Northern California Nirankari Fellowship

HIS HOLINESS VISITS MIDDLE EAST

2012-01-27T16:05:00.000-08:00

To a devotee, Satguru is next only to God since it is He who has blessed him with divine realization and has decorating his life with all that is good, noble and blissful. He is conscious of the fact that whatever he is today and whatever he is not, it is because of the divine guidance and blessings of the Master. He is, therefore, always keen to be at the Satguru’s holy feet and feel blessed. No wonder, he would not like to miss an opportunity even if he has to travel hundreds of miles to meet the most beloved One i.e., Satguru.

This is exactly what had happened in the Middle East during the visit of His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj and his esteemed spouse Pujya Mata Sawinder Ji accompanied by Rev Harbans Lal Arora, Member Incharge, Foreign Department and Rev Puneet Ji, from Delhi, from January 4 to 14, 2012. As soon as the devotees received the information, they rushed to the place of the Divine Couples halt to seek their blessings. One can imagine the solace and the bliss derived by the devotees when they meet the Master thousands of miles away from His homeland.

Most of the devotees of the Sant Nirankari Mission in Middle East have left India in search of employment. Very few of them are settled there with their families. They have, therefore, to sanction a leave from their place of work to meet His Holiness. And fortunate are those whom Baba Ji blesses at their own places.

On their arrival from Delhi in Dubai, His Holiness, Pujya Mata Ji and other saints were received at the airport by Rev Gurnam Singh Ji and other devotees. Baba Ji blessed various devotees in Dubai and moved on to Kuwait on January 6. Here also He met and blessed the devotees at various places and returned to Dubai on January 9.

The highlight of this visit was Baba Ji’s meeting with the ruler of Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) His Highness Shaikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qasimi on January 12. Baba Ji apprised him of the Mission’s contribution towards universal brotherhood based on spiritual awakening, which the Shaikh appreciated a lot.

Friday, January 13 being a holiday from work, several devotees arrived in Ras Al Kahimah to seek the benign blessings of His Holiness. Besides Ras Al Khaimah, devotees came from Dubai, Sharjah, Fujairah, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi and Ajman. Some of them came from Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman also.

Blessing the devotees, His Holiness said: “Saints I feel very happy to meet you all here in Middle East after a gap of approximately two years. Sitting together in this congregation all of you are remembering and glorifying this Formless Supreme Lord, this Allah and also making an effort to take your life’s journey towards right direction by linking your mind with this Supreme Lord.

The new year commenced quite recently; all of us congratulate and wish each other good luck upon new year’s arrival. On this occasion we also pray so that we may also make every moment of our life beautiful; so that we may make our life fully useful; so that we do not let our life go waste; we may realize the full value of every moment of our life. To realize the full value of every moment of our life means to tread the path of humanity while living every moment of our life. All the saints, sages and prophets born in different times asked man to move in this very direction and humanity indeed is true religion. A poet has rightly said, ‘Dharam Hai Bas Insaan Hona, Koi Aur Dharam Imaan Nahi’.

But man does not live his life as a human; that is why he does not tread the path of humanity even when all the saints and prophets inspired man to do so. Today their is a lack of humanity; if such was not the case, the prevailing circumstances of the world would have been different; had humanity been alive, mankind would not have passed through hellish circumstances; there would have been a heavenly atmosphere upon earth; there would have been only love and people would have helped and embraced and wiped each other’s tears instead of condemning and exploiting each other on the basis of caste and creed. Had humanity been alive, men would not have looked at each other with a discrimination vision. It is this discriminating vision which makes man hate instead of love and condemn instead of embrace fellow humans. It is because of this very reason that others’ feelings are hurt by using and speaking hurtful words against them.

Such behaviour on man’s part makes saints’ efforts to pull man out of darkness, even more arduous and difficult. Saints have always made an effort in every age to teach man the true way to life a beautiful life. Saints’ message as we read in Holy Quran, Bhagwad Geeta, Ramcharitmanas or the holy words of innumerable other saints who came from time to time, made an effort to remove the prevailing darkness by pulling mankind out of innumerable doubts and delusions; so that inhumanity ends and humanity lives.

Those who are living presently are the ones who should understand this message; it is because they are the ones who can either make their life beautiful or destroy it. All that is happening in world happens only in present; we breathe only in present, what we breathe today is not last years’ breath! Similarly who are living presently in the world are the ones who have to decide what contribution can they make for the world; how should they think and behave and what feelings should they adopt to make this world a beautiful place to live in. When our present becomes beautiful, the future automatically becomes more beautiful. The prevailing atmospheric pollution, the speed at which jungles are being cut and earth being vandalized, makes us often say that we should also care and think about the future generations; if we do not control this pollution now in the present, the future generations will suffer tremendously! All of us want that our future generations should also live in a healthy and non-polluted world. So, it is only in the present that we can improve and mend our ways. Thos who are living in the present are the ones who can decide how they should live their life to make it beautiful.

A saint has said, ‘Parhit Saras Dharam Nahi Bhai.’ This is the definition of religion; this is what is called humanity. By doing others’ bad instead of good and harming others man proves that humanity has died even though man lives! Man’s identity and significance lies in keeping alive humanity; Unless the ‘essence’ lives, unless man’s feeling to do good for others lives, he is no better than a dead even though still alive! He is only a moving corpse! Often a corpse is buried in earth. But those who have still not attained a true life are also nothing but ‘walking corpses’! So instead of becoming a walking corpse and a burden upon Earth, man should live such a life whereby he makes this world a beautiful place.

It is the responsibility of every man irrespective of whether he lives in Middle East of Far East or Asian countries or other parts of the world. I studied Civics which told us that the most important factors needed to have a government in an area is the population; unless there is population, who will be governed! So, it is all the population of earth, the people living in all the countries who should live a beautiful life. In every country there live innumerable men who believe in religions as well as those who run the religion. It is the responsibility of all those who believer as well as those who run the religion to know what is the definition of religion as told by Gurus, saints and prophets; what are those virtues which make a religion worthy of being called a religion. And once again we come back to the same point, ‘Dharam Hai Bas Insaan Hona, Aur Koi Dharam Imaan Nahi’ – that religion means humanity which means the virtues love, kindness, compassion, brotherhood, tolerance, large-heartedness etc; as long as these virtues are there, religion is being practices and strengthened; in the absence of these virtues, by living with cruelty instead of compassion and narrow-mindedness instead of large-heartedness and hatred instead of love, those who are teaching as well as learning it, prove it themselves that they do not practice religion because being religious means to be truly human. ‘Daya Dharam Ka Mool Hai, Paap Mool Abhiman, Tulsi Daya Na Chhodiye Jab Tak Ghat Mein Pran’ – that compassion is the root of religion; just as a tree cannot live when its root gets cut or a building cannot stand once its foundation moves, similarly the edifice of religion can also not stand once the feeling of compassion is erased and forgotten.

That is why saints inspire man to analyze his life to see in which direction is he running; with every passing moment he is wasting away the capital of his precious life span; once lost, he will never regain this wealth; the time lost will never come back. So man should life his life imbibed with beautiful feelings; he should live every moment of his life in God-awareness while remembering that this is how all the saints, sages and prophets wanted man to live his life.

The teachings of all the saints and prophets are based upon love, compassion and tolerance; All of them wished to establish it upon Earth. And it depends upon man to fulfill this wish of saints. Quite often man performs certain actions with an aim to please the prophets; he reads and recites scriptures, undertakes holy baths and pilgrimages to please the Supreme Lord. Do we ever pause to think what was it that the saints considered utmost significant? Did they say that man could attain salvation merely by putting a large ‘Tilak’ upon his forehead or telling rosary beads or undertaking holy baths and reading and recitation while there was no love and large-heartedness in his life? Did the prophets wish this? Did the prophets give such a judgment that those who live in such a manner would attain heaven or attain a lofty status in God’s kingdom? No such thing is written anywhere? Rather all of them said that man attains a high status in the eyes of God when he lives with love, helps the downtrodden and fallen, given a smile to someone who is crying and helps rehabilitate those who are helpless and needy.

If man treads the path as shown by them and somehow cannot do holy bath and pilgrimages, he is still doing what is utmost significant and would be accepted by God. This is what man has to understand. And this is what man has somehow not been able to understand despite the passage of so many centuries. The reason for the prevailing atmosphere of the world is because man does not understand this significant aspect.

Today, all the saints gave this message in the congregation and spoke about Truth, how we should live our life and bring glory to religion, saints’ sages and bring glory to religion, saints’ sages and prophets’ name, how we can make this Earth a beautiful place to live upon. All men should not only pay serious attention to this aspect but also think and act according to saints’ teachings i.e., we should live with love instead of hatred, be humble instead of proud. In every age man has nurtured pride and ego either in the name of religion or caste or creed or wealth or power or intellect. Saints have always said that pride has always sunk and pulled man down from his lofty status. And God also does not link pride; ‘Har Ji Hankaar Na Bhavai’ – God does not like ‘I’. A saint has said, ‘Mein Meri Tu Mat Kar Meri Mool Vinaas.’ Another saint says, ‘Jad Mein Tu Bann Gayi Taan Gal Ban Gayi’ – that when this ‘I’ becomes ‘You’, when this ‘I’ is erased and surrendered to ‘You’, only then was the task truly accomplished. As long as the ‘I’ continues and does not change us ‘You’, nothing is attainted. Attainment is possible when we adopt ‘You’ and leave this ego. Looking at man’s tall proclamations about his achievements, Lord Jesus Christ had to remind man that despite all his achievements, man still was unable to stop his black hair from greying! Based upon his thinking that he can do anything, mand nurtures pride; he also feels proud on account of his higher caste, creed and beliefs! But saints tell man to not to nurture pride since all men are same. ‘Paanch Tatva Ka Putla, Nanak Mero Nao’ – since all men are made of similar five elemets, how can one man or one caste be higher than the other? There is no sixth element involved! Everyday innumerable children are born in this world; does any newborn child’s body have a special sign or mark to indicate his caste, creed, language or religious faith? No, there is no such mark; all get born as a human! It is only man’s ignorance and delusions and wrong thinking which makes man deluded and nurture pride on various accounts. A proud rich man often shooes away a poor man and turns his back towards him. But the same rich man does not know that his wealth will not always accompany him.

But those who erase their ignorance also rise above every delusion; they do not nurture pride either on account of their body or mind or wealth or other factors; they always nurture pure feelings and live in thankfulness. Pride is nurtured by those who live in delusion, instead of ‘You’, they remain fixed only upon their ‘I’. That is why they never attain a lofty status. They live all their life only in their misunderstanding and delusion and consider themselves a ‘doer’ as well as significant and superior. For this reason saints asked man to live a virtuous life wherein there is not place for hatred, pride, narrow-mindedness and bitterness of mind. They hoped that man would live his life imbibed with virtues.

Saints also spoke to man about another important aspect; to redeem his soul after getting born as a human upon this Earth; to unite the soul with its Source, the Over-soul. It is because of this attainment that a birth in human species is considered utmost fortunate. It is the most important task for man to illumine his soul with light of God-knowledge to remove its ignorance and delusion. Because of ignorance the soul does not know its True Identity. That is why it is said, ‘Know Thyself’. The soul should know its True Self and realize its Source and Know that it is a part of Supreme Lord; self-realization through God-realization. ‘Self’ does not mean one’s physical form; True self is our soul; so self-realization through God-realization. ‘Know God Ye Worship’. It is through the knowledge of God that the soul attains self-realization. Unless the soul knows its Source, it cannot attain Self-realization; it will remain bonded in delusion; it will continue going through births and deaths. It will continue going round in the cycle of life and death just as an ox tied to a pole continues going around it while thinking that it has covered a great distance since it has walked a great deal; of course it has walked a great deal but still it has not reached anywhere! Walking is different from arriving. Here we use the word ‘arrival’ for those who attain God-realization and then self-realization through it. Only then will the soul’s darkness and delusion be erased and it’s bondage of life and death end; only then will it attain salvation and become One with God; only then will it rise above physical forms.

For man to attain salvation, he should know God. Mere reading and recitation will not do, unless the truth is known, salvation is not possible. So man should know this Truth which is worth knowing. Bhagwad Geeta implores man to know this Truth which is worth knowing which is neither born nor dies. Only its knowledge can give salvation. Saints tell man that every moment of his life invaluable because of this reason. With every passing moment man’s gift of a certain life-span as give by God, diminishes. Saints ask man to realize the utmost value of this opportunity given by God and attain salvation by attaining the Knowledge of Truth. The wealth of man’s life-breath is invaluable; this human body is a golden chance given by God to man to redeem his soul. Man proves his foolishness when he does not realize the true value of his human life and wastes it upon vices and evil actions while living with greed, avarice, hatred, jealousy etc; once death overtakes, man will not be able to make this attainment. It is now while he is still breathing that man can attain salvation.

May God give strength so that all of you continue treading the path of humanity and spreading love. May all the people of the world live with beautiful feelings to make this world a beautiful place to live in.”

Christmas Eve (Dec 25th, 2011) Satsang Program in Delhi

2012-01-03T12:44:00.000-08:00

Satsang Programme in the Divine Presence of

His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj

December 25, 2011: Delhi, Ground No. 2

Blessing a congregation on December 25, 2011 at Ground no. 2, Burari, His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj stated;

“All of you heard the precious words of saints based upon Truth and devotion. The One Formless Supreme Lord Ishwara is spoken about and glorified in the congregation and an inspiration is given to live a life of devotion. It is a mixture of certain virtues which is called by the name devotion; through their words saints inspire us to strengthen those virtues in our life. Devotees always derive bliss by speaking and hearing such words and also make an effort to move in their direction. No matter where they live, saints make a constant effort to strengthen such aspects in life.

All of you heard a mention of my recent tour to the state of Punjab; which covered Mandi Gobindgarh, Jallandhar, Batala, Amritsar, Faridkot, Bhatinda, Patiala and Yamuna Nagar in Haryana. In many places new Satsang Bhawans were inaugurated while there were also some places which I visited for the first time. Wherever I went, I experienced saints' overflowing love, enthusiasm and spirit of selfless service. Filled with enthusiasm to live a life of devotion, saints cherish a desire to completely surrender themselves to a life of truth, God-knowledge and others' welfare; keeping themselves concentrated in this direction, they continue moving their footsteps towards it.

The tour also gave a chance to many dignitaries from social and political field and numerous religious organizations to have a closer look and hear the message of the Mission to strengthen humanity and establish unity. Otherwise as it is, the effort all around today is to divide humanity. The Mission is making an effort to bring people close to each other; putting aside the discrimination of caste, creed, language etc. all humans are looked upon only as humans having the light of One Supreme Lord. The strengthening of all such aspects by the Mission is indeed considered commendable by all those who come to know it.

The contribution being made by the Mission today is in no way different from that of all other saints', sages' and prophets' contribution, born in different ages. Whether born in any age or century, all of them gave the message which is being repeated by the Mission today – to know this Ishwara, this Truth and attain the realization of truth.

Lord Jesus Christ whose B'day is being celebrated as Christmas today, also said, 'Know God Ye Worship' – that you should also Know the God whom you rever and worship; if different modes of worshiping were enough, there was no need to say, 'Know God Ye Worship!' Different men adopt different methods and modes to render devotion; different people look upon different days as auspicious for them; Looking at all this Lord Jesus Christ jolted them out of their ignorance by telling them that all the days are created equally by God! Even though much criticized by his own men for speaking against their practice of rites and rituals, the aim and message of Lord Jesus Christ was to tell all about Truth, the true aim of human life and how to attain salvation; seeing people oblivious of all such aspects and limiting themselves only to the performance of rites and rituals, he had to say, 'Know God Ye Worship.' That Know the Supreme Lord whose Name you loudly proclaim, recite and worship. He asked all men to Know Truth, this Supreme Lord. So his message amply proves that mere worship and rites and rituals are not enough to attain the salvation of the soul. They are not enough to attain freedom from the chain of births and rebirths. In this manner Lord Jesus Christ awakened all towards Truth, and Baptized them with One Universal Spirit or this God-knowledge, this Eternal Formless Supreme Lord.

Though the message of truth was given by saints and prophets yet it also kept getting lost in every age; that is why it had to be awakened and established again and again. With the passage of time rites and rituals became dominant and the Essence got lost. It has happened in every age

Message to Mankind on the eve of New Year

2012-01-01T20:14:00.000-08:00

Message to Mankind on the eve of New Year was given by Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj.

"As the new year dawns on us it is time to have a new year resolution, and with all the abuse, crime, pain, and suffering, the enlightened souls have an important job to do. They will affect not only their own life but others too"

Below is the video message by His Holiness.

At San Francisco Tracy Bhawan, whole Sadh Sangat spread the message to mankind in a very creative way by writing the Nirankari Baba messgae or quote on the postcard and then attach the postcard to the helium ballon.

Following postcard was used by all the Tracy Saints to send their favorite HH quotes to the stranger.

Peace Not Piece

All the sangat members wrote their favorite H.H. quote on the postcard. The event was blessed by Rev. Dr. Iqbaljit Rai ji, Rev. Dev Raj Vijh ji and Mrs. Manjeet Rai ji. All the bal sangat and youth sangat members were there with their message attached to the ballon.

After Dr. Rai ji blessed the event with Simran, everyone left their balloon in the air. It was an amazing view and sight to see so many H.H. quotes flying with balloons in the air, hoping that it will reach to the stranger. It was indeed a great attempt to spread the Mission name and voice to the world.

Event photo album:

Manavta 2011

2011-12-29T11:30:00.000-08:00

Manavta 2011 have many great articles on Manavta or Humanity.

Please see below for the articles by Rev. Dr. Iqbaljit Rai ji, Rev. Sandeep Kindha ji and Rev. Gulati ji.

Manavta Cover Page 2011

Article by Rev. Dr Iqbaljit Rai ji:

Article by Rev. Sandeep Kindha ji:

Manavta3

Article by Rev. C. L. Gulati ji:

BAL SANGAT on the topic of SHARING

2011-12-27T17:44:00.000-08:00

Bal Sangat on the topic of SHARING, conducted at the SNMTracy main bhawan on Dec 22nd, 2011.

This sangat was conducted, mangaed and organized by the kids & and youth's of SNMTRacy. More than 25 kids shared their views, songs and poems on the subject of Sharing.

Harman ji handled the Stage Secretary sewa and main vichar was conducted by Dhruv Sagar ji.

Kids sewa dal managed the sangat decorum in the main hall.

Following is the list of the speakers in the Bal Sangat, who shared their views, songs and poems on Sharing.

Sangat opening by a Shabd from Avtar Bani by Puneet Nirankari ji.
Vicky ji - kavita on Sharing.
Sumeet ji - views or speech.
Kirti ji - views or speech.
Renaissance ji - views or speech
Arshisha ji - poem
Purasha ji - Story
Suchi ji -Geet
Harleen ji - Kavita
Saahil ji - views or speech
Shalok ji and Shudit ji - Geet
Charanjeet ji - Poem
Seema ji - Geet
Arpita ji - Geet
Shubit ji - views or speech
Nima ji - Geet
Renu ji - Geet
Ashrit ji - views or speech
Bhavna ji - Geet
Puneet ji - views or speech
Pushpit ji
Alhar ji

Bal Sangat was started by reading the Shabd 10 and Shabd 50 from Avtar Bani.

Shabd 10:

The sun, the moon, the stars alight
Shall fade away with life of light.
The earth, the fire, the water vast.
Will follow suit and shall not last.
The air the jivathe ether so fine.
For their life depend on time.
All the nines are basic part.
The tenth pervades them, primordial lord.
Negate creation the rest is naught.
It is, Avtarthe Formless lord

Shabd 50:

I crave thee Master, sustainer God.
All my pessessions, are thine God.
To children thee are parent lord.
With thy blessings is joyous accord.
Thee art wonderful out of grasp.
Stay of ours the highest lord.
My stature, state thee know O God.
The meak are for thee, Avtar.

Some of the excerpts are below

Poem by Puneet ji:

There is a treasure in every human being.
It is in everyone's life
It is God's gift -it is called Sharing
Don't ignore it in the course of your life.
It will make you wealthier than money.
The lonely, the sick, the old, the young and the child
will be the receivers.
Sharing other's sorrow.
Kind words of understanding.
Helping others in need.
O what a comfort in sharing !
The will of sharing is in the human heart
In the heart guided by GOD !

Speechby young kid:

Saints, say with love DhanNirankar ji

Dear saints as we all knowthat today topic is “Sharing”. And as wealso know that Christmas is also coming soon. Christmas is all about Sharing.During Christmas we share presents and love with our friends and family. ButBaba ji teaches us that every day we should share our love and our presentswith everyone no matter who they are. Dear saints, but the most importantpresent I think we should share is our “GodKnowledge - Gian”. Someone has said “If you have knowledge, letothers light their candles in it.” Dear saints, I would just like to end sayingthat we are so lucky we have the knowledge or the light and we should rememberto always share this light with everyone.

