Prithi Chand and Sulhi Khan were both corrupt and were cooking up bad schemes. Guru Arjan Dev ji was calm and serene. Guru ji thought to himself: “Prithi Chand is my father’s son. He is my older brother. He has left our city and went far away. He is in pain, being away from his city. There has been a lot of negative talk about him. He couldn’t tolerate his disrespect and left after not being able to do anything about it. Prabhoo Kartar is our protector. When Akaal Purakh protects you, nobody can do bad to you. I will call him back here and have him live here again. I will give him respect and give him the greatness of being the elder brother. I will have him praised so he is happy. He is wandering from place to place. This looks bad on our family. People will say that I didn’t want to see my brother. They will say that “the father gave the younger the Gurta Ghaddi and the younger kicked the elder brother out of the city. He couldn’t see his brother happy. The younger brother didn’t respect the elder brother. The Guru was greedy for money.” This is what people will say. The Bedis, Trehans and Bhallas may say these things as well. They will accuse me of these things and not know the real story. It is better to call Baba Prithi Chand ji back to Amritsar.” The ocean of compassion was thinking these thoughts. There was absolutely no hatred in his heart. He wanted his brother to be happy. He was worried about his brother and his family being in pain. Guru ji also thought about Prithi Chand going to the Mughals and asking for justice: “the Turks are looking for an excuse to come to here. This is not good if he goes to the Turks.” For all these reasons, Guru ji wanted to reach out to his brother.
Guru ji called Bhai Gurdas ji to him and had him sit next to him. He told him everything: “Brother Prithi Chand ji is in Haiher. I want you to go and meet him. Speak to him with respect and bring him back to Amritsar. Tell him that all of the gifts and money that is offered to the house of the Guru, he can use it all. It shall all be given to him. Tell him to let go of his anger and hatred. Tell him I have no enmity or hatred towards him. I have always seen him as my elder brother. Tell him I will do whatever he says and that he should be without hatred and corruption. I will give him all the wealth but he should be good with us. He should have well wishes for everyone and be happy. He will be peaceful and joyful then. He should be greater than me and be calm. He shouldn’t see the vices of the younger. He should forgive the younger and protect them. We will all obey his commands but he should be clean too. Conflict in the family is never good. Ask him to think about this. When a person loses in the family conflict, it is good. Winning in these conflicts is never good. People will talk bad about him if he doesn’t come back. The Ghaddi of the Satguru is too big. If he wants the Ghaddi, he needs to be deserving of it. If he makes the effort to be deserving, he will have the Ghaddi. The Sikhs are wise. They will surely worship him if he is deserving. He will be in peace in Heaven because of his virtues. He will be happy on earth as well. He won’t have any pain if he does what I say.” Guru ji said all of these things to Bhai Gurdas ji. “Go to Prithi Chand ji and bring him back.”
Bhai Gurdas ji folded his hands and said to Guru ji: “Guru ji, I will go and obey your command. I don’t think he will come back though. He doesn’t like me. He is full of corruption. If someone tries to tell him what’s good for him, he thinks it’s the wrong thing. His heart is not pure and he is not wise.” Bhai Gurdas ji bowed and came out of Guru ji’s court.
