News from Sikh Dharma International

2009 has already started off with a bang! Lot's of change already happening....from a new president in Washington to new staff here in our office - things are moving fast. Wanted to share just a few events already happening in January - we're launching our new online community website (thanks to our Creative Team for making it so beautiful), we're traveling and teaching (Ek Ong Kaar is now in FL and TX with Japji courses), and getting ready for the 1000 days before the Age of Aquarius which starts February 14, 2009.

Since I was 4 years old I've grown up in this lifestyle and have always heard about the Age of Aquarius ever. I remember it shocked me when that song came out from the production of 'Hair' - I couldn't believe that someone else knew about this phenomena I thought only the Siri Singh Sahib, Yogi Bhajan knew about it. And now it's right around the corner - only 1000 days away.

It got me thinking about my experience of 1000 day meditations - I've done 3 in my life. The first time I decided that I would do 1000 days of group Sadhana before having kids. I figure I was young and immature and this would help prepare me for motherhood. However towards the end of the commitment, I realized that it wasn't part of my destiny to have children in this lifetime. And it turned out this really prepared me for the time I learned it wasn't physically possible for me to have children. The second time I did a commitment of this length I chose to stop eating any refined sugar. After the 1000 days I started eating sugar again pretty quickly and at first I disappointed that it didn't 'cure' me of my addiction. But with deeper thought and reflection I realized that I no longer felt any sense of guilt of bad feelings about it. I was addicted to sugar and I came to simply accept that as who I was. That experience also gave me a deep awareness of knowing myself and more importantly a much greater sense of self acceptance . Later in my life I was ordered to stop eating any kind of sugar, chocolate or caffeine for health reasons and it's been 4 years and 25 days (but who's counting?)! Right now I'm on day 147 of reciting 108 Bahota Karams for prosperity. Mostly the motivation was wanting money to fall in my lap. But I'm finding that not only is it bringing financial prosperity into the bank account, but it's also changing my attitude towards prosperity in a way I never expected. It's been a great lesson of being open to the unexpected changes and especially the trust that the experience will bring whatever it needs to bring.

So, needless to say, I'm looking forward to this 1000 day meditation to see what knowing and acceptance it will bring in my life. I invite you to join the world wide community in doing this meditation and to share your experiences on our new online community site (www.sikhdharma.ning.com). See the left sidebar for more information on the 1000 day meditation and below for more on our new online community.

I can't help but be excited about this new year and the service Sikh Dharma International is committed to providing.

Ravi Kaur
Executive Director, SDI