Everyone is invited to the Nagar Kirtan Open House in Yuba City

Click here for more photos from the 2009 Festival (will open in a new window).

The relatively unknown Bhagat Puran Singh was born in Punjab in 1904. Motivated by his love of humanity, he established Pingalwara, an institution dedicated to the care and healing of the disabled and the infirm.  The uplifting documentary is told from the atypical point of view of the observations of Pyara, Bhagat Puran Singh’s severely disabled ward, whom he transported on his back for 14 years.

Western audiences understand and recognize the contributions of towering figures such as Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Albert Schweitzer. Likewise, Bhagat Puran Singh of Pingalwara, Amritsar was also among the few shining stars in recent history who devoted their entire lives to serving the sick, the weak and the destitute.

When he died in 1992, there were no headlines, no huge processions, and no massive garlands of flowers. But he left something vastly more enduring, a legacy of care and concern for the entire world to see. Captured in this documentary is a legacy that animates every atom of his beloved institution, Pingalwara.

This is the sixth documentary film produced and directed by Joginder Kalsi; he has also produced Two Hearts (Hindu & Sikh weddings Ceremonies), The Khalsa (The Saint Soldiers), Guru Granth Sahib (The Sikh Scriptures), A Punjabi Village and The City of Amritsar. The documentary was written, produced and edited in Canada.

The production, which has gone direct to DVD, has English and Punjabi audio tracks. It is being distributed via the internet and to schools and libraries world wide.
For more information, contact:
Kalcine Enterprises Inc.
kalcine@rogers.com
416-445-5497

Event: 15Th Punjabi American Festival organized by Punjabi American Heritage Society
Place: Yuba Sutter Fairgrounds, 442 Franklin Avenue. Yuba City, CA 95991
Date: May 24th, 2009, Sunday
Show Time: 1 PM and 2PM and 330PM

Sahaita provides opportunity and resources to needy children and the elderly regardless of their status, background, or religion.  They organize charitable clinics to provide health education and immunizations in California and India.  Sahaita also helps by providing shelters, educational tools and fund for the poor, disabled and less fortunate.

Dr. Sandhu gave a very touching PowerPoint presentation to inform the audience about the various projects Sahaita is implementing in California and Northern India.  Kashmir Singh also gave a motivational speech to encourage every to open their heart and soul to donate for this noble and worthy cause.  The message and mission of Sahaita truly inspired those in attendance bringing the total donation amount to an impressive $35,000.

There were about 200 people in attendance at this fundraising event. Among the attendees were: Yuba City Mayor Rory Ramirez, Vice Mayor Kash Gill, Councilman Tej Singh Mann, and Sutter County Supervisor Jim Whitaker.  Punjabi appetizers and dinner were served.  The Punjabi American Heritage Society would like to express our whole-hearted appreciation to all those that took time out of their very busy lives to show their support and donating to the Sahaita. To learn more about Sahaita please visit Sahaita.com.
 
Link to a story from local American News paper: http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/yuba_76744___article.html/group_city.html

The Punjabi American Heritage Society (non profit) was founded in 1993 with the purpose of promoting friendship and understanding with other communities and helping our younger generation getting connected to their roots.

Pictured above: Dr Harkesh Singh Sandhu and some of the members of Punjabi American Heritage Society and Sahaita Team
 

Free Ebook – The Sikh Religion – What Was Taught vs What We Do Today by Dr. Gulzar Johl, MD

Excerpt of Chapter 1:

Chapter One

Who is a Sikh?

The word Sikh means a student, a learner, a follower or chella. Over the last five centuries, the word Sikh has denoted a distinct group of people who are followers of a faith or a religion, founded by Siri Guru Nanak Dev Ji during the fifteenth century, called Sikhi or Sikh religion. Anyone who follows the principles, laid down by guru Nanak dev Ji and preached by the next nine gurus, as we Sikhs call them, the next nine guru Nanak’s. We also believe that Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is the eternal guru. A Sikh is a person who believes in above mentioned criteria. A true Sikh has to have certain qualities and follow specific guidelines set by the gurus for Sikhs to live his life by.

