Oct 26, 2018: In the twelfth part of the Maa De Farz series, Bhai Guriqbal Singh Ji continues expanding on the fourth duty of a mother: how to care for the newest addition to the family!
Just to recap, Bhai Guriqbal Singh Ji states that there are four things that make up the majority of caring for a new baby:
Putting a baby to sleep
Feeding baby
Bathing baby
Playing with baby
In the previous katha, Bhai Jee went over ways to bring in Naam into putting a baby to sleep and into playing with our babies. In this twelfth part, Bhai Ji shares some thoughts about how to infuse Naam into when we feed our babies and when we bathe our babies!
Feeding Baby
Many Mahapurkhs and really high-avasta Gurmukh Piyaare have revealed that the energy from the vibration from our thoughts transmits swiftly and potently. Bhai Guriqbal Singh Jee gives the example of sending a child off to school to illustrate his point: Let’s say we’re sending our child off to school. If we’re thinking the following thoughts, “Not sure if he’s going to pass this grade. He doesn’t work hard at all – he barely studies. This kid is useless!” then it almost turns into a type of self-fulfilling prophecy because you’re transmitting that energy to your child. It’s almost like the opposite of a blessing. Therefore, let’s try to always be mindful about our thoughts and the energy that we’re sending out to our kids, because they turn into the blessings that we give to our children.
Don’t believe it? Ever wonder how Amrit and langar are made (and why they’re absolutely delicious?!)? It works EXACTLY on the same principle of transmitting energy. In fact, there’s wrote a whole (short) post on it – check it out!
Now, back to it! Bhai Jee recommends that if we’re preparing the milk for our child to drink or anything we plan to feed our child, then we should strive be mindful of our thoughts and keep them connected with the Ultimate Source of Tranquility and Peace. Let’s attempt to get into the habit of doing Simran and perhaps even think of some of the virtues that Guru Ji has that you would like your child to embody. Then, we can consciously list those virtues while making our child’s drink, and it will turn into a type of blessing for our children. For example, Bhai Ji gives the example, “Guru Gobind Singh Ji, you are:
The ocean of tranquility and peace
The ocean of Naam
The embodiment of compassion
The form of ultimate blessings
The knower of true intellect and wisdom, etc. etc.…”
“Oh Guru Gobind Singh Ji, you even disguised yourself and went around during Amrit Vela to see which of your Sikhs were up and doing Nitnem. You then later singled out those Sikhs in Sangat and told everyone they are your Pure Sikhs (Nirmalay Sikhs). Please make my child a Nirmalay Sikh too!” Then, when we will not just be giving our baby milk, but a type of Amrit and connecting the action of our eating (or baby’s eating) with Naam:
Also,
Bhai Ji points out that there are roughly three places that food is prepared:
1. Outside (i.e. restaurant, street-food, etc.)
2. Gurdwara
3. Home
With food cooked at restaurants or other establishments that make food for profit, there’s not (usually) Naam in the food. In other words, the person making typically it isn’t making it while reciting Gurbani or with feelings of love. Instead, the person making it is cooking for profit – for money. On the otherhand, food made at the Gurdwara IS made with Simran and is considered Langar. Bhai Ji advises that we should try to only eat a limited amount, understanding that it is a type of parshaad (i.e. not load up on them pakoray or kheer!). Finally, Bhai Jee states a hard-hitting truth: If there’s no difference between food prepared outside the home and food prepared inside the home, then what kind of care givers are we?! In his exact words, “What kind of mothers are we?” Bhai Jee recommends that we should aim to always have kirtan or simran playing in the kitchen. If so, then no matter what is made in the kitchen and by whom, the food will always be influenced by the positive energy radiating from Gurbani. Knowing that the energy we hold while preparing food affects whatever we prepare, it also follows that we should avoid making food when we’re angry or frustrated.
When we’re feeding or nursing our baby, Bhai Guriqbal Singh Ji recommends that every two minutes, we pause feeding or nursing for 10 seconds to remember Guru Ji’s charan and do a little ardaas that, “Hey Guru Ji! In this baby’s drinking of milk and of my giving milk, please let there be Naam!” This not only applies to feeding baby, but also to feeding ourselves! The idea is that if we’ve forgotten Guru Ji or Naam while eating, we’ll be reminded again. The goal being that hopefully, we’ll eventually get to the point where we’ll remember Guru Ji with every bite, and then soon, with every breath.
Bathing
When bathing our babies, we can also imbue this care action with Naam! Bhai Guriqbal Singh Jee shared that when we’re filling up the mugs of water to pour over our babies for bath time, we should try to focus our attention on the Sarovar of Amritsar. In addition to focusing our Dhiaan on Harmandar Sahib’s Sarovar, we should sing or recite the following shabad:
And since that likely won’t take up all of bath time, we can try to also sing or recite this beautiful Shabad too!:
With singing these Shabads when bathing our little bubbas, we end up showering them with Naam.
In sum…
When caring for the most basic needs of our babies, even then we can strive to bring Naam into these actions. By doing so, we’ll be reinforcing how Simran and Naam-Baani is the most important aspect of life and indeed, helping our little one to, from day one, remember their purpose of our life. All of these accumulated experiences not only benefit our babies, but they also benefit us as mothers and caregivers too! How? Because they also give us an opportunity to integrate the Remembrance of Waheguru and Guru into our everyday tasks. This will hopefully help infuse more of our actions (not just baby-related actions) with Remembrance and Naam. So even in caring for our little ones and helping them remember their purpose, we are also taking steps to fulfill our purpose in life.
Most importantly, we’ll be leading by example. Instead of telling our children that they should remember Guru and Vaheguroo, we’ll model this for them. In turn, their earliest memories will be of how their mothers SHOWED them how to remember Vaheguru and they’ll intuitively bring Simran into everyday tasks. Why? Because it’s how they learned to eat and to bathe – hand in hand with Naam-Simran.
Resources
Bhai Guriqbal Singh Ji’s Maa De Farz Katha from June 29, 2017
(Maa De Farz Katha starts at 44 minutes)
