Sat Nam ，一經在1990年夏至時向錫克宣誓，我的生活似乎發生了變化，就像在魔毯上的乘客一樣。
1992年，我被接納搬進米利斯修道院（Millis Ashram），不到6個月後，我將與 Yogi Bhajan、他的妻子 BibiJi 和家人，以及大約 150 名其他學生/錫克/信徒一起進行「 Yatra 」（靈性之旅），首次參觀我的靈性的「 家」，被稱為金廟的 Siri Harimandir Sahib。
週日在修道院的謁師所，宣佈即將前往印度的靈性之旅。
我從來沒有去過印度，對錫克道路也比較陌生，我對朝聖之旅Yatra是什麼一無所知，並且我也比較傾向於避免我負擔不起的昂貴的「 旅遊」行程。 冬天，當我從房地產銷售代理的季節性工作中失業時，我前幾年的積蓄被耗盡了，當這次旅行即將發生時，我才剛剛開始在波士頓租房工作，但我發現自己掏出口袋拿信用卡，並把它交給了預訂的人。在那些日子裡，3500 美元是 2 週的旅行的一大筆錢，但我發現，任何錢都無法支付這種經歷， 和大師一起的旅行。 整個旅行就像一場旋風，在這麼少的時間內，塞滿了那麼多的東西，但我們還是堅持跟上了！
從洛杉磯起飛 13 個小時後，我們在泰國曼谷短暫停留，為了紀念我們，我們被帶到了 2 個獨立的謁師所— 每個謁師所都有巨大、奢華的公眾食堂 — 彼此相距只有幾個小時，然後接著就會登上飛往最後一站的德里。 在參觀了德里歷史悠久的謁師所後，Siri Singh Sahib將在那裡用旁遮普語發表引人入勝的演講，在那裡的同修面前，我當然無法聽懂在說什麼，但從在場的人的表情中，我可以看到他正在有效地溝通。
第二天，我們從德里出發，乘公共汽車出發，前往德拉敦的漫長緩慢旅程。 在那些日子裡，印度沒有像現在這樣快速旅行的超級高速公路。 街道很窄，經常有坑洞，而且總是大排長龍。 德拉敦是位於阿姆利則的 Miri Piri 學院的基礎，在那些日子裡，學校的外觀在我看來非常質樸。
我從未聽說過德拉敦，並以為這是一個小鎮。 事實並非如此。 街道比我見過的任何地方都要塞得水泄不通！ 曼哈頓的時代廣場反而顯得不那麼熱鬧了。 我們很快就回到了公共汽車上，下一站 —— 在瑞詩凱詩住一晚。 在這裡，Siri Singh Sahib 的一位朋友在一個巨大的修道院接待了我們。 第二天早上的晨間靈修薩達納，2個朋友分享了舞臺，我記得我們的主持人 Yogi Bhajan 的斯瓦米朋友的一句話：「 金錢總是來來去去，道德卻來了就會成長」。
那天深夜，我們回到德里，在那裡我們大概睡了3或4個小時，然後趕上了去旁遮普的火車。 我不知道，當我們的火車從德里駛入旁遮普時，每站都會有很多人！ 人群等著迎接我們，當然還有 Siri Singh Sahib，當他在每一站從火車裡出來時，他身上被奢侈地裝飾著幾十個鮮花花環。
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1992年 乘坐靈性之旅火車
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| 1992 年的朝聖之旅在大眾食堂吃東西 |
我帶了一臺攝像機，所以在火車上，我決定如果不採訪 Yogi Bhajan，旅行的影片就不完整。 隨著旅行的展開，我要找出這次旅行的歷史意義。 後來，我們在報紙上看到了一些關於我們 150 名身著白色衣服的西方學生與Yogi Bhajan一起返回他的祖國的文章，他們是 1984 年「藍星」行動後發生的可怕事件後，第一批獲準進入旁遮普的外國人之一。
然而，當時我仍然不知道這次旅行對 Siri Singh Sahib 來說是多麼重要，而且對我們來說是多麼重要，所以我從後面走近他，相機就位，忘記了他正在深度冥想的事實。 當我把相機對準他時，我喚醒了他，說：「先生」。 在那個短暫的例子中，當他睜開眼睛時，我可以瞥見他一定對他心愛的祖國發生的一切感到的悲傷，不管他試圖阻止這種情況的發生。 他所做的只是把頭從一邊轉到另一邊，把我甩開。
不用說，我倉促撤退了。 我開始思考他反應的意義，這最終讓我開始意識到這不是我們參加的旅遊行程。 從那一刻起，我開始從不同的角度看待這次旅行。 最終到達阿姆利則，親眼目睹了金廟外破壞的殘餘，當然還有仍在重建的 Akal Takhat，同時緊緊擁抱並分享對我們的旁遮普兄弟傾注的愛，他們經歷了這個創傷性時期，與我們分享，然後體驗了金聖殿內的聖潔與和平，這存在於每個錫克的心中，我開始理解了什麼。
當我們回到美國時，現實擊中了我，有這筆鉅額的信用卡賬單，以及我的租金和其他各種即將到期的賬單，但仍然迴盪著這次改變生活的旅行，我發現在我回到工作崗位的第1週，我帶的每個客戶，都從我這裡租了一個公寓，這支付了整個旅行的費用！ 到目前為止，這是我經歷過的最有利可圖的一週，無論是之前還是之後。 「 金錢總是來來去去，道德一來就會成長。」
WGJKK，WGJKF！
懷著謙卑和感激之情，
Hari Singh Khalsa
Sat Nam,
Once taking Sikh vows at summer solstice 1990, my life seemed to change, as if being a passenger on a magic carpet.