Dhan Nirankar ji MerryChristmas !!

Speechby Saahil ji:

Dear Saints, say with loveDhan Nirankar ji

Christmas sharing has servedas an ideal example of a true community act of caring for others. On a largescale each holiday season, dozens of private small business, corporations,churches, schools and other organizations combine their volunteer efforts tomake the holidays a little brighter for families facing tough economic times inthe surrounding communities. Many of these same donors provide newly purchasedgifts or food to help this very worthy cause. One such example of sharing waswitnessed by all of us. The local TV channel 13 representing CBS launched a “Coats for kids drive”. Theycollected 25,000 coats and distributed them among needy kids. Suchopportunities help to tie the community together. Some organizations alsosecure funding from the government or private companies for funding such worthycauses. These funds are applied entirely towards the purchases of gifts forchildren and food for families. On a small scale people exchange greeting cardswishing their friends and relatives a happy and joyous New Year. People gettogether over dinners and prayers. In such gatherings we get a chance to thankour creator, the GOD for giving us everything.

There is a famous quote thatsays “Thousands of candles can be it from a single candle, and the life ofthe candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”

Every day we learn in thesangat that we should be kind and loving to everyone. The next day when we goto school or meet with our friends, we share the same happiness with them byspeaking softly and nicely to them. When our friends see those kinds ofattitudes from us, they appreciate us. By sharing our happiness with our friendswe have not lost anything but have gained a lot. We gain more friends that willlike to join us in playing as well as in studying.

There is another quotesaying “Sharing food with another human being is a kind act the should not takenlightly.”

Members of the SNMTRacyconducted a food drive and collected canned foods and other supplies worththousands of dollars, which was donated to McHenry house family shelter for thehomeless in Tracy. All devotees of the mission contributed in the noble act.The act of giving and sharing is in line with the principles of the missionwhich preaches love and Universal Brotherhood. Management of the shelter wasthankful with the gesture of love and care shown by the members of the SantNirankari Mission.

Dhan Nirankar ji MerryChristmas !!

Speechby Sabnit ji:

Sharing is Caring and itmake other person smile and share back with you. It helps people in the societyand homes. It’s a novel act of sharing with the unfortunate people, sometimethey have little or nothing. Baba ji always teaches us in his vichar thatexpress to love all. So in that case sharing is another way to expresslove. Sharing make the other person actor react positively and this way mutual coexistence takes place.

Main Vichar - by Dhruv Sagar ji

Dear Saints, say with one loving voice, Dhan Nirinkar Ji.

BOL SATGURU BABA HARDEV SINGH JI MAHARAJ KI JI !

Forthe past hour or so, we have been listening to great saints speak theirthoughts and messages on the subject of sharing. I am also a student, learningfrom the blessings of Baba Ji and spreading the message, so I would like toshare my thoughts on the topic sharing.

Now, what is Sharing. Many of you haveprobably already heard of the famous proverb sharing is caring. This is becausewhen you share, you are caring and showing compassion for the other person. Youspread happiness to both people, and they will spread that happiness to otherpeople. Eventually that happiness will reach around the world. It also showslove to people, who spread that love around the globe, so basically sharing isa connection of love. It can start a chain reaction of friendships andrelationships. Many people fail to realize how important sharing is our lives,how important it is to share with loved ones. I would like to share a story onsharing:

Therewas once a boy who was very rich and clever. He had practically everything aboy could ever want, so he was only interested in the most rare and curious ofobjects. This happened to him in relation to a very old mirror, and heconvinced his parents to buy it from a mysterious old man. When the mirrorarrived home, the boy went to see his reflection in it. His face looked verysad indeed. He tried smiling and making funny faces, but his reflectioncontinued with its sad expression.

Surprised,the boy went off to buy sweets. He came home as happy as can be, to look in themirror, but his image was still sad-looking. He bought all kinds of toys andold junk, but forever looked sad in that mirror. Fed up, the boy stuck themirror off in a corner.

"Crikey,what a terrible mirror! It's the first time I've seen a mirror that didn't workproperly!"

Thatsame afternoon he went into the street to play and to buy a few toys, but onhis way to the park he saw a little boy who was crying his heart out. The boywas crying so much, and looked so lonely, that the rich boy went over to helphim and to see what had happened. The little one told him that he had lost hisparents.

Togetherthe two boys set off in search of them. As the little boy wouldn't stop crying,our boy spent his money on buying him sweets to cheer him up. Finally, aftermuch walking, they found his parents who were out looking for him, veryworried.

Therich boy said goodbye, and walked off towards the park. But, seeing the time,he decided to turn round and head for home, without having been able to play,without toys, and without money. At home, he went to his room, and noticed ashining light in the corner; the same corner he had left the mirror in. Seeingthis, he went over to the mirror, and realized that the light was coming fromhis own body, so radiant with happiness he had become.

Andso he understood the mystery of that mirror, the only mirror which couldfaithfully reflect the true joy of its owner. He realized it was true; he feltgenuinely happy at having helped that little boy.

Andsince then, each morning when he looked in that mirror and failed to see aspecial shine, he already knew what he had to do to bring it back.

Themoral of this story is that everyone should try to be like that boy, and havethose qualities that make a good person. So that every day we should try to seeour smiling faces through that mirror.

Sharing also gives us great qualities,and one of them is happiness: Thereonce was a very wealthy and successful man. He had more money than hecould ever spend and he was admired and looked up to by his community. Still, he knew that something was missing in his life. He wasn't happy. All his life he had pursued happiness and strived for happiness but hadnever been able to find it.

Then one day he heard about a hidden temple in Nepal which had aspecial room that contained the secret to happiness. He sold all that he ownedand set out to find this hidden temple. After many years of searching andcountless hardships he finally arrived there. By then he was weary and pennyless, but he knew that none of that mattered now that he had found the temple.He asked a wise, smiling monk if he could enter the special room. The monkagreed and showed him the stairs leading to the room. He climbed them with legsshaking with anticipation and slowly opened the door.

He stared into the room with sunlight streaming through thewindow and saw what he had come so far to find. There hanging on the wallwas the secret of happiness. The man gazed at his reflection in themirror and laughed. It is time that we all realized that we are thesecret to our own happiness. Happiness is a choice that we make within.

Also on sharing is this story: Once a man who had died was metby gods angels, who took him to two doors, one was labeled hell and the otherwas labeled heaven. On the side of each door was a little window. The man askedif he could see both of the sides and the angels agreed on yes. When the mansaw through Hell’s window, he saw a long table filled with great andmouth-watering food, but the people in the room were thin and sick ofstarvation and almost dead. Each person’s hands were tied to big spoons, tolong to feed themselves. When he looked through heaven’s door, he saw the samesituation but the people were happy and healthy! When he asked the angels, theytold him that in heaven, they have learned to feed each other with the spoonsinstead of hell, who still haven’t learned their lesson. This is why you shouldlearn and do sharing in your life, not just because it makes us better people,but other people as well.

Now we know that sharing spreads happiness, which is much neededin this world. Have you ever seen people as they walk around with all theiranger and ego filled inside them? Sharing eliminates that and shows theopposite in both people. Here is a good example of that:

A man got in a taxi going to the airport. As they were driving,a silver car backed out of a parking spot right in front of them. The cab swervedand missed the car by mere inches. A second late, and both the cars would havedestroyed. Both the cars stopped and the silver cars driver got out and startedshouting at the cab driver. The cab driver just smiled and waved.

Everybody has a balloon in their body. As you fill this balloonwith anger, disappointment, stress, ego, etc. it gets bigger and bigger untilit pops on someone. You may have not meant to do this but you are blinded byyour anger. We must let out the air in our balloon before we pop it on someone.Showing an act of kindness like sharing is what we can do to let out the airfrom our balloon. Some people might pop their balloon on you, but don’t keepthat and give it to another person. Turn that into a positive sense. Life ismostly based on the choices you make.

Also I would like to mention that the Sant Nirinkari Mission in Tracydonated thousands of dollars of food and other supplies to the McHenry House for Homeless recently, which is a great form ofcharity work and sharing.

God does so much for us but we always forget to count ourblessings. Every moment is a blessing granted by God and we usually fail toacknowledge it. All He wants in return is that we live our lives as per Hisguidelines.

Do ordinary for God. He will do extraordinary for You.
Do natural forGod. He will do Supernatural for You.

Do possible for God. He’ll do the impossible for you......
Lookback and thank God. Look forward and trust God.

Look around and serve God. Look within and find God!

Saints, please forgive me my mistakes and I seek for sangat blessings.

Saints say with love Dhan Nirankar ji !

Picture Coverage:

Rev. Sheelu Keswani ji's & Tracy Family Shelter House Visit

2011-12-04T21:34:00.001-08:00

Rev. Sheelu Keswani ji's arrived in Tracy on Dec 2nd, 2011. She blessed the Tracy youth on Sat Dec 3rd and conducted a training on the community services projects and how to project them at a higher level in the state and federal government. She also shared her experiences on how to apply for private and government grants for doing the community projects. On the same line she shared examples of other organization like Art of Living etc that how they also run these kind of projects and project them at the state grant level.

On Sunday Dec 4th, she visited McHenry House (Tracy Family Shelter house) with Rev. Dr. Iqbaljit Rai ji, Rev. Dev Raj Vijh ji, Rev. Mrs. Manjeet Rai ji, Rev. Mohan Sabnani ji and Rev. Narinder Pal Singh Noor ji to give a generous donation of food and other supplies from Tracy Sadh Sangat.

On Monday Dec 5th, Rev. Sheelu ji conducted and blessed the Ladies' Satsang in Rev. Karnail Kaur Ji's residence in Stockton CA area.

Media Coverage article by India post on McHenry House Donation:

Appreciation Letter by Director of McHenry House to SNMTracy:

McHenryHouseLetter

Picture coverage of Rev. Sheelu ji visit and McHenry House visit:

EMS Sangat on SEWA, SATSANG and SIMRAN - Oct 9th, 2011

2011-10-14T12:07:00.000-07:00

By Harman Singh: Speech on Sewa

Dearsaints today’s topic is sewa. What is sewa, Sewa is selfless service. Dearsaints if sewa is selfless service then what selfless service is. Selflessservice is the offering and of service to others without any thought whatsoeverof reward or self-gratification. Dear saints this is what Baba ji is teachingus that we should be offer and provide our service out of a genuine and deepdesire to help and be of service to others. Dear saints Sri Sathya Sai Baba hassaid

“Selflessservice alone gives the needed strength and courage to awaken the sleepinghumanity in one's heart. “Dear saint’s selfless service is not just for theother person it is for us. We are inter-dependable on selfless service. We areinter-dependable on selfless service because the other person and I both receive something. They receive the service and wereceive the feeling of spirituality or humanity. Dear saints we have it in our power to makethis world a better place. The first step in reaching that goal is to loseourselves in the service of others.

Anthony Robbinshas said “Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selflesscontribution experience life's deepest joy: true fulfillment.” Selfless servicehas power it gives us bliss and a peace of mind. It helps us connect togod. The moment we do selfless servicewe have no ego because where there is ego god cannot reside. Dear saints ifselfless service connects us to god then how we can have ego. Selfless servicepurifies us, and that is the first step to god.

Bygroup of five Young Kids: MissionFive Principles

1. All assets – physical, mental and material –belong to the Divinity and man, as a mere trustee, should use them as such. Oneshould not feel proud of their possession

2. Not to be proud of one's caste, creed, race,faith and other class distinctions and hate others on this account. All menshould be regarded as such. One has to feel himself as one with whole humanfamily and love the mankind.

3. Not to look down upon anybody because of hismode of dress, diet and living.

4. Not to renounce worldly life to become avagrant recluse or ascetic but to lead family life in accordance with normalsocial norms and sustain family by honest livelihood.

5. Not to divulge the Divine Knowledge bestowedby the Satguru to others without his permission. Never to be possessed by pridebecause of enlightenment.

By NarinderPal Singh Noor Ji

Saints say with love Dhan nirankar ji,

Sewa (service),Simran (prayer) & Satsang(Holy Congregation) are the most precious Divine tools we are provided by ourLordmaster Satguru Baba ji to maintain and remain connected with the divineGod's Knowledge(Brahmgyan).If we want to make the best use of these tools weshould add one word to all of them and apply them honestly & that word is'Selfless'.It should be Selfless Sewa,Selfless Simran & Selfless Satsangalways.These should be done without any personal or selfish motive.

When we talk about sewa,it is written in our holybook pavita Avtar Bani " Tan man dhan tinnan ton uchhi oh sewa kehlaandive ,jo hove nishkaam, nirichhit te Satguru nun bhaandi ai" means: onlythat sewa whether it is physical,mental or monetary is considered good &accepted by nirankar (God),which is selfless,without any personal motive and isalso liked by our Satguru Baba ji.

As far as Simran is concerned,Saint Kabir ji said"Dukh mein simran sab karen sukh mein kare na koi,jo sukh mein simran karedukh kahe ko hoi" means: everybody do simran in bad time & never intheir good time,if one do the simran in his good time bad time won't appear inhis life at all.

If we mention Satsang,It is often said"Satsang wo Ganga hai ismein jo nahaate hain paapi se paapi bhi paawan hojaate hain" means that Satsang is that Ganges(Holy river) which makes an evilperson when entered into it into a Good human being(Holy person).

In conclusion i can say that only our selflesssurrender can make us best utilize these divine tools of sewa simran andsatsang in our life. Satguru Baba ji said in his vichar in 64th Samagam Sewainauguration congregation held on Sunday 9th oct,11 today that "Jo auronke lie nahin jee paate woh apne liye bhi nahin jeetey" means:those whodoes'nt live for others can't even live for themselves also. Saints say in one loving voice Dhan nirankar ji

Rev. Dr Rai ji: Main Vichar

Saintssay with love Dhan Nirankar Ji

Saintswe have gathered here today with the blessings of our Satguru. He mentionedabout His Holiness recent visit, which was full of Sewa, Satsang and Simran.

DuringHis Holiness visit, It was Baba ji advice and encouragement that we should useEnglish more and more for the Satsang. Today most of our speakers spoke in English.English is the first language here, so it is very much needed to convey HHmessage to the community. Tradition is getting followed here.

Happiness is when whatyou think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony by Mahatma Gandhi. Ifwe do Sewa, Simran and Satsang, it will bring happiness in our life.

Heexplained the Simran and its meaning in detail:

Tu hi Nirankar

Main Teri Sharan Haan

Mainu Baksh Lao

Firstline is that we are inviting or requesting god or nirankar to join us. Second linesays that we are inviting Satguru to join us. Third line says that we are seeking forforgiveness from the Guru. Once we invite him and take refuge in him, Ourprayer will not go unanswered. The devotees use the Simran to attain spiritualstrength.

Whenwe pray, our prayer goes in our mind. Mind is combination of matter andnon-matter. Sometime our spirit gets covered under dust. Prayer wipes off thedust and resurrects our spirit. Especially for young kids, if they do simranbefore sleep, no nightmare will be there. All the bad thoughts will be wiped offbecause of Simran. It is true that prayers will not go unanswered becausecosmos provides us and we get it from all around.

InPunjabi he mentioned that if the Nirankar is all around us then nothing can touchme. He mentioned that when he meet the new people and when he asked them totake Satguru Gyan, normally he get the response that they don’t want to changetheir Dharma. He further explained that Satguru never change the religion or anyoneduties. In order to explain the true meaning of Dharma he took the exampleof Lord Krishna, when he said that denounceall the Dharma and take my refugee.

HisHoliness is giving his gyan to become a better human first. Do Sewa, Satsangand Simran. He mentioned about blood donation drive and other social services,which mission is doing and how much significance they have in the society.

Dr.Rai shared a very inspirational story when a poor person knock at the door andasking that can I stay with you because I have no place to go. The host thoughtthat it’s fine to stay with him for a day or two. But that poor person did notleave. Host asked him that when you’re leaving? He said I don’t have any placeto go and he stayed there for more than a week. Host was furious and asked himto leave immediately. At that moment it is said that Jesus appeared to him andtelling him that you have lived with me so many years so why you are gettingtired of him.

He alsoshared a Punjab Shabad from Holy book Granth Sahib:

Man (mind) tu jot saroop hai Apna mool Pehchan,Man Hargeo tere naal hai Gurmatee rang Maan. (Oh man you are part of the holyspirit, know thyself, hi man the Hargeo (God) is always with you but get theknowledge from the guru and enjoy it)

Today I see so many new faces in Sangat. Please do come more often and live your life in divinity.

DhanNirankar ji

Ek Nazar Magazine Coverage of His Holiness World Salvation Tour 2011

2011-10-13T19:13:00.000-07:00

Ek Nazar 1 - 15 October:

San Francisco Visit Coverage

EkNazarSF2

Los Angeles Visit Coverage

EkNazarSF1

EkNazarSF3Ek Nazar 16 - 30 September:

EkNazar4 EkNazar2 EkNazar3

Salvation Tour by His Holiness Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj

2011-09-21T22:46:00.000-07:00

United Kingdom, Ireland, United States of America and Canada

August 12: Ireland, Belfast

Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj Visits Parliament in Ireland On August 12, 2011, His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj and his gracious spouse Pujya Mata Sawinder Ji visited both the Houses of Parliament of Ireland in Belfast. The historic visit took place at the invitation from Lord Rana who played
a leading role towards Power Sharing Agreement between Catholics and Protestants which ended the 40-year long armed conflict between the two sects of Christianity.

No wonder he is greatly respected by the people of Ireland today.While the officers welcomed the Divine Couple with a deep spirit of warmth, Lord Rana introduced Baba Ji and and Pujya Mata Ji to both the houses of Parliament. He also explained to the Divine Couple the organizational set up and working of
various Ministries. His Holiness blessed all the Hon’ble Members as well as officials so that they may uphold the cause of truth and peace for the people of their country.

Later, Lord Rama invited the divine couple to his residence where he served them like any devotee of the Mission. Baba Ji and Pujya Mata Ji also saw the famous ship – Titanic which was built by 16000 workers. A film has also been made on this ship. Later, His Holiness and Pujya Mata Ji were seen off at the airport by Lord Rana and the Mission’s devotees. And on their arrival in Birmingham (UK), they were led to the Sant Nirankari Satsang Bhawan in a colourful procession. While Baba Ji and Pujya Mata Ji adorned an open vehicle, the devotees led them with band, drums and Bhangra dance.

Addressing the devotees at the Bhawan briefly, His Holiness said,

“While remembering God devotees go beyond their physical bodies and enjoy the bliss at soul. This unites them in this divine cord of devotion"

August 14: England, Birmingham

On August 14, 2011, after the conclusion of his spiritual tour to Ireland, His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj arrived at Birmingham. A 'Mukti Parv' Samagam, organized at a national level, was celebrated there the same day. The West Midland Police and Sewa Dal volunteers helped make traffic and parking
arrangement for the occasion. Devotees started reaching Sant Nirankari Satsang Bhawan, the venue for Samagam, at 9.00 a.m. A Nirankari Exhibition, installed at the left of the venue, was a point of focal attraction for the new members, VIPs and devotees during the programme. On the other side of the Satsang Bhawan, arrangements had been made for 'Langar' or community kitchen for the all.

The programme for the Samagam started sharp at 11.00 a.m. The Hon'ble Mayor of Sandwell David Wess, Mayor of Dudlee Dr. Bangar, Counsel Genral of India Shri Guru Raj and many other representatives from religious and social organizations attended the Samagam and clearly showed Mission's respect for all the religions.

The Hon'ble Mayor of Sandwell read out an honorary message of the Parliament for His Holiness and also said that the message of love and peace as given by His Holiness is all the more needed in the present circumstances.

Blessing the congregation His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj stated;
“Unless man attains knowledge of his self, Salvation is not possible. Devoid of the knowledge of Truth man can not attain self-realization and considers himself only a physical entity. Living with pride and hatred, he is always ready to harm others to make a gain for himself; he cuts others down to prove himself taller
than others! But true height is attained only by living a high or lofty life.

King Martin Luther said, 'I will not permit anyone to cause a downfall of my soul'.Saints do not nurture hatred for anyone on account of anything; rather they love all. The teachings of saints and sages provide a remedy to the disease of pride
and hatred. Even when man treads a path contrary to the one shown by saints and sages, he still proclaims himself to be their follower! It is only by adopting the teachings of saints and sages that we can live with love, peace and brotherhood.

