I will always be a princess

Why I will always be a Princess?

I am I, a female born, who has lived her life with happiness, sadness and sorrow, but as I lay on my final deathbed I just realized something like an epiphany, or the way Newton discovered gravity when apple was falling down from the tree. I will always be a Princess, a Kaur, a Kumari and nothing and no one can take it away from me till I let them.

It’s the same as giving someone the key to happiness of your life, we can only be happy if we want to be; yes there are external forces that dictate it but we have to be at peace with oneself to let happiness seep around us.

From time immemorial our Gods and Gurus have given us equal place to Man. Imagine a society where women were considered inferior, they did not have any say in the society, they were actually considered distractions to advancement in spiritual advancement. . It was Guru Nanak who led the path breaking change in the society and revolted against the stringent attitude of men who considered women as chattels. Guru Nanak, equated man and woman equal, he made no distinction in their status. This was un heard of. Women have had to fight for this fundamental right of equality and it is still continuing down the ages and times. This remains till now.

He was the first person to allow women in sangat, congregation without any discrimination on the basis of their sex, they could engage in all religious practices. He also, said man is born of woman, within woman man is conceived, it is she who he becomes engaged to, he marries her, and when she dies, he seeks another woman, he is bound to Her. So why call her Bad? From her, Kings are born. From woman, woman is born; without woman, there would be no one at all. (SGGS, p.473).

In Sikh religion all credit of nobility is given to a woman. In our religion, countless warrior women have changed and shaped the destiny of the race. Guru Amar Das, condemned sati, purdah practice and refused to meet the Queen of Haripur as she was wearing a veil. He all (women as well as men) acknowledges the same God as his or her own; Show me anyone who does not. Each person is responsible for his (or her) own actions and shall have to settle his (or her) own account.”(Guru Amar Das in ‘Suhi ki Var’) “They are not suttees who burn themselves with their dead husbands; rather they are suttees, Nanak, who die with the mere shock of separation from their husbands. And they too, are to be considered suttees, who abide in modesty and contentment, who wait upon their Lord and rising in the morning, ever remember Him.” “Women burn themselves in fire with their husbands; if they appreciate their husbands, they undergo sufficient pain by their death. If they appreciate them not, Nanak, why should they burn at all?” (GG, 787)”

When all this was in my genetic code, how can I not be a royal regal person? I am a princess is what I reaffirm to myself. When the Gods have blessed me, how can a mere mortal take my title away?

In the end, we as women need to remember one thing, we have been given this stature, this title by our Gurus, how can another mortal, who is born of us take it away.

Girls, young and old, women beautiful and pretty do not let any make you feel any less. You are you; no one can take it away from you! The name given to men when they were baptized was Singh, a lion; a woman is given the name Kaur, a princess, which remains with her till she dies. Guru Gobind Singh gave her equal rights; he condemned feticide and also forbade any proprietary rights by men over women captured in battle.

My last breath, reminds me that even if the body dies, the soul still remains a princess and that is how I fight back to live another day.