Guest guest Posted December 11, 2009 Report Share Posted December 11, 2009 Sat Nam. Sat Avtar Kaur asked me to post this month's chapter as she thought it was timely. If you would like to join the google group that receives installments of the story each month, email me: gurufathasingh and I'll invite you in. The story below takes place in December 1971. I hope you enjoy. And happy Solstice! Guru Fatha Singh (Toronto) Messenger from the Guru’s House Part Three: The Majesty of Khalsa On to Winter Solstice! The last time the Juke Savages, some of whom became Yogi Bhajan's students, had put out a call for a Winter Solstice celebration, things had not worked out so well. Back in December of 1968, in the winds and snow of northern New Mexico, hardly anyone had come out to celebrate the annual solar shift. Now, a year after the Yatra to Amritsar, Yogi Bhajan had a new plan for a gathering of Yogis. For a number of reasons, returning to India was not feasible at this time, or desirable even. But there was an Ashram in Florida now. The weather there was warmer than in New Mexico. To accommodate the large number of students on the east coast of the United States, Yogi Bhajan planned a first Winter Solstice outside of Daytona Beach. The call went out, and in the dark days of December, about one hundred and fifty students arrived, many of them in converted school buses, at the improvised Solstice site, part of a trailer park surrounded by a high fence. People in cars and caravans had come from as far away as Boulder, Albuquerque and Toronto. It rained a lot that Solstice. The stage was covered with plastic tarps. Without a roof on the stage, even Yogi Bhajan would occasionally wrap a tarp around himself to speak. Yogiji's talks ranged far and wide. He spoke of the difference between love and lust, about the Adi Shakti, the five basic elements, the eight chakras, and all the facets of life. Then, sometimes he sat with his students and gave them a sense of new developments, where they were going and where they had been. “Now sit down very calmly, straight. After you have bought a property in Santa Fe, Guru Ram Das Ashram Santa Fe is now dedicated. It has been purchased. Six and a half acres of land, plus a house on it. And in the summertime, courses will be as usual. All those who want to participate, can. Yesterday, you bought another property, Guru Ram Das Ashram, Los Angeles. (Applause) And I realize Guru Ram Das is really tricky. It was in the heart of the Jewish community. They never wanted us to get it at any cost. It is a great property. But the man who helped us was our student in the university and he is a pukka Jew too. So he knew it that he will wangle it. So yesterday at 1300 hours the closure was ordered and there was nothing except the 3HO, and finally the deal was stuck and it is over now and belongs to you. “If God gives me praanaa and I get to breathe a few years, our immediate plan is that we have a ring around America. You can see it, right near the ocean, all over we go like a ring around it so our people can go, have rest, have place and all that. “We have a property in Toronto. Jeff is trying to do some deal. I have a map about it. Toronto people will sit together and will discuss it. He has already paid the down payment, and that is a start in that land too. “You must remember, dear ones, the day I have to go, you can search my coffin. There will be not a single dollar with me. I am not going to carry those papers, but I am trying to create a community which must have its own houses everywhere where people can go, stay, do their sadhana, and we are not given trouble: “You cannot chant...†“You cannot play the gong...†“You cannot serve the food...†All these weird trips they lay on us! And I am at last fed up with it. I cannot even chant in my house. The neighbour lady yells, “Quiet! I am sleeping! Don't you know?†And it is 7:30, you know. 7:30 in the morning she is sleeping. (Laughter) “So, this is what we are up against. And slowly and gradually we will meet together, be together. I never thought it was possible for us, but somehow I am grateful to all those who have sent their contribution to the buying of Guru Ram Das Ashram. Whatever I had, I had contributed, but whatever I had is yours. I am not going to carry it or to give to my own blood children anything out of all we are doing. “We are playing a very clear game. We will earn. We will work. We will pay all our taxes regularly. And the rest of whatever we will have, we will contribute towards the build up of a structure which will be belonging to all those who want to carry on their sadhana. It will be a simple deal. There will be no trip laid down on anybody. No preconditions, except we will not be too loose and we will be not too uptight. We will help everybody, but if anybody will like to lay his trip