Madness for Gold

One day Guru Nanak and Bhai Mardana reached a country which was ruled by a very cruel king named karu. He had an urge to amass gold and silver. If he heard that one of his subjects had some gold or silver, he would ask for it and then take it away by force if his request failed. In this way, he had filled forty boxes with gold and silver.

One day the king asked his minister. "Does anyone in our country possess gold or silver about which we have not come to know?"The minister said, "I shall inquire about it and let you know tomorrow,"

On the next day, the minister sent a very beautiful slave girl to the market for sale. The sale price of that slave girl was fixed as one silver coin. When the merchant's son came to know about the news he went to his widowed mother and said, "Mother, if we buy this slave girl for a silver coin, she will do all the house work and make life easy for you." Mother replied, "We do not have any silver coin in our house but when your father died, he was buried with a silver coin in his mouth. You should now go dig the grave and take out that coin to buy this slave girl”. When the King came to know about the silver coin in the mouth of the dead, he had all the graves dug up and had the silver coin taken out.

Later, Guru Nanak went to his palace and said to the King’s gatekeeper, “Convey our message to the King, two outsiders want to see him”. When the King came to the door, he saw Guru Nanak counting pieces of broken earthen pots. The King asked in great wonder, “O holy man, what use are these pieces to you?” Guru Nanak replied, “We are to take these to the next world.” The King asked “How can you take these pieces to the next world?” Guru Nanak replied, “In the same way as the wealth collected by you by cruelty.” Hearing this, he realized his mistake. He said, “I have great love for gold and silver. Advise me so that my love for gold and silver goes away and I may embark on the path of God.”

Guru Nanak said, “O Karu, whatever you see with the eyes will be destroyed one day. The wealth which is spent in the name of God goes along with you to the next world. Horses, forces and kingdom will remain here when death overtakes you. You came to this world alone and empty handed and shall leave this world empty handed. You have seen with your own eyes that the dead, who has been buried with one silver coin in their mouths could not take even a coin with them. How will this wealth amassed with sins and cruelty, go with you? However the sins and cruelty committing those sins you will be thrown into fire of hell.”Hearing about the fire of hell, he trembled more. He asked. “How can I escape those fire?” Guru Nanak said, “Only if you shun cruelty henceforth and use the wealth which you have collected by your sins, to provide free meals to the poor.”

Importance of reading Kirtan Sohila

After traveling for many years and showing the people of the world the path to God, Guru Nanak Dev Ji came to a land near the banks of the Ravi River. This Land belonged to a wealthy man named Krori Mal who donated this entire land to Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The land was renamed to Kartarpur. Guru Nanak Dev Ji spent the later years of his life here in Kartarpur along with Bhai Lehna Ji. One afternoon, while staying in Kartarpur, Bhai Lehna Ji was giving Guru Nanak Dev Ji a massage. What did Bhai Lehna Ji see?

When he first started the massage Guru Nanak Sahib Ji was fine. He had no marks or cuts on his body, but now out of nowhere Guru Ji’s feet were bleeding. There were cuts in the feet as if they had walked over some prickles or something sharp.

Bhai Lehna Ji was shocked! He asked, “Guru Ji, you are sitting here yet how come your feet have started to bleed? How come there are cuts in your feet as if you have walked over something sharp?”
Guru Nanak Dev Ji said that there is a Sikh who is milking goats out in the field. Call that Sikh here and then I will give you the answer to your question. Guru Ji sent another Sikh to call the Sikh in the fields. When the messenger reached the fields the Sikh was reading the Bani of Kirtan Sohila while he was milking the goats. The messenger told the Sikh that Guru Ji was calling him.

The Sikh came and bowed to Guru Ji. Guru Nanak Dev Ji then told the Sikh, “Whenever anybody reads the Bani that you were reciting (Kirtan Sohila), I am always present there. While you were walking around in the fields reading Kirtan Sohila, I was walking behind you listening to the Bani. I didn’t let a single cut come on to your body; instead I took the cuts for you.”
The Sikh asked Guru Ji for forgiveness and asked what he should do now.

