 Singh Sahib Gian Singh Khalsa  |
Singh Sahib Gian Singh Khalsa
Sangat Members from Around the World
As many of you know our beloved brother S.S. Gian Singh Khalsa unexpectedly left his body on January 30, 1995. He was admitted January 20th to the hospital for tests and was diagnosed January 27 with leukemia. His wife S.S. Ram Rang, Hari Kirtan Kaur 14 and Sat Kirpal Singh 19 are continuing the Khalsa spirit in San Juan as they have for over 20 years. Gian Singh and Ram Rang Kaur owned and managed Nanak’s Landscaping and El Centro de Yoga. The family received an outpouring of support from their many friends, yoga students, and the Sadh Sangat.
The Siri Singh Sahib stated, "That cancer can come like that and take you, to remember that life is a gift."
Mahan Kirn Kaur Khalsa
Orlando, FL
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S.S. Ram Rang Kaur Khalsa
wife of S.S.Gian Singh Khalsa
Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
Sat Nam. Much love to you from Puerto Rico.
I would first like to thank you and the rest of our wonderful family for all the prayers and support we have received during these difficult times. We are all grateful to be the recipients of so much love.
I am enclosing a copy of our local new age newspaper which contains a tribute to Gian Singh. It contains Gian's last message to his students, the poems written by Gurudass Singh and Gurucharn Singh, a letter from Sunder Singh, and a song by Ray Millan who was formerly known as Sat Rattan Singh. There is also an excerpt from an article which they asked me to write about him several months ago. I am also enclosing the original English version as well as the English translation of Gurudass' poem, and a picture.
Thank you so much for honoring his memory. I know he was looking forward to participating in the April Khalsa Council meetings, and I am sure he will be there in spirit.
In the Name of the Cosmic Power which prevails through everyBODY and the Holy Nam which holds the world.
Humbly,
S.S. Ram Rang Kaur Khalsa
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Gian Singh Khalsa was born in 1952, the son of a social worker and a sociologist. He was conscious at an early age of the problems facing the people of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean, and felt the frustrations of those trying to solve them. In 1969, when he was 17, his continuing search for answers led him to Woodstock, where he first discovered Kundalini Yoga. The following summer, while living in Greenwich Village in New York City, this mysterious science again crossed his path, and he knew he had at last found the teacher who would lead him to the truth: Yogi Bhajan.
From New York, he went to a 3H0 ashram in Washington, D.C. where he was trained as a teacher and returned to Puerto Rico to begin his 23 year mission as Director of the 3H0 Foundation in Puerto Rico, teacher of Kundalini Yoga, Sikh Minister, and counselor to those in distress. He began teaching Kundalini Yoga at the University of Puerto Rico in 1972, and was a pioneer in the teaching of Yoga in prisons and teaching Yoga as an alternative to drugs in Social Service Programs. Through his dedication, many people have been able to make a new beginning.
Though rebellious against authority in his youth, as he became an adult, he earned the respect of, and maintained lasting friendships with, older members of the community as well as his peers, perhaps because they sensed in him an honesty and sincerity not usually found in most people. It is because of these qualities that Gian Singh has been able to establish El Centro de Yoga as a place where people are able to attend Yoga classes, meditate, and generally feel as though they have come home. They have also led him to become one of the most respected leaders of the spiritual community of Puerto Rico. He was constantly trying to reach out to the people of Puerto Rico, to enrich their lives and help to relieve their stress through activities such as the Eco holistic programs in the Jardin Botanico, the full moon meditations, and through the Ecumenical Council.
Nanak's Landscaping, which he established over fifteen years ago as a simple gardener, has grown and prospered into one of the most well known and trusted landscaping and maintenance businesses in Puerto Rico, and his employees had the same respect for him as do his students. Through this example, he has shown that there is no conflict between a spiritual lifestyle and material prosperity.
To know who Gian Singh was on a personal level, one need only to look at his astrological sign: Cancer. He was a complete manifestation of a Cancerean man: home- lover, family man, domestic. His eighteen year marriage was "Garriste Yoga", a sacred union, to which he has brought his love, insight and guidance. He was a protective and devoted father to his two teenage children, who are a reflection of his spirituality and good humor. He enjoyed spending time at his home in the Guaynabo countryside, tending to his organic vegetable garden.
In the twenty three years he had been teaching Kundalini Yoga, he had not lost sight of his path. He has always been an inspiration, not only to his students in Puerto Rico, but also to other students and teachers of Kundalini Yoga in the rest of the world.
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To Gian, my soul brother,
Oh, brother of my soul,
in the face of karmas challenge
do not discourage or despair.
Reclaim the light!
That divine light that one day,
in the darkness of a bad trip,
illumined your mind
and awakened your soul.
That same light which you have shared
with so many,
myself amongst them.
Oh, my dharmic brother,
from across the ocean I come to you.
I reach out with my hand and take yours.
Can you feel my strength, my love?
Let me heal your wounds,
Oh wounded warrior.
This is just another battle,
like the many we have fought together.
Oh, my soul brother,
Drink from the Name and appease your thirst.
The Name that transcends cells and molecules,
which transformed the black crow
into a white dove.
...and fly! Yes, fly!
Without limits or fears,
without attachments or chains,
to the heavens, towards the conquest of the Self.
Oh, my brother,
today, at the highest height,
your soul is reborn
and the divine light explodes within you.
...and then I look out,
and see you at the top,
radiant and armed with the lion's sword.
Your voice, like thunder,
breaks the silence of this anxious wait
as I hear you calling out to the four winds:
'Wahe Guru ji ka Khalsa Wahe Guru ji ki Fateh!
...your soul brother embraces you,
S.S. Gurudass Singh Khalsa