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2ND EASTERN CANADA ENGLISH
MEDIUM The evening of Saturday, October 11, 2008 began with the exhibition organized by the youth of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. With the theme of the exhibition being the “Divine Journey,” the displays portrayed various teachings of the Mission and the idea of truthful living. The youth also organized three audio-visual presentations which focused on the themes of the Samagam. The first slideshow from Montreal presented the history of the Nirankari Mission, while the pictures of the second slideshow from Toronto displayed the history of the mission across Canada. The third slideshow was organized by the Vancouver Sangat with pictures of their visit to various religious centers that are devoted to various faiths.
During the Sangat saints expressed their thoughts in the form of devotional songs, poems and speeches. One saint from Vancouver noted that truth is like the light of a candle. To see it, we must remove the blindfold of inaction that we have over our eyes. We should follow this light in order to live a truly spiritual life. Another saint described how we should not lead our life based on hearsay.
The youth of Montreal and Toronto also organized short skits on the chosen topics. The play of the Montreal saints noted that when we enter this world, God provides us with love and the basic needs of life. However, as we grow older we are faced with the temptations of the material world, and we are circled by anger, lust, greed, attachment and pride. Only God is able to help the child break away from these temptations. The skit organized by the young saints from Toronto had three parts. The first part of the skit noted the importance of letting go of ego and forgiving others, as demonstrated in the struggles of a family where the wife takes her frustrations out on the other members of the family. The wife eventually apologizes to her husband, when a Mahapursh makes her realize her mistakes. The second part of the skit showed a family where the wife asks her husband to stay at home instead of visiting an ailing saint. Next morning, the family is left with feelings of guilt when they discover the ailing saint had passed away. This portion demonstrated the priority saints should have to help one another. An important note was that this story was based on a true story that occurred in a saint’s life. The final act of the skit showed how we act outside that our daily life must reflect the teachings of the mission at all times.
During his vichar, the presiding saint, Dr. Bobby Sura from UK, said that most people fall into three categories, one who analyzes life, the other searches for material wealth and the third has a truthful approach to life. These people approach the world with love, they see bridges instead of walls, and it is through this love they attain a closer relationship with God. He emphasized that truthful living involves valuing what we have been given, but realizing that our body, mind and wealth belong to Nirankar. The richest person is that who understands that possessions can be taken from us, but our knowledge of Nirankar will remain. He quoted the ancient philosopher Confucius who said that when I hear, I forget, when I see, I remember but when I do, I understand. Carrying on with this idea of truthful living, he noted that if you tried to row a canoe with only one paddle, the canoe will spin in a circle. In order to move forward, we must have both truth and truthful living. Our actions must reflect our knowledge of the truth.
The enthusiasm and participation of all the members showed that with cooperation, we can continue to grow and learn from one another. Truthful living is only a topic, now the actions are the next steps that each is striving to attain. May Nirankar bless us all that we may follow our true master and his truthful living. On Sunday, October 12th, 2008 the presiding saint was Dr. Jyoti Kalra Ji, Parmukh Chicago. The saints showed the same enthusiasm and spirit on the second day of the samagam just as the day before. Many saints spoke on the topics of “truth is great, but greater still is truthful living,” and “what are we doing to spread peace and humanism in the world today?”
Many saints covered this topic very well. This included a saint who spoke about how the world changes over time yet the Almighty formless God stays the same. In this sense, then we can say that the only truth is this Almighty formless God. This saint also emphasized that it is through the Satguru’s grace that we are able to spread humanity, peace and love in this world. Another saint showed the true essence of a true Nirankari. He described that we must not only act like a Nirankari inside of sangat, but we should be the same outside also. We must act as the Satguru`s role models so that we can work together to make this world a better place.
In remembrance of a saint who recently passed away, one person shared loving thoughts of Professor Puri Ji. He was described as being very inspiring because he applied the God-knowledge every moment of his life. Rev Puri Ji used to say ``every action spreads a chain reaction.” In order to spread this mission we must continue to do good deeds and always having a positive attitude. If we are negative then that negativity will spread through others. However if we have love, compassion and tolerance then that will also be seen towards others. We also learned that giving love to others is the best thing one can give, because you can never get enough love. People have money, but you can get less and less money, however you can never get less love.
We have all learned a great deal and in the end we should remember we come with nothing in this world and we will leave with nothing. So our lives should be like the pure white sheet we see on the stage. That pure sheet represents truth and simplicity, and that is exactly how we should live our lives. Overall with the blessings of His Holiness Baba Ji, our 2nd Annual English Samagam was a tremendous success and the saints left with many inspiring thoughts. * * * * * * |