August 15: England, Birmingham

His Holiness Attends Independence Day Reception In Birmingham as Chief Guest On August 15, 2011, His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj participated in a Reception hosted by High Commission of India to celebrate India’s 65th Independence Day. The Counsel General Shri Guru Raj Rao had invited His Holiness
while attending the Mukti Parv Samagam organized by the Mission in Birmingham on August 14.

The special function was being attended by Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Deputy Mayor of Sandwell, Deputy Mayor of Dudley, Chief Constable of Police, Lord Lieutenant representing the Queen, High Sheriff, Central Ministers, the Leader and Deputy Leader of Birmingham and Heads of various political, social and religious organizations. While Counsel General welcomed His Holiness, all guests came forward to meet Baba Ji and seek his blessings. Smt. Sudha Rao, wife of Shri Guru Raj Rao said that the arrival of His Holiness has converted the whole place into a temple.

Blessing the gathering, Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj said, “In every age, saints, Gurus and prophets gave the message of love and peace to every human being. The Sant Nirankari Mission is also endeavouring to promote their teachings so that humanity is saved from getting fragmented and we live with the spirit of human unity. Even though violence may take place in one part of the world, the rest of mankind just cannot escape. It is, therefore essential that every human being contributes towards this aspect. I am proud to be an Indian but hope that the message of love will go all over the world.”

The Lord Mayor of Birmingham thanked Baba Ji and other guests and hoped that the relations between the people of India and UK will strengthen further. His Holiness and Pujya Mata Ji took their dinner with the guests. Everybody seemed to be approaching Baba Ji and seeking his divine blessings.

August 16: Bradford, North England

Blessing a congregation on August 16, 2011 at Bradford in Yorkshire, North England, His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj stated.

“Every object and reason which distracts man from his source, Lord Formless can be called 'Maya' or falsehood; it is not worldly wealth alone which is called 'Maya'. All the saints have told man that life in human species and human breath are extremely valuable. Man should realize the true value of every single breath of
his human life by living in God-awareness every moment. By living in such a manner man will make his life blissful which does not get disturbed by any ups and downs of life. Saints live a devoted life within Divine-Will; their exemplary life also inspires many others.”

Prior to this, His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj also blessed the family of Rev Sohan Lal Ji, a devotee of Mission who left his mortal frame at the young age of 49; all the members of Bhai Sahib Jawahar Singh Ji's family have been devotedly serving the Mission since many decades.The same day, Baba Ji also
visited Leeds and spent sometime with local saints."

August 18: Leicester, East Midlands, England

On August 18, 2011 a congregation was organized at a hall, Platinum Suits in Leicester. It was attended by City Mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, Deputy Mayor Manjula Sood, Queen’s representative High Shariff Sardar Resham Singh Sandhu and representatives from Afghan Society, Jain Society, Brahmkumari Society, Gurudwara Sahib and many other organizations. All of them welcomed Baba Ji by presenting him
floral bouquets.

The programme was also attended by a large number of eminent Muslim brothers and sisters. A mention has to be made of the fact that Muslim brothers are keeping 'Rozas' or fasts for the month of Ramzan these days; to facilitate them to open their fast at 8:28 p.m. while the congregation was still going on, a special arrangement had been made for them in the same hall to offer their prayers and open their 'Roza' according to their custom! Such an effort on the part of Sant Nirankari Mission clearly conveyed the message that the Mission aims at the transformation of the minds instead of the religions of people!

Hon'ble Mayor of the city also highly appreciated the Mission's efforts and contribution for the social welfare in the city and the world. Hon'ble High Shariff asked and implored all to embrace and imbibe the message of love as given by Baba Ji. Hon'ble Deputy Mayor mentioned that of the hundreds of pledges they had made with the citizens of the city, it was still the Mission's five pledges which were more significant and valuable! In his blessings His Holiness Baba

Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj stated;
“Life becomes lofty not with material wealth, name, fame and worldly achievements but by attaining God-knowledge and imbibing divine virtues. True religion is to imbibe the virtues of tolerance, love, humility etc. while living one's life; only then can man prove himself to be worthy of being called human; to be human is to be truly religious. Saints and sages gave their message and teachings so that man could live as a true human. But strangely man has some how always moved in a direction contrary to saints' teachings! Seeing man go astray from true path, saints and sages always called upon man to move in the true direction. If man was already moving in the true direction, there was no need for saints to give him the message to move in true direction; a person who is already sitting does not need any message to tell him to sit down. The company of saints bestows true wisdom; man's life gets transformed in the company of true saints; a demon by the name 'Kauda Rakshasa' got completely transformed into a saint through God-realization. Through God-knowledge man rises above the feeling of difference and discrimination and looks equally upon all as
his own. It is the feeling of pride and hatred based upon differences and discrimination which is the root-cause of every evil.”

Prior to the programme, His Holiness also visited the Media Center. After the conclusion of the programme, Baba Ji arrived at the local Sant Nirankari Satsang Bhawan and blessed the assembled devotees there

August 21: England, London

Nirankari Sant Samagam Held in LondonLondon hosted a huge Nirankari Sant Samagam on Sunday, August 21, 2011 in the Byran Hall known for its vast capacity. The Samagam was graced by His Holiness
Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj, his holy mother Nirankari Rajmata Kulwant Kaur Ji and his gracious spouse Pujya Mata Sawinder Ji. Other saints from India who participated in the Samagam included Rev K.R. Chadha, Vice-Chairman Central Planning and Advisory Board, Rev Joginder Kaur Ji, Member Incharge Prachar Vibhag, Rev Sandeep Khinda Ji of Foreign Department and Rev Jagtar 'Jagga' Geetkar. Even though the Samagam was to begin at 11.00 a.m., devotees started pouring in right from 9.00 a.m. They represented various cultures of India. Among local VIPs, the Deputy Mayor of London Richard Barnes, Member Parliament Virender Sharma and heads of several religious and social organizations were present to welcome Baba Ji, Nirankari Rajmata Ji and Pujya Mata Ji.

Welcoming His Holiness on behalf of the citizens of London, the Hon'ble Deputy Mayor said, “The youth today is so misguided that we find the tendencies of plunder and violence on the increase. We witnessed the riots here only few days back. It is a matter of concern as to why the youth should act so violently while there is no dearth of material wealth. It seems the elders are failing to adopt human values and that is why the youth is also going astray. Let us all seek the blessings of His Holiness so that there is peace and harmony all around.”

Addressing the Samagam, Rev Nirankari Rajmata Ji stated, “Human life is as precious as diamond. But man seems to be wasting it like shells. No doubt, shells can be found anywhere, while we get a diamond with great difficulty. Just as animals understand the language of the animals, human beings understand the language of human beings. For God-knowledge, therefore, man must approach the one who is familiar with the same and he is the True Master, Satguru.”

Blessing the gathering, His Holiness said, “This time, I am visiting UK for 13 days and addressing 13 congregations at different places. As already pointed out by the Hon'ble Deputy Mayor of London, man's social behaviour is causing concern for every right thinking person. It seems that man's behaviour has deteriorated because he has ignored the role of spirituality in his daily life. Spirituality is being defined as a set of rites and rituals or dogmas, whereas it is the supreme source of all noble human values. Since elders have ignored this aspect, the youth is also moving towards downfall. Children will always speak the language they listen from elders and do what they learn from elders.On the other hand, saints have always endeavoured to redeem humanity. It is very easy to spread hatred, jealousy and violence, but very difficult to promote peace, unity, harmony and respect for each other. And it is the saints who do this difficult task. They may live anywhere, speak any language, but the noble values they promote remain the same. As we look around, we find the tendencies of violence increasing everywhere. They are bringing bad name to religion also. That is why common man is moving away from religion. Naturally, he would not like the religion that spreads hatred or divides humanity. What we need today, therefore, is to understand true religion and promote the same. Let us follow the teachings of saints, Gurus and prophets. That will be the best tribute to their efforts.”Earlier, His Holiness visited Oxford and blessed the devotees there. He visited the family of Lachhman Singh Ji who lost their young son recently. Baba Ji blessed the family so that they accept this will of God as it is.

August 24: Toronto, Canada

Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj’s first stop on His North American tour was Toronto, Canada. On Wednesday August 24, 2011, hundreds of devotees gathered in the pouring rain at the Toronto Bhawan to welcome Satguru Baba Hardev Singh Ji, His esteemed spouse Pujya Mata Sawinder Ji, Rev Sandeep Khinda Ji and Rev Jagtar Jagga Ji, all arriving from India, after spending time spreading the message of
the mission of peace and unity in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The Toronto devotees performed many artistic acts for the Divine Couple, including traditional Indian dances. Small children did a performance with ribbons, while youth played instruments in a band. The Chinese dragon dance was performed by professionals. Many age groups participated in the welcoming of the Divine Couple, and each person was engrossed in the love bestowed upon them by His Holiness. The enthusiasm of the devotees was building up since news of His Holiness’ visit was announced.Since that time, on a daily basis devotees were dedicated to practicing and organizing for the visit. Sewa Dal was dressed in their uniforms ready to serve in every corner of the event.

The entire program was colourful and creative. During the evening congregation, Satguru Baba Ji said, “Whichever location he toured in whether it was Nepal, Nicobar Islands, Punjab, Maharashtra, all saints were hued in the colour of devotion even living in less than fortunate situations. Yet their spiritual bliss and faith in God provides a guiding light in their lives. Today in Toronto and elsewhere saints are spreading the message of the Mission. For this the saints ask for blessings so this light may spread in everyone’s life. His Holiness explained how saints of all ages in UK and here in Toronto, the kids and elderly are also spreading this mission. Making reference to the rain, His Holiness said that when it rains the peacock dances. Similar feelings were felt by all even in the rain, with feelings of spiritual bliss.

His Holiness expressed happiness to be in Ontario, and to continue into Quebec and Western Canada. His Holiness said, he’s very glad to be here after two years and many have travelled to Samagams. It’s not possible for the whole city to travel to India. We should continue on this path and work to move this Mission forward with compassion and humility. The tour will continue with His Holiness and Pujya Mata Ji and saints travelling across Canada, until September and ending the tour in the United States of America in late September.

August 25-26: Barrie, Canada

After a gap of several years, Barrie a smaller city north of Toronto was graced by a two day visit from His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji, Pujya Mata Ji, Rev Sandeep Khinda Ji, Rev Jagtar Jagga Ji, and Rev Vivek Sharma Ji.The families who started Satsang in Barrie were the children of the late Rev Rishi Vyas Dev Ji’s family from Mumbai, India. His children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, four generations in the Mission presented His Holiness and Pujya Mata Ji with skits, and poetry.

A Mahapurush who had moved from Baroda, India performed an Aarti for the holy couple in their home. They spoke about the visit and explained that upon leaving Baroda and settling in Canada, their biggest fear was not being able to serve His Holiness in Canada. On this day, His Holiness blessed the family in their new home in Barrie, Canada and the family prepared dinner for the holy couple.The two day stay was filled with tears of joy and bliss. Each family member felt sheer gratitude that the holy couple had given them the opportunity to serve.

One saint commented to Baba Ji that she could live without everything in life, but always wanted to be blessed with more Sewa (selfless service), Simran (prayer) and Satsang (congregation). This saint later commented that her new house, only now felt like a home after the visit of His Holiness and the saints

August 27: Toronto, Canada

On a bright sunny afternoon, more than two hundred Sewa Dal from Montreal, Toronto and USA gathered for a Sewa Dal Rally on Saturday, August 27th. Each centre took part in the rally and cohesively showed the discipline required of Sewa Dal during the exercises. Even Bal Sewa Dal from Toronto under the age of 16 were fully dressed and participating. While wearing the uniform, members competed in exhibition games.
The games played were, musical chairs, and tug of war. During a skit, the Sewa Dal illustrated how even in sleep they are committed to the discipline required of a Sewa Dal member.

The Sewa Dal members built human pyramids to show how team work is important to reaching an end goal. When His Holiness Baba Ji addressed the Sewa Dal he said: "The selfless service that is being performed is part of devotion. Devotees perform selfless service with their body, mind and wealth. They feel gratitude for this opportunity to do service. Youth feel blessed if elders request Sewa of them, and elders hope not to dishearten youngsters. One should never be disheartened.The type of service given should never be ranked. Whether it is removing snow in the winter, even if Sewa is being done in the cold, it should be done in a selfless manner. If devotees have this humility then they will never be disheartened. One has to keep this humility and never avoid Sewa. This does not only include inside the Mission but outside too.Youngsters have played a huge role in the social services area. They are contributing to social services with dedication which is highlighting the Mission.

As a watch is worn there are many moving parts. There are small/big cranks, wheels, various springs and dials. When all these moving parts do their jobs, we all benefit. They are all different parts but work together cohesively, just as volunteers serve without paying any attention to who has the bigger job or the smaller job. No service is too small or too large.In India, in Samagam, Sewa Dal youngsters come from all over India without luxuries, as they put everything aside and volunteered. People tend to ask if they are paid volunteers. It is explained to them that all volunteers have their own sources of livelihood, encompassing jobs ranging in management or owing businesses. People respond by saying that the services have been performed in such
a simple manner. This is because volunteers forget their social status. When people see this they get shocked. In today’s age people only think about themselves.

A tree gives everyone shade, so should devotees. Devotees should never get weak about Sewa.Kids with very small hands are doing Sewa in this young age too. Many parents are concerned that kids are looking to vices and misusing their energy. Instead of virtues it's vices occupying their time and this energy could be channelized in a proper way to become an asset to society.”The evening continued with families doing Namaskar to the holy couple. Many devotees arrived from Eastern Canada and America to attend the Toronto samagam.

August 28: Toronto, Canada

Toronto welcomed thousands of devotees and guests on Sunday, August 28th at the Apollo Convention Centre. His Holiness Satguru Baba Hardev Singh Ji, his esteemed spouse Pujya Mata Sawinder Ji were in attendance.Many of the Sewa Dal members had stayed up all night preparing for the Samagam which included sewing the backdrop by hand, to meticulously arranging the audio/visual equipment, seating, stage and live telecast. Each Sewadar with discipline successfully brought the entire program together with the blessings of His Holiness.

Upon arrival, many welcomed His Holiness, including the Honourable Member of Parliament Mississauga-Streetsville, Brad Butt. He thanked the Mission for standing up for peace, love and unity. In addition, Gordon Randell, from the Salvation Army presented a certificate of appreciation to His Holiness for the continuous donations made on Guru Puja Diwas. Karry Kwan from the Canadian Blood Services presented the Mission a Partners for Life Award for their over 10 years of blood donation support. The city of Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell sent a letter welcoming the holy couple. Toronto Area Interfaith Council President Zul Kassamali along with Reverend Leslie Mezei of Universal Worship, also greeted the holy couple.

Many young devotees from Eastern Canada and America shared thought-provoking messages. Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji was referenced when he once said that the source of our anger and violence can be traced to our mind. Another discussed love being the highest stage of spiritual blessings. It was said that one must only be sincere in the desire to know God in order to get God knowledge. One devotee engaged in dialogue about examining a spiritual and moral crisis within. Then the conversation continued with a thought that Einstein once said mystery is the greatest experience. It was also said that we need to see the greater purpose today which is why His Holiness is here, for the awakening of mankind and to spread love. Lastly, Rev Sandeep Khinda Ji explained that in chemistry a catalyst is required for a reaction to begin. The catalyst here is the removal of the ego.

Addressing the congregation, His Holiness said:
“In this lifetime God gave us a life but man did not manage it properly. God gave man a precious life like a jewel that man has squandered off. Humans turn their backs to the truth and instead choosing to burn in anger. Humans live this way, he himself makes his life bitter. The veil of ignorance is the reason we define
ourselves with certain religious identities. Our true entity is the soul from over soul, neither Christian, Jew, Sindhi, Punjabi, fair or dark. The soul is from that over soul that is our true identity. With that feeling, then there is no reason to hate one another. Ignorance has disunited us from God. Since we are already
disunited from God , it cannot be expected that we will be in unity with mankind.The space between the moon and Earth, Sun and moon, and planets have millions of miles of distance. This earth itself is homogenous it is in continuity, as there are many languages and cultures. But it doesn’t mean that we have to see others as aliens or not equal to myself. The diversity is the beauty. The creation of God Almighty is the beauty. Imagine if everything was the same. The universe is diverse so are all the planets.There was a time that no one thought the Berlin wall would disappear. The cold war was going on. Nobody could imagine that the Berlin wall would crash. Then steps were taken and wisdom prevailed. That barrier came down. In our minds we have walls that are manmade. In our beliefs we give them physical shape. That’s why there is no harmony.

One person remarked that how could anyone say that civilization has not advanced, it has advanced because in every world war we kill men in a different way than before. Unfortunately, that’s the advancement today. In the United Kingdom it was said - ‘let’s globalize love not hatred.’ Prejudice is a lock to the door to
wisdom. It is said that love is God. Build relationship with love. When the Butterfly advances and grows it will always grow towards the flowers. When it rises and when it comes down it will onto flowers. Even when it parishes it will onto flowers. It knows how to live and die amongst flowers.”After the end of Samagam devotees who had travelled great distances continued on their journey home with blessings in hand

After the Samagam was held in Toronto, many youth were ready in the evening to perform for the holy couple; skits, songs and dances for a cultural program. The youth had been preparing for several weeks, meeting on evenings and weekends to perfect their roles. Dressed in traditional Indian sarees, youth were celebrating unity in diversity. Dances included a classical theme, Sufi dance and Punjabi Bhangra.

The skits illustrated and gave messages of practicing what you preach. Other skits while humorous still conveyed the message of not judging others. The songs were praising the Lord Master, expressing the attitude of gratitude and some were singing farewell songs.His Holiness Baba Ji said, “Since arriving in Toronto devotees’ hearts have been filled with love. In India we get to see even in rain devotees are dancing and singing. From afar in the rain devotees are doing Sewa. Here on Wednesday night there was rain and in everyone’s hearts there was love.

Saturday there was a Sewa Dal Rally where youngsters asked for blessings. Then after a beautiful view of devotees who were attending from far places we had an opportunity to meet. Today as well as a family we are celebrating.In Birmingham the Indian high commission did a dinner where Ministers, Counselors and Mayors were invited in the city centre. There were dignitaries who had attended the congregation in Birmingham, for the first time and ones that had attended before and they were speechless.

They said they were still feeling the bliss of the Birmingham congregation.Whenever possible don’t let small things keep us away from congregation. We spend so much time wasting our lives on small things, we end up giving those small things importance and we stop attending congregation. Through conversations with
devotees that left the congregation and came back, they deeply regretted it and wonder how they will ever get those years back. Our focus is on .2% of someone saying something negative. What about the other 99.8% that is positive and has more value? We should value those things that do well for people. Our faith gets stronger with positive things. Devotion should always be from the heart. The brain is full of ego. When we look down upon others it is either we are looking from far away and not seeing the full picture or because of ego.

Don’t let the thread of love break. Stay with love. Often there are feelings of love in our heart but those perish the moment brain interferes. Just like a river which is full of water until it hits a desert. At that very moment all the water gets soaked into the sand and the existence of the river itself ends.
Kids are participating and learning musical instruments so that they can contribute to the congregation. When we leave India the congregation gets together they say you’re leaving but my heart is not filled. I think this is the love that should never be filled. Otherwise there wouldn’t be a thirst. “

August 30: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj’s second stop on His North American tour was in Montreal, Canada, on Tuesday August 30th. Saints started gathering as of 2 PM in the afternoon, eager to welcome Satguru Baba Hardev Singh Ji, his esteemed spouse Pujya Mata Sawinder Ji, Rev. Sandeep Khinda Ji and Rev Jagtar Jagga Ji and seek the blessings of His Holiness.

Upon arrival of His Holiness at the Bhawan, he was enthusiastically welcomed by the local Sadh Sangat. The Bal Sangat performed cultural folk dances which expressed their love towards Satguru and their happiness and joy in seeing him. His Holiness was officially welcomed to Montreal by Ms. Carola Haney, the Special Assistant to Mr. Francis Scarpaleggia, Member of Parliament, who acknowledged the
efforts of the Sant Nirankari Mission to the welfare of society. Ms. Kettley Beauregard, the President of the Canadian International Haitian Group, expressed her sincere appreciation towards the efforts of the Sant Nirankari Mission in supporting the Haitian community after the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010. She also presented His Holiness with a plaque that recognized the Mission for their Humanitarian efforts.

