Best out of waste was organized at Akal Academy, #FathegarhGunduan

Professor Daljit Singh Virk has been awarded the prestigious Queen’s Honour of OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for services to poverty reduction abroad and education in Derby. This award is the third highest and approximates to the civilian award of Padma Bhushan by the Government of India.

There are some truly inspiring students out there who offer up a motivational spirit with their success that keeps the flame of hope alive in the hearts of many other students.

Most of these gems are polished under the value-based education provided by Akal Academies.  A student of class IX at Akal Academy,  Dakra Sahib, Jaskirat Singh secured second position in ‘Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya’ entrance in Ambala without taking any coaching classes. Clearing such difficult entrance exams without taking extra coaching is commendable. Hats off to his hard work & determination.

He said: ‘My schooling pays a big role in this achievement. Studying at Akal Academy gave me confidence and knowledge to clear this entrance without taking any coaching classes.  I pay my heartfelt credits to the school that they provided me the required background because of which I was able to acquire the second position in JNV’s entrance exam.

What sets Akal Academies apart is their true inner desire to add an enormous amount of value to their education.’                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               -Gursanjam Kaur

Assadullah Asad, 65, a resident of Borwah village in central Kashmir’s Budgam district, started writing and translating Persian poetry soon after he retired from a ‘boring’ job in the planning and statistics department in 2008.

He wanted to make some Persian literature accessible in the local Kashmiri language. Since 2008, Asad has written and self-published seven books, including one of the first Kashmiri translations of the Sikh holy scripture Japji Sahib. For this, he was appreciated and facilitated by the Sikh community in Srinagar on January 5, which is Gurpurab, the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh.

The organisers had then called Asad’s translation “a big proof of our (Kashmiri Sikhs and Muslims) brotherhood”.

Asad had read a 100-year-old Urdu translation of Japji Sahib a years ago. Last year, he carefully translated the scripture into Kashmiri verse. “I found the teachings in the book and its message of peace relevant, and by translating it, I also wanted to strengthen the bond between Sikhs and Muslims of the Valley, which has stood the test of times,” he said. “The Sikhs have always been like our brothers and they’ve always stood by our side here, even during difficult times in the past decades of conflict.”

Asad is the only Kashmiri writer who has translated the sacred verses of Guru Nanak into Kashmiri language in recent decades. “The Sikh community wants to release the book in the Golden temple in Amritsar,” he said. “I was told that Manmohan Singh has also been sent a copy of my translation.”

After completing the translation, Asad spent his own money to get it published with a local publisher. “I spent about Rs 70,000 on the Japji Sahib translation, so that some copies are made available in bookstalls,” he said. “It was a labour of love and I wanted to keep this book out there for those who wanted to read this holy book of Sikhs in Kashmiri language.”

Soon after his graduation, Asad began his career in the education department in the 1960s, and worked as a contractual teacher for three years. Later, he took up a job in the state’s revenue department, where he worked for nine years, from 1973 to 1982. In 1982, he was employed in the state’s planning and statistics department, where he worked as a statistical officer in Srinagar till his retirement in 2008.

What drew him towards writing and translating Persian texts after his retirement? “My job at the planning and statistics department was laborious and somewhat boring, as I worked mostly with numbers and not words,” he said with a smile. “But after work hours, I would write in my diary every day, hoping to write more after retirement.”

After he retired in 2008, Asad published his first book of poetry, titled Sozi Jigeer (Inner Voice), which was followed by another book of ghazals in Kashmiri, Laove heath gulale (Wet Tulips) in 2010. A year later, he came up with another book of poems in Kashmiri language, which was titled Dukh te daag (Miseries and scars), containing 100 Kashmiri ghazals which touched on the political and everyday life in the Valley.

In 2012, Asad translated into Kashmiri Allama Iqbal’s Persian book Pas Che Bayad Kard (What should then be done, O people of the East). Iqbal wrote it in Persian in the last years before his death, he said, and it is considered to be his seminal work. Published in 1936, the philosophical poetry book touches on themes of poverty, the role of women, art, literature and politics in the East and West. “If someone hasn’t read any work of Iqbal and only reads this book, he will be able to understand all his work and philosophy,” said Asad.

