Nirinjan Chattr Chakkr Vartee-short

In February 1988, Nirinjan Kaur was born in Vancouver, B.C. to a family of practicing Kundalini Yogi, Sikhs. Her mother, Guru Raj Kaur Khalsa, is also a Kirtan artist, and had sung for years before Nirinjan's birth. One song in particular, "Narayan", was recorded by Guru Raj Kaur while she was pregnant with Nirinjan, and it ended up being used extensively by Yogi Bhajan in his classes and even White Tantiric yoga courses at the time. As Nirinjan grew up, she remembers accompanying her mother to different events, kirtans, or classes, where her mother would teach and sing. Her father, Hari Singh Khalsa, is a music producer, and helped Guru Raj Kaur with much of her music production. Both parents were constantly teaching Kundalini Yoga, or in her father's case, working with music production, on a daily basis. She also has one older sister, Ong Kar Kaur Khalsa, who was a teenager when Nirinjan was born.When she was young, Nirinjan remembers being very physically active, loving to run around in nature, climb, play imaginative games with friends, feeling joyous and connected in life. Even in simple things like driving to school in the morning with her father, she loved to put her favorite music on and turn the volume way up so that she could roll down the window and sing with it at the top of her lungs! At that time, the music was less of a skill to be learned for her, but more of a beloved way of being moved by the spirit, a way of experiencing life more deeply. It was often also a sweet comfort, listening to mantras and feeling cozy and held. Her parents did however push her to learn piano at age 7 for a few years so that she could get a solid knowledge base in western music (for whatever life may hold in the future).Nirinjan attended a Montessori school (which she greatly enjoyed) until the age of 12, when she moved into the public school system. Teenage years and public schools being what they are, Nirinjan started to feel a need to find her center, and feel a sacred connection within. When she was 13, she decided to take Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training. This was a powerfully transformational time for her, and she feels that it was the true beginning of her journey on the path of Kundalini Yoga. Yoga can be a powerful way to transform and heighten awareness in many ways. She wanted then to express her love of this experience, to some how share it with others. That is when she started to sing. She began singing many Kundalini mantras, singing the live morning sadhana chants, and leading music in meditations and gatherings within her community in Vancouver.As she continued to sing and practice yoga, she began to realize that she felt drawn to represent herself as a Sikh, and to dive deeper into the realm of sacred chanting, into singing the poems, called "Shabads" of the sacred Sikh scripture, the Siri Guru Granth Sahib.