Mother of Khalsa----The Fifth Role of a Woman

[Balait_da_Sher]

I start a new phase of my life when I become a mother; I pray to Waheguru to give me courage to walk in the steps of Mata Sundri Ji and become a proud mother of Khalsa. Every mother on Earth wants to give their child the best upbringing possible but what is a good upbringing? Is it a good upbringing to give your child everything they ever wished for before they can wish for it? We have become so materialistic that we buy our child’s happiness with toys and the latest clothes. A child raised on materialistic love while not make you a proud mother of Khalsa or bring honor to the Khalsa Panth. To raise a successful child that walks with pride on the path of Sikhi, we have to become like Mata Sundri Ji. Mata Sundri teaches us that to raise our children right we have to uplift them with our brave history, educate them and then let them fly.

Mata Sundri Ji sacrificed her four sons (Sahibzada Ajit Singh Ji, Sahibzada Jujhar Singh Ji, Sahibzada Zorawar Singh Ji and Sahibzada Fateh Singh Ji) for the Khalsa Panth to maintain our brave history. Mata Ji raised her children on a steady diet of stories from the Sikh History of the children’s Grandfather Guru Tegh Bahudar Ji. Along with the history of their Grandfather, Mata Ji taught them about the other 8 Gurus before him and their teaching and their sacrifices. She made sure her Children knew their heritage early on and prepared them to do the same sacrifices when it was the right time. As mothers today it is a distant thought to prepare our children for the ultimate sacrifice if the time ever comes, we don’t even teach them our history. History is the foundation of a strong person without history our whole existence is brought into question. The best time to teach our children history is before they begin their formal education.

Mata Sundri Ji taught the Sahibzada their history and then she helped them get the tools to live up to their history. Sahibzada Ajit Singh Ji was taught the religious texts, philosophy and history, and had training in the martial arts such as riding, swordsmanship, gatka and archery. While Baba Ajit Singh Ji had successfully mastered the activities listed, the remaining three Sahibzada Jis were still in receiving their education when they sacrificed their lives for Sikhi and all Sikhs. It was their passion for Sikhi that gave them the encouragement to be great scholars and sportsman so they would be prepared to face all challenges. If you children today knew more about the Sahibzada’s at a young age, wouldn’t they work harder to know everything they did? What mother doesn’t want a child that has become a great scholar and sportsman by the age of 18? If we want our children to grow up with the brains and bronze like those of the Sahibzada’s we need to raise them on Sikh history and get them proper education to compliment Sikh history.

Mata Sundri Ji knew that once you raise a child to be a proper Khalsa, you need to let them prove it. Mata Ji did not hold back her Sahibzada’s from ever doing anything for the Panth. She did the exact opposite; she encouraged them and taught them to do whatever was necessary for the Khalsa Panth. In the case of Mata Sundri Ji it meant she would have to live to hear about her two eldest sons dying during battle and her two youngest being bricked alive in a wall. That was Mata Ji’s faith in Sikh and her children. What is our faith today? We don’t have enough faith in Sikhi to follow it; we don’t have faith in our children to do the right thing. The life of the faithless we live, yet we ask for our children to be faithful to us, for god to always be by our side. Let us put our faith in Waheguru and our children and walk on the right path.

It’s is only when we raise our children on the rich Sikh history, proper education and freedom will Khalsa Panth flourish. We need to stop fearing that our child is not responsible enough to take Amrit or ready to live up to the Khalsa name. Teach them and trust them to do the right thing. It is wrong to force a child to take Amrit; it is a crime to stop them from taking Amrit. A good Sikh mother needs to help her child prepare for Amrit and then let Waheguru take over. If the moms today take Amrit and become mothers like Mata Sundri Ji, no one can even look at the Khalsa Panth with negativity.