Sri Arjan Dev ji was seated right beside Guru Ramdas ji with respect. Guru Ramdas ji had him sit right next to him. It was as though Gyaan and Bliss were sitting together. Prithi Chand came into the court and saw his brother sitting next to his father. He burned with jealousy inside at this sight and thought to himself: “why is he sitting so close to Pitha ji? Doesn’t he know how to respect him? Looks like he wants to be his equal. He is showing himself off to the Sikhs and trying to get their respect.” He was jealous and burning on the inside. He bowed to his father and sat down at a distance. Sri Arjan ji saw his older brother and folded his hands. He bowed to his brother from afar. Prithi Chand lifted his hand in a blessing manner towards his younger brother, superficially. Guru Ramdas ji looked towards Prithi Chand and said: “Prithi Chand, you are a smart person. You do all of the duties of the Guru’s house. Two letters were sent by Sri Arjan which had 2 Shabads of beautiful Gurbani written in them. They were sent through a Sikh, who gave them to you. He said you took them from him and they should be in your home right now. You didn’t show me those letters. Why did you hide them from me? Go and get those letters now. I want to see the Gurbani in those letters.” Prithi Chand heard Guru ji’s words and spoke with a deceptive nature: “what letters? Who sent them? I don’t know of any letters that he sent. What was I going to do with his letters by hiding them? What advantage would I have had? It’s just a piece of paper, 4 fingers wide. Was I to make a kite out of that piece of paper?” Guru Ramdas ji heard him and said: “if you have forgotten, try to remember. You may have been busy and forgot. It must be kept somewhere. Go and find them. You do all of the tasks here, nicely. How did you forget about these letters? Don’t lie. Let go of your deception.” Prithi Chand got really angry and shouted back: “this was no hoondi (promissory note used by banks of the time) that I needed to hide. If it would have been, I would have withdrawn the money. What were the letters going to give me? There was no calculation that I needed in those letters. It wasn’t a promissory note that I needed to keep. This Sikh may have lost the letters on the way and now he is scared. That’s why he is blaming me. If Arjan has composed two Shabads, which you wish to see, he is sitting right next to you, tell him to compose it again. There is nothing in the letter that would stop any work from happening. Ask him to write it again.” Guru ji saw Prithi Chand’s deceitful tactics and noticed he had no decency, whatsoever. There was a Sevadaar standing next to Guru ji. The omniscient Guru ji bent over and whispered into the Sikhs ear: “quickly go to Prithi Chand’s home, without letting him know, and say this to his wife Karmo: “Prithi Chand is done his bath and went straight to Guru ji. He has called for his “jamma” shirt as he doesn’t have time to pick it up.” Guru ji knew that the letters were in his “jamma” shirt and so he directed the Sikh to find it. The Sikh bowed to Guru ji and followed out his orders. Guru ji said to Prithi Chand again: “if there is nothing in the letters, then why are you not showing them to me? Why are you being stubborn? Try to remember where you put them. Don’t be stubborn about it.” Prithi Chand’s wisdom was compromised by his deceit. Guru ji asked him three times, giving him the chance to come clean about it, but Prithi Chand refused all three times. He said to Guru ji with anger: “you think I am lying. I swear by your feet that I have not seen the letters.” Prithi Chand did not see his father as omnipotent. He did not know the glory of the Guru, the Master of the Universe, in every realm. Prithi Chand was unfortunate, so how could he become great?
The Sikh reached Prithi Chand’s home and met Prithi Chand’s wife. She didn’t know what was going on. Karmo told her servant to bring her husband’s jamma. The Sikh folded the jamma and hid it under his shirt so no one would know what he was holding. He walked towards Guru ji’s court. When he reached the court, he gave the jamma to Guru ji. Guru ji then called for his other son, Mahadev. The Divaan was in session. All of the wise Sikhs were sitting in the Divaan. These Sikhs had no desires and their minds were still. They were looking towards Guru ji. Some were looking towards Prithi Chand. Guru ji spoke: “there is still time, Prithi Chand. Understand what I am saying. If you tell me where the letters are now, nothing will go wrong. If you don’t give them to me, no task of yours will be successful. You are being stubborn for no reason. This is a very small thing that you are being stubborn over. It’s not worth it. Why are you ruining it for yourself? Why are you not thinking properly?” The whole Sangat heard Guru ji’s words. Prithi Chand did not listen after being given so many chances. He spoke again with his twisted mind: “what will these letters prove? Was it a treasure that will make me rich or great? Would I have become a king with those Letters? Was I going to get unique or rare gems with those letters?” Guru Ramdas ji then said: “praises are not written in your fate. You are not deserving of becoming a king or receiving unique and rare gems.” Guru ji looked towards Baba Bhudda ji and the other Sikhs. He placed the jamma out and said to Prithi Chand: “look at this jamma carefully. Is