Siblings of Destiny September 2010
Secretary General's Highlights
Beloved Siblings of Destiny,
Sat Nam and blessings to all. On September 22 – 25th, 2010 we held our second Siblings of Destiny Meeting in Espanola, New Mexico. The meetings were incredible… truly exemplary of our spirit, our consciousness, and our commitment to work together to serve the future of our beloved Sikh Dharma. The only thing that would have made the meetings more fantastic would have been if each of you reading this had been there too! So please save the date for our Baisakhi Siblings of Destiny Meeting, April 20 – 23, 2011 and let’s all make every effort to be there together, building the future of our Dharma.
The caliber of these meetings and the elevated level at which we worked together was extraordinary. We used our time together to educate ourselves, to strengthen our bonds and our unity, to raise our spirit and elevate our consciousness, and to individually and collectively raise our level of responsibility and participation in building the future of the Dharma. The agenda was a collaborative effort, with contributions from many people, including ideas that were expressed in the Siblings of Destiny e-group dialogues.
The venue, the Santa Claran Hotel in Espanola, was ideal for our needs. The Guru truly provided us a noble space for these esteemed meetings! We had a very large, main meeting room, 2 beautiful break-out rooms (The Council Suite and the Governor’s Suite), and an amazing dining area on the 7th floor of the hotel (the Mountain View Room) which had spectacular views. The food was excellent and the hotel staff could not have been more gracious or accommodating to all of our needs.
So much of the inspiration of the meetings comes through the group dynamics and interactive dialogues. We hope that these highlights along with the attachments of the daily agendas, the daily hukams, the handouts and presentations will give you a sense of the experience and work that was done. We are also very pleased to share with you the following video slide show of photos taken by Guru Meher Kaur and SS SatSundri Kaur during the Siblings of Destiny meeting. Please click on the following link: http://vimeo.com/15549894 Our deep appreciation to them for this beautiful photo essay of our meetings.
Meeting Highlights
The Gurdwara and opening ceremony on Wednesday night began with very beautiful Kirtan led by SS Pritpal Singh and Sangeet Kaur. We chanted 31 minutes of Dhan Dhan Ram Das Guru to set the vibration and spirit for the following 3 days of meetings. Afterwards we were served a delicious dinner at the home of SS Gurubachan Singh and SS Gurubachan Kaur, and we offer our deepest gratitude to them for their gracious hospitality.
The Siri Sikdar Sahiba and the Chairperson gave very inspiring opening addresses. The theme of the Siri Sikdar Sahiba’s address was “Faith and Victory.” The victory belongs to God and Guru and our collective faith delivers us a victory that takes us all beyond our challenges to our unity of purpose in serving the Siri Singh Sahib’s legacy. SS Jai Singh reminded us that it is our common destiny that binds us together as Siblings.
Legal Status Update - On the first afternoon, SS Avtar Hari Singh and SS Amrit Kaur presented the Legal Status Update. They presented the following overvie
• Events of 2004 through 2009
• What we learned through the legal process
• Judicial events of 2010 so far
• Future – What we expect legally over the next 6 months
Click here to see the Legal power point presentation. During and after the presentation, the members submitted questions in writing, which were answered the following day. SS Amrit Kaur, Chancellor, spoke about the recent lawsuit that the current SDI Board has filed against the former SDI Board members and officers, and corrected inaccurate information which was sent out in a letter from Ajai Singh, SDI’s new CEO. SS Amrit Kaur will be sending out a separate letter with more detailed information about that case soon.
“What Was, What Is, What Could Be, What Should Be” – MSS Guru Singh, SS Pritpal Kaur & MSS Nirvair Singh
“It was, it is, it could be, it should be. This is a life formula. Take the diagonal of this and then act accordingly. What do you do? You just react? You don’t even have time to go through these four corners. If you do not look at everything, which comes to you with these points of view, you will end up reacting. And that will not be your action, and then you will develop in yourself a great reactive personality. You will build it so great that you will start to identify with this reactive personality to the extent that your own identity will be lost.” Siri Singh Sahib 10/29/84
We as Siblings of Destiny took the opportunity in these meetings to explore together the formula of these “four corners”. We began with very concise and clear presentations about “what was and what is” and then continued our work on “what could be and what should be”.
