What is Home?
Home is what you make of the home.
Hi. Paul Mindra here again. Your host and guide here at my home at paulmindra.com
Allow me to share with you from a Grade 5 from British Columbia, Canada.
The True Meaning of Home
What does home really mean to me?
To me, home means not one, but many things.
Most importantly,
I believe that home means a secure, cheerful place where you are respected and loved.
But what about the people without homes?
Does it mean the same thing to them? Everybody deserves to know the true meaning of home.
When I started writing this essay, I didn’t think much about the meaning of home. But now, I have found out that home means more. Much more.
Home means an enjoyable, happy place where you can live, laugh and learn.
It’s somewhere where you are loved, respected, and cared for.
When you look at it from the outside, home is just a house.
A building. Maybe a yard. But on the inside, it’s a lot more than wood and bricks.
The saying “Home is where the heart is” says it all.
Home is also where your memories lie.
Home is where I got my head stuck under the couch.
Home is where I fell in the goldfish pond.
I remember sleeping in the playhouse, falling down the stairs and climbing up the apple tree.
Without memories, most people wouldn’t be the people that they are today.
Just like memories, home is also where your hopes and dreams are.
Dreaming about when you grow up.
Being a spaceman or a firefighter.
Sinking beneath the sea as a scuba diver.
I couldn’t imagine living without dreams. My home grounds them, and without a home, I wouldn’t have any.
There are, however, people without homes, living on streets, and homeless shelters.
Not much is very fair about some people living in huge, glorious, shining white mansions and others living huddled and wet, in small, sagging, cardboard boxes.
There are 2.2 billion children in the world. Half of these children live in poverty and are homeless.
Did you know that in my own province, British Columbia, a homeless person dies every 12 days?
Picture this:
A man, sitting on a street corner, watching people with fancy clothes and overflowing shopping bags stroll by without a care in the world.
He does not have a home, so what does home mean to him?
He lives on that street corner.
Without memories, without hopes, without dreams. Maybe even without a chance to live.
There are countless ways to help poverty, the leading cause of homelessness.
You can buy secondhand, support charities, or even collect donations. Though I haven’t done this yet, I want to challenge myself. I would also like to challenge you.
There is no one meaning for the word home.
If you are lucky enough to have one, what does it mean to you? That is for you to decide.
Asa Di War
Asa di Var
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ASA KI VAR, is the term recorded in the index to the Guru Granth Sahib but this Gurbani is commonly called “Asa di Var”. It is found in the Sikh scripture from page 462 line 17 to page 475 line 10. It is a composition by Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhi, and is sung by kirtania (religious musicians) at Sikh congregations or gatherings as part of the early morning service. It is said that if recited and sung with true belief, one’s hopes/wishes are fulfilled.
The term “Asa di Var” comprises three words: The third word var means an ode or a lyrical verse; the word Asa which means “hope” in Punjabi) is also a Raag or musical measure used in the Guru Granth Sahib; and “ki” or “di” mean “of”. Thus together the terms means “A ballad of hope”. Raag Asa is the raga of pre-dawn hours and the custom of reciting the hymn at morning time is traced to the days of Guru Nanak himself.
It is said that Bhai Lahina (the later, Guru Angad) was the first to sing it in the presence of Guru Nanak. The Var then comprised twenty four pauris or stanzas by Guru Nanak and some slokas which were also of his composition as indicated in the title given it by Guru Arjan when entering the composition in the Holy Book (salok bhi mahalle pahile ke likhe), the slokas were also composed by the First Guru, Guru Nanak. In its present form, it carries twenty four stanzas with a total of fifty nine slokas, 45 by Guru Nanak and 14 by Guru Angad.
t the time of recitation, the choir will prefix each of the stanzas by a quatrain from the series by Guru Ram Das entered separately under Raga Asa, collectively known as “chakkas”, or sextettes from the groups of six quatrains each counting as a unit. They will also punctuate the singing with illustrative hymns from Guru Granth Sahib and with passages from Bhai Gurdas and Bhai Nand Lal whose compositions constitute approved texts.
According to the musical direction recorded by Guru Arjan at the beginning of the Var, it is meant to be recited in the tune of an old folk ballad which had as its hero a prince by the name of Asraja, called “Tunda Asraj” because of a maimed hand (tunda). From passage to passage, the Var touches upon several different themes, but one central point of emphasis is the state of man, and how he may liberate himself from the bondage of self and prepare himself for union with the Divine. The text is also strewn with telling social comment. The ills of contemporary life, its inequalities and artificialities are sharply noticed.