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Following are some recommendations which can be employed in various ways, depending on circumstance. Bring your sangat together and decide what works best for your community.
At the time of first receiving the news:
1) Remove yourself from immediate demands, gather yourself, and chant "Akal". If you are with others, or can be readily, chant together. Where possible, go to your personal altar, Gurdwara, yoga center, or sadhana room.
2) Gather with your community in someone's home or your community's Gurdwara, yoga center, or sadhana room. Chant together, sing together the mantra, Guru Guru Wahe Guru Guru Ram Das Guru.
Close by reading from the Peace Lagoon (Sukhmani Sahib) or take a hukam from the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. A suggested Shabad is Dhan Dhan Raam Daas Gur, suggested mantra is Guru Guru Wahe Guru Guru Ram Das Guru. These are helpful for grief release, as is, Aap Sahaee Hoa; Miter Piare Noon from Guru Gobind Singh is excellent for the resolution of loss.
Any Shabad or mantra will consolidate and elevate the sangat.
Please refer to Psyche of the Golden Shield or Psyche of the Soul for further information on the effects of the Banis and various Shabads.
After the chanting, talk together, eat together, sit and make plans for your community to be together regularly for the next 17 days. Talk about what will comfort and uplift each other during this time.
As soon as reasonably possible, and continue for 17 days:
3) Hold an Akhand Path or a Sahej Path, with plans to complete within 17 days; where resources are available, hold sequential akhand paths for the full 17 days. Where possible, include a daily langar.
4) Hold a full Gurdwara service; where resources are available, hold a Ransubhai (all night) kirtan.
5) Read 11 pages a day from the Peace Lagoon or Siri Guru Granth Sahib.
6) Recite an extra Japji or Sukhmani as a dedication each day for 17 days
7) Have a program of chanting, 3HO songs, or kirtan in a different person's home each evening for the 17 days, followed by langar and talking together.
8) Listening and sharing can serve to help each other sort through feelings, uncover meaning. Tell stories of experiences with the Siri Singh Sahib, sharing what he and his teachings mean in your life. Identify what it is from his teachings, his example, that you want to bring into the future, that becomes part of your living legacy now. Post these and other expressions such as artwork, drawings or poems, in a community place, such as a bulletin board in the lobby of the yoga center; so all may share in this, and/or place on your personal altar.
Record your stories via video, audio, or written form. The Secretariat plans to collect them world wide at the end of the 17 days and invites you to send yours as part of a memorial volume to be completed by the first anniversary.
9) Celestial Communication can be a part of any of these gatherings. Specifically for grief release, the Siri Singh Sahib has recommended practicing Celestial Communication with the Shabad, Dhan Dhan Raam Daas Gur. Upper body movement is especially helpful to release grief we may hold in the physical body.
10) Create opportunities for members of the sangat to serve: making langar, Gurdwara preparations, making a board for stories, etc.
11) Meditations specific for overcoming shock, and other emotional responses can be found in the Survival Kit yoga manual. A meditation as simple as Long Sat Nams can help transform depression. Kriyas for lymphatic system and lungs help to release grief from the body, and open one to joy. These can be found in various yoga manuals. These can be practiced during the yoga portion as part of the daily sadhana, and/or in the regularly scheduled yoga classes.
The tratikam meditation can be done to continue guidance, support and clarity via the subtle body.
As a community, you may choose to continue activities for a full 40 days
After the 17--40 days:
As a local community, you may want to come together to form a memorial, a living remembrance, or a commemoration; something tangible that benefits the community. Examples are planting trees, creating a memorial garden, hosting a free kitchen once a month.
Continue playing music and singing together, talking together, praying together, meditating together, doing sadhana together, playing together.
"Compassion brings trust forever."
Siri Singh Sahibji
This document can be downloaded as a PDF file for printing or emailing.
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