In a world full of mind-numbing news, the terroristic murder last week of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville stands out as turning-point. In Charlottesville, there were so many beautiful people there on the front-line, willing to confront hate and violence. Never in my wildest dreams did I think we’d be defending our cities from the hate of Nazi groups in 2017.

Most of you are too young to remember, but we went through a dark period like this in the 60’s and 70’s at the height of the madness of segregation and the Vietnam war. We had martyrs like John and Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King. People also died at Kent State and in Mobile, Alabama. These were the martyrs of the Aquarian Age – forcing the society to change. Yogi Bhajan often talked about the thousands of hippies who lost their lives to drugs and life on the road, and he called those young people martyrs of the AAquarian Age as well. It was their revolt against the status quo that created the tipping-point for the counterculture revolution of the 60’s.

Livtar Singh Khalsa wrote a beautiful song, The Khalsa Way, that talks about the Sikh martyrs who lost their lives for religious freedom in medieval India. It ends with a verse about the struggle of the Aquarian Age:

The year was 1969, only a few survived. But we stood together in the heart of this land, against all their power and lies. They wished that we had never been. They clubbed us in the streets. But our hearts were strong, the war was wrong. Our victory was peace. They waited for us all the disappear. They waited for our spirits to die. But they’ll still be waiting when the sun burns out. For the heroes and warriors, the saints and martyrs will never die.

I think that Heather Heyer was the latest martyr of our time, as we push into the chaos of the Aquarian Age. When will enough holy places be bombed and enough innocent ones be killed so that our society finally reaches a tipping-point and the fabric changes once again? For all these, and all the martyrs to come, I offer my humble prayer.

Listen to and read the complete lyrics of the song “The Khalsa Way” here