Magnificent Guru Gobind sat in the audience hall when a disciple prayed.
Disciple: O true Guru! Saviour of the world! I have a prayer.
Beloved Guru: O disciple, say what you wish to say.
Disciple: The rosy month of November is over. Month of December has come. It is getting colder day by day. If you order, we may get some blankets and quilts.
Beloved Guru (looking towards the treasurer): Yes, go ahead.
Treasurer: Magnificent Guru! Your orders are welcome but money is required for this purpose. Guru's house is like a flowing river which is ever flowing. Your practice is money comes and goes. It is not like lakes where water remains stored and static. Here it flows like rivers, always fresh, always sweet But it flows when it comes from the peaks. If you command, it will come and the problem will be solved.
Beloved Guru: The Lord' gives and gives, the takers get tired. They eat for decades and decades.
Guard: Magnificent Guru! I want to make a prayer.
Magnificent Guru Gobind Singh (with a gracious look): Say.
Guard: One devotee wishes to offer two thousand rupees i.e. ten percent of his profits.
The devotee came forward and kept two bags each containing one thousand rupees and fell at the true Guru's feet.
Guru: Say if you have any more desire.
Disciple: We are always in desires. We are always beggars. You are always a giver. Your giving is abundant. I beg for your grace that my mind becomes satiated.
Guru: Your eyes show desires but your tongue asks for desireless-ness. Disciple (bent his head down): You are right, O Magnificent! I am full of
sins.
Guru: Are you my devotee? Disciple: Now, I am your devotee. Guru: Earlier, whom were you devoted to? Disciple: Previously I was devoted to the saint of Nigaha. Guru: Then how have you reached here. Disciple: To offer you one tenth of my profit. Guru: One tenth should go to whomsoever you were devoted to. Disciple: Magnificent Guru! It is with your grace that my desire has been fulfilled.
Guru: If a cow damages a field and somebody drives it away, then the crop still belongs to the owner of the field and not to somebody who has driven the cow away.
Disciple: Magnificent Guru Land is yours. Field is yours. Crop is yours. Cow is yours. You are the trader. You are the savior. Magnificent Guru! I belong to Multan. I am a trader. I was a devotee of the saint of Nagaha. Although I am a Hindu but I worshipped the saint of Nagaha. O Magnificent Guru! I adore you! I went to foreign lands to sell my goods. Goods worth sixty thousand rupees got stuck up unsold. I tried my best to sell but could not. I prayed to the saint of Nagaha but nothing happened. Then I enquired from people: Is there any real saint in these days. Then I was told that real saint is Guru Nanak and you are occupying the auspicious seat at present. Although it was for my selfish need but my mind confessed faith in you as my Guru and I prayed to you. You listened to my prayer and bestowed grace. The goods were sold.
Then I calculated one tenth of my profit that I have put at your feet. Please accept this humble offering. I am your disciple now and now you bless me that I become more devoted to you.
Guru: The saint of Nagaha was blessed by Guru Nanak. He was devoted to Guru Nanak. His followers however have adopted Muslim ways of religion. They are treading on their own path. They are not treading on the path of 'Love of the Lord5 that Guru Nanak had preached. Instead they are going on their own Muslim style. They are putting people on the wrong path in
forgetfulness of the Lord. They have become partners with the Muslim rulers. The Muslim rulers have become tyrants. The people are suffering. I have to allay the suffering of the world.
Disciple: Magnificent Guru! O true benevolent Guru! I have altogether left that door and come to the door of Guru Nanak. I have already become yours. Give me refuge. Bless me with the Lord's name and make me 'Ideal man5.
Guru: To become 'Ideal man5 is difficult. You shall have to keep hair unshorn, drink the sacred nectar and you have to remain steadfast on Lord's name. It is a bit difficult, you better think over.
