Sant Ishar Singh ji

1) Don't beg

2) Don't keep any gifts that come your way

3) Don't turn into a recluse

4) Go all over the world lighting the lamps of Sikhi

-- Sant Ishar Singh ji

Sakhi Series : 51 ( mith bolarraa jee har sajan suaamee moraa )

Your mouth has not stopped slandering and gossiping about others. Your service is useless and fruitless. ||1|| (Guru granth Sahib ji – pg 1253)

 

Once Guru Gobind Singh was out camping and a man brought a bear and wanted to show the play, everybody got very excited to see what the bear could do. The man did so many acts with the bear that it pleased the Guru and the sangat.

 

Immediately after the show, Guruji asked the Sikhs to prepare karah prashad and did ardas. After which Guruji said to his chauria(the bear's caretaker), "Bhai, please give prashad to the bear also". But surprisingly after eating the Parshad the bear died on the spot. The bear's caretaker now started crying. Guruji then asked the 'Kazanchi' (the man who was in charge of the cash) to give him some money with which he can survive and start doing Kirt again.  

 

The Sikhs were puzzeled and requested Guruji to explain the episode.

Guru said, "The Bear was a great Gursikh and sewadar. Once when he was serving prashad in the congregation when another sikh who was bringing the wood to the city, and to the langar, thought he can just go in the congregation and pay obeisance to the Guru, get the prashad and run. So he left his bullock cart working(un-attended), and ran over to the Gurdwara and asked the sewadar to please give him prashad first. On this the sewadar (bear) asked him to "Sit down and wait his turn"

 

But the Sikh just clamped on him. The sewadar got irritated and said, "Why are you clamping on me like a bear?" "Don't you understand, you sit down and I'll give it to you !!" Meanwhile a little prashad fell down and the Sikh quitely picked it up and left.

 

It was because the sewadar had caused distress and used foul language for a sikh (sangat) that he himself became a bear. And since he was a Sikh and had done sewa in Guru ghar he was redeemed now by giving prashad and doing Ardas.

 

imT bolVw jI hir sjxu suAwmI morw ]

m i t(h) bo larraa j ee har sajan suaa mee m o raa ||

My Dear Lord and Master, my Friend, speaks so sweetly.

 

hau sMmil QkI jI Ehu kdy n bolY kaurw ]

ho sa(n)mal thhak ee jee ouh u kadh ae n bo l ai ko u raa ||

I have grown weary of testing Him, but still, He never speaks harshly to me.

 

kauVw boil n jwnY pUrn BgvwnY Aaugxu ko n icqwry ]

ko u rraa b o l n j aanai p ooran bhagav aa nai ao u gan k o n chi th aar ae ||

He does not know any bitter words; the Perfect Lord God does not even consider my faults and demerits.

 

piqq pwvnu hir ibrdu sdwey ieku iqlu nhI BMnY Gwly ]

path i th paavan har b i radh sadh aaeae e ik th i l nehee bha(n)nai gh aalae ||

It is the Lord's natural way to purify sinners; He does not overlook even an iota of service.  

(Guru granth Sahib ji – pg 784)

 

 

Sakhi Series - 50 ( Sri Guru Har Rai Sahib Ji and Bhai Gonda)

Sri Guru Har Rai Sahib Ji and Bhai Gonda

This is an amazing sakhi about Satguru Sri Guru Har Rai Sahib Ji, the King of Kings and the Saint of Saints and his beloved sikh, Bhai Gonda.

A devout Sikh called Bhai Gonda abode with Satguru Sri Guru Har Rai Sahib Ji Maharaj. He was a saint in thought, word and deed. Guru Ji was very much pleased with his sincere devotion and said, 'Bhai Gonda, go to Kabul, instruct Sikhs over there in the worship of the true name and preach the faith of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Feed holy men and pilgrims with the offerings that you recieve, and send what remains for the maintenance of my kitchen. These are your duties, and I am confident that you will perform them'.

Although Kabul was a foreign country and there was danger from Muslim bigotry in residing there, yet Gonda cheerfully accepted the task which was given to him by his beloved Guru. On arriving in Kabul he built a Gurudwara, and carried out all Guru Jis instructions. In other respects the following lines of Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj which he was accustomed to repeat, served him as a guide:

Meditate in your heart on the Guru's image;
Regale your mind with the Guru's word and spell,
Put the Guru's feet into your heart,
And ever bow to the Guru, the Supreme Being.

One day while Bhai Gonda was reciting Japji Sahib, he thought he was clinging onto Guru Jis feet. He was in such a state of abstraction that he became quite unconscious. He grew as absorbed in the sight of Guru Ji as a drop of rain in the ocean.

All knowing Guru Ji, knew what was passing in Gonda's mind, and sat firmly on his throne keeping his feet together. When dinner was annouced, as usual at mid-day, he made no response. When the annoucement was repeated about an hour afterwards, he still remained silent. A third time after a longer interval dinner was annouced and the sevadaars asked permission to serve it, however, still Guru Ji did not speak.

When several sikhs were on the point of making a representation to him, he broke his silence and said, 'My Brothers and Sisters, Bhai Gonda is in Kabul. He is in thought, word and deed, a sikh of the Guru. Today he has clasped my feet. How can I withdraw them from him? And how can I go and take my dinner until he lets go of my feet? I am therefore waiting until the conclusion of his meditation and obeisance.'

