Time went on passing, the breeze went on blowing, giving comfort to mankind, the clouds went on raining, providing water to the mankind and helping in growing vegetables and fruits.
Similarly, Guru Nanak went on traveling, blessing people, giving the Lord's name to everyone and awakening the sleeping souls.
In this way, engrossed in the love of the Lord, he came homewards but he did not stay at home. He kept moving, blessing people with the Lord's name.
He traveled near the banks of river Chenab and, then, the river Ravi. Moving ahead he came to Pakpattan. He selected a place on the outskirts of the town and stayed there.
See, the changing times. This town Pakpattan was once a Hindu pilgrimage center and abode for the sadhus. Then, it became a sacred place of Buddhists. In those old days its name was Ajodhan. In 1231 (Old Indian calendar) Saint Farid was born and he settled here. Since he settled here, his followers named the town as Pakpattan. Since then, it is called Pakpattan.
As per the custom, when a saint died, one of his staunch followers, occupied his seat. In this way, on the 11th or 12th seat sat Sheikh Ibrahim alias Sheikh Braham alias Farid Sani alias Farid Sal as alias Bal Raja.
At the time, when Guru Nanak visited Pakpattan, this Sheikh Braham occupied the seat. The poetry written by Sheikh Farid is included in the Holy Scripture. When the Guru came, he selected a place that was about 2 or 3 kilometers from the town on its outskirts. The Guru stayed here. It became a blossom in the forest.
One day, it was daytime and the hymns were being sung. At this time one follower of the Sheikh, whose name was Kamaal, was collecting wood for the Sheikh's house. When he listened to the sweet music, he was delighted and he got attracted to it. At that time, Mardana was singing the following lines:
'You are all, board, pen and verse, O Lord,
Says Nanak, you are One, no second, O Lord'
The divine song and the music enthralled him. Then, he thought he might as well understand the meaning of the verse properly. So, he came near and said: Please, if you can ask the musician to sing these lines again.
Then, the Guru said: Mardana, you sing the lines again.
Mardana then repeated the lines a number of times and Kamaal remembered the lines by heart.
Then, he made a bundle of the wooden logs that he had collected, put them on his head and went back. When he reached the Sheikh's house, he greeted the saint and said: O saint, today I have met a Lord-loving person. But he says, Lord is 'One'. He doesn't say two (Lord and prophet). He says, Lord is 'One'.
Then, the saint said: You tell, what you have listened.
Then Kamaal narrated the lines that he had remembered by heart.
On listening the name Nanak, Sheikh Braham felt a sensation. He said. The same Nanak, dyed in the love of the Lord, an angel figure, who is the Lord's image, who gave the name nectar and got me relieved from the penances and austerities.
He felt gratitude in his mind. But he was a Mohammedan. The fear of the Muslim religious practices and the Mohammedan priests haunted him as also the pride of sitting on the seat of Sheikh Farid was always there. His mind wavered in these thoughts. But his inner mind got a profuse desire to meet the Guru, and in that thinking he said: O Child, are you sure that he is Nanak himself?
Then Kamaal said: Sir, there was a magical pull and I went into a trance. How do I know who he is?
Then, the Sheikh understood that he is Nanak himself only. He said: O Child, do you understand the meaning of this verse? Kamaal said: Sir, you understand everything.
Then, Sheikh said: O Child, I have already met him whose verse is this. He is a prophet sent by the Lord. You take me to him. He talks about the Lord only.
Then, Sheikh accompanied by Kamaal went in a palanquin about 2 or 3 kilometers and greeted the Guru with respect. The Guru got up, embraced him and made him sit next to him. He asked regarding the Sheikh's welfare and then more conversation started.
Sheikh: Kamaal has narrated to me your verse that He is the board, He is the pen, He is the verse, He is the writer. He is just One, Hindus say, 'He is for us', Mohammedans say, 'He is for us'. You tell, for whom is He and for whom He is not?
Then, the Guru said: O Sheikh, He is 'One'. He loves all, whether he is a Hindu or Mohammedan. Anybody who says, He is more than one, you ignore him. Dear Sheikh, He is one. One beloved. He is omnipresent.
