When I became a mother, I was one of the happiest people in the world. My dream of a having my own little one had come true. I had spent years working with children as a paediatric doctor trainee, holding those little hands after delivery, or tending to the kids presenting to A&E. My journey to motherhood wasn't easy, and required a lot of sacrifice, prayer, and courage.
The first words I whispered into her little ears were of those the Sikh Mool Mantar:
Ik oa(n)kaar sath naam karathaa purakh nirabho niravair akaal moorath ajoonee saibha(n) gur prasaadh ॥ jap ॥ aadh sachjugaadh sach ॥hai bhee sachnaanak hosee bhee sach ॥1॥ (Translation here).
The first few months were great, as my mother had travelled over, and helped care for my daughter while I caught up on a bit of sleep. After she left, reality hit - it wasn't going to be as easy to juggle home life and new mom life. As an expat mom, this becomes even more difficult because there is no village to help you raise your child. Many here have live-in helpers, however, after having left a career I loved for my husband to pursue his dreams, and for me to be a full-time mother, having a live-in helper just didn't make sense to me. I wanted to be a mother, just like my own mother, doing it all myself.
To establish Sikhism in our everyday lives was something I was determined to do. I had sung Poota Mata ki asees (shabad here) throughout my pregnancy to her. When she was born, after the puzzling first 6 months (which honestly felt like a daze), I wanted to start taking her out to the Gurdwara. However, this was my first hurdle - she was a fully breastfed baby, who breastfed on her own schedule (which at that point was ever 45-60mins). I didn't have a car as yet, as I just arrived into the country about 8 months prior, and taking a taxi + gurdwara time + taxi home, was just too much time away from my safe place for breastfeeding, my home. But I was still determined to try it, as I really wanted her to experience the calmness and serenity of the gurdwara and sangat.
More about my battle with breastfeeding at the Gurdwara later. Eventually, we started making a weekly trip to the Gurdwara (especially when I got my own car!), and she thoroughly enjoyed the parshad. We implemented daily bed-time routine as she got older (about 1 years old), it went something like this:
1) Waheguru Naam Simran
2) Ik Onkar (Mool Mantar)
3) Thank you Waheguru for ....
4) Waheguru ji ka Khalsa, Waheguru ji ki Fateh.
She has been doing this on a daily basis (most days unless she falls asleep even before getting to bed) for the last 4 years. She truly believes Waheguru is her best friend, and lives in her heart.
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