As I walked through the street, en route for the first time to the Harimandir Sahib, there grew a welling up inside of me, an inner excitement almost like that of a child on the advent of a special holiday. From deep inside the thought arose, “thousands upon thousands of lifetimes it has taken for this moment,” and my mind at once became very poised and silent.
Read: "Bathing in the Ram Das Sarovar"Categories: Our Stories
In this story written, by Ravi Har Kaur Khalsa, she imagines what it might have been like to be in the company of the Sangat on Baisakhi Day, 1699. This story was originally published in Sikh Dharma Brotherhood Magazine in the Summer of 1977
Read: "Baisakhi Day, 1699 – “A First Person” Imagining"Categories: Our Stories
Tags: Baisakhi, Sikh Dharma Brotherhood - 1977-Vol III No 2, Sikh Dharma Brothoohd
In this act of life, may Guru help you to realize that His realization lies within you, that in every walk of life, a commitment to act in higher consciousness, will be your guide to eternal happiness.
Live gracefully and be grateful for every blessings. you are beautiful!
Read: "May 20, 1977 – Anonymous"Categories: Our Stories, Yogi Bhajan Letters
Poetry excerpted from the 1976 Fall issue of “Beads of Truth”. The poems are by women who describe their experience of the first Khalsa Women’s Training Camp in 1976.
Read: "Poems and Reflections from the First Khalsa Women’s Training Camp"Categories: Our Stories, Poetry
The night wind blows in gusts so strong the earth shakes.
And my tent-home billows and wavers under its continued impact.
The darkening sky is shot with lightning and thunder shouts from the heavens.
But not even the monstrous wind beating at all of Creation
Can sweep away the kiss of God, the rainbow,
Which embraces the sky from one end to another.
It comes forth silently, gracefully, to stand immovable in the heavens, yet joined with the earth.
Ever present, it manifests and becomes known,
Only when God calls it forth to stand as an example, a thing of beauty, awe-inspiring.
The vibrant delicacy of its colors,
The purity of its radiance,
Glow as a gift from God.
Categories: Our Stories, Poetry
Every second of the day in camp was utilized. We ended our sadhana with a mile run. We breakfasted fast and dashed off to swimming and tennis. We tilled the land in the garden that provided our food. We clambered over the five foot wall and crawled on our bellies through the dirt of our obstacle course. We learned the noble art of Gatka (Indian sword fighting). At the sound of the bell, we raced to our karate class. Muscles that hadn’t even been thought of in years were restrengthened. We were tested at every turn. The initial trauma of learning to fire the five rounds of bullets turned into a feeling of confidence and power, respect and poise.
After our physical activities, we had intensive Gurmukhi classes; each day we read our Bhanis with more speed, accuracy, and comprehension. Our daily Gurbani classes gave us time to sing and chant together. We lived together, stood together and marched in formation together, through the streets of Espanola while the populous looked on in awe and wonder. We daily marched under the rising sun, learning to command each other as well as to be commanded by each other.
Read: "The First Khalsa Women’s Training Camp in 1976"Categories: 3HO History, Our Stories, Women's Teachings
“The Christians have Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel, and the Sikhs have Mr. O’Brien and the Mural in Espanola. No human being painted this mural. This man was able to do what I could never do – he accurately told the history of this world, and perfectly predicted the events of man up to 5,000 years into the future. I could never make such a prediction, for man would not allow me to do such a thing, but O’Brien quietly told the future of the whole world and then humbly left this planet. O’Brien will be known in the history of man from this time forth and books will be written on his works and pilgrimages will be made to see his murals and the power of his faith captured in paint. I am petitioning to have this O’Brien made the first Christian Saint in the Sikh Dharma.” ~Yogi Bhajan
Read: "Ed O’Brien and the History of the Mural at HGRD"Categories: Our Stories
Tags: art and artists
Nearly six years ago, Yogi Bhajan began working with the young people of this country, to give them an alternative to drugs, to give them a means of keeping their bodies healthy, to give them values of life and to rebuild the structure of family life. He struck at the root of the problems facing the entire western societies today: the lack of respect and reverence for woman, the devaluation of the function of raising children, the breakdown of the family structure and the pollution of the basic vibration – the WORD.
Read: "Dedicated to Woman"Categories: Our Stories
The story of the first American Sikh enlisted in the U.S. Army who stood by the rights of the 1st Amendment to pave the way for Sikhs to practice their religious beliefs, including the wearing of beard and turban
Yes, there is a place for Sikhs in the United States Army. For this achievement, we can be grateful to those who went before us and who accepted the harassment and went through the Court Martials, who were forcibly shaven, but who ‘kept up’ in order to see that our basic human rights were upheld: the right to practice our chosen religion and to live actively in all aspects of society and the community without discrimination.
Categories: 3HO History, Our Stories
We are all in learning process trying our best to jump over the hurdles and to miss the puddles, but sometimes it is good to just dive in and get wet. Then we will know what it is to be dry and then we can be much happier that this high existence is not just a myth but a reality.
Read: "Letter from Yogi Bhajan – April 22, 1974"Categories: Our Stories, Yogi Bhajan Letters
We have been allowed the privilege to serve our God and Guru, who gives us two choices – to live in the territory of space or to live in the territory of grace. Space only robs the self of completeness; grace fills the self with the purity and the total ecstasy of the Holy Nam. Thus, we can enjoy the light of the sun and the sweetness of the moon on this visiting trip of earth.
Read: "Letter from Yogi Bhajan – January 30, 1974"Categories: Our Stories, Yogi Bhajan Letters
When the question of doubt arises in the minds of people, this in itself is the mark that their curiosity has been aroused…. it takes time to make the doubters, seekers of God. It is all His Grace and if you work with Him, side-by-side, one in One, then all hassles will seem as interesting challenges and all sorrow will be received as divine blessings toward the growth and progression in Divine Consciousness. Keep up dear one, and never give an inch but don’t forget the heart that beats with compassion and love of His Holy Name!
Read: "Letter from Yogi Bhajan – October 2, 1973"Categories: Our Stories, Yogi Bhajan Letters
The head teacher at the Denver, CO ashram resigned in late 1972. Yogi Bhajan contacted me at the December, 1972, 3HO Winter Solstice Sadhana and asked that I fly to Denver to check out the possibility of moving there to fill the vacancy, which I did.
Upon my return, I learned that the Health Department office building had burned to the ground and that there were no immediate plans to rebuild the structure. My wife and I saw this development as a significant indicator of the direction of our destiny, whereupon we put our Orlando residence up for sale and subsequently moved to Denver in February of 1973.
Read: "The Beginning (Part 5)"Categories: Our Stories
During the 1970-1972 time frame Hari Singh taught Kundalini Yoga classes in the Orange County Jail as a part of an Orange County, Florida initiative called ‘Thee Door’, an anti-drug, youth outreach program of the Orange County Health Department. Hari Singh coined ‘Thee Door’ as the name of the program. During this time, Yogi Bhajan made plans to again visit Orlando on a Florida teaching tour. Hari Singh advised the student inmates well in advance of Yogiji’s possible visit inside the jail, which generated all kinds of excitement. After Yogiji arrived and was granted clearance to enter the jail, he spent almost an hour of quality time with the inmates inside their classroom cell, an experience they long remembered.
Read: "The Beginning (Part 4)"Categories: Our Stories