As part of this process MSS Guru Singh led us through a guided visualization to discover the values, virtues and leadership qualities we would bring forward into the future. We journeyed to the Harimandir to walk the Perkarma with the Siri Singh Sahib. Each of us dove deep into the well of our inner wisdom and deep connection to the Master to envision our path forward. We then discussed our experience in a small group process led by SS Pritpal Kaur and MSS Nirvair Singh. Click here to view “What Was, What is, What Should Be, What Could Be” by SS Gurujodha Singh.
Recent Highlights - We heard short reports on the following:
· Siri Singh Sahib’s Birthday Party – SS Shanti Kaur
· Sikhnet – SS Guruka Singh
· Solstice – Bhajan Kaur
· KRI – MSS Nirvair Singh
3 Major Focus Areas - We each have our part to play in contributing to the future of the Dharma. What part do you want to play?
During the meetings we divided into the three focus areas that had been identified at our last meeting:
- Raising Spirit & Community – Supporting and growing our communities. Valuing our connectedness. Using our technology to keep our individual and collective spirit raised. Facilitators - SS Pritpal Singh & SS Sat Bachan Kaur
- Governance and Leadership –Defining effective governance that endures and evolves with changing times. Defining the qualities of leadership. Facilitators - SS Kirpal Singh & MSS Guru Singh
- Funding the Mission of the Khalsa – Attracting prosperity in order to manifest the future vision of the Khalsa. Creating avenues of participation for the Sangat. Facilitators - Sat Mitar Kaur, SS Satwant Singh & SS Gurujodha Singh
On the second day, we broke into these groups for 2 – 3 hours and each group had very significant discussions with action oriented outcomes. The majesty of this experience was not just the creation of new vision but also the true Aquarian spirit of working together to arrive at the destination.
On the third day, the small groups returned to the whole body and each group gave a presentation of very concrete ideas and structures from which to move forward. Following each presentation, we had full-body discussion on that area, so everyone could give input and ideas to all of the groups.
The following are highlights from the presentations from each of the groups.
I. Raising Spirit and Community – Belief Statement: We are committed to the understanding that the whole of our community collectively raises, mentors and inspires – our children, our students and ourselves.
Ways to Manifest:
1) Create programs, jobs and mentorships for people of all ages.
2) Sangat & Pangat: We chant together and we eat together to be in group consciousness.
3) Encourage and attend our Solstices and Yoga Festival gatherings, which are one of the most powerful experiences we have of group consciousness; to share, to teach, to learn, to serve.
4) On-going creation and development of interactive database resources for our communities to share learned information about our community life - what works, what doesn’t, how we do things.
5) Take Siblings of Destiny on the road, globally. Organize satellite SOD meetings conducted by our membership.
6) Conscious Leadership in Local Communities: Based on serving the community with seva, inclusiveness, transparency and accountability.
7) Group sadhana – as a means to build spirit and community
8) Developing a new SDW website which will be interactive and community oriented.
9) Inclusivity as a core value – Siblings of Destiny is inclusive. Touch people worldwide with our model of inclusive and conscious living and leadership.
10) We need to have a residential program for students to have an ashram experience and learn about Sikh Dharma and Kundalini Yoga.
11) Be out in the community serving.
II. Governance and Leadership – Click here to view the Governance Power Point presentation. The Governance and Leadership group was the largest group and worked together very cohesively with a focused and unified purpose. They presented a well developed and thoughtful report to the full-body. It was also a historic moment, as the Governance Group presented the first motion in a Siblings of Destiny Meeting which was ratified by the body. When the motion was approved the energy in the room abounded and it was a great moment of joy.
The following is the motion which was presented for a straw vote of the members, and which was passed by a unanimous vote:
“The Members of the Siblings of Destiny meeting, Fall 2010, by straw vote, do ratify, affirm and support, effective immediately and for a period of six months, renewable by approval by the Siblings of Destiny, that the Governance and Leadership Committee form an Interim Governance Body tasked with the responsibility of serving the organizational transition.”
III. Funding the Mission of the Khalsa – Overall, the Funding the Mission of the Khalsa group is strategizing short-term and long-term goals for funding the Dharma. The short term goals are focused on funding the lawsuit to ensure we do all we can to protect our Dharma. Longer term goals include building an endowment to fund humanitarian projects that deliver an experience of the teachings: Langar Programs, Khalsa Universities and schools, expanding our infrastructure to support more students and members of the Dharma, to name a few. We are very excited about the possibilities – especially when we work together.
