Two brothers of the Jhingran Brahmin family: Bhai Bala and Bhai Kishna were scholars of Sanskrit. They would do Katha in public and everyone would listen to them and be happy. They would do katha in a very good way that garnered them a lot of praises. They noticed that a lot of Sikhs went to Guru Sahib and received what they asked for. They saw that the Sikhs would listen to Guru ji’s wisdom and let go of their greed and anger. They would be filled with the true contentment. When the brothers thought about this, they decided to go see Guru ji. They came to Guru Arjan Dev ji’s home. They bowed to Guru ji’s feet and sat down in front of him. They said to Guru ji: “you are the Satguru. You give wisdom to the Sikhs and give virtues that dwell in their hearts. We know the wisdom of the 6 Shastras and 18 Puranas. We make the listeners happy and capture their attention. They praise our wisdom. We are still not at peace. We do not have the illuminated wisdom. Your Sikhs are at peace. They are filled with the miraculous powers. Please tell us why this is. Give us peace.” Guru ji heard this and said: “the mind is the reason of vices and virtues. Since the time you have been learning Vidya, Trishna (desires) have been living inside of you. You wanted to be educated and wanted to earn a lot of money. You learned the Vidya for the purpose of earning money. That is why you did Katha. You didn’t think of the Vidya you learned. As you did Katha, your mind was towards making money. How could you have been at peace? Do this from now on: as you give your wisdom to others in Katha and try to win them over; do that with your mind. Try to win your mind over with the Vidya that you have. Read Vedanta and understand it. When you start doing this with your own mind, start doing the Simran of Satnam. Come to me every month and tell me what is going on with your mind. Joy and sorrow that come in the after life, that is the result of your actions. Tell your mind that. It will be discouraged from bad actions. The Parmeshwar that lives in your mind, knows everything. Parmeshwar is omniscient.” The brothers heard the wisdom of Guru Arjan Dev ji and began to ponder upon it. They started to teach their minds to let go of their desires. They started to go to the Sangat of Guru ji and did the Simran of Satnam. They fell in love with doing Simran and became blessed. Their mind was won. They became the Sikhs of the Guru.
One day, a person named Samunda came to Guru Arjan Dev ji and bowed his head. He sat near Guru ji and said: “oh Guru, the savior of the poor, who is the Sunmukh and who is the Bemukh? Tell me the characteristics of both. I would like to know this. How does one become a Sunmukh and avoid being a Bemukh?” Guru ji said: “imagine a big Shahukaar who sends a servant for a task. The servant uses his wisdom, attention and love to do the work. If he is successful, he comes and stands “Sunmukh” (in front of) of his boss. If he fails, he does not face his boss/ or does not lift his head. That is a Bemukh. That is how Vahiguru sent all of us into the world. Akaal Purakh sent us for Naam (Simran), Daan (donations), and Ishnaan (purification). Let go of your sleep in the last watch of the night (3-6 am) and take a bath. At Amritvela do the Simran of Satnam without any desires. Recite Gurbani and ponder upon the meanings. When the sun comes up, go to work to earn your living. Always have the Simran going on in your heart or on your lips. Do this while doing your work. The ones who do not forget the Prabhoo, like to meet the Satsangat, give donations to the best of their abilities, give clothes and food to the poor, those people do not waste their life in desires and vices. Those persons are the Sunmukh, in front of Vahiguru. They happily leave their bodies and meet Vahiguru. They receive the Anand-filled Mukti. Those who do not succeed in the tasks of life, they are Bemukhs and live a life of pain.” Bhai Samunda folded his hands and said to Guru ji: “please have mercy on me. Make me into a Sunmukh. Bless me with Naam, Daan and Ishnaan.” Guru ji said: “when the Sikh is a Sunmukh, the Guru has mercy on them.” Bhai Samunda did what Guru ji said. He woke up early and did Simran. He became an Aatam Gyani in just a few days. He did exactly what Guru Arjan Dev ji said.
Bhai Kulla and Bhai Bhulla, who were from the Jhanjhoo caste; another named Bagheerath from the Soini caste; the three of them came to Guru ji and bowed to him. They said to Guru ji: “Guru ji, the saviour of the poor, omniscient one, listen to us: we are in pain. Please bless us. We have had many births through many species. Dying and being born again is a big problem. When the Pranas leave the body, it is the most painful thing. We have come to your sanctuary to ask for Mukti. Please take us out of the cycle of birth and death. You are compassionate. Have mercy on us and protect us from this pain. We don’t want to be born again.” Sri Guru ji said: “become Gurmukhs. Let go of actions that Manmukhs do.” The three asked: “please tell us the difference. Tell us who is a Gurmukh and who is a Manmukh. How are they? When we see their characteristics, we will then listen to you and adhere to the characteristics of the Gurmukh.” Sri Guru ji said from his holy mouth: “there are 3 types of Gurmukhs and 3 types of Manmukhs. There is a Gurmukh, Gurmukh Tar and Gurmukh Tam. There is Manmukh, Manmukh Tar, and Manmukh Tam. The ones who show their backs to bad deeds, keep their face towards the words of the Guru (Sunmukh), if one does good to such Gurmukhs, the Gurmukhs remember all that was done good for them. They don’t forget the favors and want to return the favor. They are altruistic towards all. This is the Gurmukh. Listen to what a Gurmukh Tar is. They let go of bad deeds and do good deeds. If they can do good for others, they do not think of whether a person is good or bad. If someone does bad to them, they still do good to the others. They don’t hold grudges. They only think of good virtues of others. They casually do good their whole life. The third is Gurmukh Tam. They are Aatam Gyanis. They are Brahmgyaanis. They know their Aatma and Parmatma. They understand their Aatma. They follow the wisdom of the Satguru, Guru Nanak Dev ji, to the letter. They know that the world is false. They only see One in the universe.
Now I will tell you about the 3 Manmukhs. If someone does good to them, they forget about it and do bad to the one that did a favor for them. A Manmukh does not do good for anyone. They only listen to their mind. They are unwise, who only listen to their minds. They don’t keep the Dharma. They slander the Dharma. They lie, cheat and fall into the company of other women. Now I will tell you the characteristics of Manmukh Tar. They are jealous of others being well. It gives them pain to see others happy. They try to spoil others’ tasks. They place obstacles in others’ paths. Their chest burns to see others happy. They think about how the person can be destroyed. They don’t like seeing others successful. Not even their own friends or loved ones. They speak sweet words from their mouths but they can’t tolerate it in their minds. It burns them to see the success of others. They think bad for all. They want to see everyone unhappy. They see everyone as their enemies and are jealous of them. Listen to who a Manmukh Tam is. The Manmukh Tam wants bad for all and never listens to the word of the Satguru. They are only happy if everyone is in pain. They do not listen to the Katha of the Puranas. They are without Daan, good deeds or Ishnaan. They talk bad about the good deeds that the Kathas speak about. They slander the holy places and holy people. They speak as such to other people: “I don’t like Daan, good deeds, temples or religions. These good deeds do not give me any benefits. I only find joy in bad things.” These people go to Hell after dying. They go into the fiercest Hell and are punished. They have to be born again and again.” The three heard Guru ji’s wisdom and were happy. They became Gurmukhs and started following the Guru’s wisdom. They did the Seva of Satguru ji and saw their real self; they connected to their Aatma.