Jump to content

Missing American Sikh Hari Simran Singh Khalsa Found Dead


SinghStation
 Share

Recommended Posts

Jan 2, 2014. A frantic 4-day search for Hari Simran Singh Khalsa in the mountains around Tepoztlán, Mexico ended Friday when rescue teams found his lifeless body.


The young man appeared to have fallen from a height while hiking, sustaining an injury to the head that killed him instantly.


Khalsa, along with his wife Emily Ad Purkh Smith, were on vacation at the Villa Maria Inmaculada retreat center in Tepoztlán to take part in a spiritual retreat. On the afternoon of December 30, 2014, Khalsa took a short hike in the mountains near the center.



2461E56100000578-2894667-image-m-6_14202

Partners: Smiran and his wife, Emily Smith




2461E46800000578-2894667-image-a-7_14202


Khalsa sent a text message to his wife at 12:30 pm on Tuesday with a photo and a message, “Looking down on you!” The next message Mrs. Smith received was at 2:20 pm, and said, “I accidentally summited another mountain. Looks like I’ll be a little later coming back :). Save me some lunch if you can.”


Those were his last communications with his wife.


Two memorial vigils will be held this evening. One at the Raj Yoga Center in Sterling, Virginia. The Virginia vigil will begin at 7 pm EST and include chanting and prayers for Khalsa and his family.http://rajyoga.org.


A second memorial will take place in Espanola, New Mexico, USA – and this will be livestreamed through 3HO.org. The livestream will begin at 5:30 pm MST.http://new.livestream.com/HealthyHappyHoly/HariSimran


In the meantime, family and community members remain in Mexico making arrangements for his remains to be returned to the United States.


Final journey: Rescue workers carry the body of Hari Simran Singh Khalsa


Khalsa was a beloved member of the Sikh American community. He served as an active Kundalini yoga teacher and with his wife ran the Raj Yoga center in Sterling, Virginia. In addition, Khalsa was a community organizer with the Sikh Coalition, and an executive assistant for Sikh Dharma International. He was known for his light, clarity, compassion, kindness, and willingness to serve.


FindHariSimran.com issued the following statement upon learning of his passing.


It is with heavy hearts that we announce that Hari Simran Singh has been found. He appears to have fallen while hiking and sustained a fatal injury to the head. We believe he passed instantly and did not suffer. His family and friends are making the proper arrangements in Mexico. There will be a memorial vigil tonight in Virginia. Please send your love to his family, friends and our entire community and pray with his family tonight. Thank you to everyone – the local and national governments of Mexico, the United States Embassy, the Red Cross, all the volunteers, the media, and all of you for helping us #findharisimran. This journey has been a testament to the enormous amount of love and goodness he shared with us all during his time on earth. His last picture said ‘Looking down on you.’ We know he is an angel in the heavens now looking down on all of us.


We love you, Hari Simran.


Hari Simran Singh Khalsa is survived by his wife, Emily AdPurkh Smith, Sterling, Virginia and his parents, Sat Jagat Singh and Guru Surya Kaur Khalsa Brooklyn, New York.


Taken from source: http://singhstation.net/2015/01/missing-american-sikh-hari-simran-singh-khalsa-found-dead/


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Jacfsing2

Jan 2, 2014. A frantic 4-day search for Hari Simran Singh Khalsa in the mountains around Tepoztlán, Mexico ended Friday when rescue teams found his lifeless body.

The young man appeared to have fallen from a height while hiking, sustaining an injury to the head that killed him instantly.

Khalsa, along with his wife Emily Ad Purkh Smith, were on vacation at the Villa Maria Inmaculada retreat center in Tepoztlán to take part in a spiritual retreat. On the afternoon of December 30, 2014, Khalsa took a short hike in the mountains near the center.

2461E56100000578-2894667-image-m-6_14202

Partners: Smiran and his wife, Emily Smith

2461E46800000578-2894667-image-a-7_14202

Khalsa sent a text message to his wife at 12:30 pm on Tuesday with a photo and a message, Looking down on you! The next message Mrs. Smith received was at 2:20 pm, and said, I accidentally summited another mountain. Looks like Ill be a little later coming back :). Save me some lunch if you can.

Those were his last communications with his wife.

Two memorial vigils will be held this evening. One at the Raj Yoga Center in Sterling, Virginia. The Virginia vigil will begin at 7 pm EST and include chanting and prayers for Khalsa and his family.http://rajyoga.org.

A second memorial will take place in Espanola, New Mexico, USA and this will be livestreamed through 3HO.org. The livestream will begin at 5:30 pm MST.http://new.livestream.com/HealthyHappyHoly/HariSimran

In the meantime, family and community members remain in Mexico making arrangements for his remains to be returned to the United States.

Final journey: Rescue workers carry the body of Hari Simran Singh Khalsa

Khalsa was a beloved member of the Sikh American community. He served as an active Kundalini yoga teacher and with his wife ran the Raj Yoga center in Sterling, Virginia. In addition, Khalsa was a community organizer with the Sikh Coalition, and an executive assistant for Sikh Dharma International. He was known for his light, clarity, compassion, kindness, and willingness to serve.

FindHariSimran.com issued the following statement upon learning of his passing.