During the evening congregation, Satguru Baba Ji said:
“The Nirankari Mission is a mission of love and peace, with its main goal to bring about Harmony in this world. Wherever the Sadh Sangat is, they not only serve this mission selflessly, but they also serve and contribute to their local community by giving a helping hand whenever it is needed, such as relief efforts after a natural disaster.”His Holiness made reference to the Haiti Earthquake relief efforts in 2010, and stated that what the Sant Nirankari Mission strives to is continuously making efforts in serving on humanitarian grounds.”Following the congregation, the families did Namaskar to His Holiness and Pujya Mata Ji and sought their blessings

September 1: Edmonton, Canada

His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj arrived in Edmonton on Thursday, September 1, 2011. He was welcomed at the Sant Nirankari Bhawan there by saints from Edmonton and Calgary. The Edmonton children expressed their joy and happiness in the form of Bhangra. Later that evening, the Alberta level Samagam was held from 6pm to 8pm at the ACCA centre in Edmonton. Several invited guests and dignitaries were present here to meet His Holiness and welcome him to the province of Alberta. Included in these dignitaries were Kerry Diote, Councillor, City of Edmonton, and Honourable Dave Hancock, Q.C. Government House Leader, MLA, Minister of Education, who both graciously welcomed His Holiness during the Samagam, while also commending the efforts of the Sant Nirankari Mission to better all of humanity. Other than that, there were several speeches and hymns delivered by Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto saints in the languages of English, Hindi and Punjabi, which were related to the teachings of the Mission and the blessings of the True Master. There was mention about how His Holiness was visiting Edmonton after a lapse of 5 years, and the love, bliss and contentment in the eyes of the local saints was extremely overwhelming to witness. As always, the Samagam concluded with a sermon from His Holiness.

Babaji expressed in his words:
“Today in the city of Edmonton, I feel great happiness to see you saints after 5 years. I have had a chance to come to Calgary regularly, but over here the opportunity has come after some time. There are many such places that I have been on this trip where there has been a huge lapse between visits, whether that be in UK, Ireland or North America. Nonetheless, wherever I go, the same message of humanity and love is being spread. Also in India itself, there are many regions speaking different languages who are speaking about the betterment of humanity. We witness here today how young kids were also providing inspiration to all of us. At the same time, so were the youth and elderly saints. They were all talking about the purpose of human life. This is essentially the life of a saint; he not only receives blessings himself, but he provides this same bliss to others too. This has been spoken about for ages and ages. If we talk about the Satyug, a young kid such as Prahlada understood the truth, but his father, Hiranyakashyap never could understand this. Now let us question ourselves: who do we remember and look up to today? Is it the saintly son, Prahlada, or his vicious father, Hiranyakashyap? Thus, it is clearly evident that from time to time there have been some people who
follow this path, but the question is the number of people who actually do? In today's world, many follow a path of hatred and jealousy. There are rituals being performed, prayers being rendered, and pilgrimages being walked, yet our mind is still wandering aimlessly. The faster we realize the Truth and rise above such ritualism, the faster we will make our surroundings beautiful.We heard about the same message of love from those who were born in this Mission, those who joined it and the respected dignitaries.”

His Holiness then reiterated in English:
“It is a very happy time to be here in Edmonton after a gap of 5 years. I am pleased to spend this time with you. May good senses prevail. Let us prove that we are a higher species than the rest of the animal kingdom. Man has to prove this. That is what is being said by all present here today. The dignitaries in attendance are also working for the betterment of the community and country. It is important to work for this and the betterment of humanity. For example, the sun has had its importance throughout the ages. Similarly the path of righteousness has had importance before and is also important today. Whatever disunites us from God disunites us from humans. We are not close to God because we have barriers of regionalism. Wise are those who break these barriers. They do not differentiate amongst others, considering each and everyone their own. They realize that we are all souls who come from the same Over-Soul.God has given us brain and heart. Whether it is a heart or brain, both are being used to breed hatred. Although we are born as humans, we are not living in such a manner. This is because we have not established love in our hearts. Peace is in
pieces now.

I had the opportunity to go to the European Parliament a few years ago, and the Mission went with the slogan ‘Peace, not pieces, let’s work for it’. Peace is required everywhere. Peace is needed in our houses, in our neighbourhoods, and in our lives as a whole. That is why we pray to God that peace may prevail. This is
only possible if we have love in our hearts. That is what is required today; we have to create such an environment to establish peace.”

Baba Ji then went on to say:
“The words of prophets have always carried value, like the sun. Such thoughts have always had importance. We do say that we are living in the Kalyug, but we fail to realize that the importance of this should be more now rather than less. But the worldly people give so much importance to hatred and violence. They love hatred, not love, even though they know that it is for their own and others’ demise.There is a quote in English, ‘Separate yourself from that what separates you from others’. So why not separate such things? Why not embrace those thoughts which connect us with others?

Since we were a child, we were told what to do and what not to do. But for some reason our thinking becomes opposite. The opposite thinking of Raavan and Hiranyakashyap led to their demises. When wrong thinking prevails, there will be destruction. Subsequently, there will be no happiness. Only saints inspire us to
follow the right path. Adversely, we see the inspiration we receive from the world to walk in the wrong direction. That is why we are told to always keep the company of saints. We see that people reside in cities, villages and towns. They are populated and continue to grow, but there is no one populated with wisdom. This is because they follow in a direction of destruction. It has only been the saints and sages who
tell the right way of living. They talk about closing these distances between humanity. Even today, the same message is being taught. But again, the repetition of this message would not have been necessary if man easily understood. Conversely, man looked down upon those who were on the right path. Saints always try to make humans understand, but only a rare few truly comprehend. If all actually understood, then there would be no reason to quarrel. Consequently, an enlightened soul tells us a way of life, and all quarrels eliminate themselves.

A rabbit came to a locksmith and asked him for a carrot. The locksmith annoyingly told him, ‘I mend iron and don’t sell carrots’. The rabbit repeatedly continued to do this for many days, until the locksmith got frustrated one day and punched out the rabbit’s teeth. The following day, the rabbit came back once again to the locksmith, but this time he said: ‘Since I have no teeth left now, can I have carrot juice instead?’

What this comical story is trying to explain is that just like that rabbit, humans have become so stubborn. They are not ready to shed their vices. They are not ready to embrace a new way of living. And just because of this stubbornness, the world is in harm. Man will continue to sleep in ignorance and get looted. However,
an awakened soul can still salvage something. In this world, if you stay asleep, you will lose everything, but if you wake up, then you can receive everything. What are you waiting for? What life in the future are you looking forward to?

What will guarantee us salvation in the future? Let us realize that the time is here, the time is now.It is due to this darkness of ignorance that we consider a rope as a snake. The darkness created a misconception in our minds, created a fear in our minds. But when there is light, we can clearly see that it is a rope and all misconceptions and fears eliminate themselves. Then we can say that all that was not mine has been forfeited, since I have found the company of saints. No one is an enemy, neither a stranger. Now there is no one being seen as a lower being. It is the same soul in all beings, regardless of the gender, regardless of the race. Then we become a contributor to a more beautiful environment. This is the talk of the time; this is what is needed now. Time doesn't stop for anybody. We pass our whole life, and yet we still do not truly
know how to live life. It is like an elderly person who has seen many summers and winters, but still doesn’t understand what to do. Wisdom does not come with age. An aged/experienced person is not one who has lived for many years. For example, the child Prahlada was wiser than his father. Furthermore, it is neither about the wealth we possess materialistically; it is about having a wealthy heart. We need to be open-hearted. In this way, prophets have lived a great life as they never faltered from the path of righteousness.

They stayed in that state, regardless of the circumstances around him. May God bless everyone with such thinking so that they can understand the words of the prophets. Words can carry on, but time has limits. Hence, in the end, I would like to express my happiness once again of being here in Edmonton. When I left India, the saints there conveyed their love and wishes, and now after visiting England and Ireland, the saints there have also added their wishes. May this continue as this trip progresses. May we celebrate this happiness ourselves and also share this happiness with others. My first trip to the province of Alberta was in1976, where we did Satsang in Calgary. There was only one family there. Subsequently, I had more chances to come here from time to time. In the last year, no countries in the Western World could be visited. Nevertheless, wherever I'm going, I am getting immense happiness to see the love, devotion and selflessness of the saints, and how they are working to establish true religion, which is the religion of humanity. I am happy to see the steps that are being taken to spread this message. We have to work together to strengthen this aspect. With these good wishes and prayers, I ask for your leave.”

September 2: Calgary, Canada

His Holiness departed by road from Edmonton on Friday afternoon, and arrived in Calgary. Upon arrival, His Holiness was welcomed by Calgary and Edmonton saints at the local Satsang Bhawan, which was followed by a Bhangra performance.Subsequently, His Holiness proceeded towards the opening of the exhibition set up by the Calgary youth and children. The exhibition was based around the theme of "Rise & Awake - Let's change ourselves to change the world..." Various art pieces were created with different aspects of what His Holiness and the Mission focus on, such as "Rise & Awake for Self-Realization", "Rise & Awake for Environment", "Rise & Awake for Community", "Rise & Awake for Noble Actions" and so on. The exhibition concluded with a "Walk of Enlightenment" where the exhibitors creatively displayed
the lives of various prophets and saints throughout history.

As part of the opening of the exhibition, Babaji unveiled the curtain to the main entrance, hoisted a "flag of flags" made by the Calgary children, and added more painting to a canvas that was originally started by him on his previous trip in 2009. At the end of the exhibition, His Holiness wrote in the guestbook, blessing all those who were involved with the exhibition. The Calgary youth presented a small gift as a white wristband reading "Peace not Pieces" to Babaji and Pujya Mataji, which was worn by them throughout the night's festivities. The opening of the exhibition was followed by a cultural program which included various devotional songs, a skit prepared by the Edmonton kids, a Giddha performance by the Calgary girls, a music video made by the Calgary kids, and an Antakshri of devotional songs.

This was followed by a sermon from His Holiness, in which he said:

"Once again today, I have the opportunity to see you saints. Two years ago, this Bhawan was gifted to you. There were a lot of efforts made by the saints to build this Bhawan, whether it be the contributions of the young or old, with proper facilities so that we can comfortably do Satsang, while utilizing the Bhawan for other activities for the betterment of humanity.

As I mentioned yesterday that since Baba Gurubachan Singh Ji's time, I have been visiting Calgary. There used to be Sangat at Rev. Narinder Sood ji's house. Also, who can forget the commitment of Rev. Kanwal Ji, a great saint who dedicated his whole life to spread the message of the Mission? You witnessed the enthusiasm of the younger kids from Edmonton today who performed a skit. We have heard about Rev. Navneet Ji, the daughter of the Parmukh of Kolkata, who in such a short time, created such a warm space in the hearts of the Edmonton Sangat. It is very true that there are some lives that create a special place in our hearts. This is not possible to do through other forms such as constantly chanting slogans. Most people demand respect, but there are some who command respect.

Those who tread on a saintly path command respect. Let us question: does a flower have to ever ask for respect? It is the flower's attributes that automatically make it stand out, commanding respect. Or when did the diamond ever say that I am valuable? It is the attributes of a diamond that make it valuable. Similar are the tendencies of saints. Let us decorate our lives with the attributes of God; saints just pray for this. It is true that they do pray, but they also actually perform actions. There are individuals, such as athletes and artists, who have certain forms of strength in them. These strengths do not come natural. Athletes have to endure pain and push themselves to their limits for long times so that they can gain perfection. Dedication and determination is needed. In devotion (Bhakti), doing prayer is great and God does give us strength, but we still have to take a step forward ourselves.

The one who actually respects and builds relationships with saints, performs selfless service (sewa), which strengthens the saintly qualities of humility and love. I pray that everyone's lives are imbibed with such qualities. Since we were kids, we have heard about the same stories and examples of many great saints who not only received the Truth, but they lived the Truth. The ones who live life according to the will of Guru (Gurmat), they automatically live the Truth. We see a change in their lives. Their voice becomes soft and sweet. If we follow the will of our minds (Manmat), then we will become intolerant. The lives of saints are truly great. The moment you praise them, they become humbler. Opposite is the tendency of the world. A worldly person becomes more boastful. For example, a tree that bears fruits will always bow lower. Similarly, the more and more a devotee becomes humbler, the more and more attributes are imbibed.
Wherever I have visited, I have seen a lot of commitment and devotion. May God bless all with more power of devotion. May a devotee always be motivated to come to Sangat. May his hands come to the use of Sewa. Happiness is always achieved when we see saints. O Lord, you have given us these eyes to see the beauty of the world, but let us remember that we seek the company of saints. Let us long to always see the Creator, and not just the creation. We hear the stories of disciples who talk about how they feel empty even if a day goes by without meeting a saint. From the days of our childhood, during the time of Shahenshah Ji, we got to see such great motivation. May God always make such moments.

May we always ask for love, may we always pray for humility.It was great to see the joy and happiness expressed by you saints earlier when we arrived. You could see the hard work and dedication of the kids and youth in the exhibition, using a very beautiful concept. I often say that God has filled so much talents in these kids. May these talents be properly channelled so they come to good use and they become a medium to preach the message of the Mission even further. Subsequently, now you saw how the kids used various arts and music to explain how we have to stay awaken while leading our lives.As I travel from city to city, I am getting very limited time to spend with you saints. Nevertheless, may we take full advantage of this time. Being inspired by this, may this inspiration even grow further. Dhan Nirankar Ji"

September 4: Calgary, Canada

A Satsang program was organized in Calgary, Canada on the Sunday morning from 11am to 1pm. There were many devotional songs, speeches and poems expressed in the languages of English, Hindi, Gujarati and Punjabi by saints. Mr. Rick Orman, ex-MLA, welcomed His Holiness, talking about how he was so impressed with the efforts of the Mission. He further mentioned how he was very pleased with the "Rise & Awake" exhibition.

Discourse by His Holiness:
“Saints say with love, Dhan Nirankar Ji. For the last 3 days, I have been in Alberta. Firstly in Edmonton, there was a beautiful sight to be seen. And then Friday night, in Calgary, there was another beautiful sight to behold, where many praised God with artistry. Again this wonderful moment is upon us. From young to elders through songs and other methods, a righteous calling has been made - a call to action that is necessary for the world today. Tonight, later there is another congregation: in Vancouver, two Satsang programms in one day. Also, the ex-MLA spoke and said that the principles of the Mission are commendable. The Mission has always held dear to these principles. Many have sacrificed for this purpose, for these principles, the purpose of higher living, higher state of living, a noble path.

To tread the noble path, one must follow the principles, the teachings of the saints and sages. Only with adherence to their teachings is treading this path possible. Only the followers of these teachings have attained worthwhile heights. In taking inspiration from the devotion of these legendary saints does one become a devotee.A diamond never says that 'I am so precious'. A saint similarly does not recognize his noble actions nor has ego because of it. The saints’ greatness is from the characteristic that he/she embodies. When you live in the world, the world affects you. When you see the saints’ life, you see the beauty in them. Their lives are noble, one gets inspired by them. Towards a slope water cascades down. It requires no effort for it to come down. But to bring water up a slope requires great effort - pumps, motors or physical manual labour (hand and pail). Similarly, to follow the worldly path is easy. It naturally happens for the mind to wander to these ways. Whether awake or asleep, it is easy for the man to tread the path of the worldly. Like, the example of a man who had a white sheet and he started tearing it one/two metres of sheets because during the day he was a garment manufacturer and even in his dreams he was tearing garments to size. Similarly man, is so immersed in worldly materialism, even his dreams are dominated with these thoughts.This has been the case from time immemorial. Materialism has been around for eternity. Neither materialism has ended, nor has ego ended, the body has demised (one dies but these things don't).

Those that have lived obsessed with materialism, even in the afterlife remain engrossed with material pursuits. Materialism has caused destruction, it has created walls between siblings. I don't get to watch TV often but when I see the news, I get Goosebumps looking at how much destruction is caused because of this pursuit. Needs can be fulfilled but greed cannot be. When I was in Ireland, there was rioting in England. The TV news stated that some of the rioters were 'well-off' and some of these members were after getting branded goods from the stores they looted. Needs can be fulfilled but greed cannot be. Even when we know there is suffering of the one next to us, even those that are helpless, we see people exploiting them. Even we hear of legal disputes where someone shows mercy to another, gives him a home. The one who is given a home, makes forged papers and takes advantage of the situation. It is saddening to see. We treat material wealth as if it is eternal, as if it will actually come with us. Like Guru Nanak Dev ji said, not even a needle will come with us into the after life. When Lord Ram, Lakshman ji and Sita Ji went into exile, Ram ji was ahead, Sita ji behind and Lakshman ji at the end - like in a single file line. But Lakshman ji kept going left and right behind Sita ji. If he was following Sita ji directly why is he moving left and right. Lakshman ji responded that if I follow directly where Sita ji is then I will lose sight of the Master. If I blindly follow the material, I may lose sight of God himself. A saint is like a lotus flower, he is in the water but above it still. Like a ship's purpose is to stay in water, but remain above it. While a boat remains above water it stays afloat. If water comes 'inside' the boat it sinks. Similarly, a saint remains in materialism, but if materialism comes 'into' the saint, he also sinks.

The saint shall stay in the world. But may the worldly ways not come in the saint. May we remember the Lord Almighty sitting and standing, at all times. That is the way to see if He is really truly in our heart. From our mouths we may recite endlessly, but if He is not in our hearts then it is useless. LIke if we recite 'milk' 'milk' - we don't strengthen ourselves from reciting its names, we have to sip it. but the one who is drinking is not reciting because he is busy drinking, strengthening himself. Geet from Shahennshah Avtar Ji's time: lyrics, 'that it resides all around me everywhere'. We remain in bliss because of this realization. Whether the material comforts are more or less - the bliss remains the same. The bliss remains because of the connection. Keep drinking from the nectar of knowledge. Let’s not make the mistake of just wetting our lips, let us drink from this nectar till we are saturated (full). The ways of the divine have always been clearly there. G O D - makes the word God, G first, O in the middle and D at the end. But if we turn the formula around it becomes D O G. When you remember Him, you become His reflection, you become like G O D. But if the path is forgotten then you become like the opposite. In every breath pray and remember the Almighty. No saint or sage has said that remember him for just a moment or for a while - rather ALWAYS in EVERY breath. It could have been said just as easily that remember Him for just a moment or just in the mornings. No, it was said to remember Him in EVERY moment. If there is true love for God He resides in our hearts. When man is in love with a woman, or a woman with a man - neither forgets the other. No one needs to remind the man or the woman, both in day or night, asleep or awake that you are in love. Similarly, the devotee doesn't need
reminding of the love for the Almighty, for the Lord. The saint is always reminiscent of his love for his beloved (God). Dont' just go with the flow, follow the saintly path. If their is no uniqueness in the form of righteousness between the saint and the sinner then what would the world come to. In this world there are few that are transactors of the truth.

There are few that follow the path of the truth, that are both after and motivated by the truth, by the noble and virtuous path. If we remember Him before every word, even the most negative thought by the time it reaches the lips it changes to a positive word because of the remembrance of Him before speaking. Because He is so deep, when we realize Him, we ourselves become vast (full of depth). It is vital for the saint to always remember the Lord at all times, before anything. You cannot see your reflection in a dry pond. When dryness is in our life, we see the dirt. (like a dried up lake) lips were soft like flowers petals, but the words that were said were still harmful enough to hurt and break hearts. May we keep the light forever lit. May we tread the path of righteousness continually. So that our lives may remain beautiful. Time is precious, we got a chance to gather in this congregation today.

Wherever I have gone, I have seen a passion in the youth and innocence in the children and the elders are following the path of righteousness - let this always remain. First UK was on the map of the Mission, then North America, then Eurasia and all the continents of the world. Even in India, in all the corners of the country, in all regions, in almost all languages the truth is being spoken, being recited, shared and being experienced by many. May we continue to spread the truth to all that we interact with. May we embody the virtues garnered by the truth in all our daily interactions. Within our Sangat as well, we have to treat everyone with kindness and respect. In Calgary, we had a wonderful example of a human being in the now departed Kamal ji, he was a living example of a saint. He played the administrative role of being Parmukh in Calgary. That administrative role will now be handled by Rev. Surjit Virk ji in Calgary.

May all remain positive in carrying out their responsibilities. May all remain positive that are delegated responsibilities. May all remain positive that are delegated roles. May all give their full attention to their responsibility. The most important responsibility is to remain a saint, to be a disciple. This responsibility rests on everyone's shoulders. It brings great happiness to be here, to see the love, the wonderful sentiments of
all. May these feelings always remain, whether I am visiting physically or not, day after day, year after year. Dhan Nirankar."