In 2013, he published another 500-page book of his own Urdu poetry titled Naqsh e Faryadi.

“I was drawn towards reading and writing from my graduation days, but I didn’t get much time to write during my government service,” he said, adding that he studied subjects like mathematics, political science and Persian in college. In the following years, he came to read a lot of poetry and other literature in Persian. “Persian was taught well in our colleges by excellent teachers, and even at school level from the sixth standard onwards.”

The apathy shown towards Persian in the Valley over the past several decades has pained Asad. “Our youth can’t read and write in Persian now, which is such a beautiful language with rich and unparalleled literature,” he said, adding that a lot of literature on Kashmir is originally written in Persian.

He blames successive state governments and policy makers for the death of Persian in Kashmir. “A wealth of our rich cultural and literary heritage is originally written in Persian,” he said. “But not learning this language and abandoning it, we are distancing ourselves from our rich cultural and literary heritage.”

Out of his seven books, he submitted one of his translated works to the state-run Jammu & Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture & Languages a few years ago. But it wasn’t published in the end. “They had approved it initially and it was praised by noted writers and poets of the Valley, but it didn’t get published in the end,” he said. “After that, I decided not to send any of my work to the academy.” However, he continued to write and translate, spending his own money to publish.

In 2016, Asad says he was the first Kashmiri writer to translate Persian verses of Sufi poet Amir Khusrow into Kashmiri verse. Titled Ghazliyat-i-Ameer Khusrow, Koshur Tarjame (Kashmiri translation), the book contains 120 ghazals by Amir Khusro translated into Kashmiri verse. “There was no Kashmiri translation of his work and I wanted to do one,” he said. “It is said Amir Khusrow had written so much that it could fill a whole library. He could read and write in 19 languages.”

Being seeped in the Persian language and literature has made Asad adept in translating Persian poetry into Kashmiri verses. “While translating the verses into Kashmiri, I take care that the theme is retained and the essence, the sweetness and the soul of poetry is transferred from one language to another,” he explained.

Asad is presently translating the shrukhs (verses) of the patron saint of Kashmiris, Sheikh ul-Alam, which he’s been working on for the past two years. He hopes to complete the translation this year. “I’ll be translating about 360 rubayats (quadruplets) into Persian language. This will be the first time a Kashmiri writer will be publishing a Persian translation of his kalaam.”

Asad laments that the book reading culture is on a decline as people spend more time on smartphones and social media. “We have less readers for books now, especially for books written and translated into Kashmiri language,” he said, adding a note of hope, “But books are the best sources of knowledge and no experience is as fulfilling as book reading.”

I asked him how his poetry books and Kashmiri translations will find more readers beyond his hometown. He recalled a line by the famous English writer Jerome K. Jerome: “If you don’t rise to us, we cannot stoop to you…”

Majid Maqbool is a journalist and editor based in Srinagar, Kashmir

-TheWire

Sikhs around the world are taking part in a scheme to plant a million new trees as a “gift to the entire planet”.

The project aims to reverse environmental decline and help people reconnect with nature as part of celebrations marking 550 years since the birth of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak.

Rajwant Singh, the president of the Washington DC-based environmental organisation EcoSikh, which is coordinating the Million Tree Project, said he wanted to mark the anniversary in a significant way.

“Guru Nanak was a nature lover. [He] had talked about nature as a manifestation of God and many of his writings talk about how we need to learn lessons of life from nature.”

One of Guru Nanak’s hymns, which many Sikhs recite as a daily prayer, includes the lyrical line: “Air is the teacher, water is the father, earth is the mother.”

Singh said he hoped the project would motivate Sikhs – especially the young – to improve their relationship with nature and would be seen more broadly as “a gift to the entire planet”.

The Sikh diaspora has taken on the challenge and tens of thousands of trees have already been planted. These are mostly in India – the majority of the world’s Sikh population lives in the state of Punjab, which is planning to plant 550 saplings in every village – but also in the UK, US, Australia and Kenya.