'You are One, O Lord. You are One, O Lord'. Saying this, he got immersed in the love of the Lord. Even the Sheikh got ecstasy.
Then, the Sheikh got a craving. He thought: What is the use of sitting on the seat of a saint? The real thing is meeting the Lord. How can I remain immersed in His love all twenty-four hours of the day?
Then, he said: O Nanak, What dress should I wear, by wearing which I can meet the Lord?
The Guru said: O Sheikh, the Lord is inside us but we, who are craving, are outside in forgetfulness. If we remove this forgetfulness and remain in remembrance then it doesn't take long to meet Him. But one should be honest about it.
Sheikh: The young age goes, one becomes old, death is on the head, even in the coffin the soul will cry: 'O, I could not meet the beloved. I could not'.
Guru (heaved a long sigh in ecstasy and longing): Dear Sheikh, we are ugly. We are enticed in bodily passions. Our mind is evil and dirty. We have all vices in us. If we imbibe good qualities in us, then we can hope that the Lord will come and meet us.
Sheikh (with tears in his eyes): What are the qualities that I should imbibe in myself? Which are the words that I should speak to please my beloved?
Which are the beads and which is the chanting, which is the dress that I should wear, so that he is enchanted.
Guru Nanak: "To renounce the pride of the mind and to walk with humility". These are the words. "Not getting angry on somebody's rudeness, not getting upset on pain and suffering, to accept whatever the Lord does as good". These are the qualities and beads.
"The tongue should be a chain. It should chant the Lord's name". These are the habits. These will be fruitful only when there is a craving and longing for the Lord.
On listening to the Guru, the Sheikh's heart melted. Those who are in spiritual quest are always looking to their shortcomings with earnestness.
In this thinking, he said: Please Guru Nanak, you give me a scalpel, a knife, that I may kill my ego. For killing animals, the knife is of steel. For killing humans the knife is of steel. But if there is any knife for killing the ego, you tell.
On listening to this, the Guru showered love and graciousness. There was a dazzle on his forehead. In a firm tone he said: 'Lord's name' is a metal that is stronger than iron or steel. When it settles in the mind then it has strength and force. A knife is made from this metal. Its handle also is not made from wood, stone or ivory. The entire knife is made from this metal.
This cannot be made by the method of putting it in hot furnace and giving blows of a hammer. The furnace where it has to be heated is imbibing
'good qualities' in one's self, and the blow of hammer is 'the toleration of sufferings that may come while treading on the spiritual path'.
Then this is not sharpened on the grinding wheel. It is sharpened with the 'Lord's name'. When this knife is ready, it is kept in a sheath. The sheath is not of leather but of kindness and generosity. When somebody is killed with this knife, then he becomes a real Sheikh (Saint).
As it is, people, out of respect for an elderly person, call him as Sheikh. You know it is a name for a spiritual leader.
The real Sheikh is he who has this knife and has used it to kill his ego.
Because, the moment this knife cuts, the blood of desires, all goes out. The greed to 'grab, grab', 'everything should be mine' goes away. When the greed is gone, then all vices are gone, because this greed only, is responsible for telling lies and deceiving people. The person who is cut with this knife is really cut because all vices are gone. Then, he really understands what is good and what is bad, and what is truth.
In this way, he knows the truth and imbibes the truth. The truth is the Lord.
So, first he understands what is good and what is bad. Then he becomes good. From this human goodness and through the Lord's name he reaches the Lord. He reaches the Lord's palace. Then he gets immersed in the love of the Lord. The ego of the mind, that is a veil between our inner self and the
Lord is cut with this knife.
Listening to all this, the Sheikh went into ecstasy. He could not stop himself from praising the Guru.
He said: O Guru you are the image of the Lord. You are the beloved of the Lord. It is Lord's benevolence that He has sent you. Dear Nanak, is it a disrespect to ask anything from a Lord's beloved?
The Guru understood that the Sheikh wants to ask something.
So, he said: You may ask.