September 4, 5: Richmond (Vancouver), British Columbia

Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj’s fifth stop on his North American tour wasin Vancouver, Canada on Sunday, September 4th. Saints started gathering as of 3 pmin the afternoon, eager to welcome Satguru Baba Hardev Singh Ji, his esteemedspouse Pujya Mata Sawinder Ji, Rev. Sandeep Khinda Ji, along with Vivek Sharma Ji,Sukhdyal Singh Ji and Jagtar Jagga Ji. Upon arrival of His Holiness at the Richmond Bhawan, he was enthusiastically welcomed by the local Sadh Sangat and by saints from Mission, Victoria, Kamloops and Seattle Sadh Sangat. The local Sangat performed folk dances such as Bhangra and Gidda in which saints expressed their love and affection towards His Holiness.

His Holiness extremely pleased with the efforts of the youth as he viewed the youth Sangat room and the exhibition. His Holiness was officially welcomed to Richmond by Honourable Alice Wong, Minister of State (seniors). Minister Wong is also Member of Parliament for Richmond, British Columbia, His Worship Malcolm Brodie, Mayor of the City of Richmond. His Holiness was also presented by greeting massages from Honourable, Stephen Harper – Prime Minister of Canada. Honourable Christy Clark – Premier of BC. Honourable Rob Howard – MLA, Richmond Centre and Honourable Linda Reid - MLA, Richmond East. All acknowledged the efforts of the Sant Nirankari Mission to the welfare of society and also acknowledged His Holiness’s efforts of bring unity in diversity. Addressing the congregation, His Holiness said: “Anyone who brings good wishes for the Mission brings good wishes for all of Mankind. The Mission is working to establish peace and universal brotherhood.

As we can see the brotherhood is a divided lot based on caste, creed, color, religion and nationalities. The dividing forces are working day in and day out. Yet despite this, the right minded people are working to break down these barriers and are devoting so much energy to do this. With the same material you can build walls and bridges. Religion has become a wall, a dividing force. The same religion that was supposed to fill the hearts with love, compassion, and teach to live in harmony. The greatness is in those people that look to building bridges, to bring people closer and devote their time and energy to accomplish this. Those people understand the teachings of the prophets and the sages and create the true universal brotherhood. A poet said, Looking at the world of the adults, a child is scared to grow up. We do the children a disservice when we fill their minds with the hatred and poison of the world. They are better off as children. Another poet said, ‘We see innocence in a child because they make mistakes but they don't create conspiracy.’ It is man, these adults that create conspiracies and the reason for destruction.

We speak of the recession during these economic times, but as a poet said, ‘I am not sad that the value of coin has fallen, but rather the value of man continues to fall.’ What is the value of man that remains? For a little money, he is willing to hurt and become a nuisance for another human being. Human values are falling, so much so that you cannot even forgive your own. Forgotten are those teachings of the saints and sages, but rather man has adopted teachings and ways that were never taught by them. Saints and sages still work to change the direction of man. Because if the direction can change, the way of thinking can change. Let it not be that all the years of life go by, and man does not change. ‘The question is not how many years in your life, but how much life is in your years.’ Are we actually living, or are we walking corpses? We have lived in this world, but what we refer to as love, we still don't truly understand. Life is living for others, living for love, living for the comfort of others. When we try to walk on the path of living for human values, that is when we are worthy of living. As it is said, 'when you cease to love, you cease to live,' because loving is living. There is a saying that ‘I did not know how to worship until I knew how to love’. We have to live this lesson of love and brotherhood. Brotherhood needs to be universal, not limited to the one language. We are all the same, from the same Over Soul.

We cannot limit our brotherhood to just this physical level. A new born child does not have a language, these languages that have become a dividing factor today. God is universal. God is not limited to any language, religion or other man made barriers. Man limits himself to these things and these become his focus. This becomes his world.” Following the congregation, the families did Namaskar to His Holiness and Puiya Mata Ji and sought their blessings. The next day devotees once again got a chance for holy Darshan.

Devotees came in large numbers with much happiness and enthusiasm to attain Baba Ji's holy glimpse and blessings. His Holiness blessed the Vancouver Sangat on Sept 5th with a day of picnic along with his esteemed spouse Pujya Mata Sawinder Ji at Capilano River Regional Park in North Vancouver. Naturally the local residents' joy knew no bounds to find their True Master once again amidst them! Devotees continued singing along with Jagtar Jagga Ji, dancing and paying obeisance at Baba Ji's and Mata Ji's holy feet for hours together. His Holiness spent time talking to families as they did Namaskar to His Holiness and Puiya Mata Ji and sought their blessings. It was also amazing to see curious onlookers watching the gathering to see what was happening and were blessed with Darshan of His Holiness. Baba Ji, Pujya Mata Ji and other saints are on a 7-week World Salvation Tour covering UK, Ireland, USA and Canada.

September 7: Mission (Abbotsford) British Columbia

Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj’s fifth stop on His North American tour was in Mission (Abbotsford), Canada on Wednesday, September 7th, 2011. Saints started gathering as of 4.00 pm in the afternoon, energetic to welcome Satguru Baba Hardev Singh Ji, his esteemed spouse Pujya Mata Sawinder Ji, Rev. Sandeep Kinda Ji, along with Vivek Sharma Ji, Sukhdyal Singh Ji and Jagtar Jagga Ji. Upon arrival of His Holiness in Mission, BC, he was vigorously welcomed by the local Sadh Sangat and by saints from Vancouver, Victoria, and Kamloops. The local Sangat performed folk dances such as Bhangra and Gidda in which saints expressed their love and affection towards His Holiness and Pujya Mata Sawinder Ji. His Holiness was extremely pleased with the efforts of peace, love and unity from Mission Sadh Sangat. His Holiness was officially welcomed to Mission by Honourable Randy Hawes, Member of Parliament for Mission, British Columbia, along with the Pramukh of Mission Sangat Rev Sadhu Singh Gill. Mayor of the City of Mission also sent his greeting message to His Holiness and acknowledged the efforts of the Sant Nirankari Mission. The local MLA was also extremely thankful to His Holiness for efforts of welfare of society. He acknowledged the message of His Holiness towards embracing spiritually, which brings unity of mankind as children of one God. Addressing the congregation, His Holiness said: “May all centers of the Mission help one another to grow. Though some areas are small in size, their devotion, Sewa and hearts are very big.

May God bless everyone that they may partake in the Sewa and Sangat. As well always remember to do Simran to feel God almighty's presence all around and stay in the color of God-knowledge. May the mankind continue to grow with this. The purpose of life has been to attain this God Knowledge. It is important to know the creator. If everyone is linked with Nirankar, then why should anyone be left behind. Everyone should fulfill this task before last breath. Material wealth can come in many forms, don't get taken by these. Fulfill what needs to be done. Our focus should be on this. People know God exists but still give preference to material wealth. They lose sight of what is the real goal of life. They believe the truth to be a lie. We must fill our lives with good deeds. Material wealth should be used to help others. God is the creator and eternal truth. The sun, moon, stars weren't always here. All objects are born and they die. Everything has a beginning and an end. However, God wasn’t ever created or destroyed. Nirankar almighty is the highest supreme. He is eternal. Those who believe in this creator constantly remind each other of the formless supreme. When we say “Dhan Nirankar” to each other, it is for this very reason. We remind ourselves that only Nirankar is Dhan. Let me only see Nirankar as the highest being. If we cannot keep this in mind, then we are unplugged fromNirankar.

When we are unplugged, the ego prevails and we begin to exploit others. Then all the love, sweetness of the soul is lost and used in giving others pain and suffering. Anyone who throws away good food and carries with himself bad food is considered a fool. But we do this with God-knowledge. We put aside God-knowledge and carry the bags of pride, ego, hatred, jealousy. Carry the right bags. Some demand respect based or position or degrees. Others command respect based on characteristics, qualities, sweetness that create a place in people’s hearts. Use sweetness to create respect. It is easy to use the word 'Das' or servant for yourself but hard to follow through with it. But a saint remains a saint in all circumstances.” Following the congregation, the families did Namaskar to His Holiness and Puiya Mata Ji and sought their blessings. His Holiness and Puiya Mata Ji and other saints are on a 7-week World Salvation

Tour covering UK, Ireland, USA and Canada

September 8: Seattle, USA

On Thursday evening, September 8, 2011 Baba ji, Mata ji, and their party arrived to a warm and festive welcome at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Bellevue Washington, USA. The welcome ceremony and Satsang was sponsored by the Seattle chapter of the Sant Nirankari Mission, and marked Baba ji’s first stop in the United States on his 2011 international salvation tour. After arriving by car from a very successful visit to Vancouver, Canada, Baba ji, Mata ji, and group were greeted by approximately 200 saints from the local area and many other locations in North America. The group procession was led dramatically to the hall by the sounds of bagpipes and drums as well as the children of the Seattle Sadh Sangat while others lined the way and followed along. At the entrance to the hall, a group of small children of the Seattle Sadh Sangat sang a welcome song followed by a cheer by some of the older boys. Once inside the hall, saints from the local area and from abroad sang uplifting devotional songs. Baba ji greeted the audience telling of his tour through England, Ireland, Scotland, and Canada prior to reaching Seattle. He mentioned that he had not been to Seattle since 1998, and was certainly glad to return. He recounted that at each stop of the journey, saints just like those there tonight, gathered to share their devotion to the one formless, Nirankar. He mentioned that his baggage has gotten pleasantly heavier with the love gathered from saints around the world. Also during the reception, Baba ji and Pujya Mata ji presided over the engagement of Raj Raheja and Rajvir Lashar in front of the room full of appreciative witnesses.

The evening was capped by a Bhangara performance by members of the Seattle Sadh Satsang, more songs, and a plea for Baba ji to return to Seattle many more times to bless the Satsang with his holy presence and divine word

September 9: Seattle, USA

Saints from across North America gathered at the B’hai temple in Bellevue, Washington on a beautiful Friday evening, September 9, 2011. It was a very good day for all since His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj had come to bless. The local Seattle Sangat welcomed saints from Toronto, Vancouver, Chicago, New York, Atlanta, San Francisco, Terry, and many other locations across the USA and Canada. The Samagam opened with speeches from many saints – some of whom have been with the mission for many years, and some of whom had joined more recently.

Highlights of the program included:
• A song for Baba Ji and Pujya Mata Ji performed by members of the Seattle Bal

Sangat following their entrance into the hall.
• A sincere greeting from the Deputy Mayor of the city of Bellevue, Conrad Lee, who praised Baba Ji and the Sant Nirankari Mission as a whole for promoting universal brotherhood and active volunteerism throughout the world. He pointed out that his municipality of Bellevue shared the values of unity in diversity sinceseveral dozen ethnic backgrounds are represented in the local population.

• An uplifting speech by Imam Jamal Rehman of the Interfaith Church in Seattle who truly engaged the audience. Reverend Rehman delivered inspirational words about how the benefits of embracing an interfaith perspective help complete us as human beings. In addition to his moving speech, the Imam presented Baba Ji with an award certificate for Interfaith Vision for his tireless work that has inspired millions of followers around the world.

• Heartfelt words from Sandeep Khinda, who talked of the occasion in 2007 when Hans-Gert Pottering, head of the parliament of the European Union invited Baba Ji to speak to the parliament. He asked Baba Ji to give advice on how to achieve unity amid a diverse membership. Baba Ji’s advice to the head minister was that when each individual accepts God, they realize there are no real or important differences between people – only unity is possible for such people. Baba Ji’s discourse recounted many of the places he has recently visited within India and on his international salvation tour. At each of these locations, saints gathered to imbibe in the way of universal brotherhood and unity. Baba Ji lamented that in this world today, “Peace is in pieces”. His implication was that the world is torn by the strife that accompanies dwelling on our differences. At one point, Baba Ji asserted that these differences between human beings are only superficial– that none of us is truly separate from the other if we would only accept the fact that the one and the same God exists in all of us. This, he said, is the true God knowledge that gives us eyes that can see what the eyes of the material body cannot. To drive this home, he gave the example of his travels throughout India and the world. In India, one only has to travel a relatively small distance, and the language is completely changed. We can see signs hanging in these different languages all around us. We cannot, however, understand their meaning without the appropriate knowledge required to comprehend what has been written.

To make another point, Baba Ji quoted the venerable Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore who said: “I am ever busy building this wall all around… …day by day I lose sight of my true being…” He elaborated on Tagore by saying that these walls we create between ourselves and those of different caste, creed, color or faith are of our own making. We bear the ownership of these walls and the responsibility for suffocating ourselves within them. He went on to say that we possess the ability to tear these walls down, and accept the divine truth – that we are all connected to the One Nirankar, and through him, to each other. This acceptance is the path to both inner peace, and peace in our world. All the walls should fall and all the distances end. We should always wish well for each other.

At the end of the evening, saints queued up to pay respects to Baba Ji and Mata Ji to the sounds of joyous devotional singing and dancing by many saints culminating in an emotional display with all on their feet as Baba Ji and Mata Ji rose to leave the hall.

September 12: Los Angeles

A couple of hundreds of devotees gathered in Thousand Oaks on Monday, September 12, 2011 in the evening Monday evening to welcome His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh ji to Southern California. Looking at the enthusiasm of the crowd, one could not tell it was a week day and that people had traveled from afar to participate in the joyous occasion.

The reception began with music and dance to greet His Holiness and the accompanying saints. It was followed by some spiritual words of wisdom and holy songs. Reverend Santosh Tandon spoke about the importance of Gyan or God- knowledge. She said how much you utilize this knowledge, whether 10% or 90%, is how much fruit you are able to derive from it. The more you connect with Him, the more you will experience peace, love and joy.

A saint from Arizona recited a beautiful song “Hogaya Hai Tere Nal Pyar Sajana, Changa Changa Lage Sansar Sajana,” meaning “I have fallen in love with you Lord and now I see you everywhere and this world looks so beautiful to me.” Bhava, a saint from the Thousand Oaks area, compared His Holiness to a parent who loves his child and keeps giving and giving to the child, never expecting any recognition for those sacrifices and efforts. And by doing this, His Holiness guides us not only by his words, but his actions, encouraging us to spread the same love to all those around us.

Finally, everyone sat down and perked their ears to hear from His Holiness Baba Ji. He spoke of the joy he felt to see devotees in such high spirits, adding that this type of love and faith can only be expressed by those who carry such feelings deep in their heart. He stressed that this type of devotion and feeling is a higher-level feeling – above things material and temporal. He pointed to the type of devotion embodied by saints like Meera, Kabir and Bulleh Shah. For example, people couldn’t understand Meera. They called Kabir crazy because they didn’t understand him either. At this point, His Holiness shared a saying, “Those seen dancing were considered insane by those who didn’t have ears to listen to the music.”

His Holiness said the same has been happening for generations. The love and devotion expressed by saints is not understood by all; only those who have had a taste of it could appreciate. People who experience the divine connection enter a state of spiritual intoxication. They are focused on the divine love all the time. He explained that Meera had a very strong foundation in life, which was love. And that’s why she didn’t care about anything else. It gave her the power to rise above the material world.

His Holiness explained you don’t need holy beads or an idol near you to feel God closer to you. He is always with you and should be remembered at every moment. “The world promises to follow and support you, but time changes and the same world one day won’t even meet your eyes.” His Holiness says this happens often and what good is it if you lose your values for the world and the world then turns away from you?

Here, His Holiness shared the quote “Bheegna manzoor hai par kadam rokana nahi manzoor hai,” meaning “I may encounter struggles on this path, but I will not move away from this path.” His Holiness said devotees who are on this path pray to always remain connected.

He gave the example of athletes, describing how they make many sacrifices to stay on top of the game. A runner, often runs in the early mornings or late evenings constantly trying to improve his time. In the same way, in the world, to achieve something you have to make efforts and sacrifices. The same principle applies to this path of devotion.

How much sugar you put in your tea will determine how sweet your tea will be. He added that only in the deeper waters will you find pearls; you won’t find them on top of the water. His Holiness was alluding to the fact that one must never stop going deeper and deeper in this ocean of devotion.

When you taste a milkshake that you like, you drink more and more of it. But you can’t take one sip and just wet your lips and then wonder why you aren’t feeling the savory taste. You have to keep drinking it to get a feel for the flavour. His Holiness said it is the same with devotion. To experience the full peace and bliss, you have to keep connected with God and surround yourself with saints who bring you closer to the path of righteousness.

His Holiness said, no matter what age in history you refer to, there have been saints who were able to drown themselves in this type of devotion and rise abovematerial temptations. What do you do when you’re in a car and you have an uphill climb? His Holiness answered that you generally place more force on the accelerator and hit the gas. Similarly, He said when you are faced with a challenge in life, instead of backing away, you must dig deeper in your walk with God so that you don’t end up stuck in the middle of the hilly path.

His Holiness said those who keep at devotion, become shining stars in the world. They essentially become a lighthouse of love and peace for those around them. In Ramayana, the evil Ravana picks up Lord Rama’s spouse Sita. Many saints, including Hanuman, set out to find her and bring her back. When she is brought back safely, there is a celebration during which those who helped bring her back are honored and given credit, as it was not an easy task. When it was Hanuman’s turn to get the reward despite playing the biggest role in finding her and bringing her back to safety, he replies, “Lord, if you want to bestow something upon me, just bless me with more devotion.”

His Holiness said today Hanuman is worshipped all over the world, often even more so than Lord Rama. Hanuman exemplified that devotees do not have the same desires as worldly people. Their desires are of a higher level. In conclusion, His Holiness sought blessings for everyone to be filled with such devotion in their

life. The evening culminated with more hymns of praises and a chance for everyone to pay obeisance and to seek blessings from His Holiness Baba Ji.

September 15-17: Houston

The long awaited countdown ultimately reached to reality with the touchdown of Flight at Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport at 5.20 pm on September 15.His Holiness Babaji, Pujya Mataji, Rev. Sandeep Khinda Ji and many other saints had arrived at Houston as part of World Salvation Tour. After a hearty welcome, the holy convoy, as per wishes of Supreme Master headed straight to the residence of Rev Sheelu ji and Rajan ji. Being close to airport their house is semi-official Arrival-Departure as well as Stay Lounge for Nirankari saints all the year round…

Baba Ji blessed the dedicated saints’ family and all other saints present. From here the holy convoy drove straight for the Welcome Sangat at the Arab American Convention Center. Texas and all USA saints were waiting eagerly for the divine presence at Houston soil after 10 years. The dream like magnificence and decor of the Convention hall was befitting to the King of all hearts, giving an impression of a mesmerizing grandeur of Royal Rajdarbar of a World Emperor - Shahi Faqeer. After welcome songs by young boys and girls, it was the time for all the waiting ears to tune to echoes of spirituality and love flowing from His Holiness.

Baba Ji impressed upon saints to live life like flowers - as flowers are for all occasions - birthdays or for sick in hospital or on deceased person or even after being broken down as petals on path of saints. Similarly, saints should always radiate love, compassion and happiness in every part of life. After Welcome Sangat, His Holiness and Pujya Mata Ji proceeded for night stay at the residence of the Houston Pramukh Rev. Raj Bhala ji at Sugarland. On September 16, 2011 Baba Ji spent the day closely with all the saints in the form of a Picnic in Oyster Creek Park, Sugarland. Saints were overjoyed to see Baba Ji and Pujya Mata Ji merging so closely with them in picnic mood. Soon the serene and lush green park environment was sounding with songs full of happiness with dholki and harmonium appearing out of nowhere.

By early evening, the picnic was over and it was time to get ready for the Main Samagam. Baba Ji and Pujya Mata Ji arrived at India House - the venue for the Samagam. In keeping with Nirankari Mission’s principles of Green and Clean Earth, Baba Ji planted a tree at lawns of India House, which would serve twin motives -
sweet memories of Baba Ji’s visit to Houston as well as reminder of his teachings to take strong roots in our lives as the tree grows. This was soon followed by visit to Exhibition where young saints were waiting to exhibit their hard work in making models to depict Nirankari Mission’s activities - Blood donation, Food bank service, world peace as well as scientific models. Baba Ji listened patiently to young saints telling about their models. After welcome and divine presence on Samagam stage, the huge hall, full far beyond capacity, was overflowing with mixed emotions of excitement + happiness + peace.

It can be observed here at this point that the record breaking attendance at India House was a testimony to the respect and goodwill Nirankari saints have earned in the American society, which compelled their friends, neighbors and co-worker visitors to attend the Samagam.

