Ashram News Ashram News - Hacienda de Guru Ram Das

Volume 17 Issue 9 September 2008Dev Suroop and Sat Kartar Kaur havinga good time at the Siri Singh Sahib’sBirthday Celebration• Hydrogen Cars—pg 5• Pico de Gallo Recipe– pg 5Table of ContentsSiri Singh Sahib Lecture 1Ashram Calendar 2Computer Corner 3Ads & Tidbits 4Going Green 5Food for Health 5Sangat Birthdays 6Missal Duties 8Ashram NewsUpcoming Fall EventsMemorial Akand Path for the SiriSingh Sahib at the RanchSeptember 8-10 (see pg. 2 for details)Yogi Bhajan Remembrance DayOctober 6Guru Ram Das Ji’s BirthdayOctober 9Eleven days of meditations in Sangathomes leading up to the celebration ofthe birth of Guru Ram Das will beginSunday, Sept. 28. We will be chantingDhan, Dhan, Ram Das Guru for 31minutes each evening and sharing alight meal. All welcome!We will have our big morning Sadhana,2½ hours of chanting Dhan, Dhan, RamDas Guru, on the morning of the October9. There will also be an eveningWish & Dish Gurdwara on the 9th. Inaddition, the Sunday Gurdwara on October12 will honor Guru Ram Das.300 Sal Guru Gaddi DayOctober 20The 300 th anniversary of the day onwhich the Siri Guru Granth Sahib wasinstalled as the living Guru by the 10 thGuru, Guru Gobind Singh Ji. Celebrationplans will be forthcoming.Birth of a Spiritual NationBy Member of the Editorial StaffBeads of Truth, 1972Summer Solstice Souvenir Edition, pgs.26-27On the morning of June 23, 1972, in Elk,California, Yogi-ji came riding down themountain on horseback. He rode through-out the camp, checking out tents, thekitchen, the showers and the hot-houses.Then he rode down to the langar, whereeveryone was finishing up their morningbreakfast, and the official flag-raisingwas about to take place.At this year’s Summer Solstice we wereall clearly witnessing the birth of a spiritualnation, and this was our first flag andthe first time that we have raised our flagon this new nation. Our new flag wasdesigned by Yogi-ji and made by ColleenKaur Hoskins. It is a triangle of whiteand a triangle of gold with a blue AdiShakti.Yogi-ji reminded us that, “We are reallythe greatest hippies, but we have learnedto care for our hairs and we have coveredthem and kept them clean and made themeffective to do the job for which Godmade them. We are the real Woodstocknation, which has come out of the effort,out of deeply grounded foundations. Wemust establish our foundation on Nam,on faith, sincerity and devotion. We arepioneers and we are making a path andcarving a way for generations to follow.“We will have our own industries, ourown businesses, and we will provide ourown jobs and our own culture. We will(Continued on page 7)1

Hacienda De Guru Ram DASSept. 8-10Sept. 21Sept. 23-276th of themonthSundays6:30 amWednesday,6:00 pmEvery Thursday,12:30 pmEvery Thursday,4:00 pmFridays4:30—5:32 pmGurdwara orlangar hallSunday’s afterlangarSeptember Ashram EventsMemorial Akand Path for The SiriSingh Sahib Ji at the RanchUnited Nations International Day ofPeaceRaag Kirtan Course with Bhai KultarSingh. Contact Dev Suroop Kaurfor details at 753-8823.Ongoing EventsGurdwara commemorating the martyrdomof the Akal Takhat.This is traditionally a “Wish-and-a-Dish” langar .Ishnaan Seva, washing the marblefloors in the Gurdwara. All arewelcome to participate in this upliftingevent.Sat Nam Rasayan classes are heldWednesday evenings from 6:00 to7:30 pm at Terath Nivas, the homeof Guru Terath Singh and Jivan JotiKaur. Call 505-753-6241 for moreinformationLangar served in the Langar Hall.All welcome! To help, call AmritKaur, 753-7705 for food preparation,and Deva Singh at 927-0988for general information.Return of the Children’s Programevery Thursday: This program isheld in the Langar Hall at 4:00pmeach Thursday. There are activitiesforthe children followed by a simplemeal prepared by the parents.Guru Simran Kaur from the Ranchcoordinates the program.Prosperity Meditation to “developthe intuitive business mind andbring prosperity home.”Free healing sessions are held in theGurdwara. Acupuncture treatmentsby Guru Mitar Kaur and Sat NamRasayan Free Clinic facilitated byJivan Joti Kaur.Memorial Akand Path for the Siri Singh Sahib atthe Ranch – September 8-10Dear beloved sangat,Every year at thistime we begin to rememberthe passingof our beloved