One day, Bhai Gurdas, from the family of Bhallas, having love for the Guru, left Goindwal Sahib and came to Amritsar. He was the nephew of Guru Amardas ji. He was really happy to see Guru ji again: “Guru Ramdas ji has 3 sons. The middle is Mahadev ji. Sri Arjan ji is the youngest. I wonder how the brothers are with each other. I know there was jealousy and rivalry before, I wonder if it is less now. Since Guru Arjan Dev ji has become the Guru, I haven’t discussed anything about this with him. Let’s see how the tasks of the Guru Ghar are going now. Guru ji has newly sat on the throne and the older brother is in conflict. Before, the whole family was together; now the brothers are all separated because of anger.” Bhai Gurdas ji was thinking in this way and wanted things to be better.
Bhai Gurdas ji soon reached the city of Guru Ramdas ji and went to go meet Guru Arjan Dev ji first. He bowed to Guru Arjan Dev ji, recognizing him as the True Guru. Guru ji and Bhai Gurdas ji asked each other how they were. They both expressed well updates to each other. Bhai Gurdas ji told Guru ji about Goindwal: “the family of Guru Amardas ji is well. Baba Mohan ji, Baba Mohri ji, Baba Sansram ji (son of Baba Mohan ji, the scribe of the Mohan Pothi and the Pothi of Guru Ramdas ji), Baba Anand ji, Baba Arjanimal ji, Baba Arthmal ji (sons of Baba Mohri ji), Baba Sunder ji along with the women in the family are all well. They all wish for your well-being, Guru ji.” They sat and conversed in this way for a while. Food was brought to where they were sitting and talking. Food for the Sangat came as well. There were rotis made of channas that came. Everyone took 2 rotis. There was no dhaal (lentils) or vegetables. Bhai Gurdas ji ate the rotis with salt and water. It was difficult for him to eat them. Bhai Gurdas ji then said, laughingly: “if you think about worldly relations, I am at a higher level than you, being your Mamma (maternal uncle). You should call me Mamma. I can joke with you and ask you things. Let me tell you another thing, since you’ve sat on the Gurta Ghaddi, you have become the form of Parmeshwar for me. I see you just as I saw my Thayaji, your Nannaji. You are the Guru of the world. In this form, I am also your Sikh. You are worthy of worship. I came to you after a long time. This is the second time I’m seeing you since you became the Guru. You are the Guru and my nephew. I am your Sikh and your Mamma. You know all of this. My question to you is: considering all those relations with me, why did you not make good food for me?” Sri Guru Arjan Dev ji heard this and smiled to Bhai Gurdas ji’s joking words. Guru ji said: “you reap what you sow. Humans eat what is in their destiny. Everyone ate the same food; nothing was hidden from you. If you want more respect, my mother, your sister, is sitting inside. You can ask her. She is the one that cooks the food and presents it to everyone. She makes the food for the Sangat. We eat what she gives us. She is my mother but she is your sister. You can meet her and ask her why she didn’t make gourmet food for you.” Bhai Gurdas ji heard Guru ji’s words and continued eating the dry rotis. Guru ji ate the same dry rotis. Bhai Gurdas ji ate his food and washed his hands and mouth. He got up and went to meet Bibi Bhaani ji.
Bhai Gurdas ji went inside and bowed to his sister, as she was sitting next to the stoves. She said: “come brother, come sit down. How is Bhaji Mohan and Mohri ji? How are their families? You came after a long time here. You didn’t ask for us this whole time. Sri Arjan ji’s father went to Sach Khand. I am not able to bare this pain. We have been living here ever since he left. I used to see the family everyday. There was a lot of happiness in Goindwal. They only send a letter once in a while. Whatever Ishwar wrote, only that will happen.” Bhai Gurdas ji heard her and said: “everyone is well in Goindwal. I was in Agra and I spent a long time there. That was the reason I didn’t get to see you for so long. I don’t know what happened in my absence. I wanted to see how everything was in Amritsar. Coming here I met everyone but I was shocked to see how all of you are doing. You are my sister, born in the house of the Bhallas and married to Sri Guru Ramdas ji. For these reasons you became the Mata of the world. You are respectful for me for all these reasons. You are the most fortunate woman in the world. I came to you as your relative. You fed me dry rotis made of channas. Your house is great. You have the Gurta Ghaddi in your house. The Guru of the world is in your home. Why is good and proper food not made here? How did this all happen? Why is there so much shortage? If you have to worry about food, gathering money is an issue. What is the reason for this? Why is there poverty here? Sangat from around the world comes here. Your Sangat is huge. They come from all four directions. Where is the income going? If you are not using it, where is the money going to? I understand that you may be saving it and eating simple yourself, but when some visitor comes, you should give them rich food. Do you treat everyone else like me? Do they all get dry rotis too? You are Guru Amardas ji’s daughter? Bibi Bhaani ji spoke: “listen brother, the roti that you ate now, sometimes we are not even able to eat that. Goindwal had a lot of food coming in. So much food used to come as much was needed for one day. Jewellery, clothes were very simple for us. You’ve seen how simple we all lived. We wore simple clothes but the food there was very rich. By Pitha ji’s blessings, there was never a shortage of food. Everyone ate as much as they wanted to. The leftovers were given to the animals. After feeding the animals, the rest was thrown into the river. Then, Sri Arjan ji’s father became the Guru. He was worshiped from every direction as well. The whole family was together then. Everything was running nice and smooth. After he went, these three brothers became enemies. They see Sri Arjan ji as small. Prithi Chand wants to become the Guru and causes problems for Sri Arjan Dev ji, everyday. My younger son kept the Gurta Ghaddi in the Sodhi family. My other two sons are not obedient. They don’t listen to me. They want to be Gurus like their father, Guru Ramdas ji. But they see him as a worldly father. Prithi Chand is greedy for money only. If Sri Arjan ji had not listened to his father, the Gurta Ghaddi would have been gone from our house. This only belongs to the servant. You can’t snatch it. Only Guru Arjan Dev ji loved his father and kept the honor of the Sodhis. He completed my wish. He made my father’s words true. For this reason, I say that my younger son is great. By doing Seva of his father, he did not let the Gurta Ghaddi leave the family. He kept it in the home. Now he sits in peace and does Simran. He doesn’t make any effort to collect money. He doesn’t speak or listen to anything. My other two sons travel around. They meet the Sangat outside and take their money. When they need to feed the Sangat, they send them to us. They send their men and surround our Sangat. They take their money. They make the effort to take the money from the Sangat by saying: “I am the eldest son of the Guru; therefore, I am the Guru.” When the Sangat hears this, they give them the money. It never reaches the True Guru. The Sangat doesn’t know the truth. They don’t let them come here. They scare and threaten them, taking their money. Sri Arjan Dev ji sits at home and does the Simran of Hari all the time. Once in a while a Sikh or two will come to meet him. The other two brothers don’t give us any money. They cheat and lie to take the money from others. They don’t consider their younger brother. They look down upon him. Otherwise they would share the money with him. For this reason, we are always in need of food and clothes. You are dear to me. I would make good food for you but I can’t. You came after a long time. I know how to serve people but I have nothing to feed you. The expenses of the Guru’s house are a lot but we have no income. You are my dear brother, that’s why I have told you the whole story. I’ve told you everything.”