this yours or not?” Prithi Chand looked at it and said: “yes, this is my jamma.” He forgot he kept the letters in it. He said: “who brought this here?” Guru ji said: “take the letters out of the pockets with your own hands.” Prithi Chand said: “I don’t know what’s in here. I didn’t put anything in here. Why would there be letters in here? I didn’t put them in here.” Guru ji said: “don’t waste time. Take the letters out.” Prithi Chand was now feeling embarrassed. Annoyingly, he reached into the pocket and took out the letters with other papers. He put everything in front of Guru ji. Guru ji looked at the pile of paper and took the two letters of Sri Arjan Dev ji out. The whole Sangat was shocked at the fact that Prithi Chand swore by Guru ji’s feet and the letters were revealed from his jamma. Guru ji held the letters in his hand and said: “Prithi Chand, tell me, was this the work of Gurmukhs? You look humble for the outside, but on the inside, you are a clever “meena” (word used to describe a clever two-faced person). You carried out your lie to the very end. You’re a bad person born in the Guru’s family. I disown you along with your generations. You will never be great. You will be slandered till the end of time. Everyone will talk bad about you. Your generations will never be respected. If they will be servants of the Sikhs, then they can be spoken to, otherwise they will not be a part of the Panth.” Guru ji spoke to Prithi Chand but he did not listen. (There was a king named Raja Jujaati once, who asked his eldest son, Jadoo to give him some of his age so he can do Bhagti. Jujaati was getting old and needed some time to do Bhagti. Jadoo refused to give his father some years of his life. The younger son, Kuroo, did give some of his years of his life to his father. Jujaati did his Bhagti and gave Kuroo the kingdom) Just as Raja Jujaati’s son did not listen to his father and lost his kingdom, that is what happened to Prithi Chand. Baba Bhudda ji then spoke in a wise voice: “look what Prithi Chand has done. His mind is corrupted. He does not see his Guru-Father as omnipotent. He hid the letters from his father, who already knew everything. If one tries to cheat a normal person, they may get away with it, but Guru ji, Prithi Chand thought of you as his equal. He did not have faith in you, Guru ji.” The whole Sangat was shocked and amazed at what Prithi Chand did. They didn’t know that Prithi Chand was full of deceit. Prithi Chand was now exposed. He didn’t say anything. He was embarrassed. He sat there with his head down. Everyone said harsh words to him and he kept listening. Just as a piece of glass, shaped as a diamond, is placed on its own and fools the wisest of people, that is how Prithi Chand fooled everyone. But when the glass diamond is placed beside a real diamond, the real diamond becomes evidently recognized. The glass diamond is then rejected. When Sri Arjan ji was tested to be the true, Prithi Chand was seen as the false diamond.
Guru ji read the two letters of Sri Arjan Dev ji with love. They were full of love. Guru Ramdas ji was really happy. The letters showed the longing for the Guru. The Gurbani was beautiful. Guru ji gave the letters to Baba Bhudda ji. Guru ji said: “Baba ji, read this. You have met the elder Gurus and know their wishes. Read these letters.” Baba Bhudda ji read the letters out loud. The beautiful words of the Bani were read out and the Sangat was drenched in love after hearing them. Their minds became still and they all said: “Dhan, Dhan Sri Arjan ji.” Prithi Chand was upset, seeing his younger brother being praised by the Sangat. He was burning inside, but there was nothing he could do. He wanted to take the Gurta Ghaddi, fraudulently. He did not serve his Guru-Father with devotion. He was egotistical and never listened to Guru ji. He was always busy collecting the money. He was clever in the ways of the world but did not have even one virtue to be the Guru. Prithi Chand sat there like a wilted flower.
Guru Ramdas ji said to Baba Bhudda ji, in front of everyone: “you are the beloved Sikh of Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji. You have been with Guru Angad Dev ji and Guru Amardas ji. I want you to see if Sri Arjan Dev ji has the power to take on the responsibility and to be able to inherit the power of the Gurta Ghaddi or not. If you think he can take on the responsibility, I wish to make him the next Guru. There is no other who is eligible to take the Gurta Ghaddi. Nobody else has the qualities that he has. I wish to do this with your agreement. Tell me truthfully what your thoughts are.” Baba Bhudda ji spoke out loud and with great enthusiasm: “the Gurta Ghaddi belongs to the servant. Whoever has the ability to tolerate the most intolerable, and has all of the criteria, that person is eligible for the Gurta Ghaddi. I have seen all of the qualities and virtues in Sri Arjan ji. I have seen them clearly. You have tested him as well. You are the best one to test him. Who else can be a better judge then yourself? I have seen that there is no one equal to Sri Arjan ji. There is no other servant which has lived with such obedience under your command, as Sri Arjan ji. He took so much pain and lived in Lahore for 2 years without seeing you. His love for you caused him the pain. He only came once he received your permission. There is no one more obedient than him.”