Current News

Easter Program

On Saturday, March 22, 2008, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj gave a talk at the Wyndham Lisle-Chicago Hotel in Lisle, Illinois entitled “Spiritual Elevation through Meditation.” The hall was filled to capacity, and as the spiritual Master made his way to the dais, a profound hush fell over the audience.

In his discourse Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj posed the question, ‘what is the difference between knowledge and experience?’ Then, he explained that through experience alone can we realize God. Just as we cannot know whether an orange is sweet or sour until we eat it, we cannot know God unless we have an experience, which can be had through meditation on the inner Light and Sound. There are people who believe they can find God and, as a result, go on the inner spiritual journey, he said. These are the saints and mystics as well as the spiritual optimists who experience God in their lifetime.

He continued, saying that just as there are people who live in the ‘dark ages’ of technology, who don’t believe in using the latest technology, so, too, there are people who live in the ‘dark ages’ of spirituality who live only at the level of the physical body. These are the people who do not take steps to seek God, and who fail to discover God within themselves through meditation. He then explained that there is an esoteric side of each faith, embedded in which are references to the experiences of the great saints and mystics, all who experienced the flight of their soul. They left records of their experiences in the form of the great scriptures of the world’s religions. These experiences refer to the esoteric side of each faith.

The Creative Power of God, he stated, has been referred to in the great religious scriptures of the world and it is this power that permeates every particle in creation. It permeates us as well, he said. All we need do is tune in to this power of God, and that process is called ‘sitting in silence,’ inversion, meditation, contemplation—this is the mechanism through which we can connect with this Power. The spiritual Master then explained the technique of Jyoti meditation to the audience.

Following this program, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj walked through the hall in silent greeting. “His talk made a lot of sense to me,” said an audience member. “There is a power behind the words he says that deeply affected me during the program. I can really feel the spiritual greatness of this Master.”

Easter Sunday Discourse

In the afternoon of Sunday, March 23rd, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj gave his Sunday discourse to hundreds of people who had come from all over the world to spend the Easter holiday with their spiritual teacher.

In his discourse he explained that Easter celebrates the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for humanity. Many of us come from different religious traditions, he said, whether Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, Islam or any other tradition. The concept of sacrifice is embedded in every religion; the saints come from God to protect us, and it is through their sacrifice that we draw closer to the Lord.

Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj also explored two verses by Sant Darshan Singh Ji Maharaj which illustrate the meaning of sacrifice:

Through martyrdom alone we reach our destination.

My life is but the dust of the martyrs.

And

And countless are the oasis which blossomed from

the blisters of my feet.

They are reminders to the desert of the delicate

beauty of the madness of love.

Through the sacrifice of the saints, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj explained, souls are unburdened from their karma. In this way our life becomes an oasis of joy and bliss. The sacrifice the saints undergo help countless of people, he said. Because the saints are madly in love with God, they help others gain the realization of their true selves as soul. We are not the body, he remarked, but the soul which can resurrect by rising above the physical body to go on the inner spiritual journey back to its True Home.

After this powerful discourse, the SK video team released the 2008 Easter program welcome talk on DVD entitled, “Don’t Hesitate, Meditate” which Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj gave on Thursday, March 20th. The spiritual Master then joined everyone for a vegetarian dinner and, afterward, continued giving interviews to those who had traveled to the program from abroad.

Return to Naperville, Illinois

On Friday afternoon, March 21, 2008, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj gave an afternoon discourse and meditation sitting to the large international audience at the Wyndham Lisle-Chicago Hotel in Lisle, Illinois. Although it was the first official day of spring, a snowstorm had swept through Chicago with several inches accumulating on the ground. As he opened his talk, the spiritual Master explained that although spring may not seem to have arrived in Chicago, we all carry springtime within our own hearts.

Then, he took as a theme for his discourse the game that is being played daily between our mind and soul. This game, he said, impacts each and every one of us, for if the soul loses then it is chained to the wheel of transmigration, but if the soul wins, then the shackles are gone and the soul is free to live a life of eternity with the Lord. In order for us to win this game, he explained, we need to understand how the mind operates so that we can anticipate its strategy. If we can bypass the tricks of the mind, he said, then we can get to our goals.

Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj also told the story of Holi (this day also marking the Hindu festival of Holi) wherein Pralad escapes incineration by fire because of his devout belief and prayers to God. Likewise, explained the spiritual Master, the mind is trying to burn us, trying to derail us from our journey towards the Lord, but if we engage our mind in simran (the silent repetition of God’s Names), then we can nullify the effects of the mind and achieve self-knowledge and God realization. Holi teaches us that good can overcome evil, he explained. Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj also stated that we should spend ten percent of our day in meditation, but we can engage in simran for many more hours than that. The more simran we do, he said, the easier it will be for us to focus in meditation.

Following this illuminating discourse, he placed the audience into meditation. In the evening, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj returned to the hall to join the congregation for a vegetarian meal. “The spiritual power and beauty of Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj can not be described,” said one participant. “There is no comparison in the world to the bliss of being in his physical presence.”

Activities at Kirpal Bagh

Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj met with hundreds of people at Kirpal Bagh in the evening of February 20th. According to an attendee, “I related a personal difficulty to the spiritual Master, and while he listened patiently, he kept looking at me with highly charged eyes; I felt tremendous relief, as if a heavy load had just been lifted from my shoulders. Truly, his grace is unbounded.”

On February 21st, hundreds of people gathered at Kirpal Bagh to benefit from Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj’s uplifting discourse and to sit in meditation. On this occasion, the spiritual Master asked the congregation to develop an optimistic approach toward life Quoting George Bernard Shaw, he said that the difference between optimists and pessimists is that an optimist invented the airplane while a pessimist invented the parachute. He then exhorted the audience to devote themselves to their meditations with renewed vigor and zeal. Afterward, he placed everyone into meditation.

Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj’s evening talk at Kirpal Bagh on February 22nd focused on the ever-present support extended to us by God. Although we may not be conscious of this help, he explained, the benevolent God Power protects us every second of our life and helps us pass through our karmas so that we may progress speedily on the inner path. He then placed the audience into meditation.

Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj gave a discourse on the morning of February 17th at Kirpal Bagh which was attended by thousands of people from all over the world. On this occasion, Mata Harbhajan Kaur Ji sang a beautiful ghazal written by the Gracious Master, Sant Darshan Singh Ji Maharaj, titled ‘Hoshwalon ko saraseema-o-hairaan dekha.’

Discoursing on the spiritual meaning of the ghazal, the spiritual Master underlined the love we should have for God. Although we are overwhelmed by the material world, he explained, we should develop our love for God which will help us face the ups and downs of life. When we are centered in our love and faith in the Lord, he continued, we find ourselves stabilized from within. God then places a protective shield around us. In conclusion, he said that those who are true devotees remain content and blissful no matter what they have to face in life because they are grounded in their love for God.

Afterwards, an audience member from Baroda, Gujarat stated, “It is wonderful how Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj explores the spiritual depths of the ghazals by Sant Darshan Singh Ji Maharaj. When I read these poems myself, I do not fully appreciate the spiritual significance of the verses. His illuminating explanations make these poems come alive for me.”

In the evening of February 18th at Kirpal Bagh, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj placed the congregation into meditation. In prelude to meditation, the spiritual Master spoke about how the mind prevents our progress on the spiritual path. As an agent of the negative power, he explained, the mind does not want us to know our real self nor become one with the Lord. It has a myriad of ways to keep our attention tied to the physical world. However, he explained, once our soul becomes attuned to the Divine Light and Sound of God within, it gradually becomes stronger, loosens itself from the shackles of the mind, and soars to the inner heavens like a liberated bird.

The evening discourse on February 19th, focused on the importance of perseverance in order to achieve our desired goal of self-knowledge and God-realization. Citing the example of Thomas Edison and his persistent efforts to produce electricity, the spiritual Master remarked that if Edison had been dispirited by repeated failures, we would not be enjoying the fruits of his labor today. On the spiritual path, too, determined endeavor is needed to attain the merger of our soul with God. Afterward, the spiritual Master placed the audience into meditation.