I bow the feet of Guru Amardas ji, that are like water for the fire of desires; they cut the pain of the servants.
In 1581 Vikram (1534 AD), living in the city of Lahore, born in the family of Luv (son of Sri Ram Chander ji) which is great and vast like the ocean, was born Ramdas ji, the Guru, the King. The whole city was happy all of a sudden and they didn’t know why. The coming of the light of Akaal Purakh was felt by all. It was like milk began to flow from the rivers. Slowly, he grew up to be a handsome and strong young man. He was fair-skinned, with sharp features as described in history. Baba Hardas ji, his father, called him over and said: “you need to work now, as your days to play are over.” Guru ji was very obedient to his parents. He agreed to their command. His mother boiled soaked black channas (black chick peas or gram seeds) and prepared them. She filled a bowl with them and gave them to her son and said: “go and sell these.” Guru Ramdas ji went to the market and began to sell them. He spoke out in a sweet voice to everyone to buy his channas. A saint was walking buy and came up to the young Ramdas ji and said “give me your channas. I don’t have any money though.” Guru ji gave him one bunch for free. The saint was still hungry and asked for more. He then ate another one. He was still hungry. Guru Ramdas ji then gave him all his channa bunches.
As he went home, his parents saw that there was no money that he made. They got mad at the 13-year-old Ramdas ji. Guru ji went outside of his home crying. This was in Choonamandi, Lahore. Sad and upset he walked a little way and came to the market. There, he saw a group of Sikhs doing Kirtan and travelling to Goindwal Sahib. As he heard the Gurbani, the young Ramdas ji’s heart was pulled towards the words of the Guru. Guru ji, now mesmerized, started to follow the group. He spent two days with the group, singing Gurbani and travelling. He had travelled 70 km and arrived in Goindwal, without being aware of where he was going. He didn’t realise he had left home. He wasn’t aware of his own body. The Sangat all came and bowed to Guru Amardas ji and spent for 4 days in Goindwal. Guru Ramdas ji did not leave though. He did whatever seva Guru ji or the Sikhs asked him to do. He would do seva in the Langar. He would do what the other sevadaars asked him to do. He had fallen in love with Gurbani and with Goindwal. He didn’t want to go back home. He began to live in Goindwal and did seva all day long.
Guru Amardas ji’s wife, Mata Mansa Devi ji, said to Guru ji: “Maharaj ji, listen to me. Our Bhani is now of age for marriage. We should find a good boy for her to get married to.” Guru ji heard her words and came to his window where he gave his darshan to the Sangat. Guru ji would hold on to a peg and do Simran. Guru ji called his family’s Purohit (in those times, Purohits would find marriage proposals) and said to him: “find a young boy for our Bhani, as she has now come of age.” The Purohit looked around and saw Guru Ramdas ji. Seeing the young boy, he said to Guru Amardas ji, as he pointed to the young Ramdas ji: “would a boy like him be good?” (In some historical texts, it says that Mata Mansa Devi ji had pointed out to Guru ji that she wanted a son-in-law like the young Ramdas ji) Guru ji said: “call this young boy to me.” The Purohit went over to and asked Guru Ramdas ji to come over to Guru Amardas ji. Ramdas ji came over and bowed to Guru ji. He was full of humility and sat down beside Guru Amardas ji, with his hands folded and his heart full of love and devotion. Guru Amardas ji said to him: “whose son are you and where are you from?” Ramdas ji said: “Prabhoo ji, I am from the Sodhi clan and I live in Lahore. My father is Hardas ji and my name is Ramdas.” Guru ji was happy to hear this and wrote a letter to Lahore right away. He called his parents and did the engagement in Goindwal. After some time, the marriage occurred there as well. Everyone was happy with the wedding. Guru Ramdas ji’s parents left (in some historical texts, it is written that the parents had died before this time and that it was Guru Ramdas ji’s maternal grandmother that raised him and attended the wedding) but Guru Ramdas ji stayed in Goindwal with Guru Amardas ji. (Guru Ramdas ji had a brother named Sahari Mal, whose son’s wedding Guru Arjan Dev ji attended). He stayed with his Guru and did seva all day long. He served Guru ji for 22 years, day and night. He did exactly as Guru ji would command. He did seva with happiness and love. In 1605 Vikram, was born the eldest son, Prithi Chand, the egotistical. Guru Ramdas ji and Mata Bhani ji were happy and raised him with love. After a few years, Baba Mahadev ji was born in 1608 Vikram. Then in 1610 Vikram, Vaisakh Vaddi 7 (7 days after full moon), Tuesday, at 2:30am, in the Nakshatra (constellation) of Rohini (Aldebaran), Sri Guru Arjan Dev ji, the moon of the family was born. His Avatar was a joyous one. He was raised in the house of his maternal grandfather, Guru Amardas ji. He was blessed with sitting and playing in the lap of Guru Amardas ji, as a baby. All the weddings of the three brothers took place in Goindwal. Prithi Chand was married to Bibi Karmo; Mahadev ji did not marry and Guru Arjan Dev ji was married to Mata Ganga ji.