and spoil our sadhana, that man will be paid a fare to go to the next town. That's all. “After Maharaj Ashram in Santa Fe fell, the community became so strong that within ten, fifteen days, they got together, they put together what they wanted to put together, and after fifteen days they had the deal signed, and it is theirs. I hope in summer, those who will want to stay there, they will have a place. “I am specially, I need not mention it. She is one of my children. Claudia Bhajan has donated one square mile in Colorado for our sadhana. It would have been very expensive to have it transfered, so we had a lease on it for ninety-nine years. “I am specially grateful to her father, Congressman Bingham, who cooperated in the whole deal and also put in all the energy to get the land in France. We have a few acres in France with a few acres and two houses on it. And I hope in the time to come we will have a deal with the French government and we may have a very reasonable fare to visit France and do our sadhana there. (Applause) If that deal comes through, first of all, you will be surprised, from Los Angeles to France they will charge us $250 to $275 return fare. It is much cheaper than coming to Washington DC, number one. Number two, the government is trying to collaborate †" I do not know a lot of French. I had known it, then I would have known the whole deal. (Laughter) - but understandably they are in a mood to help us so that we can help their kids there, and for that they will give us certain concessions, which is very convenient. “You have centres in Israel and the guy is very strong. Denmark, Holland, Switzerland... God knows where and where not. I do not know the names of the countries even, but there are many centres. The idea is, as we can go around America and stay at our Ashrams, similarly we want that all over Europe we should have centres where our family can move freely and we can move internationally to understand this planet, at least, so that we can see this planet at least. Why not should we enjoy this planet all over? That is the basic idea. “We have now a permanent facility at Golden Temple, Amritsar. Any member who belongs to 3HO family, if every they should like to do, they will be taken care of. Thanks to Air India, they have reduced the fare to $450 both ways from New York, and Pan Am and TWA from Dulles Airport. The atmosphere in India at this time is not good. The have come out of the war. They have fallen into the lap of the Russian government. I could smell it when I went last time. So we will like the situation to settle down there for a while. And after that, I will expect the people with music to get their guitars, sitars, whatever their instruments are, ready. We will go. “We have a facility in Indonesia, in Jakarta, and we have a facility in Singapore. We are trying to make elaborate arrangements with other governments and friends, and may have some day a cruise tour. One of our brothers is working and he has a pretty good hand in a big reasonable ship. He feels that it will be available to 3HO family soon. Things are getting better and better. You must not misunderstand. Things are much better than to begin with. We have no grudge against all those people who do not like us. Rather those who slander us and hate us, we are grateful to them because that is what makes us strong. The attitude is that we are open to everybody. We love everybody. And we are not afraid of hardship. “I know for the teachers who have gone out to open centres there are a lot of difficulties. I feel for them. I pray for them. But you have not started with those difficulties with which I started. So how come you expect sympathy out of me? I mean, why should I sympathize with you? As I came in and I knew I had to do it, you should also know you have to do it. And we all have to do it! We are not doing it for bread or for our ego or for our convenience and all that stuff. We have to do it! This is the need of the time! Tomorrow it will be too late. We do require in the society people who are perfectly healthy. They can think better. They can lead better without being upset, without being uptight. We must learn how to feed thousands of people without a lot of hassle. We must understand how to live under adverse circumstances. We must learn how to take our caravans together and lead them properly. We must develop that leadership. Leadership with humility, service and love. “New England should get ready. I am going to visit them pretty soon. Perhaps after summer, some program will be made there. We will flood them with people. Canada is also getting their feathers together. They are pretty strong. There is no doubt about it. They all pull their load together. They are beautiful people. I have no worries. “So what we are trying to do is to develop a community feeling