There was a Brahman named Kheda Soini, who was a devout worshipper of Mata Durga ji. He did a lot of pooja and was wise. He carried the knowledge of Devi all the time. Many people would come to him who were also Durga ji’s worshippers. He would take them all to a pilgrimage to Durga ji’s Mandir, twice a year. They would fast while they would do their worshipping. Kheda Soini followed a strict way of doing pooja. He did Simran of Durga all the time. Once, as he was going on a pilgrimage, there was a big crowd with him. As they travelled, they came upon Goindwal. Everyone decided to meet Guru Amardas ji. Kheda Soini told his people that he was going to see Guru ji and came to Chabarra Sahib. As he came close, the Sikhs stopped him and said: “Pandit ji, listen, first you must follow Guru ji’s command, then you may come and see Guru ji. You must first eat food in the Langar, then you may come see Guru ji. This is the tradition of the Guru. Go and eat Langar first.” Kheda heard this and started to think, as he only ate food made by himself: “how do I break my tradition and eat food made by someone else? I only eat food with purity and proper clean etiquette. The Guru’s Langar has all castes that come and eat. I don’t consider that hall as pure. The Guru does not believe in the traditions of the Varans and Ashrams. People reject their caste and then meet the Guru and become his Sikhs. How can I do that? Who is such a lover that only loves the Guru and renounces everything else? Following the tradition of the castes is a very fortunate thing. To be born in the house of Brahmins is a fortunate thing. I can’t let go of this. People already know I don’t eat like this. What would they say?” He kept his stubbornness and returned from the Chabarra Sahib, without meeting Guru ji. He took his group and headed towards the Mandir. Many people were with him that followed, saying “Jai Mata di.” They travelled about 6 km and camped to spend the night. They ate and then slept the night. At night time, Kheda saw a scary dream. Kalika with her Kaljognis came into his dream. Her tongue was out with blood everywhere. The Kaljognis were bouncing on his chest. Kheda folded his hands and said: “Mata, I am your Bhagat. Your Kaljognis are killing me. Protect me from them! Stop them, they are going to eat me. What did I do that was so wrong? You are showing me your scary form.” Kali Mata responded in his dream: “you are my Bhagat. That’s why I came to you in your dream. You did not meet the Satguru and are coming to me? He is the supreme. That is why I showed you my scary form. You are my bhagat. The reward of my Bhagti is that you get to meet the Satguru. I can’t give you mukti. Only the Satguru can give you mukti. You were supposed to meet the Satguru. If you don’t meet the Guru and come to me, you won’t get my Bhagti. Akaal Purakh took an Avatar to save the world. Akaal Purakh is sitting in human form in Goindwal. Thousands of people come and receive wisdom. The Satguru is revealing the path of Sikhi. He is the Parameshver Avatar. He is my master. The Avatar of Akaal Purakh is always hidden. Go back and get rid of all your doubts.” Kheda bowed in his dream. When he woke up, he was in shock.