Sikh Union Coventry has started planting native trees, shrubs and flowers such as hazel and hawthorn at Longford Park, and is exploring locations in schools, parks and recreation areas.

Palvinder Singh Chana, the chair of Sikh Union Coventry, said: “As Sikhs, our connection to the environment is an integral part of our faith and identity. Future generations will benefit from the fruits of our labour, symbolising peace, friendships and continuity for generations to come.”

EcoSikh is also working with Afforestt, an organisation that trains people to design and build small native forests that grow quickly and are a sustainable part of the ecosystem.

Singh said more than 1,800 of these forests were planned across the world, and that the million tree target would be achieved by the time of Guru Nanak’s birthday in November.

– The Gaurdian

You may run a kilometre or two at the most without getting your breath disturbed. Running seventy odd kilometres a day for 8 to 10 hours daily is not possible for a normal being. It is all the more difficult if you have to run this long daily for 5.5 months for 12,000 kilometres! It is an extraordinary feat indeed. But this feat is being performed by Dharmendra Kumar of Bangalore and he is performing this feat for no other purpose than to spread the message of Guru Nanak ‘Work hard; pray to God and share your earning’ and the message of ‘feeding the millions hungry!’ to the masses. He is doing this to commemorate Guru Nanak’s 550th birthday! Doing for What a noble cause! Only the blessed ones can do this; only those who are determined and practised it for a long time and moulded their body so that it can perform such a feat. He has been rehearsing for this for months.

Dharmendra Kumar started performing this feat from Sultanpur Lodhi on 17th March 2019. He will cover the first and second travels of Guru Nanak with in India running over 12,000 kilometres or even more. He aims to complete it on 30 August 2019.

He started his feat from Sultanpur Lodhi Gurdwara Bebe Nanaki on 17th March.

The first day reaching Gurudwara Pehli Patshahi Nakodar and than to Nurmahal Puadhra/Talwan reaching Ludhiana same evening. At Gurdwara Gau Ghat Ludhiana he was received well by the Sangat and the management.

On 18th he started from Ludhiana and covered Thakkarwal and Jagerha and reached Sangrur Gurdwara Nankiana Sahib same evening.

He started on 19th from Sangrur and reached Kamalpur (Patiala) by evening.

On 20th he reached Pehowa where he visited Gurdwara Baoli Sahib. and Sheesh Mahal

From Pehowa he started on 21st Morning and paying obeisance at Thanesar-Kurukshetra Gurdwara Sidh Batti and Gurdwara Pehli Patshahi he reached Karnal Manji Sahib.

From Karnal he reached Panipat on 22nd and reached Delhi Gurdwara Majnu Ka Tilla and visited Gurdwara Guru Nanak Piao as well.

On 23rd he started from Delhi on way to Mathura and Agra

As I watched him running he appeared to be calm, cool, collected, clear, sober, resilient, dedicated and determined. He covered 70 to 75 Kilometres daily running the entire distance. Sikh He did not feel extremely tired as a normal being would have been. He felt relaxed in fact. Sangat received him with great applause and honoured and encouraged him wholeheartedly.

He is funded by no one; he is patronised by no one; he is doing it all alone except the friends who join and assist him sometimes. A taxi is hired to help his administration. Maps and distances which I worked for him meticulously help him reaching the places connected with Guru Nanak.

Can there be a more befitting tribute to Guru Nanak Dev Ji, I wonder! He has put his entire body and soul to commemorate the 550th year! I bow to him with gratitude. A non-Sikh performing this all is very much astonishing. When he contacted me three months ago with this proposal I took it as a joke. But when he depicted his resolve, visited me and showed me his plans, I was shell shocked. “How can you do such a long run and that too for months?” I questioned. “I am quite accustomed at it. I have been practising running up to 100 kilometres a day for months now”, his reply was well balanced; well measured. I was convinced. “But it requires lot of funding. Who will help you with this?” I had the worldly wise enquiry. “Who funded Guru Nanak? He did not have a pie with him. Still, he travelled the entire world. If he can do for himself he will do this for me as well.” He said remaining cool. “Where did you get this idea?” I enquired further. “When young I was at Patna. I heard to Guru’s hymns and was tuned to it. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar inspired me further when he arranged Guru Gobind Singh’s birth anniversary at Patna elegantly,” he explained. “We should give this news to the papers so that people help you out,” I suggested. “No need of this. Baba Nanak is with me. Everything will be alright,” he was confident. “What faith in Guru Nanak!” I could not resist him further. I worked hard to dig out the entire evidence from my books, contacting people and preparing maps with distance and time charts for him. He reached in time to collect the evidence and started the event without any advertisement.