SiriSingh Sahib. Nextweek at the Ranch,there will be a memorialAkand Pathdone in honor of his4th death anniversary.Ragi GurdeepSingh and his Jethaare coming to Espanolato do the AkandPath. We hope all ofyou can come andhave the chance tosit in the Ranch Gurdwara, pray and listen to theGuru.This year is also the 10th death anniversary ofSukhmani Singh, the son of our dear friendsSwaran Singh and Amarjit Kaur from Vancouver.Swaran and Amarjit will be coming to Espanolanext week to honor the memory of their son duringthis Akand Path. Ragi Gurdeep Singh Jetha will behere for this, as well.Here is the schedule for the week's events:Monday, Sept. 8th at 10 amStart of the Akand Path at the Ranch GurdwaraTuesday, Sept. 9th at 6:30 pmKirtan outside of the Dome with Ragi GurdeepSingh Jetha - followed by langarWednesday, Sept. 10th at 11 amBhog Ceremony at the Ranch Gurdwara - followedby langar.Love to all of you and please come,Bibiji2

Hacienda De Guru Ram DASBy Guruka SinghComputer CornerREALLY GOOD FREE STUFFThis month we'll explore some very useful free webservices and free downloadable programs you can startusing right away. The first one is something that a lot ofpeople have asked me about…FREE YOUR iPODHave you ever lost your music? Have you ever wantedto share your music or back it up OUTSIDE if iTunes?Well, Apple doesn't want you to do that. But actually,you CAN very easily change, backup and share the musicon your iPod. Just head on over to http://www.getsharepod.com/Ddownload Sharepod (there's no installer - just put thefile on your desktop and run it.) Voila! You can nowadd and remove music, videos, playlists and artwork onyour iPod. You can backup all those tracks your justcan't bear to lose from your iPod onto your computerand you can even import them easily into your iTuneslibrary. You can also transfer all of some of your musicbetween iPods, yours or anyone else's! SharePod caneven run straight from the iPod itself, so you can use ittravelling, at work, school, home - wherever you andyour iPod are.SharePod is simple and easy to use and works! Here'ssome of what you can do with it:• Add & remove music and videos from your iPod• Add, remove and edit playlists• Add & remove album art• Copy music, videos and playlists from your iPodto PC• Import music/videos into your iTunes library,including playlists and ratings• Tag editing• Drag n' drop to and from File Explorer• Simple, clean interface• Quick to load and use - no complicated or unnecessaryfeaturesSharePod is completely free. It was designed from thestart to be lightweight, quick and responsive. It's theperfect way to bring your music under your control.DOWN FOR EVERYONE OR JUST ME?We've all had moments where we just can't seem to getto a site and wonder if it's the same for everyone or justus. You can ask that question at http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ and get a quickanswer.SMARTYPIGSmartypig (it’s an online piggy bank, get it?) at http://www.smartypig.com offers a savings account earning3.9% when I last looked. To join up, you have to set asavings goal dollar figure (which can later be changed)and can opt to make that goal public so others can contributetoward your account by entering your email addressor clicking on an optional widget you've placed onyour blog or MySpace, Google, Live, or Facebook personalpages. When you've reached your goal, you cancash out with a check by snail mail from SmartyPig, orthey can help you buy one of their partners' products or agift card. As with everything that sounds great, do besure to check out the fine print first.TRANSFER BIG FILESHere’s the easiest way I’ve found to send large files toanyone. I've mentioned some of these services before(e.g., www.Yousendit.com and www.Xtreak.com) butthey all do have some file size limits. What if you needto send someone a REALLY large file? Well, mosey onover to http://www.transferbigfiles.com/ and you'll findthat there is NO file size limit. That's right; you cansend any size file to anyone for free. Like its sister site,www.PhotoDrop.com it's designed to be easy to use andfree of intrusive advertising and gimmicks. There is nospyware, no popup ads and no data mining or selling ofany kind. What's the gotcha? Well, the recipient has todownload the file you sent within seven days becauseafter that it will "evaporate." So this site's not for longtermfile storage (Use Xtreak.com or Gspace for that)but for quickly getting a very large file to anyone forfree. Thanks to Gurumustuk Singh for finding this one.GSPACE: Firefox + Gmail = online file storageGoogle's free Gmail service lets you access a free e-mailaccount from any place in the world that you can get anInternet connection. One of the really cool things aboutGmail is that you currently get more than 6.6GB ofonline storage space with your inbox. That's a lot ofspace!(Continued on page 4)3