All the learned speakers expressed their happiness and spread the message of love, compassion and tolerance. In this series of speakers, Rev Sandeep Khinda Ji expressed the supreme importance of spirituality in life and it can't wait till the retired life post 65 yrs as nobody can guarantee till how long he or she will live. Bhakti is not an age dependent planning but has to be sown in young tender hearts. Pin drop silence was evident in the main Samagam hall now awaiting His Holiness Baba Ji about to start his discourse. Everybody in the hall with people of various colors or creeds or nationalities of origin was eager to hear the pearls of wisdom from Satguru. Baba Ji expressed the importance of thin demarcation between spirituality and the present form the closely associated religion is taking in the present context world. He stressed the importance of tolerance in family, tolerance in society and tolerance internationally. Baba Ji logically brought out the fact that non-saintly or negative shades of dominance were present even in Dwapar or Treta Yugas in form of Hiranaykashyap, Ravana, and Duryodhana. So, without blaming on present Kalyug, all should have enough wisdom to differentiate between right and wrong paths and to choose the correct spiritual way of life in the true sense. From the African Continent tour memories ,Baba Ji strengthened the resolve of all saints to work hard to make this world a heaven, if not completely but at least make a sincere effort to make difference in lives of some people and not giving up the hope in face of the present world full of hatred.

After the Divine Discourse, all the visitors and saints in a disciplined manner lined up for blessings of Baba Ji and Pujya Mata Ji. On September 17, 2011 the last day of the visit, with hearts loaded heavy with emotions and eyes full of tears, all saints gathered again at Houston Airport, this time to bid farewell to their beloved Baba Ji and Pujya Mata Ji for their onward (seems to never ending) journey on World Salvation tour, to bless the saints waiting in Chicago. As His Holiness waved again with smiling face from the final security gates, one was left wondering– what a great Mission with mammoth proportions Satguru has taken as his duty – to make this world full of international, intra-country, intra-society, intra-family tensions into a wonderful heavenly place overflowing with love, compassion, mutual tolerance for us and for our future generations. But as a poet has put it very correctly-“Rukjaana nahin kahin haarke, kaanton pe chalke milenge saaye bahar ke!”

For Texas saints, especially Houston, with hearts full of hopes and physiques dead tired from success of Samagam preparations hard work, it was now time to go back home, catch up with so deprived sleep and dream for the countdown of next Houston Samagam; hopefully it won’t take long like it took a decade for Houston Samagam2011.

Not to forget. As our young saints tell moral of the story in Sunday Sangats, Samagams like medical conferences, make a great learning and improvement occasions. Having seen His Holiness Baba Ji so closely, we all can learn from him, his fathomless ocean of energy, to work non-stop for longest hours everyday and with a smiling face.

His punctuality for reaching Sangat on time. Self sacrifice for comfort of saints. With very busy schedule permitting only post midnight long walks, as happy soul resides in a healthy body. Great horizons of knowledge about all aspects of life.

September 20-21: Washington DC

On September 20, 2011, the Washington, DC Sangat was graced with the long-awaited arrival of His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj, Pujya Mata Sawinder Ji and accompanying saints. A reception was held at Diya Banquet Hall in Mclean, Virginia where the young children welcomed the holy couple with songs of love and gratitude.

His Holiness then addressed the congregation. He started by saying that moments are beautiful when we spend time with saints. Our heart’s desires are like a monkey, sometimes here, sometimes there. If we control our mind, we control our desires. We should, therefore, always be saying ‘Tu Hi Nirankar’. No doubt, we are concentrating so much on other things, but we need to feel God in every breath we take. We should have love and affection for everyone around the world.

The next day, Wednesday, September 21, 2011, His Holiness Baba Ji inspected the new Bhavan site in Chantilly, Virginia. In the evening, a congregation was organized at the Temple Beth Ami in Rockville, Maryland. More than 800 devotees came to listen to Baba Ji’s precious messages and receive blessings. Baba Ji was welcomed by Dr. Ranbir Singh, Counselor of Community Affairs from the Indian Embassy in Washington DC. Dr. Singh thanked Baba Ji for coming to Washington DC and for spreading the message of love and unity. Similarly, Aruna Miller, State Delegate for Maryland, expressed her joy and gratitude toward Baba Ji for spreading peace and humanity around the globe. After many saints had expressed their views through devotional songs and speeches, His Holiness shared his love, blessings and his message for mankind.

Baba Ji expressed his happiness to be in Washington, DC and his thanks toward all the saints who had taken the time to come not only from the local Sangat but from various parts of North America and abroad also. He advised everyone not to ignore to give importance to the things that matter in life. We forget to make a connection with God because we are too focused on worldly luxuries. Those who are imbibing the qualities of love, humility and kindness are the ones who are connected with God. When we are health conscious, we eat healthy food and remain healthy. When we stray from a healthy diet, we get all sorts of problems such as high blood pressure, kidney problems, weaker bones, etc. Similarly, if our soul imbibes healthy spirit, it will remain healthy. Saints always pray to God for everyone’s welfare. If darkness in this world is increasing, then there’s need for more illumination, more candles are required. We need more love and humanity to remove the darkness of life. There are many negative things occurring in the world (violence, wars, hatred, jealousy, etc). Despite this, there is still goodness in this world and we must work to increase it.

His Holiness continued by saying, if we look at animals, they fight against other species. It is so unfortunate, disheartening, and sad because human beings are fighting against each other. They don’t need anyone outside of their species. A man is enough to hurt a man. When we look at a war going on at a border, we see that soldiers from each side get killed, but every time one falls down, his mother gets hurt. Similarly, God is hurt when any human being is hurt. Human beings must keep humanity alive even though it is not an easy task because human beings are too jealous about other people’s gains, profits and happiness. They are not able to bear the happiness of their neighbor. People in this world today are fighting in the name of religion. They are not able to understand the basic principle that we are all human beings first and anything else later. They forget this most important point and continue to fight in the name of religion. Rather than building bridges, they construct walls of hatred and increasing the distance between man and man. One has to connect with the eternal truth. Unfortunately, people today do not realize the truth and, therefore, they are not able to understand what is real and what is fake. Not everyone is able to see the difference between a real diamond and a fake one. Many people have bought a piece of glass and have been told that it is a good diamond. They are not aware of the truth. They don’t know that the piece of glass they have is not a real diamond. Truth is not given importance, only this illusion, fake world, Maya is given importance.

Looking back at history, all the prophets had the same message, but it is humans who are creating the differences among them. Regardless of the era they came in or place they were born, they all had the message that we are one. We have to realize the eternal Truth. We have to attain God-knowledge, and understand the meaning of human life.

Human form does not come again and again. We are not paying attention to why we are here and what the purpose of this life is. We put these questions aside and forget that these answers are most important. Attaining God-knowledge is possible only in the human form. We must arise and awake to achieve the goal of human birth – God realization. Man always forgets to give priority to God realization. For some, it doesn’t make the priority at all while for others it falls at the bottom of the list. The things from this materialistic world tend to fall towards the top of our priority list. Our relations, our families, our luxuries, nothing will stay with us in the end. Everything will be left behind. Saints are always reminding us of this connection with God and advising us that we need to reset our priorities. They show us how to love all and hate none, awake our souls and teach us to establish a connection with God.

Rather than building walls of hatred, jealousy, ego, revenge and to hurt others, we build bridges of love, tolerance, humility, and compassion. Today, the path of spirituality is getting overlooked.

His Holiness concluded with a famous quote: “I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him”. Baba Ji elaborated that we should not hate others no matter what influences are around us from the world. Saints should not be influenced by negativity; rather they should continuously spread love and humanity.

September 23-24: Fort Lauderdale

SEPTEMBER 23, 2011: After a lapse of seven years, the much awaited moment was finally here when His Holiness Babaji and Pujya Mataji arrived at the Quality Inn hotel in Plantation, around 8.30 p.m. The owner of the hotel along with the hotel staff greeted the holy couple and welcomed them. Sangat members also welcomed them into the hall for the scheduled Namaskar program. About three hundred saints attended the Namaskar program, majority of whom had flown in from out of State areas like Atlanta, Indiana, North Carolina, Houston, Tennessee, Chicago, New York, Washington DC., Toronto, England etc.

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011: A trip to the Everglades was planned around 1.00 pm. The local Sangat members got the opportunity to spend some time with the Divine couple as everyone enjoyed a Boat ride in the Alligator Alley. A small picnic was also arranged at the Everglades for lunch.

The evening of September 24 was the “Big Day” for the local Sangat members. This was the very First official Samagam to be held in Fort Lauderdale and the much awaited moment that everyone was waiting for. The Samagam started at 5.00 pm. Upon Babaji’s arrival, the temple staff welcomed the holy couple with great respect and devotion. An estimated seven hundred people gathered at the South Florida Hindu Temple in Fort Lauderdale to attend the Samagam. The temple committee members also participated and showed their full support for the program. A proclamation was presented on behalf of the Mayor of Fort Lauderdale. The Samagam was also watched by devotees all over the world via live webcast and the local newspaper gave local coverage on the morning of the event. An interview was also organized on the radio that morning shedding light on the details for the event. The theme for the Samagam was: UNIVERSAL PEACE through UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD.

The evening began with spiritual words from the Avtar Bani, and then followed by devotional songs. A devotee sang a song translating to, “Let us help those in need. Let us be of use to humanity. Today, human beings are growing far apart. Let us come closer to each other and be of help.” This is the very message of the Sant Nirankari Mission. The congregation continued with devotional songs and spiritual words of wisdom. Thoughts and views from both the youth and the elderly were portrayed in various forms of poems, songs and words. After listening to saints of all ages, everyone’s main focus was turned to His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji for the predominant discourse.

His Holiness expressed his happiness to see fellow devotees gathered at the temple. Emphasizing upon the importance of devotion, He said that we should constantly attempt to attain the pure state of a devotee, only then we can be of help to humanity. In order to beautify our life, we need to ask for devotion. He spoke about having realization and vision through God knowledge. A beautiful example was given about Arjuna ; who saw the glory of God only after he received God realization from Lord Krishna in the battle field. Once he was given God realization he then said “Namaskar to your left, Namaskar to your right.” Had he not received the vision from Lord Krishna, he would not have been able to see God. Not only do we have to see, we must also remember. Similarly, first we see food, but only after we eat it, that is when we know the taste of it. His Holiness said that this God, Nirankar, who is known by several names, should first be seen, and then devotion should follow. He beautifully compared this to motherhood, a child must first be born, and then a woman can become a mother. The motherhood is followed after the birth of the child.

A Guru is very much needed in one’s life. Babaji gave an example of Meera Bai; we all know how dedicated she was to Lord Krishna. When she met her guru, Ravidas Ji, she realized the omnipresent form of Lord Krishna. Her guru gave her the true vision of Lord Krishna.

Babaji spoke in both Hindi and English and concluded his sermon with the following; “We have to take steps towards that path which leads to our destination. If we lose this lifetime, then we have lost the opportunity. After attaining this rare life form, we have to place value on it”. In very beautiful words, He quoted Swami Vivekananda Ji and said “the desire to attain God should be like that of a drowning man in water who longs to come out of that water.”

Nirankari Baba Hardev Singh ji Maharaj USA visit 2011

2011-09-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

His Holiness Visit Invitation Flyers:

Tracy Samagam Invitation flyer

News Paper Marketting

Arrrival at San Francisco (Tracy, CA):

SanFranciscoHHVisit2011

His Holiness Discourse at Vishal SF Samagam:

SNMSamagamNC2011

Picture Coverage:

Tracy Welcome and Samagam Picture Coverage:

Media Coverage:

India West article on His Holiness Message of Peace

Sewa Dal Preparation for H.H Visit:

Sewa Dal start working tirelessly day and night since HH visit announced. Every weekend sewa start at 8 am and goes till late night. Sewadar's come from long distance to do sewa and get blessed.

Everyone in sewa dal were assigned duties like working in front and back yards, putting new plants, cleaning kitchen, decorating Bhawan and rearranging library for better reading experience. Rev. Dr. Rai ji, Rev. Surinder pal ji, Rev. Dev Raj Vijh ji and Rev. H. S. Dhillon ji supervised and worked with sewadars.

Sewadar's enjoyed the blessings of Lord Master through the sewa, spread the love of Lord Master and singing "sewa jeewan ki shaan - sewa hai sarv mahan - sev kamayie ji santo, guru rijhaye ji santo, guru manayie ji santo, sewa.."

Picture coverage of Sewa at Bhawan

Arrrival at Southern California (LA, CA):

September 12: Los Angeles

A couple of hundreds of devotees gathered in Thousand Oaks on Monday, September 12, 2011 in the evening Monday evening to welcome His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh ji to Southern California. Looking at the enthusiasm of the crowd, one could not tell it was a week day and that people had traveled from afar to participate in the joyous occasion.

The reception began with music and dance to greet His Holiness and the accompanying saints. It was followed by some spiritual words of wisdom and holy songs.
Reverend Santosh Tandon spoke about the importance of Gyan or God- knowledge. She said how much you utilize this knowledge, whether 10% or 90%, is how much fruit you are able to derive from it. The more you connect with Him, the more you will experience peace, love and joy.

A saint from Arizona recited a beautiful song “Hogaya Hai Tere Nal Pyar Sajana, Changa Changa Lage Sansar Sajana,” meaning “I have fallen in love with you Lord and now I see you everywhere and this world looks so beautiful to me.”
Bhava, a saint from the Thousand Oaks area, compared His Holiness to a parent who loves his child and keeps giving and giving to the child, never expecting any recognition for those sacrifices and efforts. And by doing this, His Holiness guides us not only by his words, but his actions, encouraging us to spread the same love to all those around us.

Finally, everyone sat down and perked their ears to hear from His Holiness Baba Ji. He spoke of the joy he felt to see devotees in such high spirits, adding that this type of love and faith can only be expressed by those who carry such feelings deep in their heart. He stressed that this type of devotion and feeling is a higher-level feeling – above things material and temporal.
He pointed to the type of devotion embodied by saints like Meera, Kabir and Bulleh Shah. For example, people couldn’t understand Meera. They called Kabir crazy because they didn’t understand him either. At this point, His Holiness shared a saying, “Those seen dancing were considered insane by those who didn’t have ears to listen to the music.”

His Holiness said the same has been happening for generations. The love and devotion expressed by saints is not understood by all; only those who have had a taste of it could appreciate. People who experience the divine connection enter a state of spiritual intoxication. They are focused on the divine love all the time. He explained that Meera had a very strong foundation in life, which was love. And that’s why she didn’t care about anything else. It gave her the power to rise above the material world.

His Holiness explained you don’t need holy beads or an idol near you to feel God closer to you. He is always with you and should be remembered at every moment.
“The world promises to follow and support you, but time changes and the same world one day won’t even meet your eyes.” His Holiness says this happens often and what good is it if you lose your values for the world and the world then turns away from you?

Here, His Holiness shared the quote “Bheegna manzoor hai par kadam rokana nahi manzoor hai,” meaning “I may encounter struggles on this path, but I will not move away from this path.” His Holiness said devotees who are on this path pray to always remain connected.

He gave the example of athletes, describing how they make many sacrifices to stay on top of the game. A runner, often runs in the early mornings or late evenings constantly trying to improve his time. In the same way, in the world, to achieve something you have to make efforts and sacrifices. The same principle applies to this path of devotion.

How much sugar you put in your tea will determine how sweet your tea will be. He added that only in the deeper waters will you find pearls; you won’t find them on top of the water. His Holiness was alluding to the fact that one must never stop going deeper and deeper in this ocean of devotion.

When you taste a milkshake that you like, you drink more and more of it. But you can’t take one sip and just wet your lips and then wonder why you aren’t feeling the savory taste. You have to keep drinking it to get a feel for the flavour. His Holiness said it is the same with devotion. To experience the full peace and bliss, you have to keep connected with God and surround yourself with saints who bring you closer to the path of righteousness.

His Holiness said, no matter what age in history you refer to, there have been saints who were able to drown themselves in this type of devotion and rise above material temptations.
What do you do when you’re in a car and you have an uphill climb? His Holiness answered that you generally place more force on the accelerator and hit the gas. Similarly, He said when you are faced with a challenge in life, instead of backing away, you must dig deeper in your walk with God so that you don’t end up stuck in the middle of the hilly path.

His Holiness said those who keep at devotion, become shining stars in the world. They essentially become a lighthouse of love and peace for those around them.

In Ramayana, the evil Ravana picks up Lord Rama’s spouse Sita. Many saints, including Hanuman, set out to find her and bring her back. When she is brought back safely, there is a celebration during which those who helped bring her back are honored and given credit, as it was not an easy task. When it was Hanuman’s turn to get the reward despite playing the biggest role in finding her and bringing her back to safety, he replies, “Lord, if you want to bestow something upon me, just bless me with more devotion.”

His Holiness said today Hanuman is worshipped all over the world, often even more so than Lord Rama. Hanuman exemplified that devotees do not have the same desires as worldly people. Their desires are of a higher level. In conclusion, His Holiness sought blessings for everyone to be filled with such devotion in their life.
The evening culminated with more hymns of praises and a chance for everyone to pay obeisance and to seek blessings from His Holiness Baba Ji.

Picture Coverage:

Devotees Testimony:

Sunday Sangat on July 24th, 2011 at Tracy Bhawan

2011-07-24T22:47:00.000-07:00

Today, the main vichar was presented by Mrs. Manjeet Rai ji.

Mrs. Rai ji started her vichar by explaining the Sewa enthusiasm, showed by the Sewa Dal members, doing sewa outside the Bhawan after hearing the H.H. visit news. She explained that before also sewa dal members do sewa but today there is something different and shining on their faces. It’s the sweet impact of H.H. visit news.

Mrs. Rai ji explained on the words of H.H that life is not only to keep breathing. Life main aim is to know the almighty and to offer sewa or service to humanity because humanity is the real religion. She further explained about the behavior of the saints that how polite, considerate and patient they are and how nicely they treat each other. She shared a story about a beggar who was very short tampered. Once day he realized that he had many mistakes, so he went to jungle to do the lord worshipping. During his very hectic worshipping, he got some powers to. One day he was sitting in his meditation and a bird on the tree top drops his waste on him. He got very mad and he stared him very angrily. The bird was burned same time on the tree. Another day he felt hungry and he went to village for Biksha. He waited outside of one house and keep waiting. When the lady came after a long time, he was very angry. But the lady came after performing her duty for feeding her family first and then she came. When she saw him that he is very angry, lady said that you cannot burn me like that bird. That time he realized that she is not a common lady and must be having some powers because she knows about that bird incidence. She asked him to go to butcher man in the market and learn something from him. He went to the market and waited outside of the butcher shop. He waited very long. After long time the butcher man came out after he finished his duties, he asked him if he was sent by that lady. Beggar said yes. Then he realized that it’s his short temper which is hurting people and becoming his enemy. Mrs Rai explained that saintly life is full of love and happiness. Saints only spread happiness.

Mrs. Rai further explained that how gursikh follow the words of his Satguru by sharing another story from the life of Baba Guru Nanak ji. He had two sons and his wife was in this impression that his son would be his next successor as Satguru. One day this discussion started in home and Guru Nanak ji said that ok let me ask my kids that how they follow my instructions. So he called his elder son and asked him to jump in a muddy pool to find something which belongs to him and by chance it fall into that muddy pool. He refused saying that I’m the elder son of the satguru and my clothes are very clean, so he should ask someone else to do it. Then Guru Nanak ji called his another son and ask him to do the same. He also denied and ask him to ask someone else. Then Guru Nanak ji called his lovely saint and ask him to do the same. He simply jumped in that muddy pool without showing any hesitation. Gursikhs only followed his Satguru words and take his words as god words!

Mrs. Rai ji suggested that everyone should live a saintly life and follow the Satguru words !!!

SNM Blood Donation Camp, Coverage at Tracy Bhawan

2011-07-24T21:52:00.000-07:00

Picture Coverage:

EMS Sangat on SEWA/SERVICE On July 10th, 2011

2011-07-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

Rev. Dr Rai ji Speech:

Main vichar from stage was presented by Rev. Dr. Rai ji.

Dr. Rai ji started his message with the big congratulation to the mission youths for a great successful youth Samagam in New York area. He also encouraged the local Sangat for bigger contribution in the next youth Samagam. The objective of the youth conference was to discuss the challenges and establish a common agenda for the young saints of the Mission in America, to be achieved by the year 2020.

Dr. Rai ji explained that being Nirankari is not a title but It’s a huge responsibility. All of us literally signed a contract, when we took the Gyan from His Holiness. As we all know that if we break or breach the contract, any contract like home loan or any other kind, all the privileges are taken back. So when we verbally signed the contract with His Holiness that “Taan Maan Dhan sab nirankar prabhu ka hai”, we all should do our best effort to stay in that commitment.