Initially, it was planned that he covers the first itinerary but later he insisted on covering the second itinerary as well so that Guru’s message reached entire India. It was planned that he will start from Bebe Nanaki’s residence at Sultanpur Lodhi wherefrom the Guru actually started his first itinerary. He will go to all the places visited by Guru Nanak in the first and second itinerary within India. Passing through Nakodar, Nurmahal, Talwan, Ludhiana, Thhakarwal, Jageda, Sangrur, Kamalpur (Patiala) he was to enter Haryana visiting Pehowa, Kurukshetra, Karnal and Panipat before reaching Delhi. From Delhi plan is to reach Brindavan, Mathura, Agra, Etawah, Kanpur, Allahabad, Benaras, Nizamabad, Chaderauli, Gaya, Rajgir, Patna, Mongher and Malda. He will go to Dhubri, Guwahati, Shillong, Goalpara, Nazira (Dibrugarh) and through Sahibganj, Rajmahal, Nalhatti, reach Calcutta. therefrom will run to Chanderkona and enter Orissa going to Jamshedpur, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur reaching Cuttack and Puri. He will next enter Madhya Pradesh reaching Amarkantak, Suhagpur, Jabalpur, Maihar, Chitrakoot, Chanderi, Shivpuri, Jhansi, Gwalior, Dholpur, Bharatpur, Behror (Rajasthan), Rewari, Gurgaon,Jhajjar, Beri, Narnaul, Jind, Sunam, Takhtupura, Patto, Daudhar, Jagraon, Nakodar reaching back at Sultanpur Lodhi completing his run on Guru Nanak’s footprints in First itinerary.

His next run will be on the footprints of second itinerary of Guru Nanak from Sultanur Lodhi, going to Dharamkot, Matte di Sarai, Lakhi Jangal, Bathinda, Abohar, Sirsa and Hissar and enter Rajasthan at Suhawa reaching Bikaner; going to Kolayat, Pokhran, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur, Pushkar, Ajmer, Nasirabad, Deogarh, Nathdwara, Udaipur, Mount Abu, Dhuan, Chitorgarh, Dungarpur, Banswara and enter Madhya Pradesh again reaching Jaora, Mehdipur, Ujjain, Dhar, Betma Sahib, Indore, Bhopal, Hoshangabad, Onkareshwar, Burhanpur, Ramtek, Nagpur, Wardha, Yavatmal, Chandrapur, Nanded, Nirmal, Medak, Wazirabad, Adilabad, Nizamabad. Bidar, Hyderabad, Vijaywada, Guntur, Pamela (Palampur, Pangalpur), Hospet, Mangalgiri, Guntakal, Caddapah, Tirupati, Chitoor, Vellore, Chennai, Mylapur, Chingleput, Shiva Kanchi, Chandi Chandol, Arunachal Parbat, Kanchipuram, Tripartikurram, Trivanmallai, Pondicherry, Trichanapally, Srirangam, Tanjor (Thnjavur), Jaffapatnam, Nagaptinam, Madurai, Kodikulum (Kodikotai), Ramanadpuram, Drabh Shain, Devi Pattan, Rameshawaram, Tuticorn port, Cape Comorin (Kanya Kumari), Trivandrum, Palaymkotai: Tilganji Sahib (near Palipuram-Kotayam), Quillon, Alleppy, Ernakulum, Trichoor, Palghat, Coimbtore, Nilgiri Hills, Kozikode, Mysore, Rangaptnam, Somnathpur, Bangalore, Annagudi, Daywad, Balahi, Mehboobnagar, Karnool, Hampi, Pandharpur, Barsi, Poona, Ambarnath, Mumbai, Trimbkeshwar, Nashik, Valsad, Surat, Bharuch, Vadodra, Anand, Ahmedabad, Surendarnagar, Junagarh, Porbunder, Somnath, Dwarka, Morbi, Lakhpat and return to Punjab and reach Sultnpur Lodhi. Let us pray for his good health, maintenance of momentum, strong courage and determination. I am sure that the entire Sikh Sangat will give him required assistance in terms of accommodation, meals and even funds which he needs for his journey especially for the administration of three members’ team and the hired car.