Hacienda De Guru Ram DAS(Continued from page 3)You can use it for more than just e-mail by installing theGspace add-on for Firefox 3, which converts your Gmailaccount into an online file-storage facility. http://www.getgspace.com/You can store documents, data files, music and videofiles, photos, and other items and reach them from anyother PC anywhere in the world.After you install Gspace, you launch it by selecting"Tools" - "Gspace." A window appears that looks a lotlike a standard FTP client. Click "Manage Accounts"and fill in your Gmail account details. Now you're readyto upload and download files.In the Gspace window, the left pane is your local harddrive and the right pane is your Gmail storage area. Toupload a file, simply select it in the left pane and clickthe right-pointing arrow between the two panes. Todownload a file from your Gmail storage, select it in theright pane and click the left-pointing arrow. It's as a simpleas that.Be sure to check out the brief demo at the Gspace site,where you'll also find the latest version for Windows,Linux, and OS X.GET TOP-FLIGHT ANTIVIRUS WITHOUTSPENDING A DIMEYou know, you can protect yourself from viruses andother online threats while skipping the annual subscriptionfees. You won’t get any frills as you will with a full-featured AV program like Norton 360, but you will stillget first-rate virus detection.Until recently, the antivirus freeware I recommendedwas Grisoft's AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition. Grisoft recentlyintroduced Version 8 of the program and discontinuedvirus-definition updates for the previous Version7.5.But now there's a new leader. If you simply want to preventall viruses, trojans, and worms from infecting yoursystem without reporting time-wasting false positivesthen try Avira AntiVir Personal at http://www.freeav.com/. It is the only free antivirus program I know ofthat also detects and removes rootkits, which is malwarethat takes control of your system without your knowledge.Avira is a top performer in a range of independent antivirustests. Not only did the program pass the hardest(Continued on page 8)Ads & TidbitsFall Clothes Swap scheduled for OctoberJai Jeet Sangeet Kaur is now collecting ladiesclothing, especially Bana, for the Fall clothesswap. As you clean out your closet in preparationfor the winter months, please set asideanything you are no longer “attached” to fordistribution. Someone else may “fall in love atfirst sight”!This bi-annual swap day is for sharing and nocharges are involved. This is seva on the partof Jai Jeet Sangeet Kaur and lots of fun foreveryone! Complete details on donating itemswill soon be available.Experience the Naad of the Shabd Guruthrough Santhya - correct pronunciation. AllWecome! These classes are scheduled forevery Monday and Wednesday early evening.For more information call Ravinder Singh at917-825-5000.Ancient Healing Ways—To order Siri SinghSahib lectures, call us at (800) 359-2940 or(505) 747-2860GurdwaraDateTopic8/3/08 Anand & SikhDharma8/10/08 Bheta(Offering)Lecture Date1/6/8812/31/878/17/08 Victory & Soul 3/22/878/24/08 Gurmat(Wisdom ofthe Guru)8/31/08 Merits & Demerits9/13/871/3/884

