Tuesday, May 08, 2012
This Mother's Day we are starting a 40 day sadhana dedicated to children called ElevatingOurselves, Blessing Our Children.
Through a meditative practice together as mothers, parents, and human beings, we can clear our energy and truly give our children a gift of our love, our hope, and our prayers. This is not only for children that have cozy homes and families, this practice is dedicated to those children who are orphaned, without homes, and without basic care.
The sadhana practice in its entirety includes a pranayaam meditation taught by Gurmukh for us parents to find balance and energy, the recitation of the Shabad "Pootaa Maataa Kee Asees" eleven times a day, and a meditation just for children.
In this blog post I would like to go a little deeper into my experience of the Shabad "Pootaa Maataa Kee Asees".
Yogi Bhajan, my spiritual teacher, taught that in reciting this Shabad eleven times a day we can effect the vibratory frequency of how we feel in relationship to our children and thereby provide for them an energy field of our beings that is in a state of calm, and prayer. There are other unspoken miracles that happen with this recitation as well that you may discover if you practice this. All that I can say is that this recitation has been my life line as a young mother. I have been practicing it so much that I couldn't even really tell you anymore distinctly what it is doing for me.
Over the course of this sadhana practice I will share my experiences with this Shabad. Let me just start off with the most elemental shift in me that happened through the recitation of these sacred words.
During pregnancy my husband and I recited it eleven times a day together. It brought clarification to me so that as a mother my energy shifted from worries about the physical state of my baby to prayers about her spiritual state. Granted, physical things are important... such as physical health and well being, having clothes, diapers, a good place for your baby to sleep, means and ways to support all of his or her physical needs in babyhood, childhood, and off into college years, etc., etc.. But there can be a kind of obsession with things that can take over. It happened to me. All of my friends who had babies were showing me all of there gadgets, beautiful clothes, high chairs, amazing nurseries, electric rocking chairs that everyone must have (!), the works! Oh my, the "maya" or the "earthly desires" of young parenthood are alive and well! I got to a slight panic point as I realized two things, 1) I would never have the time to come close to getting all of the things that it appeared that I needed, and 2) I didn't want to... I lacked the general desire to get out there and shop! I felt inadequate as a mother because I was failing in this ever seemingly so important area.
As my mother taught me so graciously, and passed on to me so naturally, when in panic mode, chant, recite.... let God do the work.
So, every day my husband and I chanted this Shabad. We walked together in a beautiful neighborhood in Northern New Mexico. The fresh air, the walking, the shade of the trees, the blue skies, and the chanting all worked together.
Here is the full Shabad:
Jis simrat sabh kilvikh naaseh pitree ho-ay udhaaro.
Remembering God, all mistakes are washed away and one's ancestors are redeemed and saved.
So har har tum sad hee jaapahu jaa kaa ant na paaro. ||1||
Always chant God's Name, Har, Har. God is inside you, God is infinite.
Pootaa maataa kee aasees.
O my child, this is your mother's blessing,
Nimakh na bisara-o tum ka-o har har sadaa bhajahu jagdees. ||1|| rahaa-o.
May you may never forget God even for a moment, worshipping forever the Lord of the Universe ||Pause||
Satgur tum ka-o ho-ay da-i-aalaa santsang tayree preet.
May the True Guru be kind to you, may you love to be with the Saints.
Kaaparh pat parmaysar raakhee bhojan keertan neet. ||2||
May your clothing be the protection of God, may your food be the singing of God's praise
Amrit peevhu sadaa chir jeevhu har simrat anad anantaa.
Drink the nectar of God's Name and live long, may meditation on God bring you endless bliss.
Rang tamaasaa pooran aasaa kabeh na bi-aapai chintaa. ||3||
May love be yours and your hopes fulfilled. May you never be worn by worry.
Bhavar tumaaraa ih man hova-o har charnaa hohu ka-ulaa.
Let this mind of yours be the bumble bee, and let the Lotus Feet of God be the flower.
Naanak daas un sang laptaa-i-o ji-o booNdeh chaatrik ma-ulaa. ||4||3||4||
O Servant Nanak, link your mind in this way. Like the sparrow hawk finding a raindrop blossom forth.
One line in the Shabad began to really show itself to me:
Kaaparh pat parmaysar raakhee bhojan keertan neet. ||2||
May your clothing be the protection of God, may your food be the singing of God's praise
Day by day the meaning of these words began to sink in.
And one day I had one of those "Aha" moments.
I realized that the most important gift I could give to my new baby was a teaching, or an assistance to her being to know that she could always connect with God no matter what. In pregnancy my energy would be so connected to her that through my own experience she would have an experience too. Into her childhood as she began to take steps away from me and find her own way in this world the recitation would become a prayer for God's hand to uncover the miracles in her life to have that Divine Connection with the One.
Not only was it the most important thing I could give my daughter, it was what I deeply wanted to give her... with my whole being.
Yes, granted, we got the stroller, the car seat, the high chair, etc. etc. We did a good job with all the "stuff" But, my prayer penetrates through all of these material things.
I invite you to join us for this sacred practice together. Please see the following link here for more information.
Love,
Snatam
Sadhana - personal practice, or daily practice
Shabad - sacred prayer, or poem
Sadhana - personal practice, or daily practice
Shabad - sacred prayer, or poem
