Sikhs are a global community with a growing presence in the United States. To create influence, do we understand how US foreign policy is developed and implemented? What is the Biden administration’s approach to its foreign policy as it may affect the Sikhs? 80% of the Sikhs live in India, primarily in the Panjab state. What are the expectations of the US-India relationship in the next few years in reference to democracy and human rights in the context of bilateral relations? The conversation will touch upon lessons and guidance to the Sikh community on how to pursue advocacy, long-term strategies, and building coalitions via both positive and not so positive case studies from the Afhgan-Sikh crisis to the Farmers movement.
Bhai Mani Singh and Baba Dip Singh were leaders, scholars, and warriors. They played significant leadership roles in the community post-Baba Banda Singh Bahadur, keeping the Panth united under challenging circumstances. They were master scholars, some of the greatest in Sikh history, and created a scholarly tradition that still resonates in the community to this day. They were great warriors, fully living up to Guru Gobind Singh Sahib’s standard of the Warrior-Saint. And both sacrificed themselves for the Panth, becoming martyrs whose Shahidi has inspired generations of Sikhs. Join us as we explore the lives and legacy of these two preeminent Khalsa Scholar-Martyrs.
The Khalsa inauguration on Vaisakhi day in 1699 infused the Sikhs and gave them a structure of ideas and institutions that continue to shape their lives both individually and collectively. Why was the Khalsa revealed by Guru Gobind Singh Sahib? How did it transform the community in the Indian subcontinent and beyond? What are the “freedom” (political-spiritual) ramifications for global Sikhs today? We will discuss these and related matters for personal and community development.
Join us on International Women’s Day as we share the multi-faceted journeys that women have taken. What role have women historically occupied in our collective psyche? Reflecting on our past, present, and thinking about the future, how do we put mechanisms into place to ensure women’s stories aren’t forgotten? To ensure they become a part of consciousness? Through this conversation, we will imagine futures in which we move beyond the mere recognition of gendered differences and enact attention on reducing gender disparities while paying homage to the strides we have already made.
What’s “Love” got to do with it? Love is indeed a four-letter word, heavily used, very interpretive, and often taken out of context in our personal lives. How do we understand love in the Sikh context?
Join us on January 16th in conversation with Harmeet Singh, Nimrat Kaur, and Sandeep Singh on the farmer protests moderated by Harinder Singh. This webinar will discuss the protests as a pan India movement beyond the 3 Farm Bills. We will focus on the Indian and International media coverage and the Sikh historical context of Morcha in Delhi and Panjab.
In this conversation, we will be joined by scholar Dr. Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh, author, poet, and artist, Inni Kaur, and educator, Surinder Singh as they discuss the poetry, Gurbani, and the inspiration of Bhai Vir Singh.
How can we use the enchantment of children’s books to build bridges between worlds? How do we diversify the stories we tell, hear, and read? How can parents, educators, and childcare workers engage and share diverse stories? Join us in conversation with social entrepreneur and children’s book author, Deanna Singh, writer, scholar, and activist, Simran Jeet Singh, and author, poet, and artist, Inni Kaur. Together, let’s re-imagine storytelling for a new generation and tell stories that deserve to be told.
How do we remember? How do we advocate? How do we survive? Please join us for a webinar with three leading voices in the November 1984 Anti-Sikh pogroms study. Dr. Ishmeet Kaur, a professor at the University of Gujarat, will help us explore the literary and artistic response to the Pogroms. Dr. Shruti Devgan, a professor at Bowdoin College, has researched in the diasporic, 1st, and 2nd generation response to the events of 1984 and how the events have been commemorated digitally. Finally, Mr. Ryan Singh Kohli, a leading public law practitioner in the UK, will share his work with Sardar HS Phoolka in the struggle for legal justice for the victims of November 1984.
The Objective of this workshop is prepare Gurduara Boards for their legal and panthic responsibilities.
Inni Kaur, Chair, SikhRI will be speaking at a Multi-religious Gathering with Pope Francis.
Kultar's Mime is a devised play that blends painting, poetry, theater and music to tell the stories of Sikh children who survived the 1984 Delhi massacre that was organized in the wake of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assasination.