Hacienda De Guru Ram DasFood for HealthPico de Gallohttp://www.mex-recipes.com/pico-de-gallorecipes.htmlWondering what to do with all the fresh tomatoesand jalapenos in your garden? How about afresh tomato condiment?Pico de gallo (Spanish for "rooster's beak") isthe term generally referring to a fresh condimentmade from chopped tomato, onion, and chiles(typically jalapeños or serranos). Pico de gallocan be used in much the same way as Mexicansalsas or Indian chutneys, but since it is less liquid,it can also be used as a main ingredient indishes such as tacos and fajitas.6 medium fresh tomatoes, diced1 medium onion, diced1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped.2 to 4 fresh serrano or jalapeño, seeded andminced1-2 garlic cloves, mincedSalt to tasteMix all ingredients and refrigerate at least sixhours. Keeps refrigerated for 4-5 days.Variations - Add any or all of the following:1 tbsp. lime juice1 habanero chili, seeded and minced1/2 cup whole kernel corn, drained1/2 cup black beansHydrogen Carshttp://www.hydrogencarsnow.com/index.htmFor the past 28 years, the Los Alamos NationalLaboratory (LANL) has been conducting researchon hydrogen fuel cells for use in transportation,industry and residential use. According to theLANL, “Hydrogen & Fuel Cell Research at LosAlamos has made significant technological advancesin Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM)fuel cells, Direct Methanol Fuel Cells (DMFC),and related technologies such as the electrolyzer (afuel cell in reverse, liberating hydrogen from electricityand pure water).”Unlike manyof the hybridand "green"cars currentlyon themarket, hydrogencarsoffer thepromise ofzero emissiontechnology,wherethe only byproductfromthe cars iswater vapor.Current fossil-fuel burningvehicles emitall sorts ofGoing GreenHonda FCX Hydrogen CarIn 2005, Honda leased the first commercialhydrogen car to a family in RedondoBeach, California, pictured above.pollutants such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide,nitrous oxide, ozone and microscopic particulatematter. Hybrids and other green cars addressthese issues to a large extent but only hydrogencars hold the promise of zero emission of pollutants.The Environmental Protection Agency estimatesthat fossil-fuel automobiles emit 1½ billiontons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each(Continued on page 6)5

Hacienda De Guru Ram Das(Continued from page 5)year and going to hydrogen-based transportationwould all but eliminate this.Not only that, hydrogen cars will lessen the UnitedStates' dependence upon foreign oil. The so-called"hydrogen highway" will mean less dependenceupon OPEC, the big U. S. oil companies, oil refinerymalfunctions and breakdowns and less resistancefrom oil-selling nations like Venezuela andSaudi Arabia or from hostile nations who wouldrather sell elsewhere. Consumers will finally get abreak from the never-ending rising prices at thegasoline pumps.Hydrogen cars are not only the future, they arehere, now. When hydrogen cars become the statusquo, the U. S. can lessen its dependence upon foreignoil, achieve lower prices at the fuel pumpsand cut down on the greenhouse gases that produceglobal warming. The future of hydrogencars is not a pipe dream, as there are alreadymany hydrogen cars on the road. California andJapan have many hydrogen cars being used asfleet vehicles now.President Bush has already allocated approximately$2 billion in hydrogen highway research. CaliforniaGovernor Arnold Schwarzenegger is pushing to get200 hydrogen filling stations built by 2010 stretchingfrom Vancouver, British Columbia, all the waydown to Baja, California. Since Californians buyone-fifth of the nation's cars, the new hydrogen cartechnology could simply replace the current gasolineengine automobiles in what is called"disruptive technology" where something so innovativecomes along it simply replaces the old technologyvery quickly.Then again, a more likely scenario is that dual-fuelautomotive systems will be developed that can runon either gasoline or hydrogen as the hydrogen infrastructureis being developed. The conversionfrom gasoline-powered internal combustion enginesto hydrogen powered combustion engines is agreedupon by most scientists and engineers to be a par-(Continued on page 7)September Birthdays2 nd Dr. Guruchander Singh4 th Darshan Kaur (Akal)5 th Jivan Joti Kaur6 th Saraswati KaurAbinashi Singh9 th Simran SinghSiri Atma Kaur10 th Avtar Hari SinghGuru Kirin Kaur (Yuba City)Lakshmi KaurRavi Singh11 th Guru Meher Kaur (Noor S.)13 th Harbhajan Singh (Taos)Sat Kirn Kaur (Albq)14 th Hari Amrit Kaur (Canada)15 th Guru Dharma SinghHari Har Singh (Silver City)16 th Manjit KaurSarab Shakti Kaur (daughter of Hari JiwanS & Sat Bachan K)17 th Sadh Bakshish Kaur20 th Guru Mittar Kaur (daughter of GuruchanderS & Kirn K)21 st Hari Har KaurSat Mitar Kaur (Sat Guru S.)22 nd Sampuran SinghGuru Tej SinghDarshan SinghSat Nam Kaur24 th Ram Dass SinghGuru Dharm Singh25 th Seva Kaur (Hari Pal S)Ram Rattan Singh26 th Sadhu Singh27 th Gurnam Kaur (Muktiar S.)Fateh Singh28 th Amrit Kaur (Mehtab S)29 th Hari Jiwan Singh6

