The Sikh Religion/Volume 2/Life of Amar Das/Chapter V
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 faith, replied that there were children in the words of the Guru. The Guru was pleased at this reply, and told them that, if they had faith, they should have two children. They were accordingly blessed with that number of offspring. People on seeing the children with the old lady said they must be her grandchildren. The twelfth generation of the goldsmith and his wife still reside in Goindwal, and are called Maipotre (mother's grandsons) in memory of this event.
Inquirers came from different countries in detached bodies to behold the Guru. On seeing their number and frequency, Bhai Paro and his friends represented that there should be one place of general meeting for the Sikhs, and special fairs should be established where Sikhs could assemble and become acquainted and fraternize with one another. Upon this the Guru proclaimed that gatherings of Sikhs should be held on the first days of the months Baisakh and Magh, and on the ancient festival of the Diwali.[1]
A shopkeeper called Girdhari, who lived in the south of India, was very fortunate as far as wealth, property, and relations were concerned, but he was distressed at having no children. He took a second wife, but still there was no offspring. On hearing what the Guru had done for the goldsmith, he went to Goindwal to do him homage. He remained there for some days and importuned the Guru, but could only obtain the following reply :—
None can erase what was written on the forehead in the
beginning:
What was written happeneth; he who hath spiritual
insight understandeth this.[2]
The Guru when further pressed said to Girdhari, ‘Repeat the Name, do good works, and obey the will of God. A hankering for sons is the cause of worldly entanglements.’ On hearing this the shop keeper's eyes filled with tears, and heaving cold sighs he withdrew from the Guru's presence. Bhai Paro meeting him asked why he was leaving without having obtained his object. Girdhari then narrated his conversation with the Guru. Paro said that if he had faith he should have five children. The shopkeeper went home, and in five years found him self the father of five sons.
Girdhari took his five sons and placed them all at the Guru's feet. The Guru inquired how he had obtained such a large offspring. Girdhari replied, ‘I have got them through the mediation of Bhai Paro, the servant of thy house.’ The Guru said, Well done, Bhai Paro, who art able to reverse the order of nature! Such power is not in me.’ Bhai Paro humbly represented: ‘Great king, on seeing this man going disappointed from thy house I merely gave him from thy store-room which is ever inexhaustible. Why should we be niggardly?’ The Guru replied, ‘True, but this is the Kalage when many persons come with desires and motives. Guru Nanak hath said :—
“Whatever God doeth accept as good; have done with cleverness and orders.” ’
The Guru ironically continued: ‘If thou have compassion to spare, then ever satisfy the desires of those who go away disappointed from me. Thou art a saint of the highest order, and mine image. I grant thee the Guruship of the world! Spread saintship therein.’ Bhai Paro, touching the Guru's feet, meekly replied, ‘Pardon thy servant, and let me abide at thy feet. Even if I must suffer further transmigration, let me not be driven from thy presence. Guruship becometh thee; I am content to be a disciple. Grant me the gift of serving thee.’ The Guru replied, ‘If thou desire to serve me, repair to thy house; God hath pardoned thee and granted thee deliverance.’ Bhai Paro went home, distributed his wealth among his heirs, and set apart a favourite mare and some money for the Guru, with strict injunctions for the proper disposition of his property. Having made sacred food, and pre pared for his death, he lay down. Then uttering ‘Wahguru’, and parting with his body, he went to his repose at Guru Nanak's feet.
When Guru Amar Das heard of Bhai Paro's death, he sent his own son Mohri to Dalla to console Bhai Paro's family. Mohri passed a whole night in Dalla, recounting Bhai Paro's praises, and next day returned to Goindwal.
