The power of Khalsa Women

[SAadmin]

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa,

Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.

The Power of the Khalsa Woman

Men's stories are public. Women's stories are private. Men commit great feats in a burst of energy that are sung and talked about for hundreds of years. Women slowly and consistently nurture and build their children, their families, their communities, their visions. It is easy to point to a man's accomplishments. It is much more difficult to point to a woman's. Yet, the Gurus understood that men and women both participate equally in the play of Creation- that both are necessary.

In Sikh history, it is easy to identify the public, male stories that show the power of the Khalsa consciousness. Yet, with every male story there is a hidden side – the private world of the Khalsa woman.

The Chali Mukte: The 40 Liberated Ones. Forty of Guru Gobind Singh's men deserted him at Anandpur. They were afraid to die, afraid for their lives, desperate and starving. They were so concerned with their own survival, that they willing wrote and signed a letter denouncing their Guru. When they arrived home, rather than finding wives joyful for their return, happy that they were alive, what did they find? Wives who were appalled that they had deserted Guru Gobind Singh.

The male side of this story is that the men returned to fight for the Guru and died in the battle, liberating their souls in the process. But the hidden story is that the consciousness of their Khalsa wives is what inspired them to do it.

The Khalsa women consciously chose widowhood. They would have rather born the burden of seeing their husbands dead, of being left with the sorrow of being widowed, of raising their children alone, of having to find their economic security in the absence of a husband - they would have rather endured all this than to see their husbands walk away from their destinies and betray their Guru. These women knew - the duty and role of a Khalsa wife is to serve the soul of her husband and deliver him to his destiny and to God and Guru no matter what. Who liberated these men? Themselves? No - it was the grace, security, wisdom and blessing of their wives that allowed them to be liberated. It was the meditative discipline, the trust in the Divine, the attunement with God’s Will through the experience of their own Spirits that allowed these women to look their husbands in the eye and say - you are dead to us, no matter what. Go back and stand with your Guru or leave. Minus the spiritual understanding of the women, the 40 Liberated Ones would have never returned to their Guru and would have gone through lifetimes of karma to repay the mistake. These Khalsa women understood non-attachment, security in the Divine, living in the Will of God, loyalty to the Guru so well that they could fearlessly send their husbands to their death, knowing that it was better for their husbands to die in service of the Guru than to live any other way. And the pain of loosing their husbands was less to them than the pain of seeing their husbands loose their path to God. Publicly- the valor of the men prevailed. Privately- the wisdom of the women prevailed. And it was this joint consciousness, valor and wisdom, male and female, that displayed the true power of the Khalsa.

Mata Gujri ji: Wife of Guru Teg Bahadur, mother of Guru Gobind Singh. Guru Gobind Rai assumed the Guruship at the age of 9. During those early years of his life, his father, Guru Teg Bahadur, traveled and taught. The responsibility for training Gobind Rai was left in the hands of his mother, Mata Gujri Ji. What kind of woman must she have been to be chosen by God to teach and guide Gobind Rai so that he would be capable of assuming the Guruship? He was a human boy, but he had the most divine mother who instructed him in the ways of wisdom so thoroughly that he was ready to take on the responsibility for his destiny when he was nine years old. God works through a woman's touch. Man is what woman creates him to be. Gobind Rai was what he was, but the destiny of his soul was entrusted to Mata Gujri Ji's care it was the touch of his mother through which God could awaken him.

And didn't the Gurus teach us - those who are truly married are one soul in two bodies? If this is Divine Truth, can we possibly say that Mata Gujri Ji and Guru Teg Bahadur were one soul in two bodies? One mission with two faces - the public and the private, the male and the female, the conscious and the subconscious, the power and the wisdom? If marriage creates us as one soul in two bodies - then what is the difference between Guru Teg Bahadur and Mata Gujri Ji except that they had two different jobs to do, two different times and spaces, yet sharing one light between them?

She was the woman who created the man who created the Khalsa. And so powerful was her touch that Gobind Rai was ready to lead when he was a nine year old boy.

The Panj Piare: The names of the Panj Piare are inscribed in the heart of every Khalsa. Bhai Daya Singh, Bhai Dharam Singh, Bhai Mohkam Singh, Bhai Himmat Singh, and Bhai Sahib Singh. Their act of total surrender and devotion, of being willing to give their heads to the Guru, is celebrated every year at Baisakhi. It was through their selfless courage, absolute love, and total fearlessness that the Khalsa came to life. But do we know the names of their mothers and what their mothers did to raise them with such a consciousness? Everyone has the Light of the Divine within them. That is never the question. But to live that Light unto death - that is a matter of training and the mother is the first training ground of the soul. What values did their mothers instill in them? What discipline? What stories? How did their mothers teach them? What did they teach them? Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a parenting book for Sikhs based on how these mothers raised these boys? The boys who became the Panj Piare and initiated the order of the Khalsa? Truly, they must have had Khalsa women as mothers, even though the Khalsa had not yet come to life.

