The home of Satta and Balwand was close to Bhai Salo ji’s Dharamsala. Guru Arjan Dev ji wanted to bring them back. Guru Arjan Dev ji respects Bani and Keertan. Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji and the other Gurus kept the Rababis close to them with love. They sing the Shabad of the Guru in Raags. Singing Gurbani is beneficial for the whole Sangat who listens. Guru ji respected the Raagis for these reasons. Guru ji came to the home of Satta and Balwand. As Guru ji entered their home, Satta and Balwand did not get up to respect Guru ji. They were full of pride. Both of the brothers remained seated and stayed quiet. They did not think that Guru ji was the form of Akaal Purakh and that he had come himself. They did not care to respect him. Guru ji said to the brothers: “what is the reason that you are upset? Money comes and goes. It never stays. This is nothing to be upset over. Why are you upset over this? You will get more. Guru Nanak Dev ji’s treasury is full. There is no shortage. Have faith and do Keertan. Money will come. Parmeshwar will give.” Balwand spoke to Guru ji: “I haven’t seen anything. You talk about the treasury, where is it? You only gave us 100 Rajitpuns. How are we going to hold a wedding with that? What can we get from you now? We are not coming with you. We will go to some other king and sing there. We will earn money there. We will show them our skills and sing Raags. We will receive the money we ask for and make people happy. The years we spent with you, we have wasted our skills. You didn’t appreciate our skill. The ones who appreciate us, give us a lot of money for it. Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji was not known by anyone. It was when he kept Baba Mardana ji that made him famous. Guru Angad Dev ji, Guru Amardas ji and your father; it was the Rababis that made them famous. In your home, we sang the glories of the Gurus. The Sikhs from other lands listened to our singing and gave you expensive gifts and money. People call you Guru and worship you. They listen to our Raags and worship you. We have done so many favours for you which you did not appreciate. If you would have appreciated us, you would have given us half the money that comes. It should come to our home since we do the hard work. Now you will know how hard it is to call yourself Guru. How will you get the thousands of gifts that you did before? We will go to someone else and make them the Guru. People will worship that person; our skill is great. We can make who we want the Guru. Your greatness will finish now. You will regret this. Wherever we do the Raags, that person will become the Guru. We won’t come to you now.” Guru Arjan Dev ji was the ocean of calmness and forgiveness. He didn’t care about him. He just smiled when they talked about him, but when he heard Guru Nanak Dev ji’s name in a negative context along with the other Gurus, he became angry. He cursed them: “you are cursed. You speak bad about the gem of the Bedis; your body will be full of blisters. You will be in pain from a grave illness.” Guru ji then came back to Tharra Sahib.
The Sangat sat around Guru ji. Guru ji said to the Sikhs: “you sing the Raags. Sing the Shabads with Taans. Learn this Vidya.” Some Sikhs brought a Dutara and some brought a Rabab. The Sikhs started to sing without any doubts. People were surprised to see the Sikhs singing. It was the Guru’s command that gave them the skillful powers. The Raag fairies and Sarasvati came into the Sikhs to sing. The Sikhs had never sung before. They obeyed Guru ji’s command and received the gift of Raag Vidya in an instant. They did not know Raags before. They were singing in perfect pitch and beat. Guru ji was happy to hear the Sikhs sing the Raags. He blessed them and said: “you obeyed my command with love. This Vidya will exist in the Sikhs as well now. They will sing and listen to Keertan and be blessed. The Dooms will regret this. Desires ruined them. They will move from house to house and will not be satiated. They will be disrespected wherever they go. The Sikhs will not respect them or give them any attention. The Rababis will be in pain.” The Sikhs gained the Raag Vidya and did Keertan in Harmandhir Sahib from that day onwards. The Sangat’s mind was still and filled with joy as they listened to the Keertan with love.
The Sangat from Patna came to visit. They bowed to Guru ji and brought expensive gifts and money. They asked Guru ji: “when we came before, we saw Satta and Balwand doing Keertan. Where are they?” Guru ji said: “they have been cursed. They couldn’t handle their pride. They said bad things about Guru Nanak Dev ji and the other Gurus. They are in pain now. If a Sikh visits them, the Sikh will be in pain as well. I don’t want anyone speaking about them to me. I will punish the person who tries to recommend them. Their face will be blackened and their hair will be shaved. They will be placed on top of a donkey and paraded around the city. A dhol will be played along them for people to see what happens to a person who defends a person who talks bad about the elder Gurus.” The Sangat was surprised to hear Guru ji say this. The Sangat thought it was unfortunate of what happened. The Sangat liked Satta and Balwand but Guru ji’s words were strong. Guru ji didn’t want anyone to speak to Satta and Balwand.
