Kids Corner

Columnists

Cornucopia

INNI KAUR

 

 

 

I wake up with the biggest smile …

Because

I had the most amazing dream!

Dream: It’s around three o’clock in the afternoon.

I find myself standing in the middle of a stunningly gorgeous room.

The walls are embellished with tiny jewels.

Crystal chandeliers glisten.

Everything is in proportion.

Nothing is out of place.

Perfection...
 
Tables draped in red silk.

Enormous silver trays and bowls exquisitely display the most beautiful fruit one has ever seen.

My eyes feast.

Everything is sparkling.

A tall radiant sevadar approaches me.

“Where am I?”

“You are in Guru’s Darbar,” he replies as he hands me a silver bowl filled to the brim with custard.

The custard is bursting with chunks of fresh peaches.

I relish each spoonful.

It is beyond delicious.

I admire the fruit laden tables.

Plump dates are a sight to behold.

Nectarines and apricots beckon to be savored.

Mounds of walnuts, almonds and pistachios skillfully arranged, astound me.

Such abundance …

Such beauty …

“Biba,” says the sevadar holding a tray filled with dates.

I bow, raise my palms and receive.

Each date is sweeter than the one before.

“The dates are from Kabul. Only the best comes to the Guru’s Darbar.”

I am in heaven.

He fills my lap with walnuts and almonds.

I look up at him in wonder.

“You are in Guru’s Darbar.”

I am at Bangla Sahib gurdwara.

The sun rises.

“Darling, you’ll never believe the dream I had.” 

I reveal each and every minute detail.

I’m super-charged to say the least.

Husband listens ever so politely.

“How come all your dreams are about food?”

I’m not amused.

“This isn’t about food. I was in Guru’s Darbar. It was sublime. You should have been there. Everything was beyond perfect. And if you had tasted the fruit, you too would still be relishing it as I am. The custard was scrumptious.”

I continue, my mouth still watering.

“You don’t like custard,” he playfully reminds me.

“True. But that was no ordinary custard. I wish you had tasted it.”

“You are glowing. That’s all that counts,” he laughs as he leaves for work.

I spend my day reliving the dream.

I can’t seem to get the dates and the peaches out of my mind.

Nor the sevadar’s luminous face.

His aura, his stillness, his grace, his smile, linger.

A week or so goes by …

I’m visiting with a friend who has just returned from India.

“Fill me in on everything that has happened to you in the last three months,” she says.

And, guess what!

Yes! I start telling her my dream.

Her eyes get larger.

She’s beaming from ear to ear.

She looks positively radiant.

“Now, that’s the story I want you to write about.”

“Why?”

“Because I say so, and you must,” replies my calm levelheaded friend. “Write it immediately while you are still experiencing the feeling.”

I am, after all, a very obedient person (no need to broadcast this).

I pick up my pen.

Husband cannot understand what my friend sees in this story.

But, then …

The ears hear what they want to hear

The eyes see what they want to see

The heart feels what it wants to feel.

Enjoy!

 

[Inni Kaur is the author of a children's book series, Journey with the Gurus – www.journeywiththegurus.com. She also serves on the board of the Sikh Research Institute.]

September 7, 2013

Conversation about this article

1: Sangat Singh  (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ), September 09, 2013, 1:58 PM.

What a lovely and delicious dream, Inni ji. Please keep sharing, including your day-dreams. Love them.

2: Aryeh Leib (Israel), September 09, 2013, 3:30 PM.

Words, albeit deliciously chosen, are still poor substitutes for the feast that awaits us when we'll finally succeed in invoking the Guru's nadar and enter the Guru's Darbar. May we all merit to dwell there all our days. Meanwhile, may we never give up, mistaking the menu for the actual feast!

3: Sangat Singh  (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ), September 09, 2013, 7:23 PM.

Aryeh ji, even young (Bhagat) Farid had to be enticed by smuggling shakar (brown sugar) under the prayer mat by his mother as an incentive. It is the worldly love that transcends into the real love. Bhai Vir Singh has mentioned in his book "Gurmukh Sikhiya" that those who has not experienced false love would not know what real love is like. This of course is not to be taken as an invitation to embark on a project, or as a sanction. The awakening comes when one is ready. Inni ji's cornucopia is the road map.

Comment on "Cornucopia"









To help us distinguish between comments submitted by individuals and those automatically entered by software robots, please complete the following.

Please note: your email address will not be shown on the site, this is for contact and follow-up purposes only. All information will be handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Sikhchic reserves the right to edit or remove content at any time.