Dasvandh and the Prosperity Project – SS Satwant Singh & Sat Mitar Kaur
Thanks to the support of the Sangat, Dasvandh has grown substantially since the beginning of the year. We achieved our first milestone this past August reaching a level that will allow Sikh Dharma Worldwide to sustain itself. One of our major objectives has been to help spread the Siri Singh Sahib's teachings on prosperity which we have been doing through our monthly webinars, monthly newsletter, and our new initiative, the Prosperity Project. Please contact Sat Mitar if you would like to teach a prosperity webinar or share your story on how the Teachings have increased your prosperity. Each one of us has a unique understanding of these teachings and has the ability to inspire others. Please share that inspiration by working with the Dasvandh office.
One of the highlights of the Dasvandh presentation was Satwant Singh’s talk about the benefits of group sadhana on our individual and collective prosperity. He recounted a late night discussion with Guru Dave on some of the challenges of making it to sadhana. Click here to view the “Sadhana Presentation” for insights he gained.
Prosperity Project – Our goal is to build prosperity for all members of our dharma through
1. Spreading the purity of the teachings
2. Sharing our expertise through our businesses
3. Expanding our culture of giving.
Sikh Dharma Worldwide would like to promote your courses, workshops, businesses, etc. through a variety of media. As a result, more people will be aware of what you are offering and take the opportunity to experience participate, you will increase your income, and we will increase Dasvandh and/or donations to the Legal Fund. It is a win, win, all the way around – for you, for the students, and for us. To be successful, we need to pool our resources, contacts, creativity, funds. The more we work together, the more we gain. Please contact Satmitar Kaur at dasvandh@sikhdharmaworldwide.org for more information.
Supporting Our Legal Success and Prosperity – SS Avtar Hari Singh, Sat Mitar Kaur, SS Satwant Singh
September 21st marked the 1 year anniversary of the filing of the lawsuit. Avtar Hari Singh spoke of the progress that has been made in raising funds for the legal case and the upward trend of donations from our Sangat members. He expressed gratitude to all who have and are continuing to donate to the legal effort. We are now moving into the discovery and deposition phase of the case, which is one of the most costly parts of a lawsuit. Your donations to the Sikh Dharma Worldwide Legal Fund have been and will continue to be essential for us to prevail and uphold and preserve the Siri Singh Sahib’s mission and vision.
Satwant Singh discussed the benefit of praying for other peoples’ prosperity - that by visualizing another persons’ prosperity, your own prosperity would increase. He then led a short prayer in which we each prayed for everyone's prosperity in the room. We then took a moment to feel the effect of everyone elses’ prayers on ourselves. It was a very elevating experience to pray for others, and to feel others praying for you.
Auction – We held an “Awesome Auction” led by Mukhia Jathadar Amrit Singh, with art, jewelry, and pictures donated by members of the Sadh Sangat. We raised thousands of dollars for the Legal Fund and are very grateful to those who contributed items, and those who bid on them.
Anandpur Sahib Global Khalsa Family Akhand Paths – SS SatSundri Kaur gave an inspiring presentation about the on-going weekly Akhand Paths held in Anandpur Sahib for our global Khalsa Family that have been funded by the Sadh Sangat for many years. Anyone who is interested in sponsoring an Akhand Path ($100 per weekly Akhand Path) can contact her. We received $2600 at the meetings towards this noble tradition.
“Spirit Fest” – On the afternoon of the final day, we held a musical celebration to keep our spirits raised, our hearts pure and our path clear! We invited the members of the Espanola Sangat to join us for the Siri Singh Sahib’s lecture and a musical celebration of our spirit. It was a joyous ending to these very inspiring and uplifting meetings.
It is with great gratitude, that we thank everyone who participated in these meetings. We are all serving the Guru’s mission and it is a blessing when we can come together to rejoice in our identity, our spirit and our unified purpose. We look forward to continued communication from the various groups over the next few months, and we will plan to meet together for the Baisakhi Siblings of Destiny meeting in April 2011.
Blessings to All,
