Fourth International Youth Tele-Satsang

With blessings of His Holiness Satguru Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj,
Fourth International Youth Tele-Satsang

was held on Saturday June 30, 2007, on the topic Role of interfaith dailogue in spreading Baba Ji's message in Western countries / experience of the English samagam culture.

The published report can be found on http://www.nirankari.org/

Audio recording :

Part I (Rev. J.D.Sharma Ji, Rev. Upashak Ji)

Part II (Rev. Shalu Keswani Ji, Rev. David Dhanoa Ji, Rev. Baljit Kamal Ji, Rev. Jagjit Khambe Ji)

Part III (Rev. Dave Lashar Ji, Rev. Dr. Bobby Sura Ji, Rev. Anjana Nayyar Ji, Simran)

With the grace of the Almighty Formless, Nirankar, the Fourth International Nirankari Tele-Satsang was organised on the 30th June 2007, in which the subject of discussion was the work of the Nirankari Mission relating to the interfaith dialogue together with the English Samagam Culture to promote the message of Baba Ji. The Satsang was attended by members of the Mission from all over the world spanning from the America’s, Europe, South East Asia, Australasia, India etc... As there was a South Asia Samagam was being held in Jakarta, Indonesia many devotees tuned in after the conclusion of the Samagam there.

There was a tremendous spirit and harmony which flowed through the Satsang despite the organisers facing a number of technical problems as can be appreciated. The Stage Secretary Dave Lashar of the Toronto Branch (Canada) introduced all the speakers and welcomed all devotees taking part. The Satsang was commenced by the wise words of JD Sharma Ji of India who talked about the initiatives that have been taking place in there i.e seminars on peaceful-coexistence, prosperity and spirituality under the guidance of Baba Ji. The work of the Mission in unison with Multi Faith dialogues, was continued by HS Upashak Ji of the UK who shared his thoughts on how Baba ji has changed his vision and allowed him to work for Universal Brotherhood. He mentioned how with the grace of Baba ji he was instrumental in arranging Diwali celebrations in a local Mosque really putting into practice the spirit of peaceful co-existence and Universal Brotherhood promoted by the Mission.

The Satsang continued on this subject with a concise report by Shalu Keswani ji of the work of the Houston Branch, who arranged an Inter-faith meeting recently and how it had helped in developing understanding between the various faith groups of the area. The subject of the meeting was Unity in Diversity and the work of the Mission in this regard. Sister Baljit Kamal of the Oxford Branch (UK) also illustrated here the benefits the Mission had reaped in her community, by working with the Multi Faith Network. To end this section, Brother David Dhanoa commented on the establishment of the Toronto Interfaith Council and the instrumental role the Mission played in it. This was extremely inspiring to note that the Mission lies in the foundation of this initiative.

Part 2 of the Satsang focused on the English Samagam Culture and its impact in presenting the work of the Mission in the West. The contributors in this section including Anjana Nayar (Ludhiana), Jagjit Khambe (UK), Dave Lashar (Canada) shared their thoughts on the English Samagam format, speaker content, processes and procedures which made this part extremely informative. To conclude the Satsang, Dr Bobby Sura talked about the recently established Western Prachar Steering Group in the UK to highlight the message of the Mission.

Baba Hardev Ji in a discourse talked about how one candle lit in the dark provides light for its immediate environment and also has the potential to ignite other candles. The organisers of this initiative have based this thought in the foundation of the Tele-Satsang. The purpose of the Satsang was to inform devotees that if a candle has been lit in one area of the globe to promote universal brotherhood through events and activities, then this is possible in other areas too. It is pleasing to note that a number of people have been inspired to act and work to creating Harmony in their communities as a result. This is the grace of His Holiness Baba ji that the whole Nirankari Community across the globe is able to link together in this way to establish Unity. It is noted that over 400 people were connected to this Satsang and we can only hope that this movement continues and such exciting initiatives using modern technology continue to have Global reach.

Fourth International Youth Tele-Satsang Agenda

AGENDA

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Topic : Role of interfaith dailogue in spreading Baba Ji's message in Western countries / experience of the English samagam culture.

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12:00 Noon - 12:02 PM Rev. Dave Lashar ji - Toronto, Canada ( Moderator )
Welcome and Introduction

12:02 PM - 12:16 PM Rev. J. D. Sharma Ji - Delhi, India
Experience of Interfaith Work undertaken in India and its impact on spreading the message of Baba ji (in particular including directions given by H.H. Baba Ji)

12.16 PM - 12.30 PM Rev. H. Upashak Ji , West Midlands, UK
Experience of International Interfaith work being responsible for Parchar Vibhag on the European continent

12:30 PM - 12:35 PM Rev. Shalu Keswani Ji - Houston, USA
Houston Interfaith Meet 2007, how it has helped Mission in developing relationship.