The most important rules are the three golden rules of Sikhi as established by Guru Nanak and preached by each and every Sikh guru, and now, until eternity, are taught by the eternal Guru Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

1. Always remember Waheguru or God because he is the creator of all, is present everywhere and watches over us all the time. We cannot hide anything from him.

2. Earn your living by honest means. Do not try to gain material wealth by fraudulent means because it is forbidden by the guru and the guru-given common sense.

3. Out of your earnings, give some of it for the care of the needy who are less fortunate than we are. Guru Nanak Dev Ji has told us that the hungry man’s stomach is Sikhs golakh, or depository.

These rules to live one’s life by is not for the Sikhs only, but these are the guide lines for every human being on this earth, because Siri Guru Nanak Dev Ji did not bring this religion to this earth just for the Sikhs. He created a religion, called Sikhi, as a universal religion for everyone to live his or her life by to achieve salvation.

Any person who lives by these rules cannot commit any sins. All other Sikhi rules are derived from these three golden rules of Sikhi. If a Sikh does not follow these rules, then he or she can not be a good Sikh. Some of the sub-rules for a Sikh are as follows;

1. A Sikh gets out of bed at least before day break. The guru called it amrit bella.  After taking a bath, a Sikh recites god’s name before he or she starts his or her daily chores. This has a profound effect on a person’s health, productivity, cheerfulness and accomplishment in general. We have all heard the phrase, “the early bird gets the worm.” This may not be a proper phrase to use here but it can remind us of some of the many practical, common sense benefits of early rising out of bed.

2. A Sikh never lies because it is against the principals of Sikhi and has important connotations. A person loses his or her credibility, loses respect of his peers, loses self confidence and, once you tell a lie, you have to remember it all of the time or you will be exposed as a liar. The benefit of speaking the truth is that you do not have to remember it.

3. A Sikh always has to be humble. Humble does not mean to be a coward; it means to be respectful but do not yield to a bully.

4. A Sikh believes in human rights and equal rights for everyone, because we are all created equal by the same or common creator. For this reason, all of us have the same privileges and rights to attain our own destiny. A phrase “to live and let live” describes this point very well.

5. A Sikh never cheats anyone out of any material things because it is immoral, illegal, fraudulent, and it is against the teachings of our guru.

6. A Sikh always has a guru given duty to protect and help the downtrodden and the weak who cannot protect themselves from predators.

7. A Sikh never steals or takes away anything from anyone or any place that does not belong to him or her.

8. A Sikh is always aware of shame and is the possessor of a true conscious.  Without these two one cannot be a good Sikh.

9. A true Sikh never uses anyone or any public property to advance his or her own agenda or to achieve personal gain, whether it is material or self advancement of any kind.

10. A Sikh should be egoless.

11. A Sikh should put other people’s needs ahead of his own. That is, the legitimate needs.

12. The most important belief a Sikh has is that he or she believes, without a doubt, that the spirit that traveled through the ten gurus was one and the same and that is the spirit of Siri Guru Nanak Dev Ji. And now, this spirit resides in our eternal and universal guru, Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

13. A Sikh never bows to any human who claims to be a guru.

14. A Sikh never reads, listens or accepts anything else as Sikh scriptures except Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, as this guru is ordained by the tenth and the last in human form, Siri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, who ordered the Sikhs that after his leaving this earth Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is the one and only Sikh guru. There is not, and will never be, any other Sikh guru, and any Sikh who does not abide by this order is a manmattia, or a fake.

15. A Sikh never uses his religious place or gurdwara to promote his or her personal businesses or branches of these by the space or money that is donated by the sangat, or “congregation”.

16. A Sikh never fools or tries to fool the sangat by making them feel that he is doing it for the benefit of the congregation, but it is really money going into his pocket.