Dr. Rai ji shared an excellent story (from youth samagam !) that once in the village news spread that Guru ji is coming. The organizers told everyone that everyone bring something to offer to Guru ji when they visit him. Offering could be anything like money, clothing, food grains etc. When Guru ji came, all the worshippers brought their offerings. So when everyone was done, Guru ji asked if there is anyone left? The organizers went outside and checked and found one person. But that person did not have anything to offer, so he was not allowed to come in. When Guru ji came to know, he asked the organizers to let him in. When he came, Guru ji asked him. Do you’ve anything to offer? Anything? He said no. I don’t have anything. I am really poor. Guru ji asked him again. Then he replied that he do have something to offer and I like to offer my anger, hate, jealousy. Guru ji called him and asked him to sit next to him. He said I was looking for someone like you. Guru ji blessed him with love and joy.

Dr Rai ji further explained and shared one incidence which happened with Rev. Sunny khinda ji in the presence of His Holiness. In one of the samagam, there was one old man standing in the Namaskar line and it was coming to end and His Holiness was about to leave. Sunny ji asked old man to stop because Baba ji is about to leave and everyone was in hurry. But when Baba ji saw him, he asked to let him in. When the old man was blessed with His Holiness darshan, he started crying. When Baba ji left, Sunny ji asked the old man that why he is crying. He mentioned that he took the gyan from Satguru Shenshah ji 40 or 50 yrs back and today he get the personal blessings of Satguru Baba Hardev Singh ji maharaj hand on his head. Dr Rai ji explained that how blessed we are when we get chance to get Baba ji blessings in person and how precious it is.

Dr. Rai ji reaffirmed the faith and belief in the whole sangat.

EMS Sangat on UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD On May 8th, 2011

2011-05-15T10:35:00.000-07:00

UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD

Romi Basra Said:

In the Nirankari Mission, the goal or 'mission' is to achieve universal brotherhood

or human unity through the fatherhood of God. In fact the Holy books state that

the pursuit of human unity has been the message of all the previous prophets and

gurus throughout the centuries. Unfortunately, this goal has yet to be achieved in

mainstream society as many in this world continue to harbor hatred, anger, and

mistrust for their fellow brothers and sisters.

There are many quasi political, social, and religious organizations that have

attempted to achieve a lasting brotherhood, but unfortunately have not been able to

do so due to as the approach was based on self interests and conformity. Such an

approach cannot offer a lasting unity, as self interests are always changing and

temporary by definition. Any unity based on conformity will have a shaky

foundation, as the underlying basis (ie. religious doctrine and traditions, ethnic

backgrounds, language, economics etc.) also adapt and change over the course of

time.

The Nirankari Mission has a very straightforward, practical, and consistent view

that universal brotherhood has to be based on eternal truth (i.e. God realization)

in order to be permanent and lasting. The belief is that worldy relations are

temporary and co-incidental, and only a relation born out of spiritual knowledge

can be eternal. The ultimate or eternal truth, as revealed by the True Master of

the time, provides the solution.

Narinder pal singh noor ji Said:

WHEN WE TALK ABOUT UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD WE REALIZE THAT THIS CAN BE ACHIEVED ONLY

IF WE ARE AWARE OF FATHERHOOD OF GOD.
IN MOST OF THE RELIGIOUS & SPIRITUAL INSTITUTIONS IN THIS WORLD PEOPLE OFTEN TALK ABOUT IT AND RECOGNIZE ITS SIGNIFICANCE. WE FEEL OURSELF BLESSED IN ACHIEVING THIS STAGE BECAUSE OF THE DIVINE KNOWLEDGE(GOD'S KNOWLEDGE) WE RECEIVED FROM OUR LORDMASTER SATGURU BABA HARDEV SINGH JI MAHARAJ THROUGH SANT NIRANKARI MISSION.

THIS ENLIGHTENED OUR SOUL AND CREATED THE SPIRIT OF ONENESS.NOW WE ARE FULLY AWARE OF THE TRUTH THAT WE ALL HUMAN BEING ARE CHILDREN OF ONE FATHER ALMIGHTY GOD,WHICH

FURTHER CREATES THE FEELING OF UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD IN US.
THIS FEELING STARTS FROM OUR HOUSE,THEN IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD THEN SOCIETY AROUND US,THEN CITY,STATE,COUNTRY AND THEN IN THE WHOLE OF UNIVERSE ITSELF.
MERE TALKING ABOUT UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD WON'T BENEFIT UNLESS WE APPLY IT WITH HONESTY IN OUR LIFE, FOR THAT WE HAVE TO BE REALLY NICE AMONG OURSELF AND TOWARDS OTHERS IN THE WORLD.

NIRANKARI BABA JI OFTEN SAYS THAT "IT IS NICE TO BE IMPORTANT BUT IT IS MORE

IMPORTANT TO BE NICE", SO IF WE ARE HONESTLY NICE
,IMPORTANCE AUTOMATICALLY COMES TO US BUT IF WE ARE JUST IMPORTANT AND NOT NICE, IMPORTANCE DISAPPEARS. TO BRING THE WHOLE WORLD UNDER ONE ROOF OF UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD,GOD'S KNOWLEDGE IS THE ONLY SOURCE WHICH IS BEING PROVIDED ONLY BY SANT NIRANKARI MISSION IN THIS WORLD AND TO KEEP ALL OF US REMAIN UNDER THAT ROOF OUR BEING NICE WITHIN AND OUTSIDE THE MISSION PLAYS A SIGNIFICANT ROLE.WE PRAY ALMIGHTY GOD TO GIVE US STRENGTH THAT WE MAY TRULY FOLLOW THE PRINCIPLE OF UNIVERSAL BROTHERHOOD OF OUR

MISSION REMEMBERING THE SPIRIT OF FATHERHOOD OF GOD ALWAYS AMONG US

Sanjeev Sagar Said:

In the time of Master Baba Avtar singh ji, he always mentioned that We're not

brothers only to those who are siting in the sangat but even to those who are not

aware of the sangat or who don't even know what sangat is. They are also family

members, which make the sangat as Universal family. We all look different from

outside but from inside we all are one. We all have same source of the life and we

all live under same sun and on the same planet.

Baba ji mentioned that during the preparatio of Samagam's in India, there are

speakers in the market, on the highway/freeway and in the big grouds. When people

hear the word, Universal Brotherhood, every one take a pause and think that this is

the only mission in India, which talk about Universal and teaches that we all are

one family, we all are brothers.

Universal Brotherhood is the voice of the time and it is our main motto of the

Nirankari Mission. I like to share my testimony that i am not born in the Mission.

But when i came to mission after my marriage, this sense of oneness was like a

magnetic force for me and i get glued to this mission.

This mission gave me this sense of Universal and i feel connected and attached even

if i'm surrounded by strangers, colleagues or neighbours. Babaji gave us the sense

of living and let's work for it. Dhan Niankar ji.

Main Vichar by Rev. Dr. Rai Ji:

Dr. Rai started the main Vichar by congratulating the great mothers of the

Mission/sangat on Mother's day for their outstanding efforts and devotion.
He also mentioned that I can see a ray of hope on the faces of brothers too
because the Father's day is coming next month too.

The world is sick of war and desires peace, yet wars and preparations for war

continue. People wish to banish enmity and to usher in an era of friendship, yet

rivalry and hatred perpetuate hard feelings which separate man from man.
Many believe in and talk about Brotherhood, but we see everywhere the failure of

unity and harmony.

Theosophy (belief in God)not only says that Universal Brotherhood is a fact in

Nature, but goes further and shows how it can be brought about by each one

practicing it in his own life.

The first and most important of the Three Objects of the Theosophical Movement:
is to form the nucleus of a Universal Brotherhood of Humanity, without distinction

of race, creed, caste or color (3rd principle of the Mission).

What are the obstacles we have to overcome, what the pitfalls we have to avoid, if

we desire to be brotherly to others, if we wish our community and our nation to

live in unity and harmony with other people and other countries?

First, there is the concept of race. On every continent, in one form or another,

the problem exists. It is caused by the spirit of arrogance.We have a perfect

example of this with Adolf Hitler. He thought his race was primitive so he tried to

destroy all the other races

Secondly, there is the bar erected by the concept of creed and religion. Religions

divide man from man as perhaps nothing else does.

Thirdly, there is the obstacle to Brotherhood caused by the existence of castes and

classes. Indians suffer from it most atrociously.In the West, this obstacle to

Universal Brotherhood takes other forms.

Theosophy says to the individual—begin with yourself. As a starting point,

recognize that both those classes of people, the evildoer and the sectarian are

your brothers,(Eko Noor Hai Sabh de under Nar hai chahe nari hai, Brahaman Khatri

Vais Harijan Ek di khalkat sari hai..Avtar Vani)

Confucius has said: “Robbers disappear from a kingdom where the king is honest."

In history and in our own experience there is abundant evidence that the Bhagavad-

Gita is right in saying "spiritual knowledge includes every action without

exception," and that it is to be attained by means of devotion.

You should read the books that you can understand, and soak up all that good

information.

Dhan Nirankar ji !

Manav Ekta Samagam 2011 Coverage at Tracy SNM Bhawan

2011-05-03T22:55:00.000-07:00

Manav Ekta Samagam celebrated on April 24th, 2011 in Tracy CA.

Picture coverage at Tracy Bhawan:

EMS Sangat "FAITH IN SATGURU" on April 10th, 2011

2011-04-17T18:24:00.000-07:00

FAITH IN SATGURU

T.J. Bamrah Said:

I would like to share my personal experience in brief which has helped and keep on helping me over and over as i move on in life with Satguru/Nirankar's grace. I was struggling through life in late 90s after loosing my job, I was tired & frustrated. I had two options i want to go to USA or i am coming to Delhi and surrendering all my life to you. Millions of questions were going through my head, kept going to Satsang to find answers, asking Satguru/Niarankar in it's real form Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Almighty. Some Saints would say go meet Babaji, get his blessings, some would say Babaji/Nirankar knows it all don't really need to go meet Babaji. Finally both of us (My younger brother) had decided to go meet Babaji in Mussoorie (Dehradun, India). We were in line to do Nimaskar right after evening Satsang. This is what came out of my mouth at that moment when i had a golden opportunity to talk to him "Babaji you are my everything, here is my passport i want to go to USA". I wasn't even able to say what i planned for "I don't have anyone, eventually he would say i am here for you, you are mine now you can think how powerful, meaningful those holy words can be instead after flipping through the passport pages he put his benign hand on my head and all he said "Tuhi Nirankar".

We came back shared with saints who encouraged us to go meet Babaji. everyone is trying to decode his holy words, blessings. I have gone through phase of questions again, everyone have their own interpretation of words and understanding. i didn't know how it was related to me going to USA or Delhi. One of thing i said it to myself "Tuhi Nirankar" means a lot specially it came right out of Nirankar's mouth which was specially for me. i am going to take it as it's and try to understand. Blessing started to unfold after about two weeks, one evening i was at field hockey practice got a message there is team being formed to play a tournament in USA if you like to join. I had no penny in my pocket at that time all i experienced things started to work and move toward the direction where Nirankar wants them to go with satguru's blessings. i was in LA about within a month since that day i never looked back with Satguru's blessings and grace. I owed about $10,000 when i landed in this country. I have everything what someone needs to live their life smoothly and happily without depending on anybody beside Nirankar. I am very fortunate to being blessed by enlightenment and his holy guidance. Listen, understand mostly importantly put everything what you understand into your actions whole heartily with pure intentions if you want to experience a power of faith. practicing introduce you to the faith and grows leaps and bounds as much as you practice. I beg your pardon with these few words. Please bless me so i continue to live as Babaji teaches me.

As i understood over the years what does "Tuhi Nirankar" means to me. He has overwritten my destiny, blessed me with some amount of faith always wants me to remember and connect. Nirankar who is always with you doesn't matter you are in body or not

Romi Basra Said:

On the Nirankari Mission website, there is a wonderful quote “divine knowledge cannot stay in one’s heart unless there is faith in the true master”. In the Mission our Satguru is the integral component in our divine journey. It is remarkable and inspiring to see the impact Satguru has had on millions of people through his teachings, satsangs, and devotees.

Throughout history this relationship between a devotee and a living divine master has been a time honored tradition. In the Nirankari museum in Delhi, India there is a diagram outlining the divine journey every human takes as they travel from darkness (ignorance) to light (God realization). From the dawn of time, the devotee has been the disciple and Satguru, the divine teacher. This unique and invaluable relationship is also documented in the world’s great holy books such as the Bible, Koran, Bhagavad Gita etc.

Mankind, regardless of his background or intellect, on his own has always been at a loss to understand God and the purpose of his or her life. Even today, as the world has achieved so much material and technological advancements, the world is mired in hatred, unhappiness, and intolerance. True masters or divine teachers of truth (i.e. Satguru) have come into human form for the sole purpose of providing God knowledge (i.e. the ultimate truth) to humans regardless of color, creed, and economic or social status. In conjunction with providing this knowledge, divine masters have provided a road map of how to live as a true human (i.e. true saint) so this world is as God intended it to be, full of love and peace.

Our faith in Satguru, which is not blind faith, is faith based on his knowledge and vision of universal brotherhood. I have personally seen in others and in myself a markedly improved positive outlook when we live according to Satguru’s teachings. In essence we see the world through his eyes, a vision of love, tolerance, compassion, and universality of all humans. A true Satguru is able to transform any human, who truly desires, from darkness (negativity) to light (positivity). Satguru is “the reflector and the mirror through which can be seen the true face and philosophy of the by-gone teachers”. Our Satguru practices what he preaches by providing a living example of how to live as a family householder, full of love, tolerance, and in constant remembrance of God

EMS Sangat on FORGIVENESS

2011-04-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

Forgiveness

Topic for English medium sangat in Tracy Bhavan for March 13th, 2011 was “Forgiveness”. Here are notes from what young saints shared during congregation.

Mehek Nagpal said:

I think that to forgive, means to accept one’s mistakes to help you and the other person, to become better people. On this topic, I have a small story that I would like to share. Once, there was a man in India who was in debt. One day when he was walking past the kingdom, some of the king’s soldiers took him and went to go and see the king. There, the king told him, “You owe me millions of rupees? Where is it? Do you have it ready for me?” the man replied, “I don’t have the money, please forgive me.” Since the king was very kind, he forgave the man, and let him go. The next day, the same, very man met one of his friends who owed him only 100 rupees. When he asked his friend where the money was, the man said, “I am very sorry, but I don’t have 100 rupees to give to you.” The other man didn’t seem very happy about this, and he caused a fight. This argument however reached to the king, and he wasn’t happy about this either. He told the man, “I forgave you on millions of rupees and you can’t even forgive him for 100 rupees. I didn’t have to forgive you, if I didn’t choose to. The right thing is that you should forgive your friend too.”

Moral: Babaji always forgives us on every little mistake we make, so we should also forgive other people who make mistakes towards us.

Harinder Sandhu said:

The act of forgiving shouldn't be just a rare action, but should be something we do regularly, on a basis. Let's face it. We can't go along in life for too long before we have an opportunity to forgive someone. We can get upset with people in our thoughts, without even realizing we need to forgive them.

Vivek Kamboj said:

Saints please forgive me but i do not know what forgiveness is. All I know about forgiveness is that when somebody makes a mistake you forgive them but other than that I have never really thought about this topic. Saints when I really sat down to think about it I figured out that when a person makes a mistake and he acknowledges that he has made a mistake than he becomes worthy of forgiveness. I also understood that if there was not forgiveness in the world every person that made a mistake would get punished and there isn’t one person in the world that does not make a mistake. Forgiveness also plays a big role in keeping peace, For example last Sunday Babaji gave us a slogan "peace not pieces lets work for it" Babaji is already doing this, for example Babaji forgave that person who had assassinated Baba Gurbhachan Singh ji , if this man had been punished the enmity towards the Sant Nirankari mission would have grown, but by forgiving the man peace was established. No one knows how much you can or cannot forgive somebody this trait along with other traits such as humbleness, tolerance and greatness put together create universal brotherhood. Saints please bless me so that I can learn more about this topic and apply it in my day to day life.

Sanjeev Sagar said:

I would like to share an example of a saint who took a nice step after listening H.H discourse and Rev. Vivek Shaq ji’s speech on forgiveness. After listening them he called two of his old friends to patch up and tried to mend the gaps. He was not going well with them before but after listening about forgiveness, he realizes that how important it is.

When HH went to Europe trip to meet European parliament, everyone asked him that what is our banner or “Nara”. Let’s take our Mission’s voice “Peace not pieces” as our banner or logo for this trip. His Holiness took a pause and added one more line. “Let’s work for it!” so the complete banner was “Peace not Pieces and let’s work for it!”. HH knew that without working on it, our banner is more like just saying. So it’s all come to the point that it’s effective only when we actually do it. Not just say it.

The great thing about forgiveness is that you are the first one to get the advantage of it. It helps you physically, mentally and spiritually and it builds bridge with other person too. Honestly it’s not easy thing to do. It’s not easy to simply forgive another person. It’s very hard thing to do in practical manner. I’ve seen myself that it’s really not easy but I would like to take that step. One has to put an extra effort to forgive. May be you’ve to call or talk to the person and try to build the bridge. I take it like without forgiveness; two people are like that they are sitting on the two sides of the river with so many gaps in b/w them. Forgiveness is like to build the bridge where those two people can walk together.

We should learn from our Master. In the toughest time of our mission when Baba Gurbachan Singh ji was assassinated, Our Master walks the path of forgiveness and gave us the vision to live by that “Blood should flow in the veins not on the streets”. We’re disciples of that Master and we should be able to walk the path of forgiveness with his blessings and support.

Also HH mention one more example in the toughest time of our Mission when the Hit list was there. HH told us to make the Hate List, which has names of the people you hate. Then try to cut those names one by one. Call them, talk to them and try to remove that rage from inside you about that person. You will see that what a wonderful feeling or change you experience when you forgive other person. The time will come when there is no name left in your hate list.

Saints, I ask for your forgiveness and blessings that I also can walk the path of forgiveness and enjoy the saints’ blessings.

Mini Anand said:

Dear Saints today's topic is forgiveness, Forgiveness is letting go of the anger and releasing negative thoughts. This is what our mission has been teaching us to forgive and forget, to love everyone, and be human and show humanity. Without forgiveness, there's no future. Forgiveness enlarges the future. Without forgiveness, we will never forget about our anger, and we will never be able to let go the past and move on to future. There is no forgiveness without love. You need love to forgive.

Dear saints I looked up online what all religion says about forgiveness

In Bible it says:
Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

The Buddha said

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else but you are the one who gets burned”

In Gita it said

Forgiveness is a practice for removing unhealthy emotions that would otherwise cause harm to our mental well-being. Hatred leaves a lasting effect on our karma (“actions”) and forgiveness creates emotions with a wholesome effect.

The Kabir said

Where there is forgiveness, there God resides.

Dear saints if all the prophets are telling us only one thing that is to forgive and forget, for decades they are trying to teach us this one message. Dear saints I ask you why has it taken us so long to understand this message to accept this message and to forgive and forget. Just as roman philosopher had once said “Let us forgive each other - only then will we live in peace”. Let us all accept this message and live in peace. Baba Hardev Singh ji has also said peace not pieces lets work for it. Let us all work for it and pursue this message forgiveness.

Saints I learned forgiveness does not make you smaller it enlarges you. Let us leave our ego behind and forgive & forget, Let us all make this world a better place.

Romie Basra said:

In the Nirankari mission, our Satguru is always focusing our efforts on improving ourselves as human beings, so we benefit humanity while maintaining and enhancing our connection to Formless God. Satguru always wants us to focus on virtues not vices. One of the ways to do this is by doing selfless service (sewa) to humanity at large. Forgiveness is really a form of Sewa, as we are selflessly "giving" a gift of ourselves "for" someone, while not expecting anything in return. However, as is the case when we do something for other humans in a selfless manner, the one who does the service is the one who may actually benefit the most.

As humans we tend to focus our thoughts on our self and as a result build walls around us as a form of self protection for our ego. Although we may not realize it at the time, this protection mode is like a form of self attachment and can actually cause much more harm to us than we we realize. When we feel slighted or harmed (perceived or real) by someone we tend to get angry at that person and as a result feel pain and negativity which results in personal inbalance.

Studies conducted at the University of Wisconsin Institute of Forgiveness have proven that internalizing this pain and holding a grudge against the one who harmed or wronged us leads to many physical and mental ailments. For example, holding such feelings towards someone may lead to depression, anxiety, high blood pressure, stress, and alcohol/substance abuse. On the other hand studies have shown that people who suffered ailments were able to lead a more peaceful, healthy, and spiritual existence after they truly and unconditionally forgave someone. This surrendering to a higher will is common in spiritual teachings and also has many practical benefits in day to day relationships.

Many people who have suffered serious crimes against them have noted that forgiving someone benefited them greatly. A woman who was falsely imprisoned during the holocaust had this this definition of foregiveness. "Forgiveness is freeing a prisoner and realizing that prisoner was yourself."

