Kids Corner

Columnists

The Good Bargain
Living Sikhi, Lesson Eight

by VERONICA SIDHU

 

 

THE GOOD BARGAIN

 

Lesson Objectives:

1   To review the meaning of "discernment" and "appreciation".

2   Why the qualities of appreciation and discernment are so important.

3  To realize the importance of good values and to understand how both discernment and appreciation lead us to practice good values. 

Teachers, ask the students to say the Sikh greeting with you; then fold hands and do simran with the students. When finished, ask for a show of hands of those who remembered to brush their teeth with awareness and appreciation.

What did you appreciate about your teeth? (Teachers, please pause after each question so students may answer.)

Did any of you loose a baby tooth? Why are you loosing your baby teeth? ("So mature, grown-up teeth will have room to come in.") If you did not know any better, you might feel sad at loosing your baby teeth.

Do you remember what the word "discern" means? (Pause for "knowing what is important".) Sometimes, when we don't "discern" the true importance of something we may feel sad or angry when we could actually feel glad about it. Let's listen to this story and find out who was discerning and who was not. It may surprise you!

Read aloud - pages 29-36, Stories from Sikh History

Yes, the boy Nanak saw the sadhus and fakirs. He saw that they were in rags. Was that important? No. He saw that they were very hungry. Was that important? Yes, because he had enough money to help them. Did he know what his father wanted him to do? Yes, his father wanted him to make a good bargain, a saccha sauda. But what that meant to his father was different from what it meant to Nanak.

What did Nanak's father mean by a saccha sauda? To make more money. Why did Nanak do something different? Nanak discerned that these sadhus were starving. He realized that this was important because he remembered how bad he himself felt when he was hungry. Because he appreciated the pain of their hunger, Nanak was able to value helping these men more than he did making money. He put more importance on helping the starving, than making money. He was very surprised that his father who was older than him and whom he respected, did not discern, nor appreciate the same thing that he did. He was surprised, but he was not angry. He understood that his father had a different value system from him.

There are many things we can value:

  • Some people value their money and things more than their friends. These people may be jealous of their friends who may have more than them or they may even steal something from their friends or other people.
  • Some people value their friends more than being close to God. They may do things because they want their friends to like them. What are some things friends may ask you to do that you know God would not like?

God is the greatest good. Many people do not realize the greatest good when they make poor choices. Many people do things that are unimportant because they have not appreciated God. The love of God and God's children (all human beings) are not their highest values. When we leave this world, money and friends will not go with us. Only our good deeds and our love of God will go with us. That is why the boy Nanak made such a good bargain, a saccha sauda.

 

Homework: Make a list of three things that are important or valuable to you. Write why you chose each one.

Shabad: Keeta lori-ay kumm so har pay akhee-ay

 

June 4, 2010

Conversation about this article

Comment on "The Good Bargain
Living Sikhi, Lesson Eight"









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.