waheguru ji ka khalsa waheguru ji ki fateh.
I hope my story will be inspirational to the sangat.
My family is fairly religious, but my parents have not taken amrit. My grandparents have but none of my cousins or aunts/ uncles have, so i was not introduced to the saadh sangat very early and i was not born in a gursikh family.
Those who are, God Bless YOU!
Anyways, my dad was a drinker, and still is. My mom is very religious, but did not take amrit (yet i hope) and my brother , unfortunatly is in a wheelchair, but he believes in Waheguru alot.
What really inspires me the most is to see sooo much faith my brother has in Waheguru that one day he will start to walk, and everyday i pray to Waheguru to help my brother to start walking very soon.
But that isn't quite all the inspiration in my life. I have many moments that i have realised waheguru.
I didn't find waheguru, Waheguru found me and everything that happened in my life always led to waheguru.
Before i was 11 years old, i would go to the gurudawara when there was a wedding, akhand paht, etc.
My nani ji took my brother and i to the gurudawara most of the time. But i didnt understand kirtan or katha, so i would run around with other kids at the gurudawara... i didnt know how to respect waheguru or to be more serious in asking my nani ji what the kirtan was about or what waheguru was saying.
During ardaas i remember i would just stand and look around at others, not knowing what the Singh was saying in the microphone.
I started doing my eyebrows at the age of 10 after whining and begging my mom because i thought i was hairy and everyone made fun of me. this was a bad decision on my part when i look back at it.
When i was 11 years old, i started going to a class every fridays called the Gurmat Training Institution with my mom. Harmeet Singh uncle (the teacher) would address issues and problems many teenagers and families face on an everyday basis, as well as understanding sikhi and keeping the rahit. my brother and my dad were unable to go due to my brother's disability.
I stopped eating meating at the age of 12, a year later after watching a slide show a singh made aboiut eating meat. Guru ji's kirpa, my mother and my brother also stopped eating meat. My dad however still eats meat, but with guru ji's kirpa, he will help my dad aswell.
My dad isn't "bad", he is religious and believes in waheguru, but its the drinking alcohol and eating meat makes him that seperates him from being EVEN more closer to waheguru.
So as years went by, i kept attending the friday classes, and they helped me start doing jap ji saahib everyday.
Eventually at 15, at the friday class, a Singh came to the class and told the sangat that those who want to learn how to read gurbani (jurmai akar) form the pothi saahib can attend it on fridays from 6-8:30.
I did not know how to read punjabi , i read jap ji saahib in english and i didnt want to miss the Gurmat Class, But my mom told me to come and focus and listen as we read from the pothi saahib. The singh (teacher) knew i didnt know how to read punjabi, but he kept motivating me to keep reading and follow each letter as he read and i said it right after him.
WITH GURU JI'S BLESSING i learned how to read punjabi just by attending these classes of reading from the pothi saahib.
My mom kept me focused and made me read punjabi at home.
I know it sounds like a miracle and it happened so fast, but it took some time, but it was guru ji's blessings that helped me. If i didnt know how to read punjabi, i dont even know how i would have been able to read from the pothi saahib or EVEN read gurbani in general.
Let me go on with my story, I started to slowly understand gurbani and i am learning something new everyday.
I slowly increased the paht i read in the morning everyday and i now read the entire nitnem in the morning. I started waking up amrit vela.
How did i start doing this?
Well, Waheguru ji's kirpa, i went to a white high school, so there werent many indian girls who u know "show off, think they are all that, make other girls feel lower or less than them". I am not ssaying every girl is like that. Im sorry to offend anyone, but i was like that in elementary school. But in high school i didnt have any distraction . yeh, there were some indians, but i really didn't care. Doing paht and listening to kirtan was personal to me. I didnt share about this to my friends because i didnt want their "opinions" to influence me.
I started listening to kirtan because i felt sooo much pyaar and happiness. i never felt this way if i listen to western hip hop/ rap music. Ever since i was little, that western music wan't my think, i pretended to like it because my friends did, but i was never happy when i listened to it.
When i listen to kirtan, i begin to tear up because there is so much power and love in every kirtan and shabad i listen to.
i started going to smagaghams, simran, rainsbhyee kirtans and my pyeare for guru ji just got stronger and stronger, and still is getting stronger
Now, i am starting university. i am on the path of taking amrit really soon. But my mom believes i should do a year in university and then take amrit because she doesnt want me to take amrit and then stop because i cant handle it. She wants me to balance. she wants me to keep the sikh rahit. I respect that, but what if i die tomorrow. i didnt take amrit, therefore i wont be able to be with waheguru.
I really want to take amrit!!!!
an even more inspiration for me to take amrit is to clean my slate. i have made alot of mistakes in my life, i also wasted 18 years of my life without taking amrit.
I also think, waheguru has blessed me in sikhism, and blessed me to atleast think of taking amrit, i hope one day this will come true.
my birthday is coming up and i want to take amrit on my birthday. I have a sukhmani saahib paht at the gurudawara for my birthday and I AM SOO TEMPTED TO take amrit then because it is the PERFECT TIMING!!!!
but i leave it in God's hands to help me take amrit.
i am waiting for that day. I want to take amrit.
Bhul chuck maaf.
Im sorry its long and i hope i sent my message across to u all.
waheguru ji ka khalsa, waheguru ji ki fateh.