So now we have this debate about women doing seva in the Golden Temple, and I think about the anguish of the Panth: where has our glory gone? Where are the great, selfless acts of valor and courage that show us the Khalsa spirit still lives? Perhaps the simple truth is the public acts of Khalsa men are missing because the importance of the private strength of the Khalsa woman has been forgotten. The stories of the Khalsa women are lost because they are quiet and patient stories, stories of endurance and duty, stories, ultimately, that are difficult to tell, difficult to point to - until a man created by the touch of a Khalsa woman delivers his Spirit in the face of death.

Those who deny women seva in the Guru's Court and the blessing of leading the sangat in devotional kirtan are creating an unfortunate future, not just for themselves, but for the entire Panth. Those who would keep women in spiritual darkness are the true enemies of the Panth, trying to preserve the reigns of power for their own egos. It was never Guru's will for the daughters of the Khalsa to be enslaved by tradition. Who has the right to tell a Khalsa woman what she can and cannot do for her Guru? Who can determine what spiritual acts will bring her to her full spiritual awakening? What person has the authority to deny her the blessing of seva, of the selfless service that will clear her karma, awaken her soul, and bring her to an understanding of her destiny?

When the day comes for the Khalsa nation to truly rise in its glory, greatness and spiritual sovereignty, it will be Khalsa women who lead the way. Women who have crowned themselves as Princesses of Guru Gobind Singh and live in the nobility, dignity and grace of the 10th Master. Women who, with their loving touch, transform their homes into the Ghrist Ashram where meditation and practice of the Guru's teachings are the center of family life. Where all who need solace, healing and comfort are welcomed with open arms, warm food and kindness. Women who can train their sons and daughters in meditation and Gurbani so that their children do not become confused by doubt and maya, but have such a clear, direct experience of the Divine that they can fearlessly live to the calling of their Spirit and Destiny, even unto death. For the Khalsa nation to come to life, those who have the destiny to give birth to it must realize their duty. And every Sikh has an obligation to do everything possible to give those Khalsa women a chance to wake up, own their power and change the world.

Wahe Guru Ji Ka Khalsa,

Wahe Guru Ji Ki Fateh.

In service, love and devotion,

Ek Ong Kaar Kaur Khalsa

Espanola, New Mexico

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[SinghMunda]

Very true, i would be nothing without my mum

[Bhavneetkaur]

i agree with what you said but the womans role is not only to support her husband and raise her children, she herself has the right to power and intelligence. she is not to stand behind and nudge others, she herself can speak out and lead. the flame within sikh females needs to be reignited. we need to remember what Guru ji pointed out, that women and men are equal, in every respect, and for that reason, a woman has every right to stand up and speak her mind, to follow her Guru ji and be free from barriers. Guru ji has removed any barriers that we would have to face, so instead of reinstalling them, we should take advantage of our position.

[challenge_everything]

dhan dhan dhan dhan dhan women... dhan dhan dhan

[moonriver]

i agree with what you said but the womans role is not only to support her husband and raise her children, she herself has the right to power and intelligence. she is not to stand behind and nudge others, she herself can speak out and lead. the flame within sikh females needs to be reignited. we need to remember what Guru ji pointed out, that women and men are equal, in every respect, and for that reason, a woman has every right to stand up and speak her mind, to follow her Guru ji and be free from barriers. Guru ji has removed any barriers that we would have to face, so instead of reinstalling them, we should take advantage of our position.

you said it gurl.

nowadays, women no longer have to stand behind and get their message across with the help of men. but that's how it was in the olden days. women did not just simply come out and speak their mind. they were expected to keep their thoughts to themselves. that is why the role women played, as important as it may be, was not recognised. Guruji gave us the same status as our brothers but it has taken all these years for it to be fully accepted culturally. or so i think.

[Ouka]

Okay, that's a 10 years old post ... but time is an illusion, anyway !

I saw this post and felt attracted to read it, as I am a woman, maybe not a Khalsa woman, but a woman.

Actually, I was thinking, meditating, a few hours ago, about my wish to become sikh ... and I was wondering who would decide that I am sikh, or not ? which human would know if I deserve to be sikh or not ? What kind of human can see through my heart and soul to see my truth, married to God's truth ?

