Five Paragons of Peace - Excerpts

[Guest guest]

Sat Nam. As promised, here are some more excerpts from my

newly-published book " Five Paragons of Peace: Magic and Magnificence

in the Guru's Way. " I hope you enjoy it.

 

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Sea Shepherd

 

As it turned out, Paul’s hunch had been right. After a two-month

voyage, he and two others arrived at a Siberian outpost where, before

their eyes, huge hunks of whale meat was processed and sent by

conveyor belt to the denizens of a sizeable fur farm. Some Soviet

entrepreneur had set up an operation of some fifty sheds filled with

cages of hundreds of mink, sable and fox, and fed them on cheap whale

meat †" all in violation of the international rules governing the whale

hunt.

 

Having satisfied themselves that they had obtained enough

incriminating film of the illegal operation, Paul and his crew began

to pull away from the gentle surf and gravel of the Siberian coast.

It was then that the expedition became dangerous. They were spotted

and suddenly found themselves pursued by a Soviet freighter, a navy

ship and two helicopter gunships. Many maneuvers and much bravado

ensued. At one point, the captain of the navy Kommunist stopped his

ship broadside directly in front of the Sea Shepherd - until he

realized the dauntless disposition, a certain madness, of his

whale-loving adversary, and pulled out of the way just in time.

 

By this time, the Sea Shepherd II was closing on Alaskan waters, but

still precious miles away. The quick-moving Kommunist pulled

alongside the ship of Canadian, Australian, West German, Scottish,

English and American environmentalists. Only sixty feet (twenty

meters) separated the ships when the Soviets pulled the tarpaulins

from the deck guns at the front of the ship. The freighter, which had

also been in hot pursuit, fell discretely behind.

 

With a slower ship and no guns, and not wishing to lose another ship

or be consigned to a Siberian prison camp, Captain Paul Watson

resorted to a desperate two-fold tactic. The pilot was ordered to

ignore every threat and maintain full speed in the direction of

Alaska. The crew were instructed to stand their ground on deck and to

continue smiling and waving, hoping to confuse their antagonists.

Time was running out.

 

Just then, a cheer went out. Even the Soviet sailors were distracted

and pointing excitedly at the water. The seamen had stopped their

attack preparations to watch a giant California gray whale surface and

spout between the two ships.

 

In the leviathan’s commanding wake, the Kommunist deflected to the

starboard, as the Sea Shepherd II veered instinctively to the port

side. The friendly visitor stayed a few moments as the space between

the two boats opened, then once again submerged beneath the waves.

 

Watson and the Sea Shepherd II continued full speed until an island,

Alaska’s Saint Lawrence Island, loomed into view. The Russians fell

behind. First the ships, then one helicopter, then another, pulled

away...

 

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The Yogi

 

The Siri Singh Sahib shared Guru Nanak’s message of peace and goodwill

in Europe, Japan and the Americas. In 1972, he visited the head of

the world’s largest religious organization and advised Pope Paul VI to

call a gathering of friendship and understanding for representatives

of all religions. He reminded Paul VI that catholic meant “universalâ€

and suggested he would be the most suitable leader to host such a meeting.

 

The son of a righteous and dignified woman, Yogi Bhajan was at first

surprised, then saddened to learn how women in America could be

exploited and treated as exchangeable sex objects. Paraphrasing Guru

Nanak, he reminded his men and women students of the essential power

of a woman - even if the world might appear to be dominated by men:

 

" As a man you are born of a woman. When you grow, you want a woman.

Eventually you marry a woman and have children. Your A-to-Z structure

is around and around a woman. You want to be rich for a woman, you

want to be poor for a woman, you want to move to the country for a

woman, you want to move to the city for a woman. Whether you admit it

or deny it, basically you are a slave of woman in one way or another. "

 

In the summer of 1975, Yogi Bhajan organized what would be the first

of many summer camps for women to regain their self-esteem and touch

their wellsprings of creativity and inspiration. Not only did the

women meditate and study family arts. They traversed grueling

obstacle courses, learned to march in formation, and practiced kung

fu, sword fighting, and marksmanship. Fearlessness, competence and

grace were made to go together.