Bhai Gurdas ji took a few servants and headed towards Haiher. After a while, Bhai Gurdas ji arrived at the village and set up camp in the evening. The next morning, he bathed and got ready. Bhai Gurdas ji went to the Mandir that Prithi Chand had constructed. He folded his hands and bowed to Prithi Chand. Prithi Chand did not get up to respect his uncle (Bhai Gurdas ji was Guru Amardas ji’s nephew). Bhai Gurdas ji stated the message that Guru Arjan Dev ji had sent: “Sri Satguru Ramdas ji was the house of virtues. The whole world came to worship him and had faith in him. You were his eldest son, born in the great family of the Sodhis. There is no throne greater than Guru Nanak Dev ji’s throne. Never was, never will be. Satguru Amar ji was omnipotent and complete. He was great and wise. There was no one wiser. He was your mother’s father. He gave the Gurta Ghaddi of Guru Nanak Dev ji to your father. You are blessed from your father’s and your mother’s side. Both families are great and well-reputed. You should keep that in mind and be respective of the families’ reputations. You should do things that have people praise you. You are a Kshatriya born in the house of Sodhis. Going to the Turks and pleading for justice is not a befitting task for you. Your respect will go down. Because of your ill-intentioned actions, Guru Arjan Dev ji sent me with great respect. He respectfully calls you back to Amritsar to live there in peace.” Bhai Gurdas ji gave Prithi Chand the whole message. Bhai Gurdas ji continued: “what has happened is in the past. Do good things now. Go and meet your family with love. If you stay alone, you will be in trouble. You should be the owner of the wealth of the Guru’s home. Go and make donations yourself. We will all stand with you.” After Bhai Gurdas ji spoke, Prithi Chand got angry and arched his eyebrows. His eyes were red and his lips quivered. He was so angry that he didn’t know what to say. He took deep breaths, swore at Bhai Gurdas ji and said mean things. He said: “first I was disrespected by having bad things done to me. Next, I was slandered. I was wrongly accused and then slandered in the whole area. Everyone was told to swear at me. Now he sent you to convince me. This is a new scheme of his. First, he had me kicked out of the city with eagerness, now he sent you to convince me. You haven’t been touched by hot air yet. He is sitting in his home with ego. He inflates his chest. I am Prithi Chand! He disrespected me. The disrespect was the earth. My meeting with Sulhi Khan is the seed. Making the Sarovar in Haiher was me watering that seed. When I go to Delhi, the seed will grow into a plant. When I meet Jahangir, the plant will become a tree. When I speak to the Emperor, the flowers on the tree will bloom. Then, when Jahangir will listen to me and takes actions, the flowers will release their fragrance. When I capture Guru Arjan Dev ji the tree will have fruits. I will take the Gurta Ghaddi. That will be the ripening of the fruit. The Sangat will come to me from every direction and give me money. I will be praised in the whole world. This is the fruit I want. You will know when I have the fruit in my hand. I haven’t even met the Emperor yet, you are already afraid. He wants to stay the Guru and this is why he sent you to me. This is your new scheme. I will go to the Emperor to get the Gurta Ghaddi. When you are all in pain, then I will be happy. I will be happy when you are in pain. You won’t be able to stop me. I will take the Gurta Ghaddi by capturing Guru Arjan Dev ji.” Bhai Gurdas ji folded his hands and said: “you are the son of Guru Ramdas ji. If all three of you brothers live in peace, there will be happiness. There is enough for all three of you to live in abundance. There is no shortage. If one brother is in pain, all three will feel it. You do all have compassion for each other. Let bygones be bygones. Forget about who did what. Clean your heart and come back. Meet the Sangat and take the offerings from the Sangat. Guru Arjan Dev ji is without hatred and corruption. He is humble. He has compassion, forgiveness, wisdom and all the other great virtues.” Prithi Chand heard Guru ji’s praises and began to burn. He yelled: “get out of here! Be quiet and leave! Get up and leave! I will forget that you are my uncle and have you burned. You say my brother is calm and serene; he is corrupt. He is my arch enemy. I will have him killed along with his son. I will be happy after taking the Gurta Ghaddi. I don’t care what you say. I think about this day and night. I will be happy when he dies.” Bhai Gurdas ji got angry and said: “Guru Arjan Dev ji is like the sun. Foolish owls like you don’t know what the sun is. The saints bloom like lotus flowers when they see Guru Arjan Dev ji. Foolish slanderers like you are in pain. You slander Guru ji but nothing of his will be in loss. Your name is “Prithi Chand,” when the sun comes up, the moon (Chand) is dimmed. Your Sikhs are like stars who are also dimmed. If you don’t listen to me now, you will regret it later. Try your hardest, you won’t be able to do what you want to. Guru Arjan Dev ji can tolerate the intolerable. He is omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent. He never shows his powers. If he looks at the world with the slightest anger, he can destroy the whole universe. His heart his great. After having so much power, he lives like a common man and hides his power. He was looking out for you and wanted you to be happy. Begging from the Mughals for justice will ruin your own reputation. You would have become Guru by sitting in your home. Everyone would have worshipped you. You would have been happy. Your “tree” that you have so-called “planted,” Guru ji can cut your tree with one word. He can burn it to ashes. You see him as your brother. You don’t know his powers. You are ruining it for yourself. You will be in trouble after you die as well.” In this way, Bhai Gurdas ji tried to talk sense into Prithi Chand, his nephew, but Prithi Chand was in love with his corrupt ways. He was going to be embracing pain. He could not trust Guru Arjan Dev ji or Bhai Gurdas ji.