Then the Sheikh said: While sitting on a religious seat many people come and bother you. How should one deal with them?
Then the Guru said: Most of the people who come to the saints come for their selfish gains, to get some supernatural things done. There are very few who are seekers of the Lord.
The passionate wants a beauty. The hungry wants food delicacies. The greedy wants money. The sleepy wants a comfortable bed and quilt. The angry is burning his mind with harsh words. The poor just talk nonsense.
So, Sheikh, one has to preach to do goodness, but one should avoid meeting the passionate, the hungry, the greedy, the sleepy, the angry and the people who talk nonsense. The smell of vices comes from them. And the Lord's name is sacredness. The holy congregation is for those who are seekers of the Lord's name, and who love the Lord's name.
Then the Sheikh fell at the Guru's feet and said: O great Guru Nanak, O great Gum Nanak, you have put me on the true path of love of the Lord. Today, I have understood the true path. You have awakened me today.
I have met a prophet today.
It appears, the Guru stayed in the forest for some days.
In the biography it is mentioned that the Sheikh said: Come to my house.
But the Guru preferred to stay in the forest.
The Sheikh used to come to meet the Guru quite often and the divine music was sung there daily.
One day, the Sheikh said: O Beloved of the Lord, you say that Lord is 'One'. You tell something about the Lord. How He created this world? If He was 'One' and is 'One', then how did He create this world that is separate? If He is 'One', then how this world is separate.
Guru: O Sheikh, He is 'One'. He is all in all. He is and He always will be.
You are asking, How is He and what is He? This is beyond words. It is His wish, will and command. He is the Supreme soul. As He cannot be explained in words, similarly, His command cannot be explained in words. According to His own pleasure and wish, He has created this world, the seen world and the unseen world. Then He has created His name. His Name is not separate from Him. The Name touches the separate world.
Then, He has created nature. This is not separate from Him, but it is His creation. It is not uncontrolled and unrestrained. And He has not made it separate. He sits in it as sitting on a throne. The throne is that of strength, power.
In this way, He is 'One'. He was 'One' before the creation of this world and He is 'One' after creation of this world. He is separate from the creation and also pervading and omnipresent in the creation. He was always on the throne of strength and power and so is He now. He is all ecstasy, happiness embodied.
Then, even after creating, He looks after His creation. He is the savior. He gives nourishment to all and then He is all happiness embodied.
Then He has created humans in this world. He gave the brain. He gave them freedom to select and do work. Then He gave them religion and the mind to analyze the good and bad.
Those who love the Lord, reach the Lord. Those who love passions have become lost gamblers.
He gave the Name that is His form. He reveals Himself in His name. So, those who remember and recite His name reach him. But those who remain in forgerfulness of His name and love the worldly passions and desires, when they will die and their souls go to his court where the good deeds and His name is respected, they will not get a place to stay. Nobody will let them stay there. They will be asked to get out. Then they will realize: Oh! We were blind. We wasted our entire lifetime.
Sheikh: Then according to our faith those souls are lost forever. They will always remain in hell.
Guru: This human body lives in this world for counted days. May be hundred years. The deeds done are countable. So, the penalty cannot be for always.
It is the Lord's nature that when one makes a mistake, he gets suffering.
The suffering becomes a teacher for not doing mistakes in future because the man has a mind. It is not like the mind of animals that goes on one track only. The human mind can think. When sufferings come, then a realization
also comes: How to save one's self from the sufferings?
Then the persons who are suffering also try to find out persons who can be guides for removal of these sufferings and the Lord also sends His emissaries to guide the people.
In this way, people come to know that the Lord's name is the medicine and cure for all the sufferings. The Lord is the savior and He gives nourishment to all. For the seekers of true happiness, He sends godly souls. The godly souls put the people on the true path of 'recitation of the Lord's name with love'.
When one is treading on the true path of 'recitation of the Lord's name with love', then, when the Name gets into the mind and body, the ego goes. This ego is the veil between our inner self and the Lord. The veil goes and one meets the Lord and all sufferings go.
One thing is, 'speaking the truth9. Beyond this 'speaking the truth' is 'All Truth' i.e. 'The Lord'.
