With God's kindness, last week I spent a day at an all white school in
Thetford, Norfolk. It was the town where the Last Maharaja and the first
UK Sikh lived. Maharaja Duleep Singh resided here when Queen Victoria
brought him over to England. The children where aged 10 and had never
seen a Sikh before, except from a distance in Macdonalds so they thought
the turban was weird! I started off singing mool mantr followed by
Waheguru Waheguru followed by Waheguru ji ka khalsa waheguru ji kee fateh!
I had closed eyes and hands together at my heart. I asked them to think
of God while I sung a verse in praise of God. I didn't explain to them what it meant, I just wanted them to feel the power of God's Word.
The boys started laughing as soon as I started, but I kept concentrating
and finished off. Thinking this is going to be a difficult class, they
asked me what it meant and to sing it again. I said if I sing it again you're just going to laugh again! They said they wouldn't but I knew they would, so I said I'm going to sing again and if you want to laugh just laugh , get it out of your system.
When I was a kid being laughed at for having a joora (topknot) was the worst thing in the world. But now I thought it is better they laugh at me
than laugh at some other Sikh kid who may be devasted. So I sang again
with my eyes closed and this time the girls started laughing as well. I
then asked them if any one felt different and a few of them put their hands up. Mainly people felt different when they wanted to join in with a group but were rejected. I told them that's how I felt when I was the only Sikh kid in my school and children used to grab my joora or call me names. But now I was quite happy to be different because our tenth master Guru Gobind Singh Ji said he would make his Sikh stand out in a crowd.
We played a little game where I got them to guess how long my turban was
and how long my hair was. Then I unravelled the tuban and let my hair
down, then tied it up again. That was really interesting for them. We
talked about the 5Ks all being part of a sikh identity, so we would stand out and be different. Then in the break they all wanted to wear the 5Ks especially the turban, so I must have tied about 50 small turbans and the kids loved it - loved wearing a crown and feeling like a king/queen. One of the kids said to me he wanted to be a Sikh!!
After the break I told the story of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji , about human rights and about standing up for what you believe. I said no-one came forward to get the Guru's head and body so the tenth master said he would
make Sikhs different so they could never hide. That is what my mum told
me when I was a kid and really reluctant to go to school or to keep my hair.
At the end they wanted me to sing the song again, but I said you'll just laugh again. They said they wouldn't so I closed my eyes and put my pressed hand over my heart and started singing. The boys started giggling, instead of getting angry I thought of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji and thought how much love he had pouring out of his heart throughout the torure of his Sikhs and his own beheading. And I imagined the SatGuru's love going from my heart directly into the hearts of the chldren. Throw flowers in return for stones. To my amazement the giggling stopped and the boys started singing WAHEGURU WAHEGURU, I was astonished and then I heard the girls join in and the whole class was singing WAHEGURU WAHEGURU. So this time I started laughing and opened my eyes at the small miracle!! Even when the class finished they carried on singing to themselves.
Wonderful Immortal Timeless Being, The Embodiement of God the Eternal
Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji who made a fool like me do some seva.
Have faith in God, in the True Name and the True Guru
Undergroundsikhi got a reaction from GurjantGnostic in Small Miracles