Sikh means disciple, it doesn't mean you belong to a country, a nationality, neither a religion. So, my meditation led me to the point that only God and I would know if I am a sikh, a disciple, a true servant of His reign. And then, in living my faith truly, people around me would see that light coming from my heart, from my soul.

I didn't choose to become sikh, I felt embrassed by it, and by sikhism the first time I came in a Temple. Later, because this feeling was still so strong, so true, I asked sikh people how to become sikh. They told me to go to Amritsar and learn. Then I'll see the process.

This is strange to me now, because it sounds like what I would have to do to become an engineer, or a teacher, or whatever that needs studies, brain studies. Something seemed wrong to me then .... to be sikh, so to be disciple, comes from our heart, not from the studies we stack into our head !

I wanted to talk about that here, and then I saw this post, about the Power of Khalsa Women. It is like an answer to me.

You know, when I asked how to become sikh, it was to men, and only men answered me, and it was about doing this long trip to Amritsar, and about teachings for foreigners, probably in english ... I didn't contest, because I am a very respectful person, especially about rules of a religion I know nothing.

But, now I need to tell my truth, the truth : I felt very disappointed and discouraged. India is a long way from Canada, where I was then, and I have a little money, but more then that, no one took time to listen to me, to my truth, no one tried to know what kind of journey I already done.

So my feeling was "injustice". I denied it until now, until that meditation I had tonight, and until I read this post about women.

My feeling was "injustice" because I already walked a long way, through my life, through my realities and illusions, through my experiences, through my fears, through my pains, through my joys too. What do I have to learn (and prove) to look as a sikh to other people ? What else more than I already learnt ?

Through my life, my experiences, I learnt what is described in the post about the power of Khalsa women, and I understand so well, deeply, truly, what it means. I understand with my brain, my head, but also with my cells, with my heart, with my tears.

The first time I came into a sikh Temple, of course I was impressed, because it is just so new for a french person, but I understood everything. I didn't read, on the screen, the translation of the prayers into english. I'm not english and reading all these words would have captured all my attention, all my focus. So, how would I have listened to God ???

I closed my eyes, and opened up my heart by facing my fears and my ego, and that was the way I finally understood the prayers. Not the words, in punjabi, but their vibrations through my heart. That vibration of Love. I felt Loved, by God, by Life, just as I am.

In the langar, when it was time to eat, I couldn't as I was crying, alone infront my chapati ... poor chapati !!

I know I can be better, and that's why I'd like to join the sikh community and share the practice of rules that would suit me, because they serve God. Anyway, if I don't live it, if I don't make it real, I will never know for true !

I know what means devotion and the gift in return has no price. I feel lonely in the christian style life, and never go to church because I feel like a stranger to these rules. So, would I stay alone ? Would I practice my faith and devotion alone, for the rest of my life ? because I have to go to Amritsar and learn.

Will I be more motivated then ?

Truly, sincerely, I feel very grateful to read this post because it changes my thought about sikhi. After the answer those men told me, I thought that maybe sikhism was very ... masculine, Yang, patriarchal. And so I was not sure that I should persevere. I don't feel comfortable with the idea that my baptism, to be part of the sikh community, should depend on men only. I don't feel comfortable with the idea that the baptism should depend on my possibilities to travel to Amritsar and go to this university for foreigners. I don't feel comfortable because it sounds very "human" to me, without this sacred dimension I can feel since I met God. And I don't deny that I can be absolutel wrong. The question of baptism is important to me too, as I've already been baptised, but I was a baby and nobody asked me if I felt close to that religion ! Now I can choose, consciously, but it seems like I have to prove something ... It sounds to me like an extreme to another

I wouldn't say that women are closer to God than men, but I can say that my feeling, and experience, is that a woman is usually better listener than a man. I say "usually" because I know it is not true for every man, neither every woman. But communication is feminine, like action is masculine, and this post (Khalsa Women) is so brilliant to remind each one this reality.

I was talking about differences that enrich people, on my post to introduce myself. So it is not a coincidence to read now that women and men are different, so they are "One" ... if they accept their differences. Otherwise, they are just confronting their own duality.

To end this post, I would say that if to be sikh is a question of language and knowledges, practices and appearance, I'm not yet.

If it is more about the language of heart, within a similar body as yours, I guess I'm already sikh

which is a good new .... for me

Yes, french can have a good sense of humour ! ... women too

Sat nam

[tva prasad]

On ‎18‎/‎08‎/‎2003 at 7:59 AM, SinghMunda said:

Very true, i would be nothing without my mum

same.