In the morning, Kheda went back towards Goindwal. He now had faith and a deep desire to see Satguru ji. He went straight to the Langar Hall and had Langer. After eating, he went to go see Guru ji at the Chabarra. His good karma was coming to fruition. When he saw Guru ji, he was filled with love and bowed to Guru ji with humility. Satguru ji asked him: “oh Brahman, tell me, why have you come to see me?” Kheda told Satguru ji his whole story: “Satguru ji, I had doubts in my mind and didn’t eat Langar. I went back and continued on my pilgrimage to the Devi’s Mandir. In my dream, Devi Kalika came with a very scary form. The Devi told me about your true form, that’s why I came back to your feet. Please have mercy on me. The Devi had mercy on me and told me that there is no one greater than you. I saw the scariest form of the Devi but now I wish to see the Devi in her true form. I wish to see the form of the Devi which is the mother of all creation. I want to see if she is happy with me or not. This is the only wish I have. Until I don’t see her, my pain will not be gone. Please show me the form of Devi Bhagwati. You are the greatest of all, please bless me.” Guru ji heard him and smiled. He said to him: “I can show you her form, but you do not have the strength to see her true form. If she comes in front of you, you won’t be able to stand in front of her. Think about this first.” Kheda heard Guru ji and said: “please show me. The worst that can happen is that I will die. I don’t care. Whatever happens, happens.” Guru ji looked towards Bhai Bhalloo ji and said: “Bhalloo, hold his arm and take him to the Chabarra and show him the mother of all creation.” Bhai Bhalloo ji took Kheda to the Chabarra and took him inside. There was a bright light inside the Chabarra that felt like a million suns. He saw the awesome form of Chandi with swords, shields, and spears. He saw the Devi with the Ashtbhujja (8 arms- signifying 8 directions) in the Chabarra. With the first sight, he became unconscious. He trembled and fell to the ground. It was like he died. Bhai Bhalloo ji told Guru ji what happened. Guru ji said: “bring him to me.” Bhai Bhalloo ji brought Kheda Soini back and put him at Guru ji’s feet. Guru ji looked at him. He grabbed his chin and said: “get up.” It was as though he was resurrected. He opened his eyes and saw Guru Amardas ji. He had full faith in Guru ji now, as he had seen the form of Chandi, which many saints had not been able to see with thousands of years of Tapp. He folded his hands and fell to the Guru’s feet. He said: “Guru ji, make me your servant. Make me your Sikh. That’s the only wish I have now.” Guru ji was happy with him. He said: “you are my Sikh. You served the Devi your whole life. Now I will give you the Guru’s mantra. You will now know about the real form of yourself. You will be given the knowledge by which your Aatma will emerge into Akaal Purakh’s true form. You will understand Sikhi and teach others. You will do Simran of Satnam and also make others do this Simran as well.” In this way, Satguru ji gave him Brahmgyaan. He received all of the powers and the light of Naam was lit inside of him. He received bhugti and mukti. He gave the Naam to thousands of others and connected them to the Satguru. Whoever did Kheda’s Sangat, their pain from many births was washed away. They were not visited by the Jumms. He preached the Sikhi of Satguru ji and came back to Goindwal Sahib from time-to-time.
Whoever is blessed by Guru ji, they and their family cross this world ocean. Gonda Khatri came to Guru Angad Dev ji and was blessed. Goindwal was established by Guru Angad Dev ji’s instructions. Gonda Khatri stayed under Guru Amardas ji’s command. His end time came and he died. He had two sons that remained. They did not follow Guru Amardas ji’s way. They were egotistical about being the Chaudharys of the village: “we are the Chaudharys. All of the people of this village are under us. The whole village belongs to us. Whoever lives here, gives us taxes.” They thought: “Sri Guru ji lives here too but he does not give us taxes. A lot of money comes to them. We deserve a portion. Thousands come here everyday to eat Langar. That means they have money. We should take taxes from them. This is our Chaudry’s right. First, they had less money but now they have a lot of income with Sangat coming. People from every direction come.” Their mind turned to the worst. They did not know the glory of Guru ji, even though they lived right next to Guru ji. Just as the bamboo does not pick up the scent of sandalwood like any other plant, these fools did not pick up the great personality of Guru ji. Just as people who live close to the great Teeraths do not value the greatness of the place; they have no faith and do not bathe at the Teerath, so were the sons of Gonda. They are foolish and gathered sin. They go to the far “Teeraths,” seeing value, elsewhere. The fortunate ones with faith are only blessed. Gonda’s sons did not understand that Guru ji is the one that established the village by driving the ghosts away. The sons started a new conflict everyday. They were arrogant and foolish.