Poonam Fandan said:

“Forgiveness is an amazing thin , it warms our heart and cools the sting”

Forgiveness is very hard to practice as such. Forgiveness is hard because it is hard to forget the hurt. In fact forgetting deliberately is not in human power. There is no erase button which can clear the unpleasant memories. So if something is bothering us about someone, it may continue and expand unless we work towards resolving it. How long it may take to forgive someone also depends on how badly we are hurt by the offender. Many people have to go through so many therapies, counseling and cures just to come out of a painful situation caused by someone. The emotions of resentment, anger, pain is like poison which disturbs the balanced state of human being causing severe mental and physical health issues.

In case of such a helpless situation where one suffers from unpleasant memories and pain, one should seek blessings from lotus feet of Satguru, asking for deliverance from the pain, anger, resentment, asking for deliverance from constantly thinking about offender hence being mentally controlled by them and acting and behaving under that influence, asking for strength to be able to forgive the offender and move on. Also in some situation being too picky and judgmental cause us anger and unnecessary grudges. For example a feeling that someone did not treat me right, did not pass a smile or did not pay me enough respect as I expect. These can be just my state of mind where I expect certain type of behaviors from others and judge people based on my opinions. These may not be offenses but may be that, so thought offender, is going through a tough situation and could not present the best of their behavior. Where we could have offered a helping hand or approach in friendly way to know the situation, we judge them and silently develop a grudge. I seek blessings from Satguru and forgiveness that please give us wisdom to ignore such things from my part.

In case of serious situations, once one start thinking about forgiving the offender is truly the beginning of the act of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a decision not an emotion. In my opinion, it is a three way process. Forget, Remember and Forgive. Try to forget what bad someone did to us, Remember any good times spent with the offender if any, it could be the moments in which the person they brought any joy, peace or happiness in one’s life even if it’s hardly few. This helps in forgetting the bad. Then taking a decision to forgive. Once one decides to forgive, they start working towards it by deliberately avoiding the negative feelings, putting a tight cap on anger and not going back in this decision. It does not complete here, in order to complete the forgiveness act, one makes a deliberate attempt to establish a positive relationship with offender by reaching out to them in any form of communication or gesture. This act brings in positive energy hence releasing one from the prison of pain, hurt and anger, filling the place where negative energy was camping, with joy and peace. And offers a good health.

This also suffice what our Satguru says

“Build bridges not walls”

On the other hand seeking forgiveness for our known mistakes is very necessary. A devotee is always watchful of their actions. If there has been any offence made by one, it’s necessary to seek forgiveness immediately and continue making efforts towards it, hoping that the person we offended will be able to forgive us one day with our corrected actions. A devotee also seeks blessings from Satguru that we never repeat our mistakes and be able to correct our mistakes.

Satguru please forgive us for our mistakes which we intentionally or unintentionally make. Some mistakes may not forgivable but please give us wisdom and courage to we work towards correcting them.

Saiyam shared a Poem:

Forgive Again and Again.

Forgiveness:

To forgive is not to forget

To forgive it to remember that nobody is perfect,

That each one of us stumbles,

When we want so much to stay upright

That each one of us says things,

That we wish we never said.

That we can all forget that love

is more important than being right.

To forgive is to remember

That we are so much more than our mistakes,

That we are often more kind and caring

That accepting another’s flaws can help us accept our own.

To forgive is to remember

That the odds are pretty good that

we might soon need to be forgiven ourselves.

That life sometimes gives us more

than we can handle gracefully.

To forgive is to remember

That we have rooms in our hearts to begin again,

And again and again and again and again….

Rev Manjit S Mudhar ji , Parmukh of Montreal, Canada Visit

2011-04-03T20:43:00.000-07:00

Trip coverage of Rev. Manjit S Mudhar ji, Parmukh of Montreal Canada, along with his wife Rev Swaran Mudhar ji at Tracy CA:

- contribution by Rev. Mohan Sabnani ji

Guru Puja Diwas 2011 Coverage at Tracy SNM Bhawan

2011-04-03T15:51:00.000-07:00

Celebrations at Tracy Bhawan:

GuruPujaDiwasTracy2011

Picture Coverage of Guru Puja Diwas 2011 at Tracy SNM Bhawan:

Media Coverage of Guru Puja Diwas 2011 at Tracy SNM Bhawan:

India Post article dated Mar 25, 2011

Coverage from Nirankari.com:

Guru Puja Diwas Samagam at Nirankari.com

Radio Roohaniyat Messages 2009

2011-03-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

Roohaniyat: 12-26-09

Good Morning everyone and we hope you all had a Lovely Xmas!!!

Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first

tree said, "Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could

be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty."

Then the second tree said, "Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and

sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull."

Finally the third tree said, "I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see

me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am

reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me."

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one

came to the first tree he said, "This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a

carpenter" ... and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him

into a treasure chest.

At the second tree a woodsman said, "This looks like a strong tree, I should be able to sell it to the shipyard."

The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his

dreams would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, "I don't need anything special from my tree so I'll take

this one", and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a

barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for. The second tree was cut and made into a

small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end. The third tree was

cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark. The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.

Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box

that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger

would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure

of all time. Because it was later revealed that this baby was not an ordinary baby, but the prophet of those

times.

Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to

sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to

keep the men safe. The men woke up the sleeping man, and he stood up and said "Peace" and the storm stopped. At

this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat, because he was the prophet of those

times.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who

was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top

of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill

and be as close to God as was possible, because the prophet of those times: Jesus had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that when things don't seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for

you. If you place your trust in Him, He will give you great gifts. Each of the trees got what they wanted, just

not in the way they had imagined. We don't always know what God's plans are for us. We just know that His ways are

not our ways, but His ways are always best.

It is a matter of surrendering ourselves to GOD and believing that what He does for us will be best. It is a

matter of us entrusting our lives to HIM. We must always pray to HIM saying : Dear GOD please be with me every

single moment of my life, hold my hand and lead me. Let every single moment of my life be as per THY will and not

as per MY will because you know me better than I know myself. You know what’s best for me, better than I know what

is good for me. Dear One and only one Almighty one, I surrender myself to thee, please forgive me and bless me.

Remember: God answers prayers in three ways: He will either say YES and will give you what you want. Or, He will

say NO, and He will give you BETTER! Or, He will tell you to WAIT, and He will give you the BEST.

God has editing rights over our prayers. He will...edit them, correct them, bring them in line with His will and

then hand them back to us to be resubmitted."

Roohaniyat: 12-05-09

Good Morning South Florida and welcome to another spiritual morning. I, am Preet Sahi.

When I say: I am Preet Sahi: what comes to your mind: am I introducing myself to you? Identifying myself?

But what exactly, is my identity? Is it this face, which is changing constantly? If my face is changing constantly

with time, as I age, my look changes. So does that mean that my identity also changes with time?

No, an identity never changes. The reason being that my identity is not this physical body. If tomorrow something

happened to my physical look, it does not change who I am.

That is because I am NOT this physical body, I AM the SOUL inside this physical body.

It is a human tendency to relate to people via their faces. We identify people with their faces. Little do we

realize that faces are merely a name-tag given to the soul when it is in a particular body form. The soul lives in

a body form for a certain granted time and then it changes its body form. We all know that every living being will

eventually die, but it is the soul that never dies.

In other words, the soul changes physical forms like we change clothes.

Life is like a drama stage. We are all playing the roles of certain characters. But we need to constantly

remember who we really are. Hence, the significance, of self-realization.

In the material life, we become different individuals, when we meet different people. When we meet a learned

person, our perspective is different towards him or her. We treat a rich person differently than we do a poor

person. Why? That is because we identify them with their material identity, not their spiritual identity. If we

meet someone who lives in a mansion, are we really relating to THEM, or to their mansion? If we meet someone who

is very popular, are we really meeting that person, or are we meeting the popularity and the status? If we start

to see that everyone’s identity is through their soul and not their material existence, we would be treating

everyone in a moral and an ethical manner.

Realize that every human being has a soul inside them, and that every soul is a part and parcel of the super soul.

Then how can you afford to treat someone any less than the fact that God exists within them?

Not treating them right is indirectly not treating God right.

When people make mistakes or errors, it is their human nature. We ALL are humans and we ALL make mistakes. Our

material life is led by the MIND and the mind drives us to make mistakes. But when we attack someone for their

shortcomings, we end up not attacking their minds, but their identity itself: which is the SOUL.

God DID NOT give anyone, the right to attack anyone’s soul. And we all need to learn, where to draw the line.

We all need to learn the difference between the mind and the soul.

A group of scientists decided to prove that Science could do it all and that God does not exist. So they made a

human body with every little organ and functioning. This body had synthetic nerves and veins and all the

functioning started just like normal, to the degree that with ivy food going in, even the hair and nails started

growing. After the entire body started functioning like a normal body does, the scientists could not understand

why the body does not stand up and walk or talk like other human beings. After months into this dilemma, they

finally realized that they could create a human body, but they could not give it a MIND and a SOUL. The mind

governs our material existence and the Soul IS the spiritual existence.

Our life is a constant battle between the mind and the soul. To win every battle, one side will always have to

compromise and in this case, it would always have to be the MIND. It is very rightfully said that: Tan, man and

dhan belongs to GOD: Our body, mind and wealth belongs to God. It takes some effort to surrender our body and

wealth to God, But it takes a LOT of effort to surrender our mind to God. The Gurbani says: Man becche satgur ke

paas, tis sewak ke karaj raas: If we can learn the art of surrendering our minds to the almighty, ALL of our

problems, find solutions.

Remember: Don’t tell God how big your problem is, tell your problem, how big your God is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Roohaniyat: 10-31-09

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind. She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend.

He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see the world, I will marry you.' One day,

someone donated a pair of eyes to her. When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her

boyfriend.

He asked her, 'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?' The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that

he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at

them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for

before they were yours, they were mine.'

This is how the human brain often works when our status changes. Only a very few remember what life was like

before, and who was always by their side in the most painful situations. Life Is a Gift. Today before you say an

unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak. Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of

someone who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's crying out to GOD for a companion. Today

before you complain about life - Think of someone who went too early to heaven. Before whining about the distance

you drive Think of someone who walks the same distance on their feet. And when you are tired and complain about

your job - Think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.

And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on your face and think: you're alive and still

around.

Why do people treat each other like they do? Is it all conditioning, or is there something in man that makes him

willing to go astray? It is both. His heart longs for love, but his conditioned mind prevents him from love. This

is the problem. A child is born with a heart that longs for love, but he is also born with a brain that can be

conditioned.

The heart cannot be made into a soldier. It can become a poet, it can become a singer, it can become a dancer, but

it cannot become a soldier. It can suffer for its individuality, it can die for its individuality and freedom, but

it cannot be enslaved. That is the state of the heart. The child comes with an empty brain, just a mechanism,

which you can arrange the way you want. It will learn the language you teach, it will learn the religion you

teach, and it will learn the morality you teach. It is simply a computer; you just feed it with information. And

every society takes care to make the mind stronger so that if there is any conflict between heart and mind, the

mind is going to win. But every victory of the mind over the heart is a misery. It is a victory over your nature,

over your being — over you — by others. And they have cultivated your mind to serve their purpose.

Don’t become a slave to your mind. Let your mind serve YOU.

It is human nature to always compete with one another. We compete at work, always trying to prove to be better. We

compete in our life style; we compete in how we look. Be it any area in life, we are ALWAYS competing. Little do

we realize that the amount of time and energy we put in competing, if we were to put that towards Harmony, we

would be creating a heaven on earth. There is no competition in Harmony, and you can create harmony ONLY if you

have the capacity to be humble. It is only the humble, who will not compete, because when we compete, our focus is

to let the other person down. When we live in Harmony, we are willing to compromise with others. If you focus on

the word: HAR-MONY, in the Punjabi language, HAR means losing, and MUNNI means acceptance. It is only when you

accept defeat, that you can create harmony. If you are constantly trying to win, you are constantly trying to

compete. Why is there so much desire to compete and win in this world???? Nothing more than the fact that we are

merely trying to feed our ego. We need to win because we have to feed our ego. If we have no ego, we don’t feel

the need to win. Our perspective changes from looking good by superficial winning, to looking good by creating a

pure and spiritual heart and mind. Sure, it is not easy to give up your ego in a simple process of 1,2,3….But for

that, always turn to God to bless you with the wisdom to be able to change.

Always Pray. Prayer connects you with the spiritual power, and it builds up your inner strength. When you have

concrete faith that God is with you and loves you and cares for you, you will be blessed with the certainty that

someone else is helping you--and that is a wonderful confidence-builder.

Rohaniyat: 10-24-09

When we go to school and college, we sit for tests and exams. The grades we get help us determine how we are doing

academically. At the end of the year, our attendance in class also qualifies us weather we can sit for our final

exams or not, weather we can pass that class or not.

How do we determine, where we stand spiritually? How do we determine how high or low do we stand on the path of

spirituality? Out of 24 hours in a day, if you were to sleep for 8 hours, then take the balance 16 hours that you

are awake and determine how many moments, you were with God. Just the thought of God, talking to Him, praying to

Him or merely the awareness, that He is with you, is being with God. They say: “swaas swaas simro Gobind”.

Remember God with every breath you take. How much time out of those 16 hours in a day, do you give to GOD? That

should determine your attendance in the class of spirituality. Don’t justify yourself by saying that it is

impossible to remember God with every breath. It sure is difficult, but definitely not impossible. If you can even

come close to half the time in a day, you are definitely aiming towards perfection. But if you fall below that

mark, you have a long way to go.

If you are in a balanced state of mind: where happiness does not make you overly happy and sorrow does not make

you immensely sad, then you are in a state we call: SEHAJ AWASTHA: a balanced state of mind towards materialism. A

spiritual person gets their happiness from being with God. Their happiness is not dependent on materialistic

pleasures. Nothing can make them sad because they possess the richest asset of God knowledge and that: calls for

eternal bliss. How balanced is our state of mind, determines where we stand on the path of spirituality. We all

have ups and downs in the materialistic world, but our state of mind determines how we get affected by them.

Spiritual people are attached to Materialism in a very “DETACHED” way. We need materialism as a means to reach our

goal of salvation, but we sure need to remind ourselves on a daily basis, that materialistic gains are NOT the

ultimate goal. Saints and Prophets have never preached to give up materialism. They have simply preached to use it

as a means, but not the goal.

Materialism is like that water in the river, on which our boat of life has to row to reach the other end: our

Goal. As long as our boat rows ON the water, we are ok. But if there is a hole in the boat, and if the water,

comes INTO the boat, the boat will drown. We need that water: the materialism to get by, but we can’t let the

materialism “ENTER” us because, then it will take us down and our lifeboat: will drown.

There was a farmer who had a donkey who used to help him in his farms. One day, while working in the fields, the

donkey fell into a dry well. The farmer tried hard to get him out, but in vain. He called a few other farmers from

the neighborhood, but had no luck. They eventually gave up and decided that the donkey was getting old anyways,

why bother! So they started pouring dirt into the well thinking that they will bury the donkey and hence, will be

able to close the well to avoid any future accidents. The donkey saw what was happening and cried and cried for

help, but no one came to his aid. And then the donkey started praying and all of a sudden there was no sound

coming from the well. The farmers kept pouring dirt and when the dirt reached the brim of the well they were taken

by surprise when they saw the donkey jump out of the well and trot away.

What the blessed animal was doing was that when the dirt would fall on his back, he would shake off the dirt and

step over it. The farmers kept throwing down the dirt and he kept shaking it off and stepping over it.

Materialism is exactly, like this dirt, which keeps falling on us everyday, every moment. We have got to shake it

off constantly; otherwise, it will take us down. Most of us are buried so deep down into materialism, that we

think that this itself, is life and that there is nothing beyond it. Every moment, we’ve got to SHAKE IT OFF, AND

STEP OVER IT.

Live like a lotus flower, that lives in the muddy waters, but never lets the mud, dirty its petals. The lotus

flower has a film over its petals, which never lets the petals get wet or dirty. Even though, its surroundings are

dirty and muddy, but the lotus always remains beautiful. It understands that it needs that environment to survive,

but it does not let the negative from that environment affect it. When you face the sun, your shadow will

automatically fall behind you and your shadow will follow you wherever you go. When you face GOD, materialism

will automatically fall behind you, but it will follow you wherever you go. So don’t follow materialism, just

perform your duties towards making a good living for yourself and your family. When your priorities are right, and

for as long as you face God, with his blessings, the shadow of materialism will follow you.

Rohaniyat: 10-16-09

Good Morning everyone and many thanks to all the listeners who attended the life seminar last night.

We wish all of you a VERY Happy Diwali today….and let me emphasize: when we say: Happy Diwali, what exactly do we

mean? What exactly do we intend to wish each other? Diwali is called the Festival of Lights and light is the

knowledge, the truth. Although we all are celebrating the return of Lord Rama from Exile, we are actually

celebrating the triumph of truth over Evil. So today, when you wish others Happy Diwali, in your mind, wish that

they be granted knowledge of the Truth. A Diya or a lamp is indicative of light, so when you light the Diwali

diyas tonight, ask to be blessed with the truth and the knowledge that comes along with it.

They say that ignorance is a dangerous thing. When we are ignorant about something, we prohibit our success. The

success could be either materialistic, or spiritual.

There was a father from a very remote village, back in the old days when electricity was not easily available to

everyone. He sent his son to the city for his college education. A few months after the young boy had moved to the

city, the father decided to come to the city to check on his son. Early in the morning, when it was still dark,

the young man got ready and left for his classes. When daylight struck and the sun’s rays pierced through the

windows, the ignorant father decided that there was no need for the bulb in the room, so he tried to turn it off.

Since they had no electricity in his village, he was used to lighting lamps every night. The father climbed up a

chair and went close the bulb and started blowing air on the bulb as if he would be able to extinguish the intense

flame coming out from it. He tried harder and harder, but the bulb wouldn’t turn off.

During the course of the day, the ignorant father took several breaks and would go back to his task of blowing air

on to the bulb, thinking that these city diyas have one strong flame. When his son came back from college, he

found his father standing on the chair, blowing air onto the bulb. “What are you doing father?” he asked. “I’ve

been trying to turn off this city lamp of yours since morning” he said. “You probably need the city stamina to

work these lamps,” he added. Still standing at the entrance of the room, the son reached out for the switch in the

wall and one flick of a button, turned the bulb off. The father gasped: was that ALL needed to be done?

All he needed was the knowledge, the awareness.

Similarly when we live in ignorance, we make our lives more complicated than required. Knowledge gives us the

wisdom, which in return, simplifies our lives. So today, when you wish everyone: Happy Diwali, wish for them, the

knowledge and the wisdom, which will help them, simplify their lives. Don’t just say Happy Diwali, merely for the

sake of saying it, MEAN it!

Diwali should also remind us of ACCEPTANCE. If Lord Rama could accept 14 years of exile without any complaints,

then the little problems that we face in our lives should be negligible. Why complain? When even the prophets can

willingly accept pain, then who are we to complain? Next time you have a problem, compare your problem with Lord

Rama’s 14 years of exile. Think of the times when he, being a prince, walked in the jungles barefoot, ate food

from the jungles and slept on the bare floor: not for a day or a week, but for 14 long years. And as if that was

not enough, think of the times when Ravana kidnapped Sita and Lord Rama had to go fight the evil to establish

victory of the Truth. Is your current problem bigger than that? When Sita came back from exile after 14 years,

Lord Rama had to abandon her, on demand from the Ayodhya citizens, because they questioned her purity. Sita

accepted her husband’s decision with total acceptance and went away! Is your current problem bigger than that?

Jesus had to accept being nailed to the cross and he still forgave his sinners. Guru Nanak Dev ji’s own parents

failed to acknowledge that their son was the prophet of the time. Guru Gobind Singh ji’s two young sons were

buried alive inside a wall, Guru Tegh Bahadur was beheaded and Guru Arjun Dev ji had to sacrifice himself on

burning hot sand over fire. Is your current problem bigger than that? If our prophets could face life’s biggest

challenges with total acceptance, then why can’t we?

The problem is not that there is a problem in our life, the problem is that we fail to acknowledge, that problems

are a part of life and if we receive them with acceptance, then there IS NO PROBLEM anymore.

Diwali is also the beginning of a new year, so this new year make a fresh resolution to always keep yourself lit

with the flame of knowledge: the knowledge of spirituality. Live like a lit candle that gives out light, not like

the unlit one that is merely there, but is serving no purpose. When you shine and spread light around you, you

then have the power to light everyone that comes in contact with you. This Diwali, may the lamps of truth, light

up your lives and may that light illuminate everyone that comes in contact with you! Happy Diwali everyone!