PAYING IT FORWARD
by Shakta Kaur
“Sunia Sidh Peer Sur Naath”
-- Japji, Pauri 8
‘By hearing God’s
Name the mortal becomes a perfect person,
religious guide, spiritual
hero and a great yogi.’
These words are from Japji,* a meditative prayer,
chanted by Kundalini yogis worldwide during the early morning hours.
And these words were the inspiration behind the creation of a special
scholarship fund—the Devi Scholarship—available to applicants of Chicago’s
Kundalini Yoga in the Loop (KYL) 220-hour Yoga Alliance (YA)
registered Teacher Training course.
These words took hold in the soul of one of our first
graduates. His response to the stirring in his soul was to begin a
scholarship fund with personal funds so that whoever wanted to take the
incredible journey called Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training as taught by Yogi
Bhajan® could do so regardless of financial need. He named the fund
after his mother, Devi Kaur, because it was she who urged him to take his
first Kundalini Yoga class. It was his way of paying back for all that
he had received from the course—gurudakshina** of another sort.
Once the formation of the scholarship fund was announced
it wasn’t long before his fellow teachers-in-training contributed their own
money--to ‘pay it forward’--as one of them said. My husband Hari Dev
Singh and I contributed as well, matching--dollar-for-dollar--all of the
funds that our students contributed.
The very next year three students received partial
scholarships to take Teacher Training. They in turn were so grateful
for the experience that their class also chose to ‘pay it forward.’ As
a result, in our third year of hosting the course, the number of students
who received Devi Scholarships doubled--to six!
One of those students recently sent an e-mail that reads,
"Shakta, I wanted you and Hari Dev Singh to know that the Devi
Scholarship which enabled me to take Teacher Training has SAVED my
life... literally. I was broke in more ways than one. I needed much
healing in both body and mind. You knew that my financial situation was
such that without the scholarship I would not have been able to take the
course. What you don’t know is that I believe Kundalini Yoga has healed
both my body from Chron's Disease and my brain from its Bi-Polar
behavior. It truly has been a medicine of the divine. I constantly see
changes in me that I know are a result of the Teacher Training course.
I now have a new hope in my life. None of this would have been possible
without the Devi Scholarship. I thank you and all the teachers before
me who made this possible."
KYL
is now in the midst of our 10th year of Kundalini Yoga Teacher
Training. Out of the twenty men and women we have enrolled in this
year’s course, ten of them have received partial awards from the Devi
Scholarship Fund. Who can say where this might lead next year and the
year after? And in five more years? We believe the potential of
this Scholarship fund has yet to be fully realized.
Devi Scholarship hopefuls complete
an application form that requires answers to six questions (a copy is
available
here).
With the application they include a $500 deposit indicating to the universe
their commitment to take the course. They are asked to write a
biography of themselves; to describe a teacher of any kind whom they admire;
to describe their current yoga practice; and to write about their motivation
to take Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training. They also need to offer some
proof of their financial need. Finally, personal interviews are
conducted to determine which candidates will eventually receive a Devi
Scholarship.
One Devi Scholarship recipient sent an open letter to
those KYL graduates who contributed so generously. Her letter
reads, in part,
“I’d thought of writing a thank you immediately upon
receiving this scholarship, but decided instead to offer up a prayer of
gratitude and wait until I could share what the experience meant to me.
I am awed by the breadth of yoga, by the true reach of consciousness, and
the possibilities of yoking yoga with daily living. Thank you for
believing so much in this yoga and that those called to this path,
regardless of financial circumstance, must heed the call. In providing
the finances to facilitate an answer to Spirit, you do an incredible service
to the world. You create teachers. You birth a greater
mindfulness. You go above and beyond to gracefully usher in the
footsteps of the Aquarian Age.*** I thank you most
heartily for this. I know that many opportunities will come for me to
give as you have; I trust that I shall show as much generosity and so
continue this Golden Chain of offering, of connection, of evolution and of
service. Thank you.”
Applications are now being
accepted for KYL’s 2010-2011 Chicago Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training course
which begins the last weekend in October. The course consists of ten
weekends of study over eight months ending in May. Don’t hesitate!
Apply for a Devi Scholarship today! The deadline is Sept. 1st.
*Japji
is a prayer which relates the conscious mind to the soul. It is one of the
daily prayers of the Sikhs. ‘Jap-’ is often translated as ‘song of’ and
‘-ji’ as ‘the soul.’ As a result, Japji is called ‘the song of the soul.’
**Gurudakshina is tithing, or, an offering as an expression of gratitude for
the teachings. ‘-Dakshina’ will give ‘drib drishtee.’ You will
start seeing the unseen. It will mega-multiply you financially,
socially and personally.
***The Age of Aquarius began on November 11, 1991.
We are now in the cusp period between the Piscean and Aquarian Ages.
The final transition into the Aquarian Age will occur on November 11, 2011.
The Piscean Age was dominated by machines and hierarchy. The Aquarian
Age will be ruled by experience and expansion. It will take until 2038
for the complete integration of the Aquarian Age values along with the rise
of new souls and consciousness.