In 1992, I was accepted to move in to the Millis Ashram, and barely 6 months later I was to go on a “Yatra” (spiritual journey) with Yogi Bhajan, his wife BibiJi, and family, along with 150 or so other students/Sikhs/seekers to visit my spiritual “home”, the Siri Harimandir Sahib, known as the Golden Temple, for the first time.
During a Sunday Gurdwara at the ashram, there was an announcement of an upcoming Yatra to India.
Never having been to India, and relatively new to the Sikh path, I had no clue of what a Yatra was all about, and was prone to avoid an expensive ‘tourist’ trip that I could not afford.
Over the winter, while out of work from my seasonal job as a real estate sales agent, my savings from the previous years earnings were depleted, and I was to just have started back to work renting apartments in Boston, when this trip was to occur, yet I found myself reaching into my pocket for my credit card and handing it over to the person taking reservations.
$3500 was a lot of money for a 2 week trip in those days, yet I was to discover that no amount of money could ever pay for the experience of being on that trip with the master.
The entire trip was like a whirlwind with so much packed into so little time, yet we were kept up by keeping up!
After a 13 hour flight from L.A. , we had a brief stopover in Bangkok Thailand, where we were whisked to 2 separate Gurdwaras in our honor- each with huge lavish, sumptuous Langars -just hours apart from each other, before boarding the plane for the final leg into Delhi. After visiting the historic Gurdwaras in Delhi, where the Siri Singh Sahib was to give a captivating talk in Punjabi, in front of the Sangat there, I of course was unable to catch what was being said, but from the expressions of those in attendance I could see he was communicating effectively.
From Delhi, the next day, we set off by bus, on a long slow journey to Dehra Dun. In those days there were no super highways for fast travel in India like there are now. The streets were narrow, often pothole laden, and always lined with people. Dehra Dun housed what was to eventually become Miri Piri Academy based in Amritsar, but In those days the appearance of the school looked pretty rustic to me.
I had never heard of Dehra Dun and expected it to be some small town. That was not to be the case. The streets were packed tighter than anywhere I had ever seen! Times Square in Manhattan was less bustling.
We were soon back on the bus, for the next stop – a one night stay in the Rishikesh. Here we were hosted in a huge ashram by a friend of the Siri Singh Sahib’s. At sadhana the next morning, the 2 friends shared the stage and I recall a quote from our host, Yogi Bhajan’s swami friend: “Money comes and goes, Morality comes and grows”.
We returned to Delhi that day very late at night where we got maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep before catching a train to the Punjab at sunup. Little did I know that there would be throngs of people at each stop as our train proceeded from Delhi into the Punjab! Crowds of people waiting to greet us and of course the Siri Singh Sahib, who was to be lavished with dozens of garlands of fresh flowers, as he came out of the train at each stop.
eating langar on the 1992 yatra
I had brought a video camera with me, so while on the train I decided that a video of the trip would not be complete without interviewing Yogi Bhajan. I was to find out the historic significance of the trip, as it unfolded. We were later shown some write-ups in the newspapers of us 150 western students all dressed in white returning with Yogi Bhajan to his homeland, as being among the first group of foreigners allowed into the Punjab following the horrific events that unfolded after operation “blue star” in 1984.
However, at that time I was still pretty much in the dark of how momentous this trip was to the Siri Singh Sahib, and would become for us, so I approached him from the rear with the camera in position, oblivious to the fact that he was in deep meditation. As I pointed the camera at him I roused him saying: “Sir”. In that brief instance, as he opened his eyes, I could glimpse the sorrow he must have been feeling of all that had taken place in his beloved homeland, regardless of his attempts at trying to stop it from happening. All he did was brush his head from one side to the other, waving me away.
Needless to say, I beat a hasty retreat. I began to ponder the meaning of his reaction, which eventually led me to begin to realize that this was no tourist trip we were part of. From that point on, I began to see the trip in a different light.
Upon eventually arriving in Amritsar, and seeing first hand the remnants of the destruction outside the Golden Temple grounds, and of course the Akal Takhat, which was still being rebuilt, along with holding close and sharing the outpouring of love for our Punjabi brethren who lived through this traumatic time, shared with us, and then experiencing the holiness and peace within the Golden Temple, that resides in the hearts of every Sikh, I began to understand.
When we returned to the U.S. and the reality hit me of having this huge credit card bill, along with my rent, and various other bills about to come due, yet still reverberating from this life altering trip, I was to find in my 1st week back to work, every single client I showed apartments to rented one from me, which paid for the whole trip! It was the most lucrative week I had ever experienced by far, while in that line of work, before or since. “Money comes and goes, morality comes and grows.”
WGJKK, WGJKF!
In humility and gratitude,
Hari Singh Khalsa
明月心滴翻譯 / 歡迎覺知轉載分享
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