Children's Corner
Story for children: Chanting* gives Bliss
King Babar ruled a part of northern India in the 15th century. One day, Babar's soldiers captured a man called Nanak (who went on to become Shri Guru Nanak, the great founder-saint of the Sikh religion). During those times, Babar was building a fort in Agra (a city in north India) using the labour of captured workers. Nanak, too, was put to work along with these workers. The construction was being carried out during the hot summer days. So, as an incentive to the workers, the soldiers were ordered to give the labourers bhang (a cold drink mixed with a bit of opium) once daily. The opium in the drink would give the workers an intoxicating boost of energy; hence, all the workers would consume it happily.
One day, Babar arrived at the construction site to inspect the progress of his fort. During this inspection, he inquired with the soldiers about the workers. The soldiers reported that everything was going well, but that one worker refused to consume the bhang offered to him. This intrigued Babar, as he had never met a worker who would not drink bhang! Babar ordered to summon this worker. This worker, who was none other than Nanak, was summoned before Babar and asked the reason for his refusal. Nanak replied, “The bhang you offer me gives me a momentary high, which goes away by the next morning. But with my chanting, I go into a much higher state of Bliss, which is continuous and never ends. Hence, I feel no need for the bhang.”
Moral: Dear children, from this we can learn that no matter what we might try to do to get happiness, be it eat or drink our favourite foods and beverages, or play our favourite games, the happiness we feel does not last long. However, there is one place where we can find everlasting happiness, or Bliss, and that is from God. If we regularly chant His Name, or pray to Him, we will surely be blessed with permanent Bliss.
Spiritual experience of a child seeker
Chanting saved me from a teacher's punishment
One day, when my teacher was checking homework assignments, I realized that I had forgotten to bring my assignment to school. I was afraid that the teacher would punish me and hence, started chanting my family deity's Name intensely. Soon, when it was my turn to turn in the assignment the teacher said, “I will check the rest of the assignments tomorrow.” Thus, I was saved from punishment because of chanting. After this incident my chanting has greatly increased.
– Master Aniket Ashok Bhosale (student in grade 3), Sangli, India.
[Dear Friends, from this experience we can learn not only the power of God’s Name, but also how important our faith in God is. Since Master Bhosale had intense faith that chanting God’s Name would help him, he saw immediate results.
-Editor.]
* Chanting means constantly remembering or repeating God’s Name according to our religion. Young children should also chant 'Om Gan Ganapataye namaha' (Lord Ganesh's chant) for at least 15-30 minutes daily for divine protection. Older children, who have been doing spiritual practice for some time, can determine their exact chant from the experiment in Issue 124, Message to Seekers section. Parents should repeat (chant) The Lord's Name for children too young to do so themselves.