Baba Mohan ji (son of Guru Amardas ji) had a son named Sans Ram ji; who scribed the Gurbani of Guru Amardas ji and Guru Ramdas ji; which came to be known as the Mohan Pothi. Baba Mohri ji (second son of Guru Amardas ji) had 3 sons: Baba Anand ji, Baba Arjani Mal ji and Baba Arth Mal ji. Guru Amardas ji was writing Anand Sahib when Baba Anand ji was born. He named his grandson “Anand” because he had just completed writing the Anand Bani. Baba Arth Mal ji and Guru Arjan Dev ji were very close. Baba Sundar ji was the son of Baba Anand ji. Baba Sundar ji wrote the Bani: Ramkali Sadh.
The Emperor Akbar had a minister named Birbal. Birbal was a clever Brahman. In the western mountains of Afghanistan, the people of that area, rebelled against Akbar. Birbal was sent to resolve the issue, taking an army of 20,000. Akbar was close to Birbal. Akbar always kept him close to him but to resolve the Afghanistan rebellion, Birbal went to fight with the Pathaans. He said: “I will defeat them all and get their tax.” Akbar was happy and said: “only you can do this. Nobody else is smarter than you.” He was given a great army with canons and Nagaras. Birbal saw his army and became proud of himself. He started to think he could win. Akbar said to him: “I will give you a proclamation saying: all of the Kshatriyas must pay you 1 Rajitpun per household.” Birbal had asked for that as he was not fond of Kshatriyas. He set off to Afghanistan after his preparations. He wanted to show the Kshatriyas that he was strong. He collected taxes along the way from the Kshatriyas. He collected from every household by finding all the Kshatriyas. He eventually arrived at the Beas and came to near Goindwal, crossing the river on boats. He set up camp in Goindwal. His men entered Goindwal to find the Kshatriyas. Birbal held court in his camp to receive the money. The Sikhs of the Guru got worried. They wondered where they would get a Rajitpun from. They went to Guru Amardas ji to ask. “Guru ji, what is your command? Should we give him money? He has a great army.” Guru ji said: “send two people to meet him and tell him that this is a saint’s village. You can have all the Langar you want but you won’t get any money here. We have no businesses here so there is no income. We have all the Langar you need of what Akaal Purakh Parmeshwar gives us. You will get as much Langar, for as long as you want. Your whole army will get Langar. The Langar won’t finish. Don’t ask for money. We will cook the Langar for you and send it. We don’t take or give money. This is the tradition of the Guru’s house.” The two people went to Birbal. Birbal was sitting on his seat with pride. The two men greeted Birbal and gave him Guru ji’s message: “this is the place of Guru Nanak ji’s throne. On his throne is now seated his third incarnation, Guru Amardas ji. He gives the sermon and wisdom of the Simran of Akaal Purakh, Satnam. There is no money here. There is no water or money saved here overnight. All of the pots and pans are emptied every night and turned upside-down. Poor people live here and Guru ji takes care of everyone. Have faith in your heart and come have Langar. The Langer will never finish.” Birbal heard the words of the two Sikhs and said: “I don’t know any saint. I have a command to receive 1 Rajitpun from every Khatri household. Bring your taxes to me tomorrow morning. Next year you will have to pay too. You can make all the excuses you want to but you will have to pay your tax. You may remain your Guru’s Sikhs but I don’t believe in him. Don’t tell me about your Guru. This is my duty: I need to collect this tax. Every Khatri of Hindustan must pay this tax.” The Sikhs were upset and came back to Guru ji and said: “Guru ji, he is too egotistical. He says he doesn’t care who our Guru is and will forcefully take money from us tomorrow morning. He has thousands of soldiers and weapons.” Guru Amardas ji smiled and said: “when a person receives a little power, he/she forgets Akaal Purakh. He is drunk on his own ego. He doesn’t think anyone is better than him. This happens because he hasn’t done any seva of a Guru. The person then sins. A person forgets that they will die one day. They don’t look at the big picture