Reconnect with the land of five rivers & Support Panjab Digital Library.
Presented by SikhRI
Parents often find themselves in tight spot when dealing with children; their demands, expectation, behavior so on and so forth. They feel clueless as to how to respond to children under certain circumstance. Answer to majority of such issues lies in the macro view of life that dominates our relationship with the children and how we look at them. The current presentation gives a Sikhi viewpoint on parenting and nurturing a Sikh child by delving into Gurbani and Sikh tradition, which will help inform our attitude and better shape our relationship with children.
Can a nation change its destiny without paying attention to its youth? Empowered youngsters are central to any developed society. This presentation looks at real meaning and purpose of development in Gurbani. It parses early Sikh history to understand how the Guru fired up the imagination of the youth by providing stakes in community and society building; thus transformed them into living example of excellence. It also seeks lessons in meaningful ways of engaging the youth and making them an active participant in the Panth today.
In this pessimistic milieu, we should look for guidance and inspiration in Sikhi thought and practice as enunciated by Guru Nanak and the Sikh Gurus which has always illuminated the path of the suffering Mulniwasi Bahujans to attain material and spiritual sovereignty and demolish upper varna /caste thraldom.
In 1469 the Sun and Lion manifest on this earth to illuminate the inherent presence of Divine in all hearts and minds. It then took 230 years to inaugurate the community of pure-sovereigns that dedicated themselves to these ideals. The ceremony of initiation into this order of the Khalsa was first conducted in a dramatic manner by the Tenth Father (Dasam Pita) in 1699. This webinar will explore the significance of Vaisakhi through the infrequently discussed yet profound significance of the adding of sweets by the Soveriegn Mother (Mata Sahib Kaur) as well as the backgrounds and dedication of the first Five Lovers (Panj Piare). We will also discuss various ways in which we can pay homage to their contributions and propagate the values they manifest in the way they lived and died.
The following topics will be discussed: Context of 350th Prakash Purab (Illumination Day) Commemorations, Tribute to Guru Gobind Singh Sahib, Nanak the Tenth Sovereign, Sikh, Hindu and Muslim Poets from Land of Five Rivers, Celebration to mark World Poetry Day on 21 Mar 2017, and Life, Legacy & Impact on Panjab, South Asia, and Globe.
Sikhs have a small and extremely limited presence in the mainstream media. Even though the Sikh community has been active in every walk of life - athletics, politics, scientists, writers, filmmakers, cartoonists etc our stories are often relegated to the "religious" section in the media.
This presentation will examine Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s role as a secular ruler through a 19th century tomb in Lahore built by Rani Gulbahar Begum, his Muslim wife. The Maharaja’s religious non-discriminatory policies will be discussed based on information gleaned from his court chronicles and some official documents in the Lahore Museum collection. The tomb’s architectural and ornamental features will also be viewed to understand the tastes and craftsmanship of nineteenth century Punjabi patrons and artists.
This webinar looks at the lives of the 4 Sahibzadey and takes a close look at the "code" that they lived by. Some questions that we will answer together are: What were some key values and how do we know?
Every year around November, history is visited by some who commemorate the devastating anti-Sikh violence in Delhi and other northern cities of India in 1984, strongly insisting to never forget 1984, while others insist on forgetting and moving on from that dark chapter in post-independence Indian history. What are the ramifications of this tug-of war between memorialization and demanded forgetfulness of such historical blot? This discussion hopes to bring out the ethical imperatives that Sikhs as well non-Sikhs can and must adopt through a conscientious, empowered remembering. To simply erase violent history is also an act of violence that leads to erasure. We must re-investigate the mainstream history and its role in un-acknowledging the discourse of 1984; we must force ethical challenges to the willful abnegation and/or totalitarian evasion of our social history.
This LIV Webinar will aim to address the question: How do we apply Guru Nanak’s message globally?The webinar will do so by first engaging the Sangat in an honest and collective introspection on the state of the panth with a view to understand what barriers - political, social and individual - stand in the way and prevent us from becoming foot soldiers in the army of Nanak.The second part of the Webinar will share the outline of a project conceived by a group of Sikhs who believe that the best way spread the message of Guru Nanak is to become personifications of the Sikhi.