Hacienda De Guru Ram Das(Continued from page 6)ticularly easy transition and would buy time for hydrogenfuel cell cars to be fully adapted.But, hydrogen cars are not isolated to those thatburn the fuel in internal combustion engines. Thereare more hydrogen fuel cell cars being built currentlythan any other kind. Let's also not forgetabout hydrogen-on-demand vehicles that are eitherusing a hydrogen compound or electrolyzing waterto create hydrogen, avoiding the compressed or liquidhydrogen refueling scenario altogether. And,what about adapting hydrogen peroxide for fuel incar since it is currently being used in racecars andjet packs as a propellant?Hydrogen cars are the future, so why not take a testdrive of this website right now and see what you'llbe driving a few short years from now. The hydrogeneconomy is just around the bend. Will you beready?http://www.hydrogencarsnow.com/index.htmSiri Singh Sahib Birthday Celebration pics(Continued from page 1)grow to be a nation of 96,000,000 Sikhs in fulfillmentof the prophecy of Guru Gobind Singh. We will learnthe arts of self-defense so that we can have confidencethat we can always defend righteousness and Truth.America will give you what you will give America, andrighteous America will be the beginning of righteousliving. Let us start living now as righteous Americans.Let us make it happen, that the sun of wisdom may risein the West and spread its light on the whole globe.This soil on which we are standing, let us feel the radianceof it and return it with the light of soul, loyalty ofself and creativity of our great inheritance which wascreated and bestowed upon us when we were made thesons of this soil.We are the Householders and we will build familiesthat are solid and together and we will stand for eachother. The life of the householder is the highest becausehe supports the whole world. The saints and the yogisare supported by the householder, he even supports theGod.”And to these words our own flag, representing infinity,the creativity, rose high above our family to clearlymark the birth of a spiritual nation.Gurumustuk Singh, Charanjeet Kaur and Prabhu Singh atthe birthday celebrationSat Purkh Kaur and Gurucharn Singh take a break from theTeacher Training course to enjoy the birthday celebrationMore pictures on pg. 87

Hacienda De Guru Ram Das(Continued from page 4)virus detection tests with flying colors, it also got AV-Comparatives' highest “Advanced+” rating in May 2008for its virus detection, speed, and low rate of false positives.More Siri Singh Sahib BirthdayCelebration picsOne important thing to note is that the free version ofAntiVir is for personal use only. Avira uses the honorsystem — naturally — but during installation you mustagree not to use the utility for "any kind of commercialor business purpose."The commercial version, Avira AntiVir Premium (19.95Euros for a one-year subscription) adds spyware andadware protection, e-mail scanning, and phishing alerts.The fee-based version also updates faster, and upgradingto the paid release eliminates the free version's irritatingnag screen.AntiVir keeps virus protection simple. The program performsdaily scheduled system scans, updates its virusdefinitions automatically, and constantly scans your system'smemory for malware. Like AVG, AntiVir lets youschedule updates and system scans but it doesn't scan e-mail.Please do be so kind as to keep letting me know if thiscolumn is useful to you and also keep sending me yoursuggestions for column topics, along with your own tipsor cool downloads, so I can share them with the Sangathere. Just email them to me at: guruka@sikhnet.comGuruprakash Kaur and Sukhmani KaurThanks!DateSeptember Missal DutiesSet-up Langar CleanupAkhandPath9/1-9/7 4 1 2 39/8-9/14 1 2 3 49/15-9/21 2 3 4 19/22-9/28 3 4 1 29/29-10/5 4 1 2 3Hari Darshan, Tej and Dev Amrit Kaur.__________________________________8