I claimed this blog on technocrati and Bloglovin today. Apparently these are databases that can help people find blogs. Internet is a beautiful place to sing.

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Q: Who are you?
Ans: My name is Jania.

Q: Where are you sitting?
Ans: I came back from school and I am sitting in Papa's office right now.

Q: What are you doing?
Ans: We are having what we call "Papa fun."  Today we decided to write a story about what happened at school.

Q: What did you learn in school?
Ans: Today I learned to write inside the lines. And then I interviewed two friends.

Q: Why did you interview friends?
Ans: I needed to know what to draw.  We got this picture and we had to color.  The first one was Summer. The second one was "Krishy"

Q: What is Krishy???
Ans: He is one of the kindergartners.  Sometimes I play with him at recess.

Q: Who else do you play with at recess?
Mikayla.  She is not in my class, but she used to be in my pre-school.

Q: What else do you want to write about?
Today I saw some small T-shirts at school. They were decorated very nicely. You should have come to my class.

Today I got a surprise from my niece in Connecticut ... she is just finishing high school and has done her first demo album with some of her friends. Our TV's and minds have in the past week been focused on these teenagers rioting in London, and here is my niece, who has done something quite different this summer. She sings in the way life should be sung. So I am filled with pride and inspiration as I listen to this. Thanks Raveena, for affirming that, the purpose of life is to sing!



The lyrics are very interesting. You can download the songs and read the lyrics on her bandcamp site:

http://raveenadawnaurora.bandcamp.com/

And like her on facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/raveenaauroramusic

iJourney.org
iJourney.org started when couple of folks got together to sit in silence, on Wednesdays in the Silicon Valley. Today, it offers a weekly mailing of inspired readings to 66,448 people. Nice sections to read for inspiration.

Wednesday Meditation

In India, when we meet and greet and we say "Namaste", which means: I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides, I honor the place in you of love, of light, of truth, of peace. I honor the place within you where if you are in that place in you and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us. --Ram Dass

Thirteen years ago, three people decided to sit in silence for an hour, in an everyday Silicon Valley living room. No teachers or gurus. No set agendas or proposed beliefs either. Just one strong principle -- when you change within, the world changes. And instead of closing the door, they left it open ... open to all. The rest, as they say, is history.

Simply put, Wednesday evenings are about sharing. A typical evening flows like this ...

7:00PM An hour of collective silence; its unguided, without any music. For first-timers, this primer on meditation may be helpful.
8:00PM Short reading of the weekly iJourney reading, followed by a circle of sharing of "aha" moments from everyday life.
9:00PM A vegetarian meal, offered in silence. Those who can stay afterwards, help ship some Smile Cards.

To join, RSVP in the right column and you'll be emailed the details.

There is no charge and no one is expected to bring anything. We trust that people will "pay-forward" to the world in their own ways. In fact, over the years, people in couple dozen locations around the world have inspired to host these "Wednesdays". Check out our location page, to join one in your neighborhood or to start your own!

Thousands of folks have attended the gatherings; some offered much, some received much, and all were present with the same heart. It is hard to say how exactly this spontaneous convergence of goodness happens each week, but as hosts, we feel fortunate to have such an opportunity to be of service, and to be home for such sincere and powerful inspiration. Thank you.

HelpOthers.org -- kindness is contagious. This portal is dedicated to small acts of kindness. Check out the Smile Cards section!

About Us
How did the SmileCard project start?
One college student was talking to another slightly older twenty-something guy about pranks that students do for rival football teams. The older guy says, "Isn't it interesting that students are motivated to do such incredible acts without getting any credit?" Such acts are fun, collective, creative, and incredibly challenging. But typically, they're not all that constructive nor do they leave anyone with a lasting "wow" feeling either. So the question followed -- why not do the same with kind acts? More friends joined in the conversation. Right then, we thought up a game of doing anonymous acts of kindness and leaving behind a "smile card" to keep the ripple going. Over the next three months, we tested out the concept. And then, we setup this anonymous website and got started.

What resources did you start with?
Not too many. One of our friends designed the card, another wrote up the content on the card, and another gathered 15 bucks to go to a local Kinkos. The guy at Kinko's, well, he found out about this and did it for free. That was September 2003 and our first box of 100 cards. We never anticipated that this concept would extend all over the world!

Is there a business plan behind any of this?
Nope. Everything here is (and always will be) a labor of love. We run this commerical-free portal with dedicated volunteers, we send weekly kindness newsletters without any agendas, we ship smile cards all over the world for free, we allow people to download, print and republish everything without any restrictions. Some people order free cards to do kind acts, some share creative ideas of compassion, some contribute stories of inspiration, some sponosor cards for others, and kindness keeps spreading.

What is the future of the project?
We just launched a new site -- our third revamp of the year -- to keep up with the increasing demand. More recently, we launched Smile Groups based on the requests we heard from smile-carders around the globe. Quite honestly, we don't really know the future; our attempt is keep doing "small acts with great love" in the present.

Is this a religious effort?
Not really. All the anonymous folks behind the scenes have their own reasons for practicing compassion; for some it might be their religious beliefs, for some it might be their spiritual cultivation, for some it might just be common sense.

How can I help?
Do something kind in your community. Join Smile Groups and make it a weekly habit. Comment on the many stories to encourage the carriers of kindness. Visit some of the sites listed on our friends page. For a complete list of way that you can get involved with the site, please check out our 'How You Can Get Involved' page.

Kindness is contagious! Keep it going.

I was surfing this morning and found that Sikhnet was broadcasting a live video of the Baisakhi program at LA. I remember having attended this program several years ago. It is fantastic to be able to see this event from miles away, and also to imagine that, in the future, we will have multiple live video streams to watch. Also, pretty nice to see chatters converse while the kirtan is going on. If you get this blogpost in time (if you are subscribed), you can visit this site and see the programs live now:
http://www.justin.tv/sikhnet

And I found another one; this is our Gurudwara in Espanola, New Mexico. If you tune in now you can hear kirtan done using tanti saaz.
http://www.mogulus.com/hgrd

Waheguru!!! Wonderful!
Time of Post: 11 AM, April 12 (Pacific Standard Time).