-Sikhnet.com
Dr. Dalvinder Singh Grewal

Dr. Grewal has written 28 books in English and Punjabi along with thousands of articles.

I was living on the south coast of Chile and building my home in a beautiful place where the river and the ocean join together and where we are surrounded by forest, rain and rainbows. My teacher gave me a tape with the words “Japji Sahib” written on top. Now I understand the power of that gift, because it was the beginning of my Journey on this Spiritual Path that changed my life.

When I first listened to the sound current, the rhythm, the voice and the intonation, immediately I felt a coziness and familiarity. I was especially focused on the recitation of the 28th and 29th Paurees …the repetition of these lines stayed in my mind throughout the day.

When I attended my first Aquarian Sadhana and the sound current flowed through my mouth when repeating Japji Sahib, it wasn’t so easy, but the vibration allowed me to open my heart and immerse myself in the experience instead of thinking of what I was doing. At first, I was worried that because of my poor pronunciation, the effects of the Naad would not be complete. But someone told me that the devotion we put into our practice is the key. Years afterwards, I had the blessing of studying Gurmukhi and experienced new levels and dimensions in my practice. We recited Japji Sahib eleven times and the energy felt so light and elevated… We are so blessed that we can recite the same vibration that the Guru created with his mouth. This is a timeless technology that works throughout the ages and it is available for everyone. That is the preciousness of Sikh Dharma.

In these super busy and strange times, the message of Guru Nanak deepens the understanding of compassion, equality and reality. If we ignite our own candle, we start creating a chain reaction that benefits everyone around us. It is so inspiring that Guru Nanak stood up and lived up to his commitment to change the world and the vibration of the humanity. Reciting Japji Sahib helps me recreate the Primal Power inside me: to have the strength, the love and the vision to transform myself and my surroundings.

Leer en Español

The above is from SikhDharma.org

-Sat Bachan Kaur

She has lived as a Sikh since 2006 in Valdivia, Chile. She is blessed to be raising two children on this spiritual path, actively contributing to the development of Sikh Dharma Chile and the first Akhand Paaths held in Chile. She deeply vibrates with the technology of the Shabad Guru and Banis.

Harlem-based City Health Works is making community health workers an integral part of the health system.

Founder Manmeet Kaur’s theory is that patients with long-term chronic conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, are not getting the education they need to stay healthy—and keep costs down. For various reasons, doctors are failing to get the message across.

The company, which is paid by insurers, brings education to patients where they are: at home or at a coffee shop. It uses trained health coaches, not doctors or nurses, from the same communities as patients to conduct one-on-one sessions. A registered dietitian or nurse supervises the coaches.

“Most of these patients have had these conditions for years and it’s the first time they’re understanding what that blood pressure indicator really means,” Kaur said.

During a human rights fellowship in South Africa, Kaur was inspired by the nongovernmental organization Mamelani Projects, which trains community members to educate others on chronic conditions.

She worked on bringing that idea to New York City at Columbia Business School, which she treated as a sort of incubator, using class assignments to hone her plans. Supportive professors connected her to potential investors, and after graduating in 2012, she raised $200,000 while pregnant with her first child. But after five years, Kaur realized the nonprofit model was a hindrance to her plans to grow City Health Works to scale, so she began converting her company to a for-profit venture and pitching early-stage investors.