12.35 PM - 12.40 PM Rev. David Dhanoa Ji - Toronto, Canada
Establishment of Toronto Area Interfaith Council, how it has helped mission.

12.40 PM - 12.45 PM Rev. Baljit Kamal Ji - Oxford, UK
Interfaith and the acceptability of the message of mission
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
12.45 PM - Sumiran by all devotees. ( Leaded by Rev, Dave Lashar Ji )

12.47 PM - 12.50 PM Rev. Dave Lashar Ji - Toronto, Canada
English medium samagam

12.50 PM - 12.55 PM Rev. Dr. Bobby Sura Ji, UK
Establishment of the Western prachar streeing group and its benefits

12.55 PM - 1.00 PM Rev. Anjana Nayyar Ji - Ludhiana, India
State level English medium samagam

1.00 PM - 1.05 PM Rev. Jagjit Khambe Ji - London, UK
Impact of spreading the message through the English samagam format to western people. Has it been working

1.05 PM - 1.08 PM Rev. Dave Lashar Ji, Toronto, Canada.
Vote of thanks.

Third International Youth Tele-Satsang

With blessings of His Holiness Satguru Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj,
Third International Youth Tele-Satsang

was held on Saturday April 7, 2007, on the topic Role of youth in spreading Babaji's message in Western Countries. Rev. Sandeep Khinda ji - India, Rev. Roop Bhumbra Ji - UK, Rev. Dr. I. S. Rai ji - Vice President, SNM - USA and Rev. Gurpreet Bhatia Ji - UK addressed the tele-satsang. Many young devotees along with senior saints from various countries participated.

Audio recording :
. Speakers - Part I
. Speakers - Part II
. Open Discussion

Published report can be found on www.nirankari.org

The Third International Tele-Satsang was attended by over 100 devotees worldwide. The subject of the Satsang was the role of the youth in spreading the message of Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj across the western world. Devotees from the US, Canada, Italy, UK, India, Australia all joined into this high-tech Satsang forum. Many devotees gathered together at Bhawans and homes and tuned in together.

The agenda for the Satsang included speakers, Sandeep Khinda from India who shared a message of His Holiness Baba Ji for the youth, sister Roop Bhumbra who talked about the recent Rise and Awake CD project and Dr I.S Rai of the USA who gave much knowledge on the matter of Nirankari Literature and its improvement for the benefit of the western communities. The Satsang moderator/chair was Gurpreet Bhatia of UK.

It was an enthralling experience and there was a great deal of talk and discussion about the vision of His Holiness Baba Ji as well as what the youth have been achieving in the Western countries. There was participation from many senior devotees of the mission who gave their valuable insights into the work of their respective branches which was truly inspiring. Respected Harlavleen Bajwa told the Satsang of a University initiative where a person was to travel to India and understand the role of Women within Nirankari Society. This project was commissioned by the University of Michigan and on her return the paper was to be published. Further events were notified to all the congregants including a Youth Camp which was being held in Washington DC in the in July, this year. Devotees further talked of how the mission was giving awareness through the charitable and social initiatives carried out by many branches. It was felt that the forum would be an educational and great learning opportunity which indeed it has become.

With the grace of His Holiness Nirankari Baba Ji this successful initiative will continue to deliver fruit to the youth and encourage them to actively participate in bringing the message of Baba ji to the western communities.

Second International Youth Tele-Satsang with Gurpreet Bhatia Ji - UK

Audio of the tele-satsang : Download

(After you are directed to Rapishare website, click on Free button on bottom of page and wait for one minute, then type the characters as displayed in the box and then download the audio)

The Second International Tele-Satsang was held on first Saturday of February (Feb. 3rd, 2007), which was attended by approximately 20 devotees of the mission. Despite being in different time zones, Youth from California, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Maryland, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Montreal, UK and Italy participated to discuss and get blessings of His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh Ji. The Tele-Satsang was addressed by Gurpreet Bhatia Ji from UK. The youth participating also received blessings from two senior Devotees of the Mission.

The topic for discussion was PROGRESSION. A concise summary of this discussion is presented hereunder.

