Sarb Nam Kaur Khalsa

Happy December

2005-12-01T16:26:00.000-08:00

The leaves swirl in the darkening December days here in northern New Mexico. Peace settles over the compound of Hacienda de Guru Ram Das, the Sikh temple and grounds blessed by our teacher Yogi Bhajan and the many devoted students who have prayed and walked on this holy land.

I moved here 10 years ago from California with my husband and young son. We enjoy living in a spiritual community, serving our Sikh brothers and sisters, teaching yoga, and living in this cozy rural valley. Our daily rhythm includes meditation and prayer, hiking and walking in nature, working at home in our mail order business, working in the community, and parenting our now teenage son as he attends school in India.

I enjoy writing poetry so here is a poem I recently wrote about the local Catholic chapel in the nearby village of Chimayo. The sanctuary exudes a peaceful, healing vibration and is reputed to have miraculous powers of curing disease.

Sanctuário

Time and devotion
defend the sanctity
of this holy place.

Grey slanting roof
shields adobe walls
preserved with mud
and centuries of devotion.

Lourdes of the southwest--
holy pilgrimage place.

Crutches left in the
tiny alcove bear
silent witness
to the healing power
of the humble soil
blessed by priests

Photos of the dead
and living
give testament
to life’s determination
as pigeons coo
in the rafters

As I pause to reflect
in the warmth of the
chapel resonant
with prayer,
my spirit sinks deeply into the
cracks that open between the
18th century
plaster walls
and my high-speed
existence.

Candles flicker
while humble supplicants
on bent knees
pray devoutly
for dissolution
of sin and disease.

Sanctuário de Chimayo,
where a
weary soul
can find a shelter in troubled times.
Where La Virgin
hears the silent
pleas of all.

Gazing into her deep
ojos mestizos
one is mezmerized
unaccountably
as redemption
and benediction
swiftly shatter
this seeker’s heart.

Sarb Nam Kaur Khalsa ©2005

Poetry of Life

2005-11-21T19:40:00.000-08:00

This past week, I have been participating in a virtual "poetry group." We have been tasked with writing a new poem each day and sharing our thoughts about each other's work. It inspires and challenges me to deepen my internal dialogue...making accessible what has always been deeply personal.

Here is one of the poems I wrote this week:

Psalm

Within God’s power lies all that is good.
I know it
I trust it
it beckons me forth
from depression
doubt, despair, pity.

Manifesting in my life
as trees
golden with the fruits
of their fall dance
spiraling infinite pledges
to the past, present and future

Winter calls and
the scent of snow
gathers in my heart
bringing a recollection
of a time redolent with
sprigs of mistletoe
hung for random affection.
I cuddle up in the soul-safe
protection of a mother’s
waiting arms,
certain of repose while
blanketed from the world’s
cruel intentions.

Spring is a far-off dream,
flickers of warbler-yellow flashes
in the green bud trees.
Squirrels and robins
gorge on the generous bounty
of the post-arctic frosts
relinquished in delight to tulips and primrose fantasy.

Will summer come again?
I am past the time
of high-noon expectations
and green meadow romps.
Yet I long for the exultation
of the spirit dressed for eternity,
my soul basking in its own
sun-flecked colors
piercing white harmony
of rainbow existence.

Sarb Nam Kaur Khalsa (c) 2005

Sarb Nam Kaur Khalsa

2005-11-11T13:23:00.000-08:00

It was a dark and stormy night. Lightning flashed in the July heat of 1957. Sputnik soared to infamy in the night sky...and a new soul joined the human race. Since then, my journey has taken me to many places and through many incarnations!

I started life in a small apartment near the University of California in West Los Angeles. When I was two, my parents moved to the sprawling ranches and orchards known as the San Fernando Valley (now a burgeoning bedroom community of nearly 3 million denizens).

I grew up in the 1950's - 1970's, some of the most tumultous and exciting times in the US of A. I am a product of Women's Lib and the ecology movement (I was there on the first Earth Day to plant a tree). My psyche embraces the images of the Viet Nam conflict and political assassinations. I loved that TV show "American Dreams" as it portrayed the nostalgic side of my childhood.

Graduated California State University of Northridge in 1979. Saw the beginnings of the PC age in my home (my dad built model computer kits from Radio Shack and wrote his own programs). Took my journalism degree to heart, but fell short of the dream of Woodward and Bernstein. Wrote for a travel magazine, moved to San Francisco, became a vegetarian/meditator and moved into a yoga ashram. Met my spiritual teacher, Yogi Bhajan, in 1981 and took Sikh vows at Winter Solstice celebration in Florida. Married my high school sweetheart (who had evolved into my first Kundalini yoga teacher and a Sikh convert) in 1982. Taught yoga at the CSUN Experimental College, moved to Altadena, CA and worked at the California Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion Labs in technical writing and computing.

I moved with my husband Aradhana Singh and young son Fateh Singh to Espanola, New Mexico in 1995. We live in a beautiful spiritual vibration with a large Sikh/yoga community. I became a Sikh minister (www.sikhnet.com) in 2004, write poetry, run a mail-order software business from home (www.compu-quote.net), and enjoy the beauty of this stark and amazing land. I am currently a Big Sister to a sweet 9-year old girl. My son attends school in Amritsar, India (www.miripiriacademy.com) and we are enjoying the beautiful fall foliage of New Mexico. Life is good!