Bhai Lalo continued to perform every service in the Guru's house. His mind, body, and wealth were all employed in conferring benefits on others. He fed and attended to the poor and needy, fanned the Guru, and distributed food to his Sikhs. He was so distressed at Paro's death, and dissatisfied with the things of this world that he resolved to bestow all his property in alms, and consign his body to Death. He thought of the words of Kabir :—
While the world feareth death, my mind is pleased therewith,
Since it is only by death supreme bliss is obtained.[3]
When Bhai Lalo, after the usual prayers, assumed his final posture, his eyes filled with tears. His friends said to him. ‘Thou hast no worldly love; thou hast practised charity and the duties of thy religion; thou art free from all earthly desires; then why art thou weeping?’ He replied, ‘I have inherited countless wealth from my father. That shall be profitable if it be spent in the service of the Guru and his Sikhs. I have also mine own earnings which I wish to dispose of for their benefit. Furthermore, I have recently built a house at great expense, which I reserved for myself, but it is useless to me now. If that also be applied to the use of the Sikhs, I shall have nothing to regret.’ His relations and Sikh friends disposed of his property accordingly. He then, in the words of the Sikh chronicler, parted with his body as though it were the slough of a snake.
One day a Sikh merchant went to the Guru, and said that he had given alms and feasts to Brahmans, and made pilgrimages according to prescribed rules, but obtained no spiritual profit or consolation therefrom. He therefore requested the Guru, who was the pilot of the world's terrible ocean, to save him. The Guru on that occasion composed the following :—
Serve God; perform no other service.
By serving Him thou shalt obtain the fruit thy heart
desireth; by any other service thy life shall pass away in
vain.
God is my love, God is my rule of life, God is the subject
of my conversation.
By the Guru's favour my heart is saturated with God's
love; thus is my service rewarded.
God is my Simritis, God is my Shastars, God is my kinsman,
God is my brother.
I am hungry for God; with His name my heart is satisfied.
God is my relative, and at the last moment will be my helper.
Except God all other capital is false, and goeth not with
us when we depart.
God is the wealth which shall depart with me; whitherso
ever I go, thither will it go.
He who is attached to falsehood is false, and false are the
works he performeth.
Saith Nanak, everything happeneth according to God's
will; naught is gained by babbling.[4]
name, be humble, abandon pride, and self-conceit. As fire burneth a dry crop, so do pride and self-conceit destroy the effect of alms and religious exercises.
His Sikhs once asked the Guru, ‘If, as the saints say, the world is like a dream, then how do their bodies perform their functions?’ The Guru replied, ‘Their bodies perform all their functions, but their minds are not affected by the world. The saints abide in the form of ordinary mortals, as the sword touched by the philosopher's stone retaineth its shape, but is at the same time changed into gold. By humility and contempt of the world the saints obtain deliverance at their death.’ The Guru then related the following parable: ‘Some one told a saint that his only son had been slain. The saint on hearing the news remained unmoved. On this people began to admire his fortitude, and say, “Thy son was a fine, obedient young man. Thou art to be congratulated that thou canst endure his death without a murmur.” The saint replied, “The world is like a dream or a shadow; sons, wives, and wealth are all perishable. In a dream a poor man may become a king or a king a poor man, but when they awake they find their dreams have no reality. For whom shall man rejoice or mourn?” Upon this some one came and told the father that his dead son had been re-animated. On hearing this, too, the saint manifested no joy.’ The Guru, pointing out the moral of his story, said, ‘Saints are unaffected by joy or sorrow as the lotus is by water.’
Many persons continued to visit the Guru for religious instruction. Lalu, Durga, and Jawanda received from him the following advice, ‘Ever do good to others. This is to be accomplished in three ways: By giving good advice, by setting a good example to Sikhs, and by ever desiring men's welfare.’
A Sikh named Jagga asked the Guru's permission to become a hermit. He said he had met a Jogi and asked him for instruction. The Jogi would only give it on his relinquishing a domestic and adopting an ascetic life. The Guru replied that deliverance could not be obtained either by the relinquishment of house and home or by the practice of Jog. As a lotus, while growing in the mud, turns its petals towards the sun, so should man while engaged in worldly affairs turn his thoughts to God by means of the instruction of the Guru.
To Gopi, Mohan, Rama, and Amru, the Guru spoke as follows: ‘Practise forbearance and forgiveness, and harbour not enmity to any one in your hearts. Should any one address you a harsh or disrespectful word, be not angry, but speak civilly in return.’
To Gangu and Saharu the Guru delivered the following instruction: ‘When you have prepared food, first feed the Sikhs, and then eat the remainder yourselves. He who eateth after his brother Sikhs shall become very holy. Ever remember Wahguru. Worship not cremation grounds, tanks,[5] or Hindu or Muhammadan shrines.’
