The Sikh Center of Houston held its Third annual Sikh/Gurmukh camp this last December. The camp was located at Mo Ranch, a campsite located about 100 miles west of San Antonio, Texas. I’m a nineteen year old student at the University of Texas at Austin. I had attended the previous two camps but not entirely because I wanted to. This year, while being away at school, I decided myself that I should go to camp. I have cut hair but always considered myself a Sikh. Boy was I wrong. Little did I know that at this camp, I was going to realize a lot of things about life and myself.
The counselors at the camp were going to be the same as the years’ before and I had gotten to know them pretty well. I think that was very important. Bhai Gurdarshan Singh Ji from Washington DC, Kulmeet Singh from Chicago, and Sardar Sarabjit Singh from LA.. Were most influential to me. There is no way that I can tell everything that I learned but a few of the most important things include wisdom, simiran, and what I need to do to make myself a better person. First of all, we all think of ourselves as Sikhs. Sure we all have knowledge of our religion; the ten Gurus. shabad/kirtan, Jap Ji Sahib, Rehras, Sakhis, etc. We all do this. but why? Oh yeah, because we’re supposed to, because our parents told us to. At least for myself, I did not know the real reason for doing what I do for my religion. At camp, I was told the difference between knowledge and wisdom. We all have knowledge about our faith but few of us have wisdom. Wisdom is the practice of religion. In the Jap Ji sahib there are the pouries of Sunnai and Mannai, Sunnai being the internal remembrance of Waheguru, or Simiran without having to think about it, and Mannai being the practice of this. It is very important that we leam to use our knowledge to gain wisdom about our faith. Another important element of Sikhism is Simiranor Naam Japna. There is only one way of reaching god and that is through Simiran. This is the meditation on God Thisis the hardest part of Sikhism. The path to God is through the Guru Granth Sahib and Simiran In camp. we spent 20 minutes in every moming andevening diwans on Simiran We realized that many of us could not sit still for that long much less concentrate on God. The bottom line is again practice. Perhaps the most important thing learned is what I need to do in my life. It’s all about attitude. If an individual sets his/her mind that I want to learn then they will realize that this path, Sikhi, is the way to make themselves better individuals mentally and spiritually. Discussions about Gummukh, Khalsa Panth, and the situations in Punjab right now with the Sikhs, made me realize what I need to do It’s an individual choice for everybody and this camp made me realize that the choice for me is Sikhism. Harpaul Singh Kwatra Houston, Tx.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 20, 1995