where we are not lonely. We know we are. We know sometime we do wrong too. We know sometimes there are mistakes on our part. Agreed. But that doesn't make any difference. We are human beings. We live for each other. And we live in love. If there are errors, forgive each other. “If you feel somebody is on an ego trip, you get on a love trip and match it. Ego cannot be matched with an ego. Ego can be matched with love. And it should be your easy responsibility to match ego with love. It is my personal responsibility to prepare you to be the teachers of the coming age. Each day, I am getting to greyhood. Each day, it is your day. Therefore you must develop in yourself the possibility and the power to lead people. Lead people to righteousness. Lead people to truth. Lead people to Sat Nam. You must lead people to grace! You must live with grace. You must live with strength. The weak do not have survival on this land. Live with strength and grace. Have the soul in you. Your God and your Guru is always with you. Work him out. There is never a chance if you will pray with wholeheartedness, with concentration, that you will ever lose. “Each time, we are getting better and better. I remember three years ago when we started the Summer Solstice what a program it was. There was a pig running around. We had a polluted water that gave everybody diarrhea. But we enjoyed that. Do you remember? The second year we had the Summer Solstice, the Indians betrayed us. They took away all our money and they served us a notice to quit. And in that bed of the river where there was no water, scorching sun, the watermelons were the only thing which saved us. And you all remember how much the police bugged us. After that, this year we were in Peonia. It was a beautiful thing. The people who have experienced it, they enjoyed it and we were much better. And now, we are far out!†(Laughter) - The Spirit of Selflessness “The badness in the man is sufficient to kill the bad man. He doesn't need a sword. If you start having a bad behaviour, it will be sufficient to isolate you from the society. A selfish person is isolated from the society. You will be surprised in your life, some people are the greatest givers. And how important it is to be unselfish you can see by example. “In our 3HO family, we have one shakti. We call her Shakti Parwha. A very little woman. From the very first day, 5th of January 1969 to this day, she is the most giving person ever 3HO has had. In those days, when we never used to have any kind of money, she used to work even overtime to clear 3HO bills. Do you know you have more bills than even you can imagine? Eight hours she worked for her work. She would come back. Nine hours she would type your letters. “We paid her back. In this Summer Solstice, when all the two hundred girls went to the airport to receive her and the newspaper carried a story on the divine mother. It really freaked her out. She never imagined that can be. She asked me, 'What is this? Do I deserve it?' “I said, 'No. You don't deserve it, but God is bound to give you what you give people. You give people love. You write them inspiring letters. You sit in your room and all the time think about them, send them good vibrations. In the car of 3HO, you are our brakes. You stop us doing anything which possibly could cause us tomorrow trouble. And that kind of action and reaction is keeping us together. And in return, people have given you love.' “Still she works the same hard way she used to work, earns her own bread, and whatever green energy she gets, she puts it towards this cause. It gives her a satisfaction. She doesn't ask for thanks even. “It is an attitude in a man's life, how one builds himself up. Selflessness always makes a man higher in consciousness, and the moment there is a higher man in consciousness, people shall mark the way unto him. “It is a time and a chance. With that same power of lust praanaa we can create the creativity of a greater life on this Earth †" or we can waste that energy, convert it into a lustful, sexual energy. “And thus, there are some people who are coin collectors. They collect coins. They invest their total energy in coins. They go far, far away and pay anything possible to get a very ancient coin. Their job is no worse than the job of the teacher who goes and teaches people and collects people. Collecting coins and collecting people is the same thing! “The spiritual teacher goes and collects people and puts them together. A drop of water, drop by drop, drop by drop, drop by drop, stream into stream †" what it makes? A river. The spreading of consciousness for the sake of consciousness is also energy. It is praanaa. And we can waste it through our lustful maneuvering too. You have a set of energy. Every one of you has a set of energy. This cannot be reduced. It has to be totally