Sat nam beautiful ones,
Day 40 of the Spirit Voyage Global 40 Day Sadhana Challenge: So Purkh. Final count: 360 women, 6 men and 26 countries.
I am humbled and honored to have shared every story, every question, every dream, every hope, every tear, every fear, every victory, every smile, every prayer, every word, every ounce of joy and love and peace with each and every one of you who has walked on this path with me.
What started as a birthday present for Harnam Singh grew and grew and never seemed to stop....like love, like God.
I thought perhaps 10 women might join with me and walk along this path of prayer, but God and Guru Ram Das had very different plans. And I find myself now, not at the end of a road but at the very beginning of one…my heart is wide open and I have gained prayer partners in parts of this world that I could never have imagined. Just like I have made friends with parts of my heart that I never thought I could touch.
I bow to each of you for your bravery. Some of you have finished valiantly. Some fell and had to start again, bravely dusting yourselves off and deeping into your commitment to yourselves. Some have had miracles, some fell in love, some released years of tears, some left relationships that no longer suited you, some saw profound changes in the men you prayed for, some experienced tremendous pain, but all of us -- all of us -- have experienced the power of the Infinite at the center of a prayer within our own hearts. It is not always easy to make a commitment for 40 days and keep it. But it is always worth it.
You have in me a prayer partner for life, a coach and cheerleader in your journey through this crazy age. You have in Spirit Voyage a family and tremendous resource on your path of life and growth. Spirit Voyage will always be there for you, sharing the music and the teachings that we know can help.
Everyone at Spirit Voyage is amazed by every one of you. I am in awe of your trust and love, letting me into the deep stories of your hearts. I prayed for all of you that contacted me in pain, and for all who reached out to me with joyful news. I am honored to be your teacher, and I remain your student.
Some say a woman's heart is a treasure trove of secrets. You were brave enough to clean out those secrets, some privately, many publicly. Many of you reached out for help when you needed it, either to me or to your fellow So Purkhers. The ripple vibration of the field of love and light that you created, and continue to create, cannot ever be measured in human terms, but I am sure that the furthest reaches of the Universe feel the power of 366 of us unified in praise of the Divine. There is more Light on this planet today, and I believe there is also more Love in our hearts and the hearts of the men we prayed for. Prayer works. Mantra heals. Miracles happen.
Although Spirit Voyage will not officially be leading the So Purkh past day 40, I will personally be continuing the So Purkh, as it is a part of my daily spiritual practice. Many of you plan to continue on, and I hope you forge bonds of friendship and sisterhood in this process. I will let you know when Day 90 has come, should you choose to continue.
Spirit Voyage and I, joined by special guests, will be leading another 40 Day Global Sadhana Challenge (to be announced soon...you are going to LOVE it!), and I hope that you join me in creating another powerful global field of prayer and meditation. It will be another amazing opportunity to deepen into yourself and into the teachings of Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan.
I thank Nirinjan Kaur for her amazing recording that so many of us use to bond to the sacred Naad of this technology of the So Purkh, and I thank her father Hari Singh for producing it. I thank Nirinjan Kaur, SatKirin Kaur, and Snatam Kaur for their kind words of wisdom and encouragement that they sent to us throughout this journey.
I thank my team at Spirit Voyage, especially the amazing Jeanne, who set up so much of the technical wizardry behind the scenes (including the UStream Live Video Recitation) and works so hard, and Danny, who shipped out each of the So Purkh cds to all of you. I thank Patwant Kaur who translated everything into such beautiful Spanish and opened up this sadhana to a whole other part of the world. Hargobind, Karan and Guruganesha Singh at Spirit Voyage have all been watching you every step of the way with pride.
I thank sweet Harnam Singh, for his inspiration to do the So Purkh and to share it with all of you (Happy Birthday!).
I thank my master Yogi Bhajan for sharing this amazing technology with the women of the world. And I thank the great Guru Ram Das for writing these transcendent words of tender devotion. I bow at your feet in gratitude.
Most of all, I thank you all for participating. Each one of you made this so special and it would not have been the same without you. Thank you for being my soul's companions. Thank you for keeping up.
Congratulations.
Peace to all, light to all, love to all.
So Purkh nirinjan, har purkh nirinjan....
Waheguru,
Ramdesh Kaur
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Your Inner Harvest and Gobinda Hari
The leaves outside my window have begun their gentle transformation from brilliant emerald green to rich golden yellows and warm plum-toned reds. I regretfully close my window to the chilly air, taking a final whiff of the woody, pine scented breeze. The season is changing and our hearts undergo their own transformations.
Too often we develop an idea of ourselves that we forget to update. We give ourselves and our lives labels…what we do, who we are…and treat them as if they are static and stable. But the leaves on the tree of our hearts, grown from the roots of our karma, change color and fall to the Earth in one last, glorious dance. Our hearts are microcosms of the beautiful world that surrounds us. Ek ong kar. The creator and the creation are one.
The fall is a time of harvest, and we have an opportunity ourselves to take a moment, center ourselves into our breath and reflect. Hit the pause button. Take a deep breath. Be here now. What have we done this past season of action and growth? What have our lives become? Who is better off for our having been in this world? Often we don’t want to reflect because we are afraid of our own answers, afraid that we won’t measure up to the expectations of the world or of the little critic that lives inside of our own minds. But if we look with different eyes, determined to our fan instead of our critic, we can also find moments of goodness and grace. We can find times where we lived up to our potential and smiled in the face of adversity.
