The Sikh Religion/Volume 2/Life of Amar Das/Chapter IV
Chapter IV
Once the Guru visited Kasur. It was a time of excessive heat, and he felt very weary. The governor of the city was a Khatri of the Puri tribe. The Guru sent a messenger to request his permission to pitch his tent in his garden. The governor replied, I know the Guru; he is a Khatri of the Bhalla tribe. Only yesterday he lived in Basarka and to-day he is Guru. He hath attached to him men of all castes, high and low. They sit in a line and eat with him and with one another. If he choose to be a Guru of outcastes, he can please him-self, but I will not allow him to approach my dwelling. The Guru on hearing this said, ‘My disciples shall one day have sovereign power. A Sikh ruler shall reign here in Kasur, and the descendants of this Khatri who is now governor shall become his servants.’ The Guru, departing thence, found his way to the hut of a poor Pathan. On seeing the Guru the man arose and said that he was poor, otherwise he would give him suitable entertainment. The Guru replied in the words of Guru Nanak :—
God can appoint a worm to sovereignty and reduce an army to ashes.
The Guru continued, ‘Do God's service, and thou shalt become the lord of Kasur, but directly thou practise tyranny, thou shalt die.’ A short time afterwards the Khatri officials in Kasur caused such political disturbance that the Emperor ordered them to be disarmed and expelled, and Pathans appointed in their place. The latter and their descendants continued to govern that part of the Panjab until it was conquered by Ranjit Singh and the Sikhs.
On one occasion, as the Guru lay asleep in the small hours of the night, he was awakened by a woman's screams. He sent two of his Sikhs to inquire the cause of her grief. They returned with the information that a young man had just died of tertian ague, and his mother was bewailing his loss. On hearing this the compassionate Guru prayed to the Deathless Being to console her. He told his Sikhs to repeat the first pauri of the Japji, and, while doing so, to put water into the mouth of the deceased. The Sikhs, instead of performing the ceremony themselves, brought the body to the Guru. He put water into the corpse's mouth, and touched the head with his foot, when lo! the youth was re-animated.
Once while a rich man was giving a religious feast a child was born in his house. The Brahmans in consequence declared the place impure, and refused food. The giver of the feast went to the third Guru to complain. The latter thereupon ordered his Sikhs to partake of the viands prepared, and they did so. The Brahmans subsequently went to the Guru to represent that his disciples had eaten impure bread. The following was the Guru's remonstrance :—
The love of mammon is mental impurity,
By which men are led astray in doubt and suffer transmigration.
The impurity of the perverse never departeth
Until they become saturated with the Word and with
God's name.
Whatever taketh the form of worldly love is all impurity:
On this account man dieth and is born again and again.
There is impurity in fire, in wind, and in water;
There is impurity in whatever is eaten;
There is impurity in religious ceremonies and in worship.
Only the heart which is dyed with the Name is pure.
By serving the True Guru impurity departeth:
Then man dieth not, nor is he born, nor doth Death
destroy him.
Let any one carefully examine the Shastars and Simritis,
and he shall find
That without the Name there is no deliverance.
In the four ages the Name is considered the best word,
And by means of it in this Kalage the pious are saved.
The True One neither dieth nor suffereth transmigration.
Nanak, the holy shall be absorbed in God.[1]
A rich Muhammadan horse-dealer named Alayar, a native of Dihli, who had returned from Arabia through Kabul with five hundred horses, arrived at the Bias. He had intended to proceed to his native city, where he hoped to find a good market, but was unable to continue his journey as the river was flooded, and the boatmen did not think their boats sufficiently strong to withstand the current. The following morning he saw Bhai Paro, on his way to the Guru as usual, plunge his horse into the foaming river and reach the opposite shore in safety. The horse-dealer met him on his return, and complimented him on the feat he had performed. Bhai Paro said there was nothing wonderful in his crossing a swollen river. The true Guru, to whom he daily went to do homage, caused thousands of souls to swim across the still more dangerous ocean of the world. Alayar was anxious to behold so great a being, so he arranged with Paro on the next occasion to sit behind him on his horse, and thus cross the river and visit the Guru with him.
Alayar was delighted on seeing the Guru, hearing his words, and witnessing the devotion of his Sikhs. Filled with enthusiasm and humility he mentally desired the Guru's leavings. The Guru divined his wish and offered him the dish from which he had eaten. The Guru's attention was then attracted to his name, and he said, ‘It is difficult to become a friend (yar) of God (Allah), but I will make God thy Master, and thee His servant.’ Thus was Alayar made a priest and freed from all doubts, evil passions, and inclinations. He henceforth drew no distinction between Hindus and Muhammadans, and continued as he had begun, a model of humility and divine fervour. The Guru in due time sent him to a place called Devantal, where saints resided. His trade in horses was undertaken and continued by his son. Alayar s family ultimately settled down in Dalla, where lived Bhai Paro and Bhai Lalo and other devoted servants of the Guru. Musalmans of every rank accepted and reverenced Alayar under the name of Ala Shah as a pious priest. A concourse of Sikhs, among whom were Bhai Dipa, Bhai Khana, Bhai Malu, and Bhai Kidara, gathered round these holy men in Dalla, and took up their abode with them.
Chapter V
There was a goldsmith in Goindwal married to an elderly woman. All medicines and incantations were employed to procure them offspring, but in vain. The everlasting cry of the childless couple was, ‘How shall we be happy in this world? And who will take care of our wealth?’ Their youth had passed, and the advent of old age naturally made them despair the more. They decided to dig a well where travellers might allay their thirst, and build a temple where the devout might pray. They hoped that in this way their wishes might be crowned, and their memory abide in the world. When the Guru heard of the pious work they had undertaken, he went and personally assisted in it. On being informed of his presence the goldsmith and his wife hastened with offerings to do him homage. He asked them what they desired. The goldsmith's wife on this drew a veil over her face. The Guru said, ‘Be not abashed. Ask what thou desirest without shame.’ She replied, ‘Thou hast come to visit us; now give us an heir to our house.’ The Guru inquired if they expected him to keep children for his friends. The goldsmith, with humility and
- ↑ Gauri.