The Sikhs who are engrossed in the Simran of Sri Satguru ji, I bow to their feet with great devotion.
Sri Bala Sandhur Vaach..
Oh Sri Guru Angad Dev ji, listen on, oh Home of Virtues. Guru Nanak Dev ji travelled on. We saw a field on the way that had ripe chanas. Bhai Mardana ji was intrigued and said: “there are a lot of chanas in this field. I wish to eat them. Please give me permission so I can pull some plants. I will light a fire and cook them.” Guru ji laughed and sat down near the field. There was a child keeping guard of the fields. He did the Darshan of Guru ji. His heart became pure. The child did such an act: he pulled some plants of chanas and cooked them, lighting a fire. He presented them in front of Guru ji and sat down with love. Guru ji laughed and said: “here Mardana! You wished to eat them. You can have them now.” Bhai Mardana ji obeyed and ate the chanas. He finished them all as they were delicious. The child thought to himself: “I should bring food for these Sadhoos. The saints must be hungry. I will bring the food.” As he was about to go home, the Prabhoo asked: “where are you going oh child?” The child folded his hands and said: “I am going home to bring you food. You are a saint who has given me joy. When you eat the food I bring, I will be blessed.” Seeing the pure love in the heart of the child, Guru ji said:
You gave us a great seat to sit on of grass, it is our comforter; your love is our Pakvaan.
Nanak is satiated with the glories of Prabhoo; come to me oh Sultan.
(Sri Nanak Prakash Granth)
Guru ji blessed the child with a kingdom. Guru ji travelled on. The child remained on guard of the fields. Listen to the child’s story: in the city he lived in, the Raja had no heir. He died on the same day the child met us. The people of the area were worried without a king and heir. The ministers gathered with the public and said: “if we take the royal seat, we will go to Hell. The king had no heir. He had no son or brother whom we can give the royal seat to. Whoever the Kartaar gives the seat to, we will make him the king. Let’s close 3 of the gates of the city. At Amritvela we will go to the fourth gate. Whoever we see first, we will seat them on the Royal Throne.” Everyone agreed to this. The child stayed in his fields all night. In the morning, he came home. He had to enter the main gate of the city. Everyone met the fortunate child. The people took the child and gave him a bath. They made the child the king of the whole kingdom and wealth. The word of the Guru gave him the kingdom. He became a king right away. This was the history of the child.
I will now say the Katha of the Guru with eagerness. As we travelled on, we met a merchant. Sri Guru ji spoke to the merchant: “what have you tied to your back?” The merchant said: “I have salt, cotton and oil. I travel the villages to make a living. I sell them and live off of the profit.” Guru ji spoke to bless the merchant: “open your bag and show me.” The merchant took his bag off of his shoulder and opened up the knot. He had rocks to weigh the stuff. Sri Prabhoo ji picked up the rocks and asked: “tell me their name, oh merchant.” The merchant said: “5 Ser, 2 Ser and 1 Ser. The one in your hand is called pao.” Guru ji said: “this pao is Dhan, whose name is short. It is worthy of being worshipped. Listen Mardana: this rock is great.” The merchant heard these words and realised that he was the complete saint. He renounced his sense of self and came to Guru ji’s shelter. His desires and vices were destroyed. His head remained on Guru ji’s feet and did not get up. Guru ji saw the man’s humility and placed his hand on his head. The merchant’s doors of doubt and Karma opened up right away. He saw the amazing self and became great. Gyaan illuminated and the doubts were all destroyed. He had knowledge of what was happening in the 3 Loks. He could see everything. This was the history of the merchant. He received Gyaan all of a sudden by Guru ji’s hand.”
Sri Guru Angad Dev ji spoke: “oh Bala, tell me the whole history of the merchant. He received the Brahmgyaan so quickly. He did not do the Seva nor did he do the practice of the Shabad. He became a Gyaani with bliss.”
Bhai Bala ji spoke:
Listen Sri Guru Angad Dev ji, oh beloved of Guru Nanak Dev ji, I asked the Prabhoo about this and the Prabhoo said to me: “the past Karmas of his past lives were great. He did a lot of Simran in the Satsangat from his past lives. His tasks were already completed. He just needed to meet a Brahmgyaani once. Just as a Deeva has a wick and ghee, it just needs a spark to light. The wick lights and we have light. Look at the merchant: the fortunate one had the Gyaan and just needed my words.” Guru Angad Dev ji was happy to hear this Katha.
