Peru is considered to be the shoulders of South America. It is the birthplace of the Incan Civilization, corn, potatoes, The Andes that starts the backbone of South America and Machu Pichu. It is a land rich in culture, gastronomical ecstasy, gracious polite people and our second stop on this wonderful 7th Lord of Miracles Tour.
Arriving in Lima one is surprised by the large sprawling city where it never rains, never. Yet the Incan influence through architecture and food mixed with the Spanish Colonial presence for the past 300 years has given Lima a very special flavor. Our hosts, Guru Tera Singh and Guru Tera Kaur and the sangat of Lima were magnificent. The program started the exact day that we arrived. We had the privilege to visit three prisons for women and teach them Kundalini Yoga which included meditating on the shabad “Puta Mata Ki Asis”. For all of the women, hearing this shabad moved them so emotionally that there was not a dry eye in any of the prisons we visited. Sat Guru Kaur from Albuquerque who is traveling with us teaches in the prison system in New Mexico. Her bright radiance mixed with her simple, sweet Spanish brought delight to all of these women. When everything was finished the women were moved emotionally, charged with energy and feeling very grateful for our visit. It is a great seva to be with people who are in need of hope and light. The entire 3 prisons were buzzing with loud music by Snatam and Sat Kirn Kaur. We were given the privilege to teach in the maximum and medium security areas. Normally, these government institutions are off limits to anything that will benefit its populations.
When we finished, the directors of all three prisons requested that our sangat continue to teach there on a weekly basis with all of the mantras and music that we have. It is a great feeling to see how the hand of Guru Ram Das is guiding this tour and this work. The same evening we held the Lord of Miracles Lecture for more than 200 Peruvians. During the lecture, S.S. Gurubachan Singh Khalsa led the entire group in 3 meditations utilizing the most beautiful music of Sat Kirn Kaur and Snatam Kaur. Everyone was in tears hearing “Bhand Jameeai, Bhand Nimeeai" (From A Woman, Man Is Born) from Sat Kirn’s “Blessings of a Woman” CD. and “Puta Mata Ki Asis” – 4th track on Snatam Kaur's newest CD “Liberations Door” which is sung in Spanish.
It is important to understand that all of these countries are Catholic, very Catholic. Yet the enthusiasm to learn the teachings of Yogi Bhajan and Shabd Guru is unmatched by any other continent. It is a wonderful gift to see how all of these people have healthier and happier lives integrating all of these teachings in their culture, spiritual practice and life.
The following day the Tour was hosted to a wonderful Gourmet Vegetarian lunch at the home of Dev Murti Kaur who is the President of the Peruvian Association of Kundalini Yoga Instructors. There we finalized the inauguration of LANGAR PERU which will commence the third week of October. This now adds Peru to the list of Ecuador, Colombia, Paraguay, Brasil, and Chile who offer Langar on a regular basis. Yogi Bhajan taught us that with all the philosophy in the world and all the knowledge and wisdom the only thing a person really wants to know is if you are going to feed them. So in honor of our wonderful Sikh tradition of Langar, we dedicated the new Langar Peru on this visit. The entire Peruvian Sangat is excited to do this wonderful Seva.
That evening S.S. Gurubachan Singh Khalsa was invited by the Alumni Association of the Catholic University (South America’s most prestigious and conservative university throughout all of the countries) of Peru to deliver a speech on “How to Expand during times of Crises”. This conference was attended by the major businessmen of Peru including the President of the Association, Roque Benavides, Peru’s largest Industrialist. This conference also included learning Kundalini Yoga meditations and listening to Gurbani Kirtan. The audience was captivated, responsive and left feeling uplifted and energized. They learned techniques to slow their breath, calm their mind and develop their intuition. There too, they were emotionally moved by the music.
The Tour in Peru was an amazing success. And we left the following day amidst tears, hugs and blessings en route to our third country on this 7th Lord of Miracles Tour in Honor of Guru Ram Das – CHILE.
Reporting from 35000 feet somewhere over the Andes Mountains on the Peru -Chile border.
S.S. Gurubachan Singh Khalsa
Sat Guru Kaur
Ram Das Singh Khalsa