Twelve Month Planner :

It was suggested that we need to create a 12 month planner of social, charitable and spiritual activities as discussed in last conference in December 2006. By organising such activities we should try to invite and attract various people to spread the message of Baba Ji, and tell people what the Sant Nirankari Mission trying to achieve today. The chief aim of such activities should be to involve other communities and societies attracting other people towards the universal message of Baba Ji.

Gurpreet Ji stressed on the need of establishing Universal Brotherhood within people in western countries, he mentioned how wide spread the Mission had now become in various states of India. Despite the diversity of race, language etc. their existed unity in India. The Same can be done in western countries by inviting people into our congregation places and centers for various events. He gave few examples of different initiatives being taken in UK such as,

Interfaith Group Event :

It was thought that we need to increase awareness about mission by working in unison with various interfaith groups. Recently Sant Nirankari Mission - West Midlands Branch participated in an interfaith conference where youth from West Midlands gave a presentation on Mission. The theme was Sounds and Silence in our worship which was attended by various faith groups and people from various communities. After that a workshop- group discussion on mission was organized and numerous people at the conference attended the workshop on the Mission and became familiar and interested in its activities.

Art contest PEACE NOT PIECES :

120 Schools participated in poetry, drawing and art contest on the topic Peace not Pieces, where they created drawings, wrote poems and essays on this subject and were presented with prizes. All the community were told that this was the message of His Holiness Baba ji and gave much appreciation.

Special Congregation programs :

Fixed time, pre-planned and organized programs are being conducted on special occasions where various related and friends are invited to attend the congregation.This will take a structured format where people are told in advance and come fully prepared to talk on a subject, songs are prepared, poetry etc.. and this has been very succesful.

Weekly English Congregation :

Regularly conducting the English congregation has helped increase number of devotees attending the congregation significantly and it was suggested that in the western world the EMS must be strenghtened as much as possible.

Social and Charitable Activities :

Supporting a great cause of Cancer Research has helped Sant Nirankari Mission - UK to well integrate it's efforts with the Cancer Research Group, this group has invited the mission to organize a Race for Life which will be organised on the same weekend as a samagam. Cancer Research now wish for the sevadal to marshall their future events and have given a press release in their own media promoting the work of the Mission.

Musical Concerts :

Various famous musicians are being invited to congregation Bhawan in UK where local people attend the concerts and get chance to know more about mission.People may not attend for satsang but when Musicians come they see the Bhawan and then are attracted after meeting with the devotees who are present. So it is indirect prachar.

We must encouraging the youth to develop such a spirit to move ahead in a constructive way. He said, it is most important for youngsters of mission to work together with elders, to respect the administrative system setup by Baba ji and to work in teams and move forward together.

Gurpreet Ji conveyed Baba Ji's message of becoming light houses. The idea is that if one is enlightened within only then can he go out to community, only then can he spread the light of this knowledge to other people. He also shared Baba Ji's message of greeting and meeting people with open hands, as a closed fist can't welcome others, but an open hand can be shaked with others, conveying the idea to broaden up and to think about community around us and the people in the local communities. He encouraged to constantly communicate to people about what we are and what our mission is.

To analyze the progress from the last tele-Satsang, Gurpreet Ji invited youth from various branches to share their initiatives and progress.

One youth shared the success of an event organized in a Library by Youth of Sant Nirankari Mission - Washington DC branch. Where local people were introduced with the mission by devotional songs, musical instruments, brochures and video documentary about Sant Nirankari Mission. The saint also shared their future plans to enhance this initiative to reach more library in near future.

A devotee from Phoenix shared public relations efforts done by their branch in an Indian festival and food for hungry program run by volunteers from the branch. Need of English Medium Sangat (EMS) was stressed along with Hindi language to be able to invite local communities to congregations. The saint requested all youth to encourage EMS in all branches across North America. Gurpreet Ji shared Baba Ji's directions given in the UK of using English language in the congregations for at least 40% of the congregation speakers along with other languages.

Another youth from Montreal, Canada shared their efforts to create a interfaith students group in the local university, where they discuss various topics on spirituality and what different faiths teach. Gurpreet Ji shared the example of seminar on Universalism and Peaceful Co-existence organized by Sant Nirankari Mission was the way forward and if it has been endorsed in India we should follow this practice in the western countries.

The discussion concluded with Baba Ji's message that Humanity is the only religion. The youth felt energized and agreed to channelize their efforts and utilize the Guru Puja Diwas [1] to contribute to the society and spread Nirankari Baba Ji's message. All the youth seemed satisfied and happy after receiving blessings of Baba Ji.

Dhan Nirankar.

