Sik Dharma & 3HO Musical Festivities - A Celebration Of Bani
Sikh Dharma & 3HO Musical Festivities - A Celebration Of Bani
Sat Nam Kaur Khalsa
Herndon VA, U.S.A.
Our sangat in Herndon, Virginia held a week-long celebration of the music, bani, and chanting of 3HO and Sikh Dharma in February. For many of us, it was a time of revitalization, inspiration and fun, as we revisited the music and mantras of our early years.
The idea for our week of celebration was born last October when S.S. Gurudass Singh Khalsa, from Barcelona, Spain, visited our ashram after being away for more than seventeen years. He and S.S. Gurudass Kaur Khalsa lived in Washington, D.C. during the "early days," but had not had the opportunity to return since then. Gurudass Singh was traveling through on his way to New Mexico, and met his son here to show him where he was born, and to sightsee in Washington. While Gurudass Singh was here, we had a "welcome home" party and soaked up his music as much as we could. It just wasn't enough! We all wanted more.
Our sangat has been chanting to Guru Ram Das for 31 minutes each evening for over seven years. This tradition started when the Siri Singh Sahib came and insisted that we chant and have lungar at each of our homes during his visit. We had a week of whirlwind chanting and feasting (sometimes several houses in one evening to fit them all in), and we have been doing it ever since. Music and mantra have been a source of strength and inspiration for our ashram for many years. It only seemed right that we should bring Gurudass Singh back to Herndon with his family and other musicians to join us in a musical celebration.
The arrangements for our gathering were amazingly smooth and demonstrated how much can be accomplished when a group of people have the consciousness to work together and share. Everyone made contributions of some type so that we were able to bring Gurudass Singh, Gurudass Kaur, their daughter, M.S.S. Livtar Singh Khalsa, and S.S Livtar Kaur Khalsa to our community for this week of music. Others from as far away as Millis, Massachusetts and North Carolina joined us also. The addition of Gurudass Singh's 84 year-old mother to those visiting completed the sense of family and celebration. We all started calling her "MammaDass" and fell in love with her grace and spirit.
We had our evening chanting as usual each evening of the week, but after the chanting we would sing and play music for hours. The energy carried over into the days, to the point that Saturday seemed like a day-long party. The music was so beautiful at Sunday Gurdwara that after the Guru was put in Sukhasan, everyone started playing again, and the chanting continued for another hour. Then we gathered again for our Sunday evening chanting! At one point, someone visiting from New Jersey said to me, "I've never seen a sangat have so much fun together." I couldn't have agreed more.