At Gobind Sadan where I live just outside Delhi, we are urged to read a great scripture called Jaap Sahib again and again each day. Our teacher, Baba Virsa Singh, especially advises us to read it during times of...
Read more
Words of Faith
These are articles short and long about the spiritual life, as seen through the lens of various religions. Some are short talks I prepared for a BBC World Service series entitled "Words of Faith." Some are talks I have given here and there. Always they are grounded in what I have learned at the feet of Baba Virsa Singh Ji Maharaj.
Jaap Sahib’s Power
Into the Marketplace with Helping Hands
Practical Mysticism in the Lives of Saints and Prophets
In the search for realization of Supreme Reality, or God-consciousness, seekers of all religions have gone through long periods of turning inside, retreating from the world. But once that transcendent Reality,...
Read more
THE WAY OF GOBIND SADAN
On the outskirts of New Delhi a unique spiritual community has grown up organically around the revered teacher, Baba Virsa Singh. Born into a family of Sikh farmers, from childhood he had a truly universal vision of the harmony of...
Read more
GOBIND SADAN’S PRACTICES OF COMPASSION – Mary Pat Fisher
The compassionate practices of Gobind Sadan are based on the teachings of Guru Nanak, the First Sikh Guru, and also on Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture which Guru Gobind Singh (the Tenth Guru) set as the Eternal Guru for...
Read more
God’s Motherly Love
The words of the Sikh evening prayer (Raihras) are very touching. In part, the Fifth Guru says,
Flamingoes fly hundreds of miles leaving their offspring behind.
Who feeds them? Who teaches them to peck?
Their mothers are always repeating...
Read more
Time for a New Idea: GOBIND SADAN’S PRACTICAL PATH TO INTERFAITH UNDERSTANDING
Interfaith dialogue seems like a wonderful idea, a great way to bring harmony among people of different religions. It is such a popular idea that it has been tried for hundreds of years.
When Akbar became the Mogul Emperor...
Read more
EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN IN SIKHISM – Mary Pat Fisher, Gobind Sadan
Amid patriarchal customs in India, a more egalitarian spiritual path began developing in the sixteenth century. Its founder was Guru Nanak. He and his successors, the Sikh Gurus, opened significant ways to empowerment and respect for women.
Guru Nanak...
Read more
SIMILAR PATHS TO THE SAME PLACE: SHAIKH FARID AND GURU NANAK
– Mary Pat Fisher, Gobind Sadan, New Delhi
From different origins, all mystical paths ultimately lead to the same Place: merger with or realization of the One God, the Ultimate Truth. As is written in the Vedas, “Truth is One;...
Read more
THE BEAUTIFUL PERSONALITY OF BABA VIRSA SINGH JI AS A MODEL FOR US
Baba Virsa Singh, whom his devotees adore and worship, never asked to be worshipped. He refused to allow us to use labels like Saint or Guru for him. He said, “I’m just trying to be a better human being.”
This...
Read more