Bhai Bala ji spoke:
Sri Guru Angad Dev ji, listen to the Katha ahead. The merchant was blessed. We travelled on. We came to some ruins. There were no homes for many Kos. We did not see any human. Bhai Mardana ji was surprised and said: “Sri Prabhoo ji, this jungle is huge. It is scary. I can’t see any other human.” Guru ji said: “don’t see this as ruins. This is a beautiful and huge city. Where the Simran of Satnam happens, that is a great place. Where the Parmeshwar is not remembered, that place is a jungle, even though there are big houses there. Where the Naam is not, there is never joy there. Where the Prabhoo’s glories are not sung, they are not cities. Sidhs, Sadhoos, Jogis, Jattis, and Tappis wish for the Naam. They renounce the pleasures of the world and leave their homes. They come to these jungles.” The love overflowed from Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji’s heart. His body was made of Bhagti. Guru ji sung the Raag Asa and uttered a Shabad, composing it:
Asa Ghar 4 Mahalla 1..
Ik Oankaar Satgur Prasaad..
The Devatas, yearning for the Lord's Darshan, suffered through pain, hunger and made pilgrimages to the Teeraths.
The yogis and the Jattis (celibates) lived their disciplined lifestyles, wearing saffron robes. ||1||
For Your sake, O Lord Master, they are drenched in the colour of your love. Your Names are so many, and Your Forms are endless. No one can speak of how many Glorious Virtues You have. ||1||Rahao||
Leaving behind hearth and home, palaces, elephants, horses and native lands, many have journeyed to foreign lands (to do Tapp).
The Peers, prophets, seers and men of faith renounced the world, and became acceptable in your realm. ||2||
Renouncing tasty delicacies, comforts, happiness and pleasures, some have abandoned their clothes and wore leathers/animal skins.
Those who suffer in pain, drenched with Your Name, have become Dervishes at Your Door. ||3||
Some wear skins, and carry begging bowls, bearing wooden staffs, and sitting on deer skins. Others raised their hair in Bodies and wore sacred threads and Dhotis (loin-cloths).
You are the Lord Master; I am just Your puppet. Prays Nanak, what is the social status who have become One with you? ||4||1||33||
(SGGS 358)
When Sri Guru ji sung this Shabad, Bhai Mardana ji became quiet. When we came out of the ruins of the jungle, we saw a village. The homes belonged to thieves. They would kill people and take their money away. To give them wisdom, The Home of Blessings entered the village. The Master started a drama. There was love in Guru ji’s heart. He wanted to save them. He made me into a 16-year-old person. He put beautiful clothes and golden jewellery on my body. Guru ji made golden bracelets appear on his wrists and wore white clothes. Bhai Mardana ji remained the Doom. It was as though we were going to get the Muklava (bringing the bride home for the first time since the marriage in childhood). Guru ji pretended to be the father and I was the groom. Bhai Mardana ji was to be our Doom Miraashi. We went to one of the homes of the thieves. Guru ji wanted to destroy their sins. The thieves were really happy to see our jewellery. The owner of the home welcomed us with respect: “come and stay in our home. I will take your fatigue away. I will serve you as you wish. I will massage your feet and make you rested.” Guru ji went to the thief’s home. The other thieves came to his home as well. The others were called to his home. The thieves spoke: “these people have radiant foreheads. They seem to be rich. They are going to get the Muklava. We should rob them and hide their money. We will divide the money in the morning.” The thieves all went to their homes.
It was night time. Everyone ate and went to sleep. Nobody woke up at night. The Prabhoo put everyone into a deep sleep. Everyone slept the whole night. In the morning, nobody woke up. They were like they were dead. The sun came up and Guru Nanak Dev ji got ready to go. He left the thieves sleeping. When the thieves woke up, they regretted it. They got together and came to the thief’s home where Guru ji stayed. They said: “show us the money that you acquired from the travellers. Let’s divide the wealth among us.” The owner of the home was shocked. He said: “I had no idea when the night was over. I remained asleep all night long.” The other thieves did not believe him. They fought with him and swore at him: “we know you got a hold of a lot of money. You are greedy and hiding the money. We won’t let it go. You can make all the excuses you want. You’ve taken your cut when we have robbed someone before. Why are you sitting quietly now? Take the money out and show us.” He swore upon his Peer. Everyone then believed him. They said: “which way did those people go?” Everyone began to analyze the 4 directions of the village, looking for footprints. When they found the footprints, 4 of the strongest thieves said: “we will go and grab them.”