One day, the sons of Gonda came to Guru ji and sat down. They said: “you live in our village and we are the Sardaars. You should give us some Sardaari (taxes). Everyone else pays taxes and accepts our leadership. They give what they are supposed to. You have been living here for many years and gave us nothing. You should pay taxes as well. You receive many gifts from Sikhs around the world; you should give us a cut. When you first came here, you didn’t have much money. Now, you have a lot of Sikhs who bring you a lot of money. People from many lands come.” Guru ji, the giver of mukti, heard the fools speak and said to them in a casual way: “get up and go the Langar. Go and eat food as much as you want. The Sangat that comes from other lands also eat from the same Langar. You should eat too. The point of money is to eat food. Eat as much as you want here. Nobody will stop you from eating. Anyone who is hungry comes to eat there. Bring your family and your servants. The Sangat is my family, wealth and everything. The poor Sikhs are given subsistence here. Your father brought me here and never asked for any money. You have come to me with greed. I do not gather any money in my home. Food and wealth are not kept here for us to give you.” Gonda’s son said: “we are determined to take taxes. We don’t want anything else. Give us money as taxes. We only eat our own food. We will buy our own food from the market. You have no shortage as there is always a crowd here. A lot of money comes everyday from people who come from far away. They come and bow with faith. Kings come to you and bring expensive gifts and money. Give us our portion as well.” Guru Amardas ji understood that these Chaudharys were blind with greed. They wished for money. Guru ji said: “all you can get from the Guru is Langar. Let go of your greed. You won’t get any money. Why do you wish for money? You are arguing with me for money.” In this way the Chaudharys and Guru ji had an argument. They had bad intentions and the conflict escalated. They said: “we will go to Delhi and tell the Emperor that we want money. We will get a royal command.” Guru ji said: “you are happily free to do so. Don’t expect any money from me.”
The Marwaha Chaudharys went home and decided what to do next. They decided to go to Delhi. They went to meet Akbar, the Emperor, in Delhi. (In the court of complaints, the person who wished to complain had to wear a black coat to speak in the court. Because hundreds of other people wore the same coat, it was full of lice and dirt. Whoever wanted to complain, they had to be serious about their complaining) The fools presented their complaints and asked for justice. There was a Pathaan who was a Sikh in Akbar’s court. He told the Emperor that: “these people are talking about the same Guru Amardas ji who blessed you in winning the Chittorgarh fort.” The Pathaan clarified everything for Akbar. The Pathaan made the Chaudharys look like fools. As soon as Akbar figured out what was going on, he got mad at the Chaudharys and had them beaten up. They were pushed and shoved out of Delhi. The Chaudharys clothes were ripped and they ran back home. They were embarrassed as they came back home. They died after a few days. They died of a throat illness. They developed an illness in their throats for talking bad about the Guru. The whole world found out what happened and what they tried to do. Parmeshwar punished the sinners. Guru Ramdas ji is omniscient and the ocean of blessings. He was always doing Seva in the court of Guru Amardas ji. He wrote about the whole incident with the Marwaha Khatris, the sons of Gonda, in the Vaar of Gauri Raag. He wrote a Salok about the state of the Chaudharys.
Salok M: 4..
Filled with dirt and lice, the blue and black coat of the complainant, the deniers of the Guru’s greatness, put the coat on..
No one lets such people close to them as they came to slander the Guru; filled with filth, the manmukhs were filthier with filth in their hearts..
The slanderers were sent to slander the Guru, their faces were dirty with even more filth..
The whole world heard, my brother, the person along with his servant were beaten with shoes; with confusion, they came back home..
When they came home, they were not appreciated, sitting in the Sangat, nor in their family and relatives; they hid between their wives and nieces..
They talked bad about the Guru and so they lost in this world and in the next; their throats developed a sickness and could not eat anymore; they yelled in hunger and thirst as they could not eat nor drink..
The Karta Purakh master is always great who made the judge make the right decision..
Whoever slanders the complete Satguru, The true Lord punishes and destroys them..
The Creator who created the whole world, has said these words: (the slanderer of the Satguru is destroyed)..1..
(SGGS 306)
The sons of Gonda died. They only had one of their son’s surviving. The wife of Gonda realised her sons made a mistake and that their house was in trouble. She only had the one grandson and brought him to Guru ji. She begged Guru ji: “my foolish sons did not understand your greatness. It was your glory that gave us the leadership of this village. We flourished because of you. My sons sinned and lost everything when they fought with you. I only have this one child left. Oh giver of peace, please bless him and save him. Whatever my sons did, they were punished for it. We didn’t advise them well either. We are all ruined but please forgive us. I have come seeking your protection. Saints are here to bless everyone. Please bless the bad as well.” Prabhoo ji protected the child with his love and said: “the family will grow from this child.” The woman was happy and went back home. She told the child to be in the Guru’s faithful Sangat. She was a wise woman who had her family blessed.