Chardikala Jatha will be in England playing kirtan at various Gurdwaras in August.
See the below schedule and locations for more information.
Well, it’s been almost three years since I last was rambling about this idea of making audio stories for kids. I had originally wanted to do something more involved with sound effects, so this was going to be a bigger project than I was prepared to take on, so it never happened.
I keep getting emails from parents wanting help and materials to educate their kids about being Sikhs and our history. Sikh Kids having a hard time looking different, being teased that they look like a girl, etc. In these cases the kids have to learn more about why they are Sikhs and give them confidence and courage to stand tall with who they are no matter what people say to them.
One of my favorite things at Summer Solstice is meditating to the beautiful Gurbani Kirtan. There are always a variety of different musicians with variety of styles. There is something about being at Ram Das Puri in the mountains that is so special and sacred that makes it feel that much more beautiful listening to the Kirtan. Sitting with hundreds of others and hearing the sound of the Gurbani resonate and echo in the huge shelter.
I have been waiting a long time for two of my friends to play kirtan again so that I could capture a recording. Nirinjan Kaur (Eugene, Oregon - USA) and Dileep Kaur(Surrey, BC - Canada) have the most beautiful voices, and when used to sing Gurbani take you into the clouds. Just listening to these audio tracks brings me back into the spirit and the longing for the Guru that I know so many felt during that week.
Here are a few recordings for you to listen and download. The first one was sung right before a couple got married and the other recordings are from the all night ransabhai kirtan. I’ll be posting more Gurbani from other musicians in the coming days.
This past week I was at Ram Das Puri, which is in the mountains above Espanola, New Mexico for the 3HO Summer Solstice Sadhana Event. Every year in mid june people from all over the world and from many backgrounds and religions come together for this beautiful spiritual event. It was an amazing week! This year I think there were around 2,000 people who attended! Having this mix of people really makes it interesting.
I like to think of the event as the "pressure cooker". In this short week people are "cooked" in this speed "cooker" and uplifed and changed. From early morning till late at night there are so many things going on. You don’t have the normal luxuries of your home but it doesn’t seem to matter. Camping out in the high desert mountains of Espanola, New Mexico in this "mini city" for the week is a real experience which can be challenging at times. Wether you are a movie star, high profile CEO, or just a restaurant dish washer, everyone has to go through the same thing. It is such an equalizer, and wordly status doesn’t seem to stand at all here. Everyone is just another spiritual seeker working on themself in some form.
For those of you who are not able to come this week to the Summer Solstice Sadhana event here in Espanola, New Mexico you have a chance to take little sneak peaks into things going ons in the main shelter building. Starting sometime tomorrow (Saturday June 20th) I plan to have a computer broadcasting some audio/video and continuing at different times during the week. (When I am NOT broadcasting other videos will display instead)
Because the event is up in the mountains there is limited reception and I am attempting to do the broadcast using internet connection through cell phone which will limit the quality. Preliminary tests outside my office went fine. So next test is on the mountain. There is a chance that it will not work very well at all, but before I head up the mountain I wanted to let you all know that you. Anways…we’ll see how it goes.
To watch the broadcast go to:
http://www.mogulus.com/summersolstice
Update: 6/21 - Seems to be working. Can’t really test from here since the internet speed is pretty slow, but just enough for the broadcast. Our main camera is missing the power supply so having to use a regular computer webcam which isn’t the best.
Update: 6/22 - Sunday - 9am, wedding and Gurdwara. Chardikala Jatha, Prof. Surinder Singh and Jatha (UK) and others.
Update: 6/27 - Rensabhai Kirtan - Kirtan will be held all night long until around 3:45am and then the morning Sadhana / yoga/ meditations/ Gurdwara.
Back in 2006 I posted the Ebook and some info about a cool book on leadership by Ravi Singh. When Ravi Singh visited New Mexico recently he gave me a copy of the Audio book CD. It’s very well done and interesting with him telling cool personal stories of leadership and dealing with society and wearing a turban. Definitely a good listen. I’ve been listening to parts of it here and there in my car as I drive to and from the office.
Here are some more details about it and at the bottom of the page you can actually listen to the whole thing online.
Listen to stories about daily struggles wearing a turban, highlighting principles of leadership that we can all use in our daily lives. Leadership by Turban is a true story about a young man seeking to balance his religious identity in today’s America.
The Akal Takhat Jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti Ji along with the Head Granthi of the Golden Temple, SS Gurbachan Singh Ji and a few others came to visit the SikhNet office today. They are in Espanola, New Mexico for a few days. After visiting the Gurdwara they came to the SikhNet office and I took a few minutes to tell them about SikhNet and the various services that are available online, as well as how many people it reaches. Their visit reminded me of my days in boarding school in India when the "Chief Guest" would come to visit the school and we had to clean everything up and be ready to greet them. I would clean up for any guest….but it reminded me of those old days. (Below are a couple pictures)
Lots going on this week and next with so many people coming in town from all over the world for the Summer Solstice Camp! It was great meeting up with one of the groups of Sikh youth that came in from England. I went up the hill at 6AM this morning and setup my tent, and I’ll move up the mountain on Saturday for the week. I have a verizon broadband card so I might have internet access and am going to test out a casual live webcam/broadcast (though don’t expect to get the solstice experience from a webcam!). Let’s see how things go. Will post updates so check daily just in case.
Below: Me and Gurujot Singh (White Turbans) along with the Jathedhar and Head Granthi.
Showing them SikhNet.com and the various services
This morning we had a bit of fun and adventure flying as the sun was rising above Espanola. My friend Krishan Shiva Singh likes to fly airplanes and invited us to fly with him. In the earlier days he used to do a lot of Sky Diving (Jumping out of an airplane, free floating and then parachuting). Last night he called my office before I went home and said he had space so at the last minute decided to go with him along with Narayan. Yippeee….! Most of you have flown in a commercial airplane, but it is a whole different thing flying around in one of these small planes. We flew all over Espanola checking out the various landmarks. It was cool flying over the Summer Solstice Campsite and seeing everything from up above. Everything looks so different from high up. We "swooped" down low past a car driving up the dusty solstice road and then headed in the direction of our house. I called her up on the phone and we saw her in the back yard.
Here is a quick little 2 minute video that I made from some of the pictures and tiny videos clips that I took.
There are so many fun things to experience and do in life and it’s nice to get out do them. Here are a few pictures from this morning….
In the below video Shanti Kaur answers the question about why she wears a turban as a Sikh Woman, since in recent times most Sikh women do not wear it. She also speaks about how the women in Khalsa Panth stopped wearing the turban in the time after Guru Gobind Singh ji’s death.
It’s been a while since I posted a Gurdwara lecture by SSS Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji. Here is the recording that we heard yesterday in Gurdwara from July 8th 1990 on the topic of God.
