Columnists

Ravinder currently lives in Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A. and has an abiding interest in expressing Gurbani in the English idiom. He is the Founder and Convenor of our weekly Talking Stick Colloquium.

Reincarnation ... or Serpents Of The Mind:
The Talking Stick Colloquium # 70 Convenor: RAVINDER SINGH

Could it be that what reincarnates (or moves on) are our accumulated habits and unfulfilled desires - looking to play out in another form?

The Dark Night of Separation:
The Talking Stick Colloquium # 69 Convenor: RAVINDER SINGH

Losing one's appetite or even a diminished interest in food is viewed as a symptom of a deeper physical illness ... And so it is in matters of the spirit ... How then do we restore our spiritual health?

The Sikhs In Britain A Book Review by RAVINDER SINGH

Sikhs have never “adopted a strategy of lying low, even in the face of negative reactions from their peers. Rather, they have built on this and turned it into one of their strengths ..."

Still On The Unbeaten Path:
The Talking Stick Colloquium # 68 Convenor: RAVINDER SINGH

Guru Nanak’s stress on dharam is very consequential. It is a caution against sectarianism and its consequences that he witnessed (and we continue to, to this day).

Sangat and Pangat:
The Meaning of Thanksgiving Day by RAVINDER SINGH

This year, my wife and I have waited in anticipation for our daughter (a college sophomore) to come home for Thanksgiving. Tonight, we will gather with friends and their children for dinner.

The Counterfeit Coin by JASWANT SINGH NEKI
Translated from Punjabi by RAVINDER SINGH

One day, as I was returning home from school, with my school bag tucked under my arm, I was approached by a Muslim faqir. “Son, feed an old man, won’t you?” he said, looking at me.

Off The Beaten Path:
The Talking Stick Colloquium # 67 Convenor: RAVINDER SINGH

Religious traditions, like different paths, have clear, identified boundaries, a familiar landscape and a known destination. But they are separated from each other by ritual, dogma and belief.

The Real Deal
The Sacha Sauda Bookstore by RAVINDER SINGH

The entrance to Sacha Sauda is like entering a gurdwara - no footwear is allowed, and heads need to be covered inside, out of deference to the Guru Granth Sahib within and other Sikhi/ gurbani related artifacts.

Remembering Nanak, The Guru
The Talking Stick Colloquium # 66 by RAVINDER SINGH

He invested the conventions, language, concepts, terms, and poetic forms from the tradition of his birth, with new meaning by providing a new context, thus transcending his inheritance.

In the Beginning Was ... The Apple!
The Talking Stick Colloquium # 65 Convenor: RAVINDER SINGH

By slapping a rainbow on the very “archetype of human fallenness and failure,” says a biographer, Steve Jobs transformed a negative Christian religious symbol - the bitten fruit - into a “sign of promise and progress.”