that this world is temporary. They think they will be ministers and kings forever. He should know that money won’t go with him when the Jumms (messengers of death) come and get him. You leave this world, empty-handed and naked. Until a person doesn’t stare at death and the Jumms in their face, a person does not believe that they will die. Some don’t understand when they grow old. A person stuck in the attachments of money, kids and pleasures, does not become wise.” The Sikhs then asked: “then what shall we do? He wants money in the morning. If we don’t pay him, he will destroy our village. He doesn’t know the glory of Guru Nanak Dev ji.” Guru Amardas ji said from his holy mouth, ever so casually: “have faith and don’t let your mind wander. Watch what Kartar does. When a fool is hit with a rod in their head, only then do they smarten up. Go and see what he has to say.”
The two Sikhs went back to Birbal. They sat at his gate. They saw Birbal talking to his servant. The servant asked: “the tax of this village hasn’t come yet. It is evening. What is your command. What shall we do?” Birbal replied: “don’t worry. It will come in the morning. We will take it forcefully and arrest them.” The Sikhs came back to Guru ji and said: “the morning will be bad.” Guru ji said: “don’t worry, He won’t be here in the morning.” In the meantime, Akbar sent a royal command: “don’t waste time. Go to Afghanistan, quickly. The rebellion is getting out of hand. There is a battle going on and looting is rapidly increasing. Our army over there needs help. Don’t stop anywhere now. Make great strides and go to fight the war. That’s why a great army was sent with you.” At night time, he had to mobilize the army and leave. He gave the orders to move out at night time. His Nagaras sounded in the early hours and the horses were saddled. Birbal got ready to leave and the servants asked him: “the people of the village didn’t bring their money yet. No Rajitpuns were received. You said we will collect in the morning. These Sikhs don’t care about you. They think they are big and don’t fear the Emperor. Their Guru doesn’t fear you either. Instead, they said, come and eat our food. They should have folded their hands and given you money. If they can have Langar, they should be able to give money. They don’t want to give money.” Birbal then responded with ego: “I need to go now quickly. I will see them when I come back. I will take ten times as much. I will see their Guru as well. (Birbal didn’t like the equality of castes) I will punish them all. They didn’t see my glory and they didn’t respect me. The Guru didn’t come to see me nor did he give me money.” He sent a person to give Guru ji his message. He rode away, along with his army. He had to go very far. To Suaat and Dheer he went in Afghanistan. The messenger came to Guru ji and said: “Guru ji, Birbal left in anger and said he will see you when he comes back. He said he will punish you and the Sikhs when he comes back. Guru ji, why did you become stubborn? You should have done what was right and give him the money. You should have met him with respect. He is a stubborn Brahmin. The emperor listens to him. You should have not caused this conflict. If he comes back and arrests everyone, what will we do?” Guru Amardas ji, the Master of the Universe spoke: “don’t worry. Birbal won’t come back to Hindustan. He will freeze in ice where he goes. He is egotistical and his life is in danger. He will die and won’t get a proper cremation. He opposed the house of the Guru and started a conflict. There can only be a bad result to a bad relation with the Guru’s house. His whole army will be destroyed along with his ego.” Guru ji then went quiet.
Birbal went to Afghanistan and fought 2 battles in Suaat and Dheer. As they set up camp, there came a great avalanche which killed Birbal and his whole army. Some died fighting and froze during the snow storm. Their hands and feet froze. The Pathaans sounded their Nagaras of victory. It was snowing and the whole army and Birbal got buried in the snow. The words of the Guru came to fruition. No Devata, demon or saint could ever reverse the words of Guru Amardas ji. Guru ji said he wouldn’t return, so it happened.