Columnists
The Cattle Grazer
Living Sikhi, Lesson Six
by VERONICA SIDHU
THE CATTLE GRAZER
Lesson Objectives:
1 To learn the story of why there is a gurdwara called the "Sacred Field" - Kiara Sahib.
2 To know that sometimes everyone makes a mistake, even the boy Nanak.
3 To have faith that our mistakes can be made good if we have a pure heart.
Teachers, ask the students to say the Sikh greeting with you; then fold hands and do simran with the students. When finished, ask each student to say something they learned about God, or about nature or about themselves and how they learned it (from their homework assignment.)
Read pages 18-24 Book I,
Stories from Sikh History.
Do you think the boy Nanak made a mistake by praying instead of watching the cattle? Pause for students to give their opinions. (There is no right or wrong answer to this question. Arguments can be made for either side and this should provoke a lively discussion. Be careful not to comment upon or judge the students' answers, jut allow them to speak freely.)
How did Nanak behave when people were angry with him? Pause for answers. When was the last time your parent was angry with you? What did you say or do? Pause for answers, but do not judge.
Why do you think that the field grew back? What does this mean to you? Pause. How can we make our mistakes turn out right and good? We are always making mistakes. But if in the morning, when we wake up, we dedicate everything we do to God, then we do not have to worry. We will do our best and leave the rest to God.
Let's repeat this 3x - "I will do my very best and leave the rest to God!"
Our job is not to determine the outcome. That is God's business. Our job, our business, is to do our best.
Do you know that many great inventions came from mistakes? How many lives have been saved by antibiotics! But the first antibiotic, penicillin, was found by accident. If we have faith in God, we will learn from our mistakes, we will learn from our successes too. Why? Because the important thing is that we dedicate the day to God when we rise in the morning, that we do our very best, and that we are alert so that we learn from what may happen that day.
Homework: Every morning this week, say "I will do my best and leave the rest to God!"
For the next week, every night write down the mistake(s) you have made in your behavior that day. Next to it (them), write how you could do better and what you learned about yourself. This is your own private list. We will not be sharing it with anyone else in class, so you can be very honest.
Shabad: Keeta lori-ay kumm so har pay akhee-ay
May 21, 2010