The 4 thieves met us after 5 Kos. One of them yelled out to us: “where are you going? Stay there! You have robbed my home. We won’t leave you alive. We will kill you. Give us all the money you stole from us.” Sri Guru ji heard the young thief and stayed standing. He didn’t move. Guru ji said: “what are you saying?” One of the other thieves said: “give us all your money. We will kill you right here! You cheated us last night and were saved. We won’t let you go in one piece. This is our way. We first kill and then rob a person.” Guru ji said: “if you are here to kill us, then listen to what I have to say. Do it as I say. Our bodies are born of Hindus. If you want to kill us, don’t leave us here. I want you to cremate us with fire. You can then take our money and go home. We can’t run away from you. You came with your weapons.” The Darshan of Guru ji plus the words of Guru ji; some compassion came to the hearts of the thieves. They agreed to Guru ji’s demand. They said: “we will cremate your bodies with fire. How should we do it though because there is no fire here? If we leave you alive, you will then report us and get us arrested.” The Light of the Bedis spoke: “look in that direction. There is smoke there. Go and get the fire first. You can then kill us and rob us afterwards. Two of you should go first. Two of you can stay here and keep a watch on us.” To give joy to the thieves, Guru ji said these words. The thieves obeyed and did what was told to them.
Where the smoke was coming from, 2 of the thieves went there. The other 2 sat with us with their weapons unsheathed. They wanted to kill us. The 2 that went to get fire, they saw a person being beaten up and taken to be killed. The person was tied up and being beaten up. The person was in pain. The thieves ran, seeing a burning pyre. They took out the fire with their hands. They headed back to where Guru ji was. As they turned back, they saw the same person that was tied up. He was now sitting in a palanquin. There were people singing Raags in front of him. They were really shocked to see this. They couldn’t resist not asking. They wondered why the person was in pain first and now travelling in joy. They thought about this and came to one of the people: “who is this person in the palanquin? You were torturing him before.” The messengers said: “this was a sinner. We were giving him his punishment. When Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji saw the smoke coming from his pyre, the person became pure. He was released from our hold and received joy. Whatever sins he had done, not one remains now.” The thieves said: “who is this Nanak? Tell us.” The messengers (of Dharmaraj) said: “the one that is with you, whom you want to loot and kill; that is Guru Nanak Dev ji.” The thieves were surprised to hear this. They said: “we are damned.” The both of them ran to Guru Nanak Dev ji and grabbed his feet. They spoke with humility: “you are the destroyer of pain.” Guru ji showed them the drama and gave the thieves devotion. The thieves were stopped from doing sins. Guru ji was the greatest. The whole story was told to them. The 4 thieves grabbed the feet of Guru Nanak Dev ji. They said: “our way of life is bad. We kill people without thinking. You are the omnipotent saint who gives joy. You stayed with us and didn’t show us your power. Forgive our grave sins. Sadhoos are generous. Sri Prabhoo ji, come back to our homes. We all request you to come. We are filled with many sins. We spend day and night in violence.” When they became humble, Guru ji came back to their village. The thieves brought Guru ji to the village and told all of their people of what happened. They seated Guru ji in a beautiful place. They placed gifts in front of Guru ji and bowed to him. They praised Guru ji over and over again: “give us wisdom that will bless us. We are all sinners. We now understand all this after we got your Darshan.” Guru ji heard the request and spoke words to give joy and Mukti: “let go of your bad ways of making a living. Start the good way of farming. Whatever money that you have in your home, it is of sins. Give it all to the poor people. Earn the money with your own hands. Earn with eagerness. Donate the profit. Make a Dharamsala. Feed the visitors and poor. Do the Simran of the Satnam. This Mantra will wash your sins away. Work during the day. In the evening, meet at the Dharamsala. Sit there and sing the glories of Prabhoo. In the morning, get up and focus on the Naam. Serve the saints and visitors. Have Prema Bhagti in your heart. Earn this wisdom forever. You will be saved. Joy will come to you.” They all obeyed the words of Guru ji. The thieves gave their money away to the poor. They started to farm. They let go of their thefts. They made a Dharamsala and became deserving of Prema Bhagti. They did the Simran of Vahiguru Naam. They followed the traditions of Sikhi. Guru ji stayed there for some time and had everyone practice Prema Bhagti. He washed all of their sins away. The good Panth was started. Guru ji took leave from the place. He travelled on. He saved many sinners. I am a sacrifice unto the Darshan of such a Satguru.