The Search

Guru Amar Das spent full seventy years in search of God. He went to all sorts of sadhus and ‘holy men’ in His search, but He could find no one who would show Him the Truth.

How can the lotus bloom without the sight of the Sun? How can man obtain salvation without a Guru?

He saw that His life was passing in vain in spite of all His efforts.

Oh Saints, how may I find the Lord by Whose glance of Grace I may get enlivened? Without the Lord I cannot live, oh contact me with the Guru that I may drink the Water of Life.

Every year in His search Amar Das went barefoot on pilgrimage to the Ganges at Hardwar. On returning from this pilgrimage one year He stopped to eat with a fellow pilgrim. Noticing Amar Das’s piety, the man asked Him who His Guru was.

I have no Guru.

Amar Das told him.

Alas, I have committed a great sin! I have eaten from the hands of a man who has no Guru.

In deep distress Amar Das lost all desire to eat or perform His secular duties. From deep in His heart He prayed:

Oh God, mercifully grant I may meet such a Guru Who has the alchemical power of turning dross into gold.

Such prayers cannot but bear fruit. It so happened that at this time Bibi Amro, the daughter of Guru Angad, was married into Amar Das’s family. She would arise early every morning and recite the Jap Ji and other hymns of Guru Nanak and do her meditation. One morning Amar Das heard Bibi Amro’s chanting and as He listened to the verses relating to the saving Grace of a True Guru He fell into a state of deep intoxication.

He went out to Bibi Amro:

Who taught you these songs?

– My father, the Great Guru.

You must take me to Him!

As soon as arrangements could be made they set out to Guru Angad. When Amar Das arrived, Guru Angad came out to embrace him but Amar Das fell at His feet. It is said that Amar Das’s delight was like that of a poor man who has gained the wealth of the whole world.