Satta and Balwand developed a skin disease. There were blisters all over their body with blood pouring out. Their condition progressed quite fast in a matter of days. They were in pain and on top of that, they had no more money. They did not have money for food. They started to beg. People did not want to face them as they had been cursed by the Guru. They were disrespected like dogs. They went to other villages and were disrespected there too. Parmeshwar and the Satguru were opposed to them as they were full of ego. They were disrespected in both worlds now. They wanted someone to talk on their behalf to Guru ji, but no one agreed to it. They were not able to sit anywhere. They couldn’t even beg as no one would give them anything. They were suffering in pain. They now understood what the greatness of the Guru was. They wanted to go to Guru ji and beg for forgiveness. Nobody would take them to Guru ji. The Sikhs would say: “Whoever would go to Guru ji for you, would have their face blackened. You had ego and have been cursed by the Satguru.” They regretted what they did and sat in their homes upset: “Satguru ji came to our home but we did not respect him. We spoke harsh words to him. We were nothing but insects in front of him. Our pride was false and didn’t recognize Guru ji’s greatness. The 5 Gurus are illuminating in this world like the sun. Nobody can compete and win them. Whoever tried to face them were destroyed. They are the form of Khuddah, whom we spoke bad about. How will we be in peace now, since we have been cursed? Destiny inspired us to do bad. We were egotistical. We thought we were the greatest artists. We were praised in the Guru’s court but we couldn’t digest it. We are in trouble. Nobody is there to save us now.” Both brothers would rock back and forth in regret. They then remembered Bhai Luddha ji Parupkaari (the Altruist) who was a very gracious person: “Bhai Luddha ji lives in Lahore and does great things for everyone. Bhai Gurdas ji has written about his praises and said that there is nobody more gracious and generous than him. He does not care about his reputation when he does things for anyone. He will help us for sure if we go to him.”
Bhai Satta and Bhai Balwand went to Lahore to meet Bhai Luddha ji. They stayed one night and arrived in Lahore the next day. The Sikhs of Lahore saw them and looked the other way. Some people covered their faces so they wouldn’t see them. Nobody talked to them, seeing them as big sinners. They were cursed by the Guru. The brothers looked for Bhai Luddha ji’s home. Somebody had told Bhai Luddha ji: “Satta and Balwand are looking for you.” Bhai Luddha ji locked his door. He didn’t want to disobey Guru ji’s orders. They had been cursed by Guru ji and he didn’t want to see them. Bhai Satta and Balwand knocked at Bhai Luddha ji’s door and begged: “we have come for your help. You are a great Gursikh who is generous. We heard of your praises. Please help us poor people. You help others in pain. For the sake of your name, please help us. Just once, please help us get forgiveness from Guru ji. There is no one who can help us other than you. We will stay at your doorstep. You can either help us or kill us. We are at your mercy. We have come to your sanctuary. Protect us.” In this way they begged Bhai Luddha ji. They sat at his door, shouting for help. Bhai Luddha ji thought to himself: “I am a Sikh. Guru ji makes me help others. These two are Keertanis of the Guru. They have come to my door after being rejected by others. It is hard to defend them as Guru ji has said that the defender’s face will be blackened. What shall I do now? I will have to help them. I will make my face black and sit on a donkey. I will go to Guru ji and then ask Guru ji to forgive them. Guru ji is forgiving and compassionate. He will forgive them. If he sees the punishment before hand, he will forgive them.” Bhai Luddha ji opened his door and invited Satta and Balwand into his home. He gave them hope and said: “you have been turned away by the Guru but I will make my best effort.” He fed them and kept them in his home. The next day, Bhai Luddha ji rubbed blackness on his face. He rented a donkey and a dholi. He sat on the donkey and had the dholi play the dhol. He travelled through the streets of Lahore and headed towards Guru ji’s home. People were surprised to see Bhai Luddha ji like this.
Bhai Luddha ji did a parkarma around Amritsar and entered. People wondered what was going on and looked upon the view with amazement. He travelled through the streets of Amritsar as men, women, seniors and children looked on. People eventually found out what was happening and said: “Bhai Luddha ji is great. He is the most generous. Look at what he is doing for Satta and Balwand. Who else would do such a thing? Great are the Sikhs of the Guru who do things for others. He didn’t think about his own reputation. He didn’t think about his loss or pain. He sacrificed himself for the Guru’s words. He lived up to the Guru’s words.” The dhol was playing and everyone came out of their homes to see the spectacle. Bhai Luddha ji was on the donkey and travelling the streets of Amritsar. He headed towards Guru ji’s place, where a Divaan was in session. Guru ji heard the dhol. He was told that a great Sikh was coming, sitting on a donkey.