Ramala for the Guru by the Children
The children of the Sangat have been working on a gift for the Guru all month. First they learned the story of the orphan Jetha (Guru Ram Das’ name as a child – which means "first born") and how he sold wheat berries in the streets of Goindwal to provide for his grandmother and himself. They then took packages of wheat berries around to the offices here and sold them for $1 each, explaining their project to everyone to make a ramalla for the Guru. With the money collected, beautiful cloth was purchased for a Ramala designed by the children. Each child decorated a square using special fabric paints, and these were put together by (auntie) Guru Nam Kaur (SikhNet wale). This creative Ramala, blessed with the innocence of our children, was presented to the Guru this past Sunday in celebration of the Guru Gaddee Day of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib.
This was a great way for the kids to learn and be involved. Rather than just hearing a story, they had a chance to experience it in some form and be involved. Guru Simran Kaur has done wonderfull seva with the kids and continues to organize activities like this for the kids to learn and deepen their experience with the Guru.
A while back they did a treasure hunt for the nine treasures (From Ardas: "Guru Teg Bahadur Simmeriye, Ghar NAu Nidh ave Tiyahe", Meditate on Guru Teg Bahadur and the nine treasures shall come to you). In order for them to know the hint for the next location of the treasure they hear some sikhi related clue. They had quite a bit of fun and learnt a lot!
Who said learning about Sikhi can’t be fun!! One just has to take the time to think about things to do…and be creative!
11 Responses to “Ramala for the Guru by the Children”
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what an excellent way to express devotion toward the guru. as gurbani says guru is only hungry for 2 things: bhau and bhagti.
we can see the example as on the currency on the american dollar which says: “in GOD we trust”. and that is why they are a superpower nation.
and you can see the example of other countries where communism is prevalent and why type of condition they reside in.
It is nice to see children participating in religious activities at such a young age. However I have a question on your community and your lifestyles in general.
Reading some of the entries on this blog, it seems to be that the life you experience is very insular. It seems like all your friends are Sikhs, all your children’s playmates are Sikhs, all social gatherings you attend are either hosted by or attended by Sikhs. And it seems that many of the Sikh community is living in a sort of ‘enclave’ of Sikhs. While this may be reassuring to each of you in a personal sense, it may seem kind of ‘cultish’ to an outside observer.
Most beautiful, honest, earnest,sewa done by the children with the sweat on their brows. The Rumala was beautiful. Thanks to the elders who encourage and helped the kids. Please carry on…….
Maryam, There is no doubt that majority of time is spent with other Sikhs, and this is because there is more in common in terms of values and practices. Keep in mind that I don’t feature everything on my blog…so it is not a full picture of our lives. It is just a window into some of the Sikh related aspects that might be of interest to other Sikhs.
We do have quite a few friends who are not Sikhs and we are in no way insular (as it might have appeared on this blog). We definitely interface with the larger community in quite a few ways.
Many others in our community are the same and do a lot of outreach in the community. Whether it is volenteer work, teaching, local government, etc. Sikhs have been in the Espanola valley for over 30 years.
I am able to see and feel the love and joy in the eyes of these children. Its a great idea to make them feel closer with eternal guru. Nothing could be more purer than their love.
“Gobind Bhav Bhagat Ka Bhukha…”
What we adults were not able to achieve in years, these young souls did it in weeks. They got closer to the Guru than anyone. I ve known people who offer people golden chattar (umbrella) and other inexpensive gifts but this Rumalla is the best gift full of love ever presented to the Guru… No doubt children teach us a lot, only if we are willing to learn from them.
WaheGuru….
PS. GMS jee, I dont know if others are facing the same problem that I am coming across. When I click on the link to your blog only the banner (in which there are pictures of Dhan Dhan Sri Guru Nanak Dev Sahib jee Maharaaj and Dhan Dhan Sri Guru Gobind Singh Sahib jee Maharaaj) opens. In the bottom of I E browser it shows “Done”. So for now I am accessing your blog by going to archives and selecting the desired post. All other blogs and site open properly with the IE on my machine.
The following sentence in my above comment has been ammended. There was a small error (highlighted in bold) that I didnot see before posting.
“I ve known people who offer people golden chattar (umbrella) and other inexpensive gifts but this Rumalla is the best gift full of love ever presented to the Guru…”
Amendmed Sentence…
I ve known people who offer Guru golden chattar (umbrella) and other inexpensive gifts but this Rumalla is the best gift full of love ever presented to the Guru…
I am having similar problems addressed by sifar, that whenever its clicked on “read this blog” It only shows pictures on the above nothing else.
This problem has been going for couple of weeks now
I’m not sure why this is happening. I did find that this happens only sometimes…and only with Internet Explorer. If I just did a page reload then it works.
I highly recommend that you all download FireFox which is MUCH better web browser…and doesn’t have these problems..
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
Very nice idea of making a quilt. Its great way of showing love for Sikhi through fun, games and play.
May Waheguru keep the children in Chardikala.
Thank you for posting these pictures Gurumustuk singh Ji! Ditto to the comments by Singh above on serving the Guru. It is the most beautiful gift and shows devotion for the Guru. I wish all the other Gurdwaras would involve children more in Gurdwara to serve the Sangat and Guru Granth Sahib. I think this is one of the reasons why youth in Punjab is running away from Sikhi because they are not actively involved and are not encourage or allowed to take active role in Gurdwaras by the adults, parents, sevadaars, granthis etc. It should not be just Granthis son or daughter or nephew or friend etc. Every child should be not only allowed but to be encouraged to take part in serving the Guru. It is a best way to teach Sikhi to younger generation who seems to be lost sometimes.
Maryam – you would be surprised how active Sikhs are in everyday things of life of non-Sikhs and can still maintain Sikh lifestyle. I see it as a “Sikh World within the World!” and a Sikh always lives in the World and does not need to separate himself or herself from it.