Guru Ji told him that Kirtan Sohila Bani should be read at night time before going to sleep. First you should wash your hands, feet, and face and then read the Bani with full concentration. If you do this, then I will sit by that person’s side and listen.

From this moment on, Kirtan Sohila started to be read at night time. Kirtan Sohila is a very short Bani, but some people are so lazy that they go to sleep without reading it. It’s not like Sukhmani Saheb which is very long. It is only a few small shabads.

If someone reads this Bani before going to sleep then they will not have any nightmares during the night. If you die during your sleep you will not become a ghost or evil spirit in your next life. Guru Ji will look after you.

This is Guru Ji’s Hukam, “That person who reads Kirtan Sohila before going to sleep will be close to me.”

While reading this Bani with concentration you should think in your mind that Guru Ji is sitting by listening to me reading the Bani. This Bani is comprised of 5 shabads; 3 from Guru Nanak Dev Ji and one each by the fourth and fifth Gurus.

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The Value of Satguru's Darshan

In Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s time there were two men who always met each other at night while walking to back from their destination. One of them is Satguru Ji’s Sikh who always goes for Satguru Ji’s darshan and the other man always went to wrong side. One day while Satguru Ji’s Sikh was going for Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s darshan he was hurt by a thorn on his feet. The Sikh was very upset and walked home with pain on his feet. When they met at night, Satguru Ji’s Sikh came to know that the other man found gold stamp. The man also told the Sikh that you go to darshan (meet) Guru Nanak Dev Ji and you get hurt but I go wrong way and I got gold. The next day Satguru Ji’s Sikh went to ask Guru Nanak Dev Ji that why did I have to suffer where as the other man got gold stamp. Guru Nanak Dev Ji told him to ask the other man that in the pot where he found the gold stamp that there was just a gold stamp and the rest was ashes right? And Guru Nanak Dev Ji said that he got the gold because you come to darshan me and then he has your darshan every night so that’s why there is just one gold stamp left. The Sikh then asked Guru Nanak Dev Ji that why did I get hurt in my feet? Guru Nanak Dev Ji replied that "you were going to get a death sentence but your karem (deed) is reduced because you have Satguru’s darshan (meet) every day".

-From Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji's Updesh, Written by Harmeet Kaur

The Astounding Respect For Kes (Hair)

On the 16th of July, 1991, Sri Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji had bypass surgery done in the city of Adelaide, in Australia, regarding which some facts have been given in many news papers. At 71 years, Satguruji agreed to have the operation performed only if all HIS conditions were met. The major conditions were that when the operation was to be performed, the chest hair surrounding the area would not be shaved and during the operation, the Dastar (Turban) must by all means remain, covering His Holiness’s Kes. Other religious conditions were very serious, such as no blood transfusion would be allowed and the Kachera (Traditional Underpants) shall not be taken off. During the operation, no alcoholic anesthesia could be used and neither could disinfectant with such contents be applied on the wound. Setting such stringent conditions, the top surgeons throughout the world were approached. All the top surgeons including those in India gave the answer that they could not operate under such strict rules. During that time a reply came from Dr. Ras of the Royal Edward hospital in Australia who had agreed to perform the operation while following the rules to the fullest. The operation was successfully performed on the 16th of July. Many newspapers in Australia including “Telegraph”, “Mirror”, “The News”, approached Satguru Jagjit Singh Ji and requested to know the answer to the question that was HE not worried about the operation because the survival chance had been greatly reduced due to the strict rules that were set in place? To this His Holiness Enlightened them saying “Guru De Sikh Nu Aapni Jaan Nalo Asool Vadhayray Piaray Hunday Hann”[“For A Guru’s Sikh, The Rules Are Much More Important Than Life.”]. For such a Great Personality, to risk HIS Life in order to not disrespect the Kes, in this day and age, is truly an astonishing deed that will be forever inscribed in History.

-From the March, 1998 issue of ‘Preet Larhi’ published by Gurbaksh Singh ‘Preet Larhi’(Yahoo Namdhari Group)