As Prithi Chand was leaving, he turned around again and yelled: “everyone gives you money! The money of the Sikhs comes to you. I will not let you sleep in peace! I will go to the emperor and tell him! He will arrest you and your family. I will make sure you are pain. I will have you killed by the Turks.” He wiped his moustaches in a show of dominance and said: “only then will I call myself “Prithi Chand.” That is only when I will see you. Remember my words. We will meet in the Emperor’s court.” Guru ji heard his words and said: “your words are damned. Your actions are damned. The reputation that you wish to make is damned. Your face and your moustache are damned. You are damned for not following the traditions of our family. You will go to Hell and nobody will help you. You have sinned because of your anger. You fell under the spell of Kaliyuga.” Prithi Chand left, swearing out loud.
Prithi Chand entered his house with a burning chest. He started to think up many schemes: “I am not going to stay in this city. Everyone is speaking bad about me. The Sangat will come to me and talk bad about me to my face. I won’t be able to tolerate this. I will be arguing and fighting with everyone. Guru Arjan Dev ji has many Sikhs who give him unlimited money. I have only a few people coming to me. My Sikhs will not be able to fight Guru Arjan Dev ji’s Sikhs if a fight breaks out. I will be looted. It is better to leave the place where your enemy lives. Living with snakes or lions is a dangerous thing. They will sooner or later kill you. I will take my wife and son and go to Delhi. I will meet my friend Sulhi. I will take him to Jahangir and tell him my problems. Wherever I go, my Sikhs will follow me. I will make a living with that money. My family will live there.” Prithi Chand spoke to his wife: “let’s leave this place. I got into a big fight. It is not safe to live here anymore. People will talk bad about us. A big fight will happen here if we stay. Quickly make preparations. Otherwise our reputation will be destroyed.” In this way Prithi Chand and Karmo decided to run away from Amritsar like thieves.
The whole city found out and said: “Prithi Chand is running away with fear. He tried to poison Sri Hargobind ji. He has been exposed and wants to run away. The Sahibzada saved himself with his own powers.” Everyone in the city spoke to each other, behind closed doors.
Baba Mahadev ji, the middle son of Guru Ramdas ji, was sitting in his home and heard the whole story. He rubbed his hands and head. He thought to himself: “how did Prithi Chand do such an evil act? He did this for money and wealth. Everyone is talking bad about him.” Baba Mahadev ji was worried and upset sitting in his home. A person came to his home the next moment. The person said to Baba Mahadev ji: “Prithi Chand is leaving with his family and will go to Delhi. He will go and speak to the Emperor.” Baba Mahadev was now really worried. He didn’t want this problem going to Delhi. He got up and tied his Pugri. He put his shoes on and ran towards Prithi Chand’s home.
Baba Mahadev ji had about 10 servants that came along with him. They reached Prithi Chand’s home and saw that he was packing up and getting ready to leave. Prithi Chand’s servants were packing up and loading the carts. People in the market and on the street were watching as Prithi Chand packed his belongings. The people watching all talked quietly amongst themselves: “Prithi Chand is a very aggressive person. He fights all the time. He has hatred in his heart all the time. He is not afraid to sin. Since Guru Arjan Dev ji has sat on the throne, Prithi Chand has been his enemy. Guru ji has never done anything wrong to him. Now that Prithi Chand has been exposed, he is causing more of a problem. He is embarrassed now, so he can’t stay here. The beautiful child, Sri Hargobind ji, his brother’s son, Prithi Chand wanted to kill him. Prithi Chand is foolish. First, he sent a nurse and then a snake. When they both died, he paid money to the child’s babysitter to kill him. Parmeshwar protects the child Guru.” In this way everyone spoke to each other as they looked on.
