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A sign displayed outside a college provides instructions in several languages. (Source: The Economist)

The effects of multi-lingualism on personality

December 4, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

An article in The Economist discusses the impact of multilingualism on the personality of the speaker: Yet it is different to claim—as many people do—to have a different personality when using a different language. A former Economist colleague, for example,reported being ruder in Hebrew than in English. So what is going on here? Benjamin Lee Whorf, an American linguist who died in 1941, held that each language encodes a worldview that significantly influences its speakers. Often called “Whorfianism”, this idea has its sceptics, […]

Categories: Reports/Studies • Tags: Benjamin Lee Whorf, Guru Granth Sahib, language, Whorfianism

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"Thousands of people surround the Guru Granth Sahib, or Sikh holy scriptures, on the main float during the 34th annual Nagar Kirtan and Sikh Parade in Yuba City Sunday, Nov. 3, 2013." (Photo: David Bitton/Appeal-Democrat)

80,000 people attend 34th annual Yuba City Sikh Parade

November 4, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Even though I was aware of Yuba City, California, and its agricultural base, I was still struck yesterday by the numerous large and mature orchards that lined the highway on my route to the 34th annual Yuba City Sikh Parade (considered the largest Nagar Kirtan or Sikh religious procession in the United States). Many of these orchards are owned by Sikh Americans who settled in the area since the turn to the twentieth century, and which today still are operated […]

Categories: Events • Tags: California, Guru Granth Sahib, Nagar Kirtan, Yuba City, Yuba City Sikh Parade

2012 Nagar Kirtan festivities at the Sikh Temple Yuba City (photo credit: Karaminder Ghuman)

This weekend: 34th annual Yuba City Nagar Kirtan

October 30, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

The largest of its kind in America, the 34th annual Yuba City Nagar Kirtan (Sikh religious procession) is taking place this weekend, centered at the Sikh Temple Yuba City in Yuba City, California. The festivities begin on Friday, November 1, and culminates in the religious procession on Sunday, November 3: Yuba City Annual Sikh Inauguration Festival Events Schedule: Friday: 8 pm Kirtan Darbar followed by fireworks. Saturday: 9am Raising of Nishan Sahib Sikh flag followed by kirtan. 2 pm Open […]

Categories: Events, Sikhism • Tags: California, Guru Granth Sahib, Nagar Kirtan, Sikh Parade, Yuba City

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Sikh women wash their feet before entering Darbar Sahib. (source: http://hzimm.wordpress.com)

The feet of the devout

April 26, 2013 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Erasmus, the religion blog for The Economist, looks at the religious practices around shoes and feet among the Abrahamic faiths: …at the moment of his encounter with God, Moses was ordered to take off his shoes because he was treading on sacred ground…The fathers of the early Christian church were intrigued by the instruction to Moses. They thought shoes reflected decay and mortality, because they were made from the skin of dead animals, while God was calling Moses to a […]

Categories: Reflections, Sikhism • Tags: barefoot, Bhai Gurdas, feet, foot, Guru Arjun, Guru Granth Sahib, Guru Nanak, Vaaran

A man reads from the Guru Granth Sahib (source: sikh-history.com)

What makes a sacred text

December 7, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In the Huffington Post, Joshua Stanton, of the Center for Global Judaism, explores what makes a text sacred: Humans sanctify themselves not in the passive resonance they feel with stories that transcend time, but in the active engagement and re-crafting of these stories through the questioning of premises, derivation of overarching truths, and a willingness to unweave and reweave these initial narratives in forms that more closely resemble that which we understand to be ultimate meaning. The Sikh faith is […]

Categories: Reflections, Sikhism • Tags: Guru Granth Sahib, Huffington Post, Joshua Stanton, sacred text

The Guru Granth Sahib: unique and universal

June 19, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On the Trumbull Patch in Connecticut, Dave and Nita Anand write about the sacred scriptures of the Sikhs, the Guru Granth Sahib: Bertrand Russell, British philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize winner, once observed — “If some lucky men survive the onslaught of the third world war of atomic and hydrogen bombs, then the Sikh religion and Granth Sahib will be the only means of guiding them.” Russell was then asked why he is bringing up the third world war issue […]

Categories: Sikhism • Tags: Bertrand Russell, Connecticut, Dave Anand, Guru Granth Sahib, Nita Anand, Turnbull

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“Peace March” in Berkeley, CA to honor Guru Arjan on June 3

May 14, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

On June 3, 2012, the Sikh Center of San Francisco Bay Area in El Sobrante, California, will be holding a Nagar Kirtan in Berkeley, California (which they are calling a “Peace March”) to commemorate the martyrdom of Guru Arjan: It gives us immense pleasure to announce to Sangat that this year’s Guru Arjun Dev Ji’s 407th martyrdom anniversary’s Peach March will be held in Berkeley, CA on Sunday, June 03rd 2012.The Peace March will begin as usual from Berkeley Community […]

Categories: Events, Sikhism • Tags: Adi Granth, Berkeley, California, Darbar Sahib, El Sobrante, Guru Arjan, Guru Granth Sahib, martyrdom of Guru Arjan, Nagar Kirtan, Sikh Center of San Francisco Bay Area

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Vaisakhi and self-transcendence

April 20, 2012 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

In a recent talk at the 2012 TED Conference, Dr. Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist (and an atheist with an appreciation for religion), talks about the evolution of the human capacity for self-transcendence: “But every known religion has some sort of rite or procedure for taking people out of their ordinary lives and opening them up to something larger than themselves.” His talk is timely, as it comes around the season of Vaisakhi when Sikhs celebrate the transformation of their […]

Categories: Reflections, Sikhism • Tags: Evolution, Guru Gobind Singh, Guru Granth Sahib, Jonathan Haidt, Khalsa, Self transcendence, TED, TEDx, Vaisakhi

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Vaisakhi celebrations continue across the United States

April 27, 2011 by Rupinder Mohan Singh

Sikhs around the country are continuing to celebrate Vaisakhi and are opening up to their local communities in the process: Lansing, Michigan: Last weekend, the Guru Nanak Sikh Center in Lansing, Michigan organized their seventh annual Nagar Kirtan through downtown Lansing, which included an estimated 2,000 people from around the Midwest to celebrate Vaisakhi, as reported in the Lansing State Journal: Attendees came from as far away as Wisconsin, Ohio and Illinois for the largest Sikh harvest and religious celebration in the Midwest, […]

Categories: Events • Tags: "Washington, Guru Granth Sahib, Lansing, Louisiana, Lynden, Michigan, Nagar Kirtan, New Orleans, Vaisakhi

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Considering the experience of Sikhs in America.

Tag: Guru Granth Sahib

The effects of multi-lingualism on personality

80,000 people attend 34th annual Yuba City Sikh Parade

This weekend: 34th annual Yuba City Nagar Kirtan

The feet of the devout

What makes a sacred text

The Guru Granth Sahib: unique and universal

“Peace March” in Berkeley, CA to honor Guru Arjan on June 3

Vaisakhi and self-transcendence

Vaisakhi celebrations continue across the United States