This world, for all its chaos and challenges, is a beautiful world. The leaves could fall off the trees with no real fanfare, but instead they change into a rainbow that circles the globe, each leaf falling at its own time, spinning and twirling to the ground in graceful tumble. Humans are like that, too. Our lives could just exist and end without any real trace left on the world, and often we feel like that is exactly what is happening. But we grow and expand, we change our colors from green to yellow and red, we sway in the wind, and then finally we dance home to arms of our Creator in our final flight.
In this time of change, I can feel myself changing. I look at the leaves and feel my own transformations in my heart. I see the harvest brought in on the farm down the road, the glorious orange pumpkins, the blue gnarly squash, and the knobby and humorous yellow gourds. What have I created this year within me? I can feel the pulsating, warm pumpkin shaped joy inside me, created by chanting and mantra and yoga and most of all love. I can see a few blue gnarly squash created my moments of sadness and loss. And there are the funny little yellow squash from times of laughter so intense my sides might have split to reveal the seeds within!
This season for me is contained within the mantra “Gobinda Hari”. Its words are simple, like falling leaves, Gobinda Gobinda Hari Hari. Gobinda is the aspect of God that is the Sustainer that has kept us going all year. But it is also the aspect of God that is beautiful and lovely. Hari is the aspect of God that is the Creator, that is action, but it also the healing force within us. When we chant Gobinda Hari, we connect with the beautiful harvest within ourselves and we connect with the creative aspect that accomplished it. It’s like saying, “Beautiful! Beautiful! I did that! I did that!” We connect to God in a way that allows God to experience His own creation through us and our lives, and allows us to connect to the beauty of our own experience. Gobinda Hari also allows us to heal ourselves and feel security in a deep place in ourselves through a connection with the knowing that God is a sustaining and healing force at the center of our own hearts.
For 11 minutes, cross your hands over your chest at the wrist, right over left, palms resting near the shoulders. Close your eyes and chant “Gobinda Gobinda Hari Hari” feeling the grace and the kindness of the One who lies in the center of your own Being.
When you are finished, look outside with fresh eyes. See the bountiful harvest of the Universe. See the play of life in all its cycles and rhythms. Then look inside with fresh eyes, and see the beauty of God’s harvest within You. See the miracle of every breath you take and every smile you give. See yourself as a leaf in God’s forest -- unique, beautiful and bright. Happy to sway in the breeze until that day when we all fall into our last dance, embraced at last by the One.
Gobinda Gobinda Hari Hari.
Too often we develop an idea of ourselves that we forget to update. We give ourselves and our lives labels…what we do, who we are…and treat them as if they are static and stable. But the leaves on the tree of our hearts, grown from the roots of our karma, change color and fall to the Earth in one last, glorious dance. Our hearts are microcosms of the beautiful world that surrounds us. Ek ong kar. The creator and the creation are one.
The fall is a time of harvest, and we have an opportunity ourselves to take a moment, center ourselves into our breath and reflect. Hit the pause button. Take a deep breath. Be here now. What have we done this past season of action and growth? What have our lives become? Who is better off for our having been in this world? Often we don’t want to reflect because we are afraid of our own answers, afraid that we won’t measure up to the expectations of the world or of the little critic that lives inside of our own minds. But if we look with different eyes, determined to our fan instead of our critic, we can also find moments of goodness and grace. We can find times where we lived up to our potential and smiled in the face of adversity.
This world, for all its chaos and challenges, is a beautiful world. The leaves could fall off the trees with no real fanfare, but instead they change into a rainbow that circles the globe, each leaf falling at its own time, spinning and twirling to the ground in graceful tumble. Humans are like that, too. Our lives could just exist and end without any real trace left on the world, and often we feel like that is exactly what is happening. But we grow and expand, we change our colors from green to yellow and red, we sway in the wind, and then finally we dance home to arms of our Creator in our final flight.
In this time of change, I can feel myself changing. I look at the leaves and feel my own transformations in my heart. I see the harvest brought in on the farm down the road, the glorious orange pumpkins, the blue gnarly squash, and the knobby and humorous yellow gourds. What have I created this year within me? I can feel the pulsating, warm pumpkin shaped joy inside me, created by chanting and mantra and yoga and most of all love. I can see a few blue gnarly squash created my moments of sadness and loss. And there are the funny little yellow squash from times of laughter so intense my sides might have split to reveal the seeds within!
This season for me is contained within the mantra “Gobinda Hari”. Its words are simple, like falling leaves, Gobinda Gobinda Hari Hari. Gobinda is the aspect of God that is the Sustainer that has kept us going all year. But it is also the aspect of God that is beautiful and lovely. Hari is the aspect of God that is the Creator, that is action, but it also the healing force within us. When we chant Gobinda Hari, we connect with the beautiful harvest within ourselves and we connect with the creative aspect that accomplished it. It’s like saying, “Beautiful! Beautiful! I did that! I did that!” We connect to God in a way that allows God to experience His own creation through us and our lives, and allows us to connect to the beauty of our own experience. Gobinda Hari also allows us to heal ourselves and feel security in a deep place in ourselves through a connection with the knowing that God is a sustaining and healing force at the center of our own hearts.
For 11 minutes, cross your hands over your chest at the wrist, right over left, palms resting near the shoulders. Close your eyes and chant “Gobinda Gobinda Hari Hari” feeling the grace and the kindness of the One who lies in the center of your own Being.
When you are finished, look outside with fresh eyes. See the bountiful harvest of the Universe. See the play of life in all its cycles and rhythms. Then look inside with fresh eyes, and see the beauty of God’s harvest within You. See the miracle of every breath you take and every smile you give. See yourself as a leaf in God’s forest -- unique, beautiful and bright. Happy to sway in the breeze until that day when we all fall into our last dance, embraced at last by the One.
Gobinda Gobinda Hari Hari.
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