It is with heavy hearts that we announce that Hari Simran Singh has been found. He appears to have fallen while hiking and sustained a fatal injury to the head. We believe he passed instantly and did not suffer. His family and friends are making the proper arrangements in Mexico. There will be a memorial vigil tonight in Virginia. Please send your love to his family, friends and our entire community and pray with his family tonight. Thank you to everyone the local and national governments of Mexico, the United States Embassy, the Red Cross, all the volunteers, the media, and all of you for helping us #findharisimran. This journey has been a testament to the enormous amount of love and goodness he shared with us all during his time on earth. His last picture said Looking down on you. We know he is an angel in the heavens now looking down on all of us.

We love you, Hari Simran.

Hari Simran Singh Khalsa is survived by his wife, Emily AdPurkh Smith, Sterling, Virginia and his parents, Sat Jagat Singh and Guru Surya Kaur Khalsa Brooklyn, New York.

Taken from source: http://singhstation.net/2015/01/missing-american-sikh-hari-simran-singh-khalsa-found-dead/

it is important to note that he was a big volunteer for the Sikh Coalition, (I know you mentioned that), I hope Waheguru blesses his soul, wherever it is right now.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • advertisement_alt
  • advertisement_alt
  • advertisement_alt


  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Actually, you are right about the weirdness. The darbar hall is massive, and even their spare darbar hall is quite big as well, could easily be another separate gurdwara on its own if you know what I mean?! On weekdays, I used to work near the gurdwara in Bath Road, and I visited a few times, and they were doing the Wa-eh-guru simran. Now I think about it it, this way of doing simran is really mechanical and doesn't sound like pyaar prema bhagti. Even when this type of simran is being done, I always say Waheguru in a normal way. One of their babas visited the Singh Sabha Slough gurdwara on a Sunday morning programme, to do prachar and meditation, and I think people were freaked out or something by the baba, and some were saying things about him! I was purposefully saying Waheguru normally to get out of the vibe. I will always say Waheguru like a normal sikh, and not this mental gymnastics being forced upon us by cults sects and babas, it was so weird when Dhadri started doing this type of simran!   Anyway that Guru maneyo granth PKMC gurdwara, I always get a weird vibe there, and from the sewadaars and sangat as well! Like the way some of the sewadaars talk is culty, and even if they smile. Actually some of the Singhs on Gurmat Bibek Youtube have a similar eeriness (see their channel link on the top of this forum "Sikh Videos - Intermediate", more like "Sikh Videos - culty", sorry not sorry to the admins, but that is the truth sach satt!) and the bibi on there is really high on the eeriness scale! the GMG gurdwara do some good sikhi programmes though, so that's why I used to go there before I moved out of London, but I never want go to an Ajit Singh simran programme again, I am half ok with a simran session from other sewadaars. Also, one time I went to their Sodar Rehraas paat and I was really surprised they read sampooran Rehras with full kabyo baach benti, I think it may even have been longer than taksal, like Hajoor Sahib or Budha Dal length which is really rare outside Nihang Singhs! I have been to the Singh Sabha gurdwaras in Slough and Southall last year, and even in 2022 they still did not do full kabyo baach benti, that's how poor chaupai sahib Rehras is read in those gurdwaras. Regardless, I always feel a good vibe when I go Singh Sabha Slough or Park Avenue. I do feel a weird vibe when I go Havelock/Guru Nanak Road Singh Sabha, maybe it's the big building or maybe something else? For some reason, I also feel a bit of a weird vibe from Ramgharia Gurdwara Slough, and this is a gurdwara I have been going to since I was a child, and I have also been going to Singh Sabha Slough as a child. I may have even felt a weird vibe when I went to the old Havelock Singh Sabha as a small child before it was knocked down. I dunno, maybe it's sangat at those gurdwaras as well, and as a child you can probably feel the vibes of sangat even more greatly! I studied at Guru Nanak School, and I get weird vibes there even when I go now as an adult to attend anand Karajs! I have been Nanaksar Southall probably only a couple of times in my life as an adult, and I felt positive vibes there, even though I don't think they have a langar kitchen (langar was brought from home by sangat the last time I went, I ate some South Indian dish as well)
    • I think that the couple of times I went there it was a Sunday. You are correct about the avastha! When you have listened/read Bani and done naam simran for a long time you become more highly attuned to the vibrations or the avastha of a place or even the people you are around. When you step foot inside a gurdwara you automatically feel that the environment is at a far higher level. It is quite hard to describe in words, but I typically feel more at ease but in this particular gurdwara during this programme in the darbar hall it felt uneasy. Something did not feel right.            
    • I remember those old days. I think what happened is that in the face of a tidal wave of historical accounts of things like jhatka and the use of sukha, including from internal Sikh sources, the old conservative stances simply couldn't be maintained anymore?       The emergence of khojis who would study and sometimes even translate puratan texts instead of blindly following what was told by conservative, uninformed elders actually helped make our community a bit more open minded. I think a more grown up, contextualised understanding of CP in Dasam Granth also played a part.  We could maybe see it as the slow fragmentation of hegemony of the colonial era Singh Sabha type thinking?  
    • I remember when mentioning Jhatka would get you warnings.
    • If you're unsatisfied by the marriage you probably should get divorced, nothing is worth losing your mental health over.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use