used either in one direction or another. “I was always given a choice to suffer as a yoga teacher or accept a job. Three months in Canada this hassle continued. They asked me again and again, 'Do you want to accept a government job? Or do you want to be a yogi?' “I said, 'That is the way I came. That is why I migrated. That is the way I am and I shall be. No job will mean anything to me. My job is specified and I will do that job. Please don't misunderstand me. I will make my headway one way of the other. It may be ten days late or ten days early. Don't you feel upset.' “It is the same job. Everybody of you has to do the job because the energy has to be focused, it has to be cared for, and it has to go all the way. But you have a choice. You can focus your total energy and build one home, a beautiful home, a cozy unit, or you can run around and have a mess full of life. Energy is the same. Praanaas are the same. “Everybody has a specific energy or a unit of praanaa. You can use it the way you like. If in your young age you will save these praanaas, in old age you will be happy. If in your young age you will waste them too much, in old age you will be unhappy. “I have noticed in my life, two people and they were the same age: sixty-two. One was very intelligent, capable and clear. The other was paranoid, all the time cracking on people, and very short of temper. Materially, both were of the same status. They had almost the same economic status and almost the same kind of history, but in behaviour they were very different. One's grandchildren will not even visit him. Once I talked to one of his sons. He said, 'Going to him means going under the blows.' Whereas the other will not even ask for his grandchildren to come and they were all the time hanging around with him. “Why? Why this is so? It is a very simple answer. At a certain stage of the race, you require a certain energy and if you do not have that kind of energy, you cannot cope with the pressure of the life. Therefore we have a systematic system to revalue our daily system with praanaa. That is the basic foundation in Kundalini Yoga. Recharge yourself every day to live every day.†Light Times While Yogi Bhajan made it his business to engage his students with inspiring words and tough meditations during the day, in the plentiful dark of Winter Solstice in Florida music served as a balm to everyone's sorely awakening spirits. There were so many talented musicians. Gerry Singh Pond had come from Los Angeles. Sat Nam Singh had come from Tucson. Lawton Singh Boseman had come from Atlanta, Steve Josephs newly from music school in Boston, and Sat Peter Singh from Ahimsa Ashram, Washington. Gerry Singh's Golden Temple Song was a popular hit that Solstice. And there were a few new renditions of the 3HO standards, Guru Guru Wahe Guru Guru Ram Das Guru and Ek Ong Kar Sat Nam Siri Wha Guru. Sat Nam Singh, who had been to India, had a few tunes of his own with an Indian flavour or a mystical air. With the accompaniment of a harmonium, he would sing the praises of the eleven Sikh Gurus, one by one, in a hypnotic raga. Most of the music was repetitive. No one refrained from refrains. Far from it. This was japa, constant recitation of an essential verse or mantra over and again, ingraining it into the soul of the singer. “Blessed am I. Freedom am I. I am the infinite in my soul. There is no beginning, Is no end. All is myself...†And in the morning, after Sadhana there was: “Yes, it's a very nice day. Just a comin' your way. Yes, it's a very nice day. Just a comin' your way. See all around, his grace. Hear what he has to say. It's a very nice day. Yes, it's a very nice day. Just a comin' your way. Just a comin' your way...†In the evenings, Steve Josephs played his repertoire of Beatles' classics before shifting to a side-splitting medley based on the rock hit Long Tall Sally: “Well, I'm a long tall yogi. I'm gonna lay some truth on you Yes, I'm a long tall yogi I'm gonna lay some truth on you And if you don't watch out You're gonna realize the God in you. Now I loves all the shaktis and I'm heavy with the men They gotta love all the women for the God in them And I lays all these trips on these spaced out kids We're gonna save this nation from the karmic skids Cause I'm a long tall yogi I'm gonna break your ego down Yes I'm a long tall yogi I'm gonna break your ego down And you may know by that I'm the most Saturn teachin' Virgo yogi in town. Yes, rustle up some garlic and lay it on some bread We're gonna do breath of fire. Gonna knock 'em dead Garlic, ginger and onions in my mung bean stew And if you don't watch out, you're gonna eat some too Cause I'm a long tall yogi. I'm gonna lay some truth on you Yes, I'm a long tall yogi I'm gonna lay some truth on you And if you don't watch out You're gonna realize the God in you. I transmute