October 1996 Khalsa Council Meetings
SS Dr. Sat Kirpal Kaur Khalsa
Chief Whip of the Khalsa Council
Espanola, New Mexico
This was an international meeting with members from around the world, including Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, and the United States. They were very heart centered meetings which worked in many ways to support development of leadership through education and training, communication, sharing, and getting to know each other better. The meetings provided environments in which members could develop their identity as leaders, their totality to face the challenges of the times, and nurture their spirit.
Highlights included the blessing of the Siri Singh Sahib’s daily addresses and his extended session with members on "Transforming any obstacles we may have towards delivery of ourselves as Leaders," and the agenda themes which he gave for each day of the meetings.
One exciting new event was the interactive Tour and presentation of our Dharmic and KIT Offices. The Siri Singh Sahib had given us a message earlier: "Create Avenues of Participation for the Sangat and We Will Succeed." The Tour gave each member an overview of the work of the Dharma, a feeling of connection, and a sense of pride and ownership. The tour stimulated interest in developing "avenues of participation" for Khalsa Council members and their sangats. The tour was videotaped and will be made available as a means to reach out to sangats to educate, and to create lines of communication and avenues of participation. Included in this issue of Prosperity Paths is a Directory of Avenues of Participation with a brief listing of current activities/goals, challenges, and how you can participate.
There was an outstanding training session on Peer Counseling presented by the Secretary of Religion, SS Dr. Sat Kaur Khalsa, which gave members a new and valuable tool with which to serve the sangat. This training included developing active listening skills, easy steps to clarify the problem, facilitating the counselee to find the solutions and take action, and taking care of oneself in the process. The Khalsa Council members, all of whom are Ministers, highly praised this training for its usefulness as a ministerial counseling tool and its impact and connection on themselves.
One Focus Idea from the April '96 Khalsa Council meetings was to create business cards with an easy yoga kriya as an outreach to the general public. A set of eight cards has been completed with the kind collaboration of Khalsa International Trading (KIT), our family of Sikh Dharma businesses. there is a hardcopy master or disk (in Quark software) available (the latter for $5.00). Please contact SS Dr. Sat Kirpal Kaur (tel 505-753-0562; fax 505-753-5982) if you want a copy.
Another Focus Idea from the April meetings was to get Kundalini Yoga as taught by Yogi Bhajan onto Public Access TV. SS Nirvair Singh of Anchorage, AK, addressed the Council and shared his positive outreach experiences through his 12 series yoga classes which ran on Public Broadcasting Systems, and even McNeil Lehrer. He is donating these tapes to anyone who wishes to run them on Public Access TV. A tag on can be attached to advertise your local or regional classes. He can be contacted at tel 907-345-1339, or contact SS Dr. Hari Simran Singh and Sat Rattan Kaur (tel 602-258-2580) on how to get started on Public Access .
SS Kirn Kaur gave an update on plans by Sikh Dharma Education International to build our new school, Miri Piri Academy, in India. SS Kirn Kaur, Randeep Singh (Vancouver, B.C.), an architect and building contractor, and SS Amrit Singh (Espanola, NM), a builder, will all be in India beginning in October to work on the school project.