First Youth Tele-Satsang with Gurpreet Bhatia Ji - UK

Audio of the tele-satsang : Download
(After you are directed to Rapishare website, click on Free button on bottom of page and wait for one minute, then type the characters as displayed in the box and then download the audio)

Efforts by Youth

Youth conference in Tracy, CA ended successfully after two days which were full of spirituality, blissfulness and fun. Youth were awakened and energized. Tremendous flow of energy and devotional spirit had no other way but to flow among the attendees, the amount of energy was multiplied as many times as the number of saints. Praying in holy feet of the True Master all the youth agreed to keep the good work going and to contribute for the noble cause of volunteering as desired by Lord master.

The aim was to get Eternal happiness for ALL, for those who are already connected with GOD and for those who are yet to find their final destination, for all the people from all countries and cultures having tremendous diversity, for all the people having different spiritual faiths, beliefs, for all the souls which are part of the super soul.

Long after the youth conference in CA is over, but Youth from various parts of northern america are still connected. It didn't take much time for youth to start learning from each others' efforts on local level. Collective learning effort of youth saints is helpful to quickly spread noble ideas and messages from one corner of world to all. Youth with the guidance of true master and devoted senior saints on local level should improve their participation to volunteer for the social and charitable interests of the Sant Nirankari Mission along with Spiritual essence.

In September-October 2006, youth from various branches of USA got together in groups of 5-7 and started setting up conference calls on weekly basis. The weekly discussions kept converging from general spiritual and devotional discussions to specific topics like,
* Nirankari Mission - Not a Religion.
* Spirituality and Religion.
* Importance of touching feet of saints and Dhan Nirankar (Greeting others by praising 'God is great').
* Spreading Mission's message to our friends, neighbors and colleagues.
* Bridging generation gap.
* Mission's literature.
* Suggestions from various youth saints for Mission's new branch
* Public relations and social activities in various branches.
* Improving communications and co-ordinating efforts between saints from various countries.

The discussions also kept diverging on topics like,
* Involvement of People from one nationality -> to consideration and accommodation of people from various nationalities and cultures.
* Use of regional languages (Hindi, Punjabi) -> to Adoption of English and or other National Languages (French, Spanish, German etc.) as suitable to people of those countries.
* Participation and volunteer services from only senior saints -> to better involvement of youth and ways to support our elders.
* Traditional ways of prayer -> to more acceptable, comfortable ways of spiritual gathering as convenient for western cultures and people.

The tele-conference is held every week on saturday evenings (PST), to know more about it or to join the tele-conference, please send your name, contact number and city to snmyouth@gmail.com

Initiatives for Youth

Youth is said to be the backbone of any culture, nation on which the future relies. If the youth is guided well and the their energy channelized in right direction wonders can happen.

Today, His Holiness Satguru Baba Hardev Singh Ji Maharaj, the true master of the time is putting efforts continuously to unite and guide the youth on spiritual path.

First Youth Conference and Congregation of USA - Michigan, September 2005
With Nirankari Baba Ji's blessings the youth of the Mission gathered from various states of eastern parts of north america for a two day conference and congregation. Though primitive but important foundation was laid down to involve and encourage the youth. Various candid questions and issues raised by youth were clearly answered by a panel of experienced and devoted seniors. God knowledge was revised to all the youth. Second day was marked by prayers and spiritual thoughts shared by youth.

Second Youth Conference and Congregation of USA - Tracy, California, August 2006 more than hundred youth from USA and Canada took active part in the two day conference, congregation. The topic of the conference was PEACE NOT PIECES.

Key presentations were,
Bridging the Generation Gap
Use of Internet in Today’s Society
Mission Literature-Availability and Use
Sant Nirankari Mission in North America
Youth helping Youth
Spirituality and Nirankari Mission
Essay Writing Topic ‘Peace not Pieces’

More details can be found on Nirankari Journal, Youth Conference 2006 Issue

Introduction of Sant Nirankari Mission

The Sant Nirankari Mission is neither a new religion nor a sect of an existing religion, but an all-embracing spiritual movement dedicated to human welfare. It endorses and accomplishes the established age-old truth that Realisation of Fatherhood of God through the living Satguru is the goal of human life and its spontaneous by-product is the cherished achievement of Universal Brotherhood which is inherently essential for peace and progress of the mankind.

The Mission believes in God, who is One, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, eternal, formless, a non-psychic objective reality and perceivable. The sole aim of the Mission is to impart the knowledge of The Formless God to the seekers' soul.

More can be found on www.nirankari.org