sexual energy by the megaton And the light in my head eclipes the sun My Kundalini zips up and down my spine And my brain swims in ojas all the time Cause I'm a long tall yogi. I'm gonna lay some truth on you Yes, I'm a long tall yogi I'm gonna lay some truth on you And if you don't watch out You're gonna realize the God in you. Yes, we've got a buddy on the astral plane We chant to him a lot. Guru Ram Das is his name We calls on him for everything. We works him real hard 'cause he's our astral bodyguard. Cause I'm a long tall yogi. I'm gonna lay some truth on you Yes, I'm a long tall yogi I'm gonna lay some truth on you And if you don't watch out You're gonna realize the God in you. (Change to a square dance melody) ...Now get up at four and jump in a ditch Watch yourself you don't get hitched Now grab your partner in the shakti pose Breath of fire through the nose Straighten your spine, look her in the eye Who is she and who am I? God, I guess...†A Prayer for Peace Aside from the musicians who regaled the yogis into the night and Gerry Pond, who led the pre-dawn sadhana, Yogi Bhajan was centre stage for the ten days of the Solstice. Before the event was over, he would be presented with a Santa suit which he graciously donned to applause, but less the red hat. There would also be sweet treats for everyone Christmas morning. Importantly, near the end of the event, Yogiji would lead everyone in a long prayer for strength, humility, and peace. “On the concluding day of our Sadhana, we will sit down this evening, the Christmas Eve. Imagine it is the 23rd of August. (Laughter) I am sorry I can't get over it because I am born on the 26th of August and I was told three days earlier he got born. It is a confirmed statement, however there is nothing wrong in just imagining. Just imagine it that way. And come with me and pray. We will go in a prayer of thanks. “Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo. Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo. Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo. Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo. Aad Guray Nameh, Jugaad Guray Nameh, Sat Gureh Nameh, Siri Guru Deveh Nameh. Aad Guray Nameh, Jugaad Guray Nameh, Sat Gureh Nameh, Siri Guru Deveh Nameh. Aad Guray Nameh, Jugaad Guray Nameh, Sat Gureh Nameh, Siri Guru Deveh Nameh. Aad Guray Nameh, Jugaad Guray Nameh, Sat Gureh Nameh, Siri Guru Deveh Nameh. Onnng. “Cosmos Creator, we in our humble self bow to the primal Adi Shakti, the Mother Power of the universe, the Pritham Bhagavati, the light, love and energy of this universe and universe to universe. Kundalini, we bow at the soul and the spirit of the actual self of Guru Nanak, the living humility, light and truth, Guru Angad, the service, Guru Amar Das, the sacrifice, Guru Ram Das, the love and delight who proved the lowliness of the man is the holiness of the man. Guru Arjun who gave us the word and the music, taught us the lesson of self-sacrifice, Guru Hargobind, who gave us the power to live in grace, Hari Rai, the silent master of the peace, Harkrishan, whose soul knows all knowledge. Meditating on him, all hardship vanishes, Tegh Bahadur, the giver of the siddhis, the peace and tranquility, Guru Gobind, who taught us to live in grace and to leave this world with grace, Baba Siri Chand, the bal-yogi, great son of Guru Nanak, the giver of the awareness who took away the pain of this world, Baba Atal, on whose house today everybody is fed without discrimination of caste and creed, the great Baba Deep Singh, who headlessly defended the righteousness of the man, and saint of the saints, Baba Buddha, the wisdom of the time, the giver of the light, and the humble of all humility. We also bow to the soul and light of all saints and sages, to the great masters, and to the master of the time, the great humble man of light, purity, dignity and sacrifice, Master Jesus, who taught us to love and serve in humility. We also bow to the infinity, to the finite, to all prophets, saints, sages, great men, men of virtue, men of truth, men who sacrificed, men who taught how to sacrifice, the givers, those who gave, those who sacrificed and gave, but still laughed, all those great beings in this human body who came to lead the world, the world of righteousness, those who taught us how to die with grace and pleasure in righteousness, those who led us to the path not to sell our consciousness, not to bow cowardly before the wrong, those who filled us with light and spirit that we lost the difference between the man and God and merged, being finite and humble beings into the infinite light and God. We pray this day for protections for the holy spirit to prevail through us. We ask one little, humble self, whatever our karma is, we are thine, you are ours, you are the Creator. We are thy children. Give us power so