So, dear Sheikh, this is the Lord's benevolence and justice that the result of bad deeds is not absolute penalty. The sufferings from bad deeds are a medicine and with the Lord's name the influence of bad deeds is washed.
So, the Lord's name is the salvation. It saves you from the hell. He is the redeemer of sinners. In this way the sins are redeemed.
Another good deed is charity. One should earn and spend but one should also give. But it should be without ego. It should be in the name of the Lord.
If people say, 'You are not doing goodness', even then you should be happy.
One should think the body as perishable. So, the more the goodness one can do in this life, the better.
But dear Sheikh, only the Guru can put you on the true path. Guru is the godly soul. When you keep company of the Guru, then the mind is diverted from the worldly desires and passions and attracted towards the Lord.
Then, with the love of the Lord, you are able to meet the Lord.
Then, those who get the holy company and do service in this world, they remain in contentment. They do not indulge in vices. Instead, they remember the Lord and sing His praises. They reach the Lord.
But the stupid people who do not follow the true path, their coming to this world is of no use.
But why blame anyone? The true path one knows only when one meets the Guru. And this is a benevolence of the Lord.
Those on whom the Lord is gracious, they only recite the Lord's name. I, therefore, pray to the Lord to bestow this graciousness to everyone. Sheikh: You are great.
Guru: Dear Sheikh, I am speaking all this on the command of the Lord. I am nothing. I am only a singer of his praises. I ask for the glimpse of those who are in His love. Those who love Him are His saints and they live by singing His praises, because this is the way to get immersed in His love.
Love and recitation is the path, so to say, 'recitation of the Lord's Name with love is the path9.
With the singing of His praises the mind blossoms and in exuberance treads on the path towards the Lord. But some people boast of going on the spiritual path without the practice of recitation or without good deeds. They are not respected in the Lord's court. So, while living in this world, we should keep company of those people whom the Lord loves. I pray for this only everyday. This is the absolutely proper thinking.
All this conversation was written as Asa-di-var.
Mardana sang this in the morning and the Sheikh listened, he would go into ecstasy and rapture. The Sheikh was much delighted in listening to the Asa-di-var in the morning every day.
He wished that the Guru should stay here for more time. But the Guru had to go to more places to bless more people. So, the Guru got ready to depart.
Then, the Sheikh got up and gave him a see-off with great respect. He said: O Nanak, you are the image of the Lord. You and the Lord are 'One and same'. Please be gracious that the Lord blesses me. The Guru said: Sheikh Braham, Lord will bless you. The Sheikh said: Please, you promise. Then, the Guru said: O.K. It is a promise.
Then, the Sheikh took leave and went away. The Guru also departed.
In this way, the Guru after making the saint understand his shortcomings in yoga practices and austerities blessed him with the Lord's name and put him on the true path of 'recitation of the Lord's name with love'.
The Guru had adopted a very good way in blessing the saints who had a lot of following. When one such saint was blessed then, if he had a following of ten thousand, then all his followers benefited.
Also, the pride and enmity with Hindus was a cause of suffering for the Hindus. The Guru blessed these saints with the love of the Lord and made
them renounce their ego. So that people should love each other and live in comfort.
The Sheikh was a seeker of the Lord. But generally, people who are occupying saintly seats do not want to tell their shortcomings to anyone out of pride and ego. To keep up their pride they would not bow to a family man.
So, credit goes to Sheikh Braham that he overcame his ego and said to Nanak, "Please give me a knife that I may kill my ego."
When he renounced his ego, then by the Guru's blessings the despair of many years was gone and he bowed to the Guru.
O GREAT GURU NANAK
In Guru Nanak Prakash is written: Then the Sheikh fell at the Guru's feet and became a Guru-disciple. All the days when the Guru was there, he paid respect to him every day.
The Guru's command to Sheikh Braham is repeated once again:
The true path is: 4 Recitation of the Lord's name with love'
Let us recite:
O Lord, O Lord, O Lord, O Lord,
Starting with at least five minutes a day.
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