Bhai Gonda did not awake from his trance, before twilight, and it was only then that Guru Ji felt free to take his repast.

DHAN DHAN SATGURU SRI GURU HAR RAI SAHIB JI MAHARAJ

Sakhi Series - 49 ( Bhai Prema Ji ) )

BHAI PREMA JI

Mai bin gur dėkhė nīd na āvai.
Without seeing my Guru, sleep does not come. ( Guru Granth sahib – ang 94)

 

There lived a devout Sikh named Prema in the village of Talwandi. He was lame, but yet able to walk with the aid of a crutch. He used every day to take a pitcher of milk to Sri Guru Amar Das Ji Maharaj, who drank some himself, and distributed the remainder among his guests. One day in the height of the rainy season, as the roads were full of mud, he set out with his usual offering.

The village chaudhri frequently observed him going and coming. On this particular day the chaudhri remained at home, and, having nothing better to do, watched the Sikh, and furtively took away his crutch, saying to him, 'Go not today ; there is too much mud on the ground. If you persist in going, you will fall down and die.'
Another man said to him, 'Your Guru is such a wonder-worker, why does he not cure your leg? If he cannot do so, how shall he save you hereafter? '

Prema prayed to be allowed to pay his usual visit to Sri Guru Amar Das Ji Maharaj. In reply to the impertinent inquiries he said he had not become a Sikh to have his leg made whole, and he had never asked the Guru for a new one. His tormentors continued to tease him for some time, and at last re­turned him his support. He quickly made his way to see his king, his beloved Guru Ji.

Guru AmarDas ji ( the knower of hearts) already knew what had happened and on seeing Prema ji asked Bhai Prema ji to go to the bank of the river where dwells a Muslim faqir called Husaini Shah. Go and tell him that the Guru has sent you.'

Husaini Shah lived alone and allowed no one to approach him, but by the Guru's favour he made Prema an exception, and allowed him to sit down beside him.

When Prema had finished his narrative, the faqir took up a stick to hit him, as he had done other visitors for intruding on his privacy. Prema watching his movements ran away, forgetting in his haste to take his crutch with him. To his delight and surprise his leg became whole.

Prema then returned to the faqir, fell to the ground before him, and thanked him profusely for the cure he had given him in such an unceremonious and extraordinary manner.

Husaini modestly disclaimed all credit, and said, ' Your leg was cured the moment the Guru told you to come to me ; but he has given me the evil reputation of exercising supernatural power. Go now, fall at his feet, and offer him my homage also. There are many servants of God like me, but I am confident there is none like the Guru who is perfect and omnipotent.'

 

 

h u kamee o u tham n eech hu kam l ikh dh u kh sukh p aaee ah i ||

By His Command, some are high and some are low; by His Written Command, pain and pleasure are obtained.

 

e i kanaa h u kam ee bakhasee s eik h u kamee sadh aa bhav aaeeahi ||

Some, by His Command, are blessed and forgiven; others, by His Command, wander aimlessly forever.

 

h u kamai a(n)dhar sabh k o b aahar hu kam n koe || n aa nak hu kamai j ae bu jh ai th ho u mai keh ai n k oe ||2||

Everyone is subject to His Command; no one is beyond His Command.

O Nanak, one who understands His Command, does not speak in ego. ||2||

- Japji Sahib

 

Listen to the Shabad:   Mai bin gur dėkhė nīd na āvai 

http://www.rajkaregakhalsa.net/audio/Kirtan/Bhai%20Harjinder%20Singh%20Sri%20Nagar%20wale/Mein%20Bin%20Gur%20Dekhe.mp3

 

 

Sakhi Series :- 48 ( Bhagat Namdev ji and a Dog?)

Bhagat Namdev ji and a Dog

 

 

Sab Gobind Hai Sab Gobind Hai Gobind Bin Nahin Koi   -   ( Aasaa Saint Nam Dev  - Guru Granth Sahib Page 485   )
 => God is everything, God is everything. Without God, there is nothing at all.

 

"Truth and unity are one. One supreme Reality pervades the whole universe. A true devotee of God has a universal vision, a --perceeption of oneness. Bhagat Namdev perceives his Lord everywhere and sings the Glory of his all pervading Lord accordingly in the foregoing hymn."

 

God's name was always on the lips of Bhagat Namdev Ji. Bhagat ji had realised that indeed, everything is God's creation, and that God dwells inside every creature. 

Bhagat jis devotion reached such a pitch that , One day when Namdev ji was sitting at a place doing his Bhajan, a dog came to the spot and ran away with the bread he had prepared for his midday meal. It is said that Bhagat Namdev ran after the dog not with a stick in his hand, but with a cup of Ghee; and he addressed the dog thus: "O Lord of the world! Why do You want to eat the dry bread? Take some Ghee along with it. It will taste much better". On hearing this the Lord gave his d ivine vision to Bhagat Namdev ji

hindhoo poojai dhaehuraa musulumaan museeth
=> The Hindu worships at the temple, the Muslim at the mosque.

naamae soee saeviaa jeh dhaehuraa n museeth
=> Naam Dayv serves that Lord, who is not limited to either the temple or the mosque. ||4||3||7|| (   Guru Granth Sahib Page 874)