that we can live in our higher consciousness. Give us the life back so that we can live in love, tranquility, peace and harmony. “O Creator of our consciousness, give us consciousness to sacrifice. Make us the givers, saintly and if we ever have to die, our death should be for the righteous cause. We are also grateful to those who slander us, who deceive us. Their deceitful actions give us patience. Their standards make us clear in consciousness. Those who hate us, we are grateful to them. They taught us how to love. Those who negate us, we are grateful to them that gave us power of fortitude. Those who are jealous of us, we are grateful to them that gave us the power of compassion. Give us the power always to live for others. Give us the power always to love others. Those who have done blunders towards us, accused us openly, give us the power to serve them. “O Great Consciousness, as you prevail, give us the power to prevail in the same way. O Guru Ram Das, as thy house cures people of ills today, as the great union takes place where the golden dome and the marble structure makes the sun and moon to meet in the nectarous tank which cures millions of people today, as at thy house everybody who comes and calls is fed with service and love, give us the structure so that we can shine, have enough to give to all those, serve those who call on us, but still ego should not take over us. O Guru Nanak, Angel of Peace, teach us to spread the light as you walked on this planet, latest of all, to give the message of peace. O Great Master Jesus, O Totality of Sacrifice, Love and Service, as in poverty you spread the radiance and knocked at every door, taught people and gave them the message of righteousness, on this day be with us so that our darkness may leave us and we may lead the path to righteousness. “O Dear Ones, let us all unanimously pray for all of us. Let us give one thought into our own thought. Let us all get into our own oneness. May the bond and link of love link us forever! Let us promise to live with each other in our higher consciousness, in our total totality, and let us bring the great peace on this planet. May the mantra, the Maha Mantra, the Beej Mantra of Sat Naam guide us to the righteousness and truth. May we realize the Satya is the Higher Self in us. And when we come to the crack in our Sadhana through the Shakti Pad, O Lord Creator, help us at that moment so that we may not fall to the depths of ignorance again and we may not be eaten up by the ego. To slip from the ground level is easy, but when you have gained a height, to fall from that height, then that leaves nothing behind. All those on this day who have fallen, forgive them. Give them the encouragement and courage enough so that they can travel again on the same path. And those that are to enter the Shakti Pad, test not, O my Lord. We are always weak, and errors are human. Give us the guidance and clearance so that in this lifetime, we can make it. Thy creation is great. Thy beauty is great. Thy greatness is great. Thy expansion is great. Thy projection is great. You are the infinite, beyond time and place. You shall be the infinite, beyond time and place. Cut down this cycle through which we have to go so that the unit may merge with the infinite and we rest in peace and in bliss. Give us the power to join with everyone so that we may find one within and without. And help us to bring a brotherhood of truth, love and Satya. May they grace prevail. May thy light prevail. May thy blessing be with us on this day. May you create a union in which all may be one and one may be prevailing in all. May this day go in our memory to remember, so that on it we may build up the great mansion of love and service. Our great and kind thanks for giving us the opportunity to do our Sadhana. Our greatness and kindness which prevails through us was all you, and our weaknesses were which need to be forgiven. Give us all time and effort so that we may rebuild ourselves and may become as great to be worthy of thee, realize thee, to be with thee in love and devotion so that through the time we will make it possible to bring peace, happiness, health and joy on this planet. Sat Nam. “Blessed are those who through their heart and humility have prostrated before the Infinite God, and with their heart and soul and mind they have urged for the peace of everyone. In the Name of the ten Gurus, all saints and sages, all prophets, all good men and holy men, and in the Name of the Master Jesus, the living soul who taught love, by this day bring light, peace, and power to sacrifice in all of us. Thank you. God bless you all. Sat Nam. “May the longtime sun shine upon you, all love surround you, and the pure light within guide your way on, guide your way on, guide your way on... 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