When the Guru paid a visit to the Sikh families in Dalla, Prithi Mal and Tulsa of the Bhalla caste went to see him. They unceremoniously seated themselves beside him, and said with much familiarity, Thou and we are of the same caste. The Guru replied in the words of Guru Nanak :—
Caste hath no power in the next world ; there is a new
order of beings.
It is the good whose accounts are honoured.
‘This body’, continued the Guru, ‘is composed of five elements. It is subject to hunger, thirst, joy, sorrow, birth, and death. It perisheth, and no caste goeth with the soul to the next world. They who are honoured and exalted in God's court are those whose minds are humble, who have renounced falsehood, fraud, slander, deceit, hypocrisy, and ingratitude, and who have repeated the Name and benefited others. If the high caste on which people plume themselves in this life be not recognized in the next, of what advantage is it? The Guru recognizeth no caste.’
Bhais Malhan, Ramu, Gobind, and Dipa asked the Guru to give them instruction whereby they might be saved. He replied, ‘Abandon obstinacy and pride, serve the saints, prepare sacred food according to the rules of our religion, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, rise before day, repeat the Japji, bestow a little of your time and wealth on God's service, associate with the saints, meditate on the Word, perform the duties of your religion, hurt no one's feelings, sing the Guru's hymns, be lowly and abandon pride, recognize only the Creator as the one God, and all your desires shall be fulfilled. If a man be weighed down with worldliness, he shall sink like an overladen boat in the world's ocean; but, if worldliness lie not heavily on him, his bark shall float, and he shall obtain deliverance.’
Bula, a learned pandit, laid before the Guru a scheme he had devised for a compilation of the Guru's hymns, and mooted the question of remuneration for his labour. The Guru replied: ‘Make a careful collection of the Guru's hymns, and give it to the Sikhs in God's name. If any one offer thee money, accept it for thy maintenance, but beg not, and great shall be thy gain.’
A Sultanpur bard named Bhikha embraced retirement from the world so as to search for the Creator. Wherever he heard of any saints he went to wait on them. For a long time he remained in a state of pupilage under a Brahman, without obtaining any peace of mind. One day he felt very sad and prayed to God to guide him. Upon this he received an inspiration to go to Goindwal and see the Guru of whom everybody was speaking. Full of devotion he arrived and had the happiness of beholding the object of his visit. He stood absorbed in thought for a short time, and then gave utterance to the following in the Guru's praise :—
By the Guru's divine knowledge and meditation man's soul is blended with God. He who with single mind fixeth his attention on God, shall know Him who is the truest of the true. His mind shall not fly or wander who restraineth his lust and wrath. He who dwelleth in God's land and obeyeth His order shall obtain wisdom. He who hath done good works in this age shall know God. If a Guru be found he willingly and cheerfully granteth a sight of Him.
I have continued searching for a saint and seen many holy men—Sanyasis, ascetics, and sweet-voiced pandits—I have roamed for a year, but none of them hath satisfied me. I heard what they had to say, but I was not pleased with their conduct. What shall I say of the merits of those who renouncing God's name attach themselves to mammon? God hath caused me to meet the Guru; as Thou, O God, keepest me, so I abide.[6]
Hearing Bhikha's words the Guru put his hand on his forehead in token of accepting him as a disciple, gave him the true Name, and made him happy. Having found the true Guru, Bhikha returned to his native town and abode there. Keeping the Guru's image in his heart, he applied himself to meditation and contemplation. As the result of his devotion his name is recorded in the honoured roll of holy Sikhs, and his verses have been distinguished by inclusion in their sacred book.
- ↑ By this the Guru meant that his Sikhs should not follow the example of the Hindus who go on idolatrous pilgrimages in Baisakh, Magh, and at the Diwali, or feast of lights, in autumn, but that they should attend on him three times a year for religious instruction and God's worship.
- ↑ Supplementary sloks of the Granth Sahib.
- ↑ Kabir's sloks.
- ↑ Gūjari.
- ↑ Hindu women dig holes near tanks for the benefit of their ancestors. Others drawing forth mud from tanks worship unseen spirits under the name of Bibaris, who are supposed to control children's diseases.
- ↑ Bards' Sawaiyas.