolute reality. Face the reality with reality. Don’t face the reality with laziness and slowness. If you do so, you will never be successful and then you are your own enemy. You can’t make it. And that’s why sadhana is an act."
How do I experience my Soul?
"Everybody has God’s light and it must be lit by a person’s own discipline. And the glass to keep it lit and shining should be kept by the person’s own courage, strength and grit. I believe it. I believe this is the love. I believe everybody has the chance to love one’s soul and every soul has the right to shine and every shine has to bring light and brightness, beauty and bountifulness to all, generation after generation.
You love your children? You do. They are beautiful. Isn’t that innocent soul in you also your life child? Have you kissed the soul? Have you hugged the soul? Have you communicated with the soul in the morning at the ambrosial hours when there is absolutely no disturbance? Sadhna is nothing but where a disciplined one, the love, talks to one’s own soul. is nothing but where one cleans his own mind. Sadhana is nothing but where one prepares for the day to become kind and compassionate for everyone, including the enemies.
If you think you are poor, you are poor because you do not communicate with your soul, the source of prosperity, the source of reality. If you think you are desperate, you are desperate because you have no Sadhana. Desperation, depression, and a feeling of destitution comes only to those who have no discipline or Sadhana. Only a house which is not cleaned looks dirty and the mind which is not cleaned, stinks. sadhana is the most selfish act of every act, because it is a self-cleansing. Cleanliness is Godliness. It is good to wear good clothes, look good, be bright, beautiful. But when you want to be blissful and bountiful, you have to have a clear mind, a mind through which your soul, your spirit can shine.
When you stand, take a stand, and stand tall. Walk tall and stand by the strength of your soul. Not the strength of your intellect, intelligence and your cowardice. If you want to speak to anybody, to deal with anything, to have any relationship, just have relationship by the strength of your soul. Otherwise you will miss the goal of life." -
Siri Singh Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa
How do I start and keep up a Sadhana?
You start with what you think you can handle. First, try getting up one hour earlier than usual; this may mean going to bed earlier. It is good to start with some simple yoga exercises to stretch your body and get it going, and then practice a meditation/bani of your choosing. Do this routine until you are able to do it easily, daily for a month or 40 days. Then slowly expand it to an hour and a half, then two hours. For some people, all they can manage of a morning sadhana is one 11-minute meditation, but doing that is certainly better than doing nothing!
It is important to understand that yoga and meditation bring light energy into the body, and over time, this replaces the need for that extra hour or two of sleep in a normal routine (not counting illness and late nights!!).
It helps a great deal to have a sadhana partner or community. Then you can support each other to get up and take turns leading the exercises and meditations. Yogi Bhajan used to say that half of sadhana is showing up, so if your local Sikh community has an organized sadhana routine, participate in it whenever you can get there, even if it’s only for the last 20 minutes.
Many of us find that the more we do sadhana, the more we find we need it and the support it gives us. In other words, it grows on you.
Related Blog Posts:
- Sadhana, Aradhana, Prabhupathi
- Getting up Early in the Morning
- Banis and Time of Day
- Cold Shower (Hydrotherapy)
- Doing the Daily Banis
- Daily Sadhana (Discipline) and Children
- Daily Banis (Nitnem Namaa)
- Simple Meditation Using Your Breath
- My Practice of Kundalini Yoga
- Kundalini Yoga & Sikh Dharma
- The Science of Naad & Gurbani
Media and pop-culture shape so much of how people think about themself and what is "beautiful". We are constantly being bombarded with images of twig like "perfect" women. Glamour magazines are FULL of so called "perfect" looking women. I have never seen a magazines so THICK AND FULL in my life (than glamour mags)!! I can only imagine what it must be like as a women growing up with these images. These women are SO unnatural looking. It’s no wonder many girls/women these days have a low self esteem and are self conscious about their looks. Everyone is doing extreme dieting, getting boob jobs and plastic surgery to try to reach this artificial beauty.
As a society we have become so disconnected with ourself and can no longer see the natural beauty that we all have, both inside and out. Our youth especially have started to equate this as real and as a result having a low self esteem about how they look.
One thing which you may not even realize is that most of the images you see in the media are actually unreal. Seriously! In this digital age it has become ever easier to artificially change and "beautify" images.
Below is a 1 minute video, produced to show how an average looking woman got transformed into a supermodel image, and ended up on a huge billboard. This is a campaign started by Dove to promote Real Beauty and help women with self-esteem.
Have a watch, and think about what you can do to educate your friends or children about Real Beauty!
Watch another of the Dove videos on the same topic of beauty
Why do we worry about things? Why do we spend so much energy thinking about what could happen? In this video Guruka Singh shares his thoughts on the topic of "worrying". I hope you take the time to think about it after you watch it. Then, start to be more conscious of how you are thinking in the coming days….and when you start to worry try changing your thoughts.
Today in Gurdwara we heard the following talk by Siri Singh Sahib which was originally from October 2nd 1988. As most of his lectures are, it was quite inspiring and really made me think about the different things that he spoke about. Much of the talk was about Bana and our identity as Sikhs. How bana is there to make us clearly identifiable and stand out. Have a listen to it below or download it for later….
Today at Gurdwara Snatam Kaur and Jatha played some beautiful Kirtan. I was "blissed out" as the whole sangat sang along with this Shabad. She definitely has the gift of a beautiful voice and the ability to sing from the heart. This is the kind of thing that is hard to capture in an audio file. It’s one of those "you had to be there" moments being in the presence of Siri Guru Granth Sahib and having the whole sangat singing Gurbani together.
Mil Mere Preetma Jio (translation)
Download
In the early 1970’s Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa (AKA: Yogi Bhajan) visited Singapore and Malaysia. During that visit many of his lectures in the Gurdwaras were recorded and distributed on cassette tapes. I have posted a few of these punjabi lectures in the past 6 months, but was just able to get a bunch more. Many people had requested that I post more of the Punjabi Katha/Lectures. I must admit that I don’t understand most of what is being said in the lecture so can’t give any kind of summary or information relating to the content of the lectures.
If you are able to…you can help by writing a summary of what is talked about in the lecture (Just post it as a comment).
Ps. You can hear other lectures that I have already posted and related media in the "Yogi Bhajan" category or in the Audio/Video archive of this blog.
