Christmas Program, December 2018

The youths in the Phoenix comgregation of Sant Nirankari Mission prepared a wonderful program for Christmas this year. The program ranged from devotional songs to youths recording what they remember or learnt from Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev ji Maharaj to poetic symposium (kavi darbar) to a slide show detailing life of Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev ji Maharaj. It also included a summary of the work Mr. and Mrs. Willford Taylor did in Kazakasthan over a period of 1.5 years on behalf of the Church of Latter Day Saints. Following are some details of the program.

After welcoming the guest to the congregation, the youths showed part 1 of a presentation that detailed some facts about Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev ji Maharaj. A link to the video is here.

This was followed by a devotional song titled "Mere Rehebera Shukriya". (Click on the title to see the video).

The poetic symposium (Kavi Darbar) featured two of the youths who shared their tatents in beautiful poems in Hindi and English. A video can be seen at this link.

We also had the honor of guests from the Church of Latter Day Saints. We heard from Mr. Willford Taylor how he and his wife spent almost 1.5 years in Kazakasthan serving the community. You can find the details on his trip at this link.

 

This was followed by part 2 of the presentation where other youths shared about the life of Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev Singh ji Maharaj. A link to this part of the video can be found here.

The youths in the congregation also prepared videos of what they remembered most or learnt from Satguru Mata Savinder Hardev ji Maharaj. A link to this video can be found here.

Youth had also prepared another devotional song in the rememberance of Satguru Mata Savinder Singh ji. This song was titled "Mamta Ki Chav". A full video of this song can be found at this link.

The last performance was by the youth under 15 years preforming on the traditional Christmas carol "We wish you a Merry Christmas".

This was followed by discourses from His Holiness Baba Hardev Sngh ji and Her Holiness Mata Sudiksha Savinder Hardev Singh ji. In his discourse, Babaji said:

We live in this material world, therefore our mind goes after the material things very easily. When we think of a doctor, our mind goes towards the sickness & ailments we have. Saints and their teachings divert our mind to Nirankar, so when we think of Satsang our mind automatically thinks of Nirankar. So saints pray that we should meet saintly people during their day so that they are connected to Nirankar. This is how saints get the nutrition for their soul.

Further emphasizing the importance of Sangat, Babaji gave the example of a tree on the banks of a river who is getting water for its roots but its leaves and branches over a period of time collects dust. Similarly dispite the divine knowledge we have, we need sangat so we can remove the day to day negative thoughts and connect with Nirankar. Thats why saints give importance to sewa, sangat and sumiran.

Babaji mentioned that saints help us understand the importance of bringing good teachings into our actions. Talking about good teachings is nice, but its of little value if we dont follow them or if we cant act upon them. Saints encourage us to think positively. If we think of negativity then negativity gets attracted to us and we become and think even more negatively. This Nirankar is complete and whatever he does is also complete and not incomoplete in any way. When we are climbing a mountain or steep road, then we have to give more energy or press the accelerator to give more gas. Similarly when we face difficulty in life, we have to put more energy to lead a life based on teachings of saints. Saints pray to Nirankar that dont do based on my wishes as I am ignorant, instead give me the courage to accept your wish.

Babaji also mentioned the importance of having good habits. If our habits are good then even in difficult situations we will act propertly. He gave an example of a person who was always abusive to his animals. When confronted by a saint that he should not speak abusivly to his animals he said that he is like this only to his animals. The saint made him realize that he has acquired a habit of using abusive language even towards people. Therefore saints bring our attention to this that we should think positively.

When we go to an ironsmith shop, the ironsmith is using different tools and sparks fly all over. These sparks can damage our clothes and even skin. Even if dont buy anything we feel the negative effects of ironsmith shop. On the other hand, when we enter a shop of perfume we enjoy the fragrance of perfumes. No one likes the voice of a crow even though the crow has not caused any damage to us. However the nighinggale is liked by everyone as its voice is sweet even though it has not given us any material gifts. Therefor we should always be sweet and loving to others. Babaji encouraged us to be loving and respectful to everyone and change our actions such that they are in accordance to the teachings of saints.

Before the event could conclude, everyone was delighted to see the surprise visit by Santa himself. Everyone took pictured with Santa and had a good time.

 

Click here for a link to all the pictures of Christmas Day celebration