There was a crowd around Prithi Chand’s home. Baba Mahadev ji saw the crowd and entered the home of Prithi Chand. He bowed to his brother. Prithi Chand was burning with anger. His eyes were blood red with tears in them. He was thinking the worse things possible. He wanted to kill everyone. He commanded his servants to pack everything. Baba Mahadev saw his brother in anger and knew it was going to be hard to speak to him. He folded his hands and said: “where are you going with the family? You’ve packed all the belongings and it seems as though you are never coming back. What is the reason you are leaving your home and city? What fear do you have here?” Prithi Chand responded: “I am going to Delhi to speak to Jahangir. I will tell him about the injustice that has happened to me. The Turks will come with an army here and capture Guru Arjan Dev ji and his family. They will torture them. I will have them appear in the court by having them arrested. I will get what I want then.” Baba Mahadev ji folded his hands and said: “both of us are your younger brothers. We are younger than you and less wise than you. We are like your sons. You are wiser and smarter. You are older than us. You should be looking after us, all the time. This is the best thing. You are like our father. You should be raising us. It is not good for you to go to the Emperor and take our family issues to him. Don’t have hatred and jealousy in your mind. Don’t be in pain. Become like a father and be happy with us. Pitha ji was happy with Guru Arjan Dev ji and gave him the Gurta Ghaddi. You and I should bow to his feet, obeying Pithaji’s orders. The Sangat and Masands should bow to him along with us. He was our father and he was our Guru. We should obey his command. He told us to bow to Guru Arjan Dev ji. We should become good sons of our father and listen to him. Let’s both of us go and bow to Guru Arjan Dev ji’s feet. Otherwise the world will laugh at you. The Sangat will talk bad about you. Remember this, the money that you are fighting for, it has never gone with anyone after death. If you are doing this for your wife and child, they will not be with you after you die. Their love is a myth. Listen to what I am saying: leave your anger and leave your enmity. You have done wrong, that will be forgiven. When you die, you won’t be in pain or be in fear. The jot of Guru Nanak Dev ji is inside Guru Arjan Dev ji.” Prithi Chand heard his brother’s words and tried to convince him to take his side: “Mahadev! Listen to what I am saying. Come with me to Delhi. I will make you the Guru. Everyone will worship your feet and offer a lot of money. Both of us brothers will live in peace and the younger will be alone and in pain.” Mahadev ji responded: “how can I become the Guru? I am not the elder brother nor was Pithaji happy with me.” Prithi Chand said: “listen, I will tell you what is good for you. I will speak to Jahangir and talk to him about the injustice that happened to us. I will tell him to give us justice. You don’t need to say or do anything. I will tell him that the throne and belongings of the father should go to the elder son. I will tell him to have the Gurta Ghaddi be given to me. My younger brother took the throne from me by force. The assets of the father should be evenly distributed to all of the sons. The throne should always go to the elder though. I will tell the Emperor that I will forego the throne and I would want Mahadev to have it. I will have the Teeka of the Guru marked on your forehead in the Emperor’s court. When you are pronounced the Guru in the court, the whole Sangat and world will worship your feet. They will bow to you. I am the eldest and Guru Arjan Dev ji is the youngest. We are in a conflict. If either one of us will be the Guru, the other will be jealous. For this reason, I will tell the emperor to make you the Guru. Mahadev is simple like Mahadev. He does not know corruption or ego. You should be the Guru. Everyone will be happy if Mahadev is made the Guru. I will say all this in the court. I will make you the Guru in Delhi and bring you back here. Both of us should be on one side. It would be good. You will get a big status. I am like fire and you should be like the wind that strengthens the flames. We will destroy Guru Arjan Dev ji. There is nothing we won’t be able to do.” Baba Mahadev ji heard this and smiled. He said: “I came to convince you to not to go to the Emperor, but you are trying to convince me to go to the Emperor. I am without worries in my home. I get food to eat and a lot of servants. I have no worries or shortages. You are trying to ruin my life. I am already happy. I will be in trouble if I go with you. Guru Arjan Dev ji is the Guru. I can’t hate him. He sees friend and foe as the same. He has no hatred or emotion. Listen brother, I will tell you one thing: this revenge that you want to take, if a house breaks, it is never a moment of joy. This will only lead to trouble. People laugh and talk bad about a family that breaks apart. If you think about the strong kings of the past, when their houses broke, they were destroyed. There is no greater joy than living together in harmony. You are going to suck up to the Mughals and then you will have to bribe them to do your work. Whenever brothers fought in the past, everyone was in pain. Why don’t you bring forgiveness into your heart? Baali and Sugreev got into a fight and it was Baali, the elder, who was destroyed. Raavan and Bibheekhan argued. Bibheekhan told Ram Chander ji the secret to killing Raavan. If the brothers stayed together, Raavan would not have died. The Kauravs and Pandavs were brothers. The Kauravs got into a fight with the Pandavs and were eventually destroyed. Such big and famous people were destroyed, what would happen to smaller people? To announce your personal conflict to everyone, they will only make fun of you. The lower people will talk bad about you. You will have to spend money and you will be worried. You will be in pain till you meet the Emperor. You will have to beg for them to listen to you. Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji’s praises are spread in the whole world. The other Gurus’ praises are spread too. Everyone respects the Gurus. The kings all bowed to the Gurus. If you go and tell Jahangir about your conflict, nobody will respect you. They will see you as a greedy and angry person. They won’t worship you. Get rid of your anger and come with me to bow to Guru Arjan Dev ji. Stay happy with your family. Guru Ramdas ji has done the Seva, that is why there is no shortage in our homes. We are eating what he has sowed. Everyone respects and praises us. There are many benefits in staying together. Everyone will praise you then.” Baba Mahadev ji was wise. He tried to tell the corrupt Prithi Chand what the truth was. Prithi Chand’s heart was like a slippery dish on which nothing would stay.