17. A Sikh never pays his pledges with fake money.

18. A Sikh never uses the gurdwara for banking purposes.

19. A Sikh always pays on his pledges. He never makes a false pledge to donate money, property or other material things or services of any kind. It is a sin not to fulfill that pledge.

20. A Sikh never becomes a dictator to the sangat but feels like a good sewadar to the community, always and under all circumstances.

21. A Sikh never uses foul language anywhere.

22. A Sikh never says to anyone that he or she is not a Sikh. Because he himself does not know if he is a good Sikh himself. Only the guru knows who is a Sikh, good or bad, and gurus, during their stay on this earth for two hundred and thirty-nine years never said to anyone that he or she was not his Sikh. Now, for two hundred and ninety eight years, our eternal guru has never said this either. Guru Ji tells us that, before finding faults in others, we should look for hidden ghosts in our own closets.

23. A Sikh remembers that his religion is the newest, practical, common sense and universal religion on earth, without an exception.

24. A Sikh should not question some one else’s Sikhi, because that part belongs to the guru alone.

25. A Sikh should try to learn to read gurbani. This is the best way to gain true knowledge of the guru’s message, otherwise, we fall prey in to the clever preachers hands by accepting the fables he or some one else has created.

26. A Sikh always loves everyone and everything because all of it is created by the omni-present Waheguru. He or she never discriminates against anyone because of their religion, creed, color, caste or occupation.

27. A Sikh should always remember that if something seems or feels bad, and your conscious agrees, then that deed is bad. A Sikh avoids doing bad things or bad deeds.

28. A Sikh always remembers that shame and conscious are the reminders to make him or her walk on the line of righteousness.

End of Chapter 1 – Read the entire book by downloading a copy in PDF format:
Free Ebook – The Sikh Religion – What Was Taught vs What We Do Today by Dr. Gulzar Johl, MD

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He developed a keen interest in spreading the message of the Guru–the universal truth of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji. To achieve this he first obtained a thorough knowledge over a period of many years.

He travels throughout the world to conduct Gurbani seminars and discourses. Through these seminars he clears confusion among the masses, especially younger generations.  A common and genuine complaint of the youth is that Gurdwaras don’t cater to their needs.  In seminar settings they are given the chance to openly to ask questions. Veer Ji uses examples from Gurbani to give answers to questions that arise in our daily life.

Veer Bhupinder Singh Ji addressed Yuba City Sadh Sangat on the evening of Dec 5th and the morning of Dec 7th at Gurdwara Sahib on Tierra Buena Road in Yuba City.  Both of these events were well attended. For the first time a pin drop silence was heard at the Gurdwara Sahib.  The sangat had never listened to such a wonderful discourse on Gurbani.
On Saturday Dec 6th a Seminar was held at River Bend School in Yuba City.  Veer Ji talked about social and marital issues which can lead to depression and suicidal tendencies.  Solutions through Gurbani were discussed in detail.  He stressed that if we stay attached to the truth, we can avoid all disappointments of life.  Those who stay involved in helping others always lead happy lives.  He highlighted the importance of families and love and affection among family members.  He emphasized that mothers can make all the difference in how a child will be as an adult.

Veer Ji talked about introspection.  He helped the sangat to understand that we all need to look at where we stand, and that it is important to acquire Godly qualities and get rid of vices.  By doing this we can always stay connected to God.  He also stressed that those who feel the presence of God do not discriminate, they treat everyone equally.  On the evening of Dec 6th, the California Sikh Foundation sponsored a Gurbani discourse which was held at Gurdwara Sri Sach Khand Sahib in Roseville. This was also well attended and again Sadh sangat listened to Veer Ji with full attention. 

Veer Bhupinder Singh has founded a charitable organization, “The Living Treasure”.  This organization operates ambulances, provides health care to the needy, and education to the poor in India, all at no cost.  In addition to this, Veer Ji provides free counseling and conducts seminars.

To get more information and to listen to the Gurbani discourses please visit their website: www.thelivingtreasure.com

This event was sponsored by Punjabi American Heritage Society, Yuba City: www.PunjabiHeritage.org