 

Besides teaching his students, the Siri Singh Sahib continued to

represent the people of Guru Nanak, the world’s fifth largest

religious denomination, at countless inter-religious conferences and

gatherings. He especially arranged for the first-ever appearance of

Jain leaders outside of India, at the Unity of Man Conference in New

Mexico, hosted by him in 1975.

 

Yogi Bhajan challenged his students to be “ten times greater†than

himself. Some of them really worked at it. The 3HO community in

Vancouver staged a series of gatherings, where they invited some of

the brightest luminaries of the Aquarian paradigm. The Symposium on

Humanity held November 1976 offered workshops in everything from

spiritual midwifery to macrobiotics, from new Christian sensitivity to

Sufi meditation, and from Hebrew dance to shamanic ritual.

 

It was a great time of eclectic meetings and remarkable synergies.

One of those meetings was between the Master of Guru Nanak’s

empowering spiritual science and a uniquely visionary technologist.

R. Buckminster Fuller had coined the term “Spaceship Earth†back in

1951 and selflessly dedicated his life to engineering systems to serve

planetary peace and well being. At eighty-two, he radiated a youthful

optimism, and his words found a receptive place in the hearts of his

audience, when he spoke from the stage of the symposium:

 

“There are relatively few generalized principles… One thing about

these eternal generalized principles is the following: the whole

cannot be predicted from the part. There’s nothing in biological

protoplasm to predict “camel†and “palm tree†and the respiratory

exchange of gases that takes place between the two. The larger

complex is never learned from the lesser… We break the whole game

down into focussing humanity on its parts, rather than trying to

understand the whole. That’s one reason why we’re in such an enormous

dilemma…

“When I was young, people were inherently remote and deployed from one

another. They thought and organized themselves in order to protect

themselves in their respective wildernesses. But suddenly, completely

unplanned, not put into operation by any human being, they were

suddenly completely integrated. We have 143 nations in the United

Nations †" 143! We have one big spaceship and 143 absolute admirals

(laughter) getting nowhere. (applause)

“All revolutions, up to now, have been on the basis that there’s not

enough to go around, so class warfare is necessary. It’s you or me,

and the revolution is going to bring the top down! What I’m saying

now, the game is that, we’ll pull the bottom up! The most beautiful

thing going on in this society is that whereas we used to have the

older world telling us how to play the game, suddenly the young world

has really broken away. The breakaway was not planned. When I was

young, I was always told, “Never mind what you think, this is what

we’re trying to teach you.†I’d been continually told that life is

very, very tough, and you have to get over all that sensitivity: “If

you’re ever going to protect your family, you’re going to have to be

tough, you’re going to have to kill somebody or deprive someone else.â€

Those horrid kinds of things were being taught…

“We are going to make it on our planet, and I know we have the option

to make it. If we make it, it’s not going to happen through politics.

You’re going to coordinate spontaneously just because you love to

work. Thank you.â€

 

All the while R. Buckminster Fuller was speaking, Yogi Bhajan had

listened intently †" smiling, marveling and shaking his head at Dr.

Fuller’s wisdom. As a powerful ovation shook the air, he rose to the

stage to embrace the diminutive scientist, who beamed and put his head

on the big man’s shoulder.

 

Yogi Bhajan expressed the appreciation of the people gathered there,

“You have talked in this short time more wisdom than could be found in

a whole library of books. You have given us a lot of love and have

done so much for the young people. We owe you a lot.â€

 

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1) To read the intro to the book (following this month's chapter of

Messenger from the Guru's House): http://gurufathasingh.com/myweblog

 

2) For ordering information: http://gurufathasingh.com/book.php

 

3) To pre-order a copy of the book to pick up at Winter Solstice

Sadhana (no shipping charges), email me: gurufathasingh

 

4) If you would like to learn more about the dawning of the Aquarian

Age and are attending Winter Solstice Sadhana in Florida, come to my

workshop on the first day (first workshop - don't miss it!):

Wednesday, December 19 - 7-8:15 a.m., Tent A: Transition into tth

Aquarian Age

 

5) If you would like to participate in the 2-day workshop " Dawn the

Age Aquarius " in Toronto, March 15-16, 2008 (new dates) visit:

http://gurufathasingh.com/coming.php

 

Sat Nam. That's all for now!