Disciple: My thinking is valueless. You have to bless me with the Lord's name. Unshorn hair is your blessing. It shall be your grace to give me a sword. Whatever you will give, maybe fan, broom, pitcher, bow and arrows, I am your servant. Whatever you bless, you give me the strength to serve you. I have no strength of my own.
Guru: Once you become an 'Ideal man', then it is not proper to lower your prestige. O dear, to remain detached is very difficult. It is love that can make you detached from wealth. To be detached from wealth is a sign of love. It is easy to give away wealth but to remain steadfast in faith of the Lord is not that easy. Faith in the lord is in the mind. When time comes then one detaches one's self from wealth. But to detach one's mind from desires and attach to the Lord is a bit difficult. To remain steadfastly attached to the Lord is a bit difficult.
Disciple (tears filled eyes): It is true but attachment to Lord is your Grace. Guru: Attachment to Lord is a fragrance that rids the mind from the illness of ego. Forgetfulness of Lord gives bad smell.
The disciples mind was filled with ecstasy that showered from the Guru's look. His eyes closed and he clamped the Guru's feet. His falling at the Guru's feet indicated that the moth does not speak but are ready to sacrifice themselves on the light.
Ill
The sacred-nectar is ready and full. Five 'Ideal men' are standing. On one side is standing the trader-disciple in white dress. He is reciting Waheguru, Waheguru, 0 Lord, 0 Lord.
Bhai Daya Singh asks him: You are going to drink the sacred nectar giving away life. Do you accept?
Disciple: Yes, with pleasure.
Daya Singh: It is living like dead in the worldly ocean of fire and living a new life attached to the Lord and in ecstasy.
Disciple: It is the Guru's grace. Name nectar is death from the worldly passions and life in the Spiritual town. You have to live in this world with mind attached to the Lord.
Disciple: It is the Guru's grace.
Daya Singh: Guru is the giver of the Lord's name. Guru is the giver of nectar. You have to live and feel the Guru as the support. You have to live with mind detached from the world and attached to the Guru and the Lord. You will get a new life by drinking this sacred nectar. You will become the true Guru's son. Your soul will awake. You will become an 'Ideal man'. Your mind should ever remain in the incessant recitation of the Lord's name. Your Super consciousness should remain tied to the Lord's feet. Rest is acceptance of Lord's will.
Disciple: It is the Guru's grace.
Daya Singh: This human life is an arena. The mind has to rise. One has to remain in' endeavour of the Lord's name and cross the worldly ocean of fire. At this time people are in suffering. It is time to be courageous and allay the suffering of the people even if one has to give one's life. This the Guru's preaching. Are you ready to sacrifice?
Disciple: All is Guru's grace.
Re drank the sacred nectar and became an 'Ideal man' .The trader became an Ideal man'. He. was named as Doola Singh of Multan. The disciple of the saint of Nagaha became an 'Ideal man'. He kept the sword. The mind wore the garland of the remembrance of the Lord's name. The body wore the sword that was to be a shield.
Then what became his occupation? He preached the Lord's name. He often came to meet the Guru and brought congregation from his hometown. He brought offerings from himself and from his companions. He brought disciples in thousands.
Ponder: In this story that was seen and written by Bhai Ram Kaur, one can see how high was the Guru's moral character? When the trader is the devotee of the saint of Nagaha and he has sought the Guru's help at one particular time, then the Guru does not consider that he is the rightful taker of the one tenth offering.
Even though money was required for making quilts at that time, still he was indifferent to accept the money. When the trader said that he does not
SRi KALGIDHAR CHAMATKAR (VOL-i)
have faith in the saint of Nagaha and I am yours now, even then he wanted to make sure that he is really serious to become a Guru-devotee.
That is why he was asked: Are you ready to sacrifice yourself for the sake of allaying the suffering of the people?
When the disciple agreed on everything, then only the Guru was satisfied that he is offering out of love and not for any monetary gain.
Then he accepted the offering and distributed it for making blankets and quilts for the devotees.
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