Since officially launching in 2013, City Health Works has raised more than $6 million from the Helmsley Charitable Trust; the Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation; Robin Hood, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; and Mount Sinai, and earned $2 million in revenue from health system partnerships. It now has 10 health coaches, in Harlem and Schenectady, and an average of 50 people per coach a year graduate from the coaching program.

“We’re doing a layer of primary care that should be done by medicine, but it’s not,” Kaur said. “Education takes time that insurers don’t reimburse for.”

– www.crainsnewyork.com

Guru Gobind Singh Ji was not only a great teacher but he was also the greatest of warriors. He taught his Sikhs to meditate on the One in everyone and he also taught them to train their bodies.

His Sikhs trained very hard. They were tested constantly. Guru Gobind Singh ji also trained himself intensely and, while doing so, he never forgot God. He was always in bliss. He was so expert at shooting a bow that his arrows could go much farther than anyone else’s arrows.

One time, emperor Aurangzeb sent an army to surround Anandpur Sahib where the Guru and his Sikhs were living. About two miles away the emperor’s army set up camp. Anandpur was cut off from all food and water coming in.

One day two generals, named Zabardast Khan and Wajir Khan, were playing a game of chess in their camp. They didn’t know that Guru ji was watching them from two miles away through his telescope. From the Anandpur fortress Guru Gobind Singh leaned back and shot an arrow high in to the sky. The arrow soared through the sky like it was happy to meet a new friend. It thwacked into leg of the bench on which the generals were sitting. “Huh?” “What was that?” Everyone got scared, “We are under attack!!” they yelled, “Run for shelter!”

After a little while, the whole camp became silent. Slowly, people came out of hiding. Wajir Khan pulled the arrow out of the leg of the bench and said, “Who would dare shoot an arrow at us!?! Whoever did it must be found and punished!”

A prince who lived near Anandpur said, “I recognize this arrow! It has a gold arrowhead on it, so it must be the arrow of Guru Gobind Singh.” The Guru always put gold on his arrows so that the families of men killed in battle will be cared for after their death. The generals didn’t believe him, “How could it be the Guru’s arrow!? If he was close enough to shoot at us, we would have seen him and captured him.”

Another prince who lived nearby spoke up, “Guru Gobind Singh is a very brave man. I have heard many stories of his heroism. He must have shot the arrow from the top of the Anandpur fortress.” The generals laughed, From the top of Anandpur fort?! That’s over two miles away. No one can shoot that far! The prince spoke again, “The Guru has special powers, two miles is not too much for him.” Everyone who had been watching the chess game became very impressed. Wajir Khan got angry and yelled, “Silence you fools! Wherever this arrow came from, let us thank Allah we didn’t get hit. Allah has protected us. Allah has made a miracle and saved our lives.”

As they were about to sit down to start the chess game again, a second arrow soared through the sky. It hit the bench in exactly the same spot as the last one. Everyone freaked out, “Where is that coming from!?” “Save yourselves!” “I don’t want to die!”

After everyone settled down Zabardast Khan said, “Come out, com out. It’s safe.” He noticed that there was a letter attached to this arrow. He said, “What is this? a letter? It’s written in Persian. Ah, the language of kings! How superbly is this letter written!” Then he read the letter the Guru had written:

“This is not a miracle, I am not in favor of performing miracles. This skill comes only from practice. You think wrong; I was not trying to take the lives of Zabardast Khan or Wajir Khan. The first arrow was not meant to hit either one of you.”

The generals were shocked, “I can not believe this, how did he shoot that far? He could have taken our lives, so why didn’t he?” Guru ji’s message to them was clear, the Sikhs will never give up. The Sikhs will always be kind but will also never surrender.

Guru ji always taught the Sikhs to to be become excellent in all things and to live their lives purely and simply. It is through discipline and practice that we can accomplish anything in life. It is through discipline and practice that we can become strong and we can help others.

Guru Ji says, “I do not love my Sikhs. It is their discipline that I love.”

Storyteller: Ravi Kaur Khalsa
Topics: Adventure, Fun, Gurus, Guru Gobind Singh
-Sikhnet