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“Yatra is a holy journey. We must go into the center, the heart center. It is a journey on earth to one’s ‘Isht’- one’s higher self, one’s altar. It is a self-purification.” ~Siri Singh Sahib Yogi Bhajan

Last Friday we had lots of visitors on our campus. The Light of Guru Nanak Yatra travelled from November 5 – 17 to Sultanpur Lodhi with our 12th grade students and celebrated the end of their journey at Miri Piri Academy. The yatra was organized by 3HO and Sikh Dharma and lovely Shanti Kaur led the group.

In the afternoon at about 5pm it got very full on campus! There were about 70 people attending the yatra, among them Yogi Bhajan’s son Kulbir Singh who was instrumental in finding the land and building our school. Our principal Jugat Guru showed them around while our students were just finishing basketball and soccer training. Afterwards the yatra attendees and our senior students met in the gurdwara to meditate on Guru Ram Das for 11 minutes and then celebrate the end of the yatra with wonderful and inspiring speeches.

After saying Ardas together everybody went to the dining hall to enjoy dinner.

It was great having you all here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FencUnNQug4&feature=emb_title

Photos

One of our sports competition that lately took place was the kickball competition. To be honest, being from Europe, I really tried to grasp the rules of the game but failed big time. I even watched several videos on YouTube explaining the game without major results on my understanding. But at least I understood why our students threw the ball at each other!

Anyway I filmed our teams playing and having fun and cheering their team mates on and shouting commands to those who didn’t get the rules as well.

1st Blue House
2nd Gold House
3rd Silver House
4th White House

Photos

Written by our student Hana Goodkind.

Our 12th-grade class traveled to Sultanpur Lodhi last Monday to join the “Light of Guru Nanak Yatra” in attending the celebration of Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s 550th birthday. The event was heavily attended by people from across India and various other countries. We were invited and sponsored, very gracefully, by 3ho and Sikh Dharma International. Sultanpur Lodhi, though a small town, holds great cultural richness in the hearts of all Sikhs. The town is where Guru Nanak took a holy dip for 3 days in Kali Bein (rivulet) and afterward emerged out of the river to dictate the bani of Japji Sahib.

Monday morning, we wrapped our full turbans, grabbed our gatka swords and headed out on our school bus for Sultanpur around 6am. When we arrived we were amazed by the huge site of about 300 white tents. We moved in to our designated tents, filled with laughter and excitement. Later to be joined by our temporary neighbors, the yatra.

Our first mission was the nagar kirtan, followed by receiving Darshan of Baba Nihal Singh Ji and Jethadar. We had the opportunity to visit the Gurdwara where Guru Nanak is said to have lived with his wife and where his two sons were born.
In the evening, we were provided a beautiful dinner in our tent city and later Chardi Kalaa Jetha played kirtan at the main kirtan tent.

The next day, wake up call was at 3:30am. We walked with the Yatra to Kali Bein to take a holy dip. Afterward, there was an optional kirtan trip, breakfast, and again, we walked to the riverside along with our yatra neighbors, this time to chant, sing and meditate. The night ended late with langar and more kirtan.

This trip was an incredibly enriching experience for our 12th-grade class. Not only did we get to connect with an extended community (the yatra) but also to experience another town in India, where Sikhism is cherished and celebrated. Our knowledge of Sikh history expanded, as did our hearts. And we are all very grateful.

Videos by SikhNet, Pictures by Hana Goodkind

Sultanpur Lodhi

MPA BARBEQUE

Thursday, June 13th at 5 pm at Guru Sadhana Kaur and Harimandir Singh’s Home

BHANGRA PERFORMANCE AT PEACE PRAYER DAY

GRADUATION CEREMONY

MPA DAY FOR TEEN CAMP

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF 3HO

MPA LEADS TANTRIC WARM-UPS

MPA BENEFIT BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

Last weekend all of India celebrated Diwali, the festival of lights. It lasts for 5 days and is India’s biggest and most important holiday of the year.

It is the same day as Bandi Chhor Divas, a Sikh historic event related to the sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind. On this day, Guru Hargobind was released from prison by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir, who the Guru demanded free 52 other Hindu kings with him. The Bandi Chhor Divas is celebrated in a manner similar to Diwali, with the lighting of homes and Gurdwaras, feasts, gift giving and family time. It is an important Sikh celebration along with Vaisakhi, Maghi, Holi with Hola Mohalla and Gurpurab.

Here at the school the whole premises has been decorated and our teachers cooked lunch for everybody on Friday. The preparations lasted several days and ended with our teachers taking charge in the kitchen to prepare a delicious feast.

The center section of the main building and the gurdwara were decorated with flowers and rangoli. The day started in the gurdwara and then we had a get together in the main building where we talked about Diwali. The teachers gave their presents to the students, sweets and a potted plant for each room. Afterwards the kids could do either dye fabrics in the art building, get mandis on their hands or work on rangolis all over the campus. At about 1pm we finally had the delicious lunch our teachers cooked for us. Everybody enjoyed it a lot! Thank you again!

On Sunday Ajooni and the cooking staff prepared another fabulous meal for us and served hot chocolate at the bonfire.

Happy Diwali

Preparations

Diwali Day