AADAYS TISAI AADAYS

We end our kundalini yoga class with some meditation. Last week we heard during meditation the sweet voice of Snatam Kaur:

aadays tisay aadays
aad aneel anand aanaahat
jug jug ayko vays

again and again...it dwells in my mind.
It just pops out in every situation, just everywhere...

So naturally just like my breathing, words that are carved inside of me...

first meeting

As i mentioned some time back (oh dear, some months back!) i am clearing my office. Which is an enormous task, since i keep almost everything. Most of the time rubbish (so it seems now, but at the time it looked important), but now and then i find a jewel.
Like today.

I found the first article i ever read about the sikhs. My first meeting with sikhism dated from february 1982! And i remember very well how it felt to read this: i was shocked and afraid!
The title of the article was:" The Sikhs will rule the world. By all means?" (in Dutch was written: met alle geweld? which means: by all force, by all violence?)
You can imagine the tone of the article, which paid a lot of attention to kirpan and the sikh warrior. And about 3HO and Kundalini yoga.
At that time i have never seen a sikh, never! Can not even remember to have seen one when i was in England.
It was only after Operation Blue Star in 1984 Indian Sikhs came to Germany and from Germany they moved on to Belgium in the late 80s.
Who could have guessed that in the following years the sikhs and sikhism would become so important for me.
Not right away... i took my time and sikhism took its time. But slowly i discovered the path i was looking for.

Everything has his place and has his time...

"The darkness of ignorance is dispelled
and the lotus of the heart blossoms.
In the Guru's Shabad there is great joy and comfort
in His Hands, all boons." (Guru Arjun)

taking over

nature is taking over again...

the path

every path is a right path...yes???

children's book

The absolute number 1 book of my granddaughter is:"Zonnïge zomer (Sunny summer)"(publisher Lannoo)
Originally in German:"Sommer-Wimmelbuch" written by Rotraut Susanne Berner
(publisher Gerstenberg Verlag).
Well,... written, there are no words in this book, only images. But that stimulates of course the fantasy of the little ones.
I like this book too, because it is the only children's book i know, where a sikh is moving around as a main character. We live in a multi cultural and multi religious world, but this is not very often reflected in the world of children's books. So i am really glad with this book, because it shows how easy it is to be friends with all people, no matter how they look.

My granddaughter knows my friend Amarjeet Singh very well of course and so every time we "read" the book, she shouts his name.
Every page we turn, i have to ask; "...and where is Amarjeet?" And then she "walks" with her little fingers towards him, giving me a big smile that she has found him.
Life can be so simple...

on the way

Throughout the full book all the guests are walking on their way to the birthday party. But there are so many sceneries about what is happening in town, that every page is giving plenty of funny stories.
My granddaughter's attention is especially to "Amarjeet" and of course... the ice cream van.

children''s book

At last, everyone arrived at the party. Guess who is playing with the present.
Of course he wouldn't hand over the remote... like most men i guess.

Anyhow my granddaughter adores this book and i think we should encourage writers to make it absoluetly normal that people who look different are just the same as anyone else. They are our friends like anybody else.
I know for sure, because A.Singh is my friend and he is the best.

blessings

continuous reading of Sri Guru Grant Sahib for protection to all the people without papers.

quincy jones

alice in wonderland

catching the summer in jars

odd, but cute

camouflage

skeleton

candle in the wind

title with courtesy from E.J.

better:
two candles in very strong wind :-)

kalanchoe

hang on

i am grumpy

hops

just for decoration, not brewing beer

In pride i so easily lost Thee

by Mechthilde of Magdeburg (1207-1297)
translated by Lucy Menzies


In pride i so easily lost Thee-
But now the more deeply i sink
The more sweetly i drink
Of Thee!

O, my Lord, the stars glitter

By Rabia al Basra (717-801)
translated Charles Upton


O my Lord
the stars glitter
and the eyes of men are closed.
Kings have locked their doors
and each lover is alone with his love.

Here, i am alone with You.

Wings

This evening,for the very first time in my life, i went to kundalina yoga class.
I was looking hard to find a kunalina yoga class for so long and now suddenly there it was right under my nose. Only one town away....
It gave me wings! Wings!
Of course the exercise is great, but to use gurbani as a mantra is absolutely fantastic. It gives such a deep feeling...
The other students used it just as sound current, but i felt deeply connected.
Our teacher is a most charming lady, who studied.... yes, right, in Espanola, New Mexico. She seems to be the only kundalina teacher in Belgium.
My God, that is like finding a needle in a haystack. Thank God for finding that needle!
I feel so wonderful... this is my year of finding teachers.

i cried

Hope that Satvinder doesn't mind that i "borrow" one of her poems, which she left very humbly in one of her comments:

in the moments of intimacy with my dear Lord
my spirit sheds tears at the thought that
there are many that understand the breadth of God
but only a handful that understand the depth of God
I cried. I don't know why i cried but i cried.


Last week one evening i went to gurdwara. Only the granthi was there, one sevadar, a young sikhgirl i never met before and me.(most people are working hard in the fields since it is harvest time)
It felt very private. The young girl helped the granthi and the sevadar to cover Sri Guru Granth Sahib. You could see it was the first time she did this.
So when the granthi took our Guru to His Restroom, there was no one to open the door. So i did, then i bowed for Gods Word. While He passed me i started to weep, tears were flooding over my face. I felt very shy and thank you, nobody started to ask questions.
After taking Parsaad, the others left, i stayed there till i calmed down. I felt so so close to Him. What an overwhelming feeling!!!
I had this experience before (like when i saw Harmandir Sahib for the first time), it always takes me by surprise. And though i cried, i have this incredible happy feeling afterwards.
Am i just an old fool or do i feel His Blessing now and then?

I cried: I don't know why i cried but i cried.

settled in my basket

prison

Life can feel like a prison.
Ones body, house, job, family, problems they captures us, they keep us in their grip.
With only one finger He can lift us out this world of maya...

i am off to gurdwara

one of my big frustrations is i have to go on my own to gurdwara...
freedom of religion makes me sometimes very lonely in my own family.
i wish i could say that the sangat chases away this loneliness, but this is not true.
only when i close my eyes and meditate i feel sheltered .
Waheguru welcomes me always... wherever i am.

crushed

by a careless artlover.
cruel, but still there is a morbide beauty in death...
and after all it is part of life.
next day the little birdie was completely vanished in nature.

visitors

Last Friday i again welcomed Belgian visitors in our Gurdwara. They belonged to the christian workers organisation.
It was a good visit, so i want to share the programme.
First i welcomed them with the other sevadars in the hall, where we helped to bind patka's. Then we went to greet the Guru.
It was noon time, so we shared langar together (i used this time to talk about indian food and spices, about family life).
In one of the rooms i showed the slides: where are the sikhs coming from, what is the basics of the religion, i tell about Guru Nanak and the other Guru's, about taking amrit, bani and bana, why the sikhs came over here, how are they surviving in Belgium. This last item got a lot of attention (the sikhs being foreign workers, part of them legal workers, but still very often illegal )
Afterwards again we went to the main hall, our granthi read out of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. I talked about namegiving, taking amrit, marriage, death in sikhism.
Then a cup of chai and yummy pakora's.
Four hours of talking and explaining, but worth every minute!
And next week another group is coming.

All these visits are signs of hope for me, because as long as we take the effort to know our new neighbours, as long as we want to share our ideas and beliefs, there is this chance that one day people will understand each other.

Hopefully that day comes soon...
Waheguru!