The Light of the World

Ever in Thy kitchen, oh Amar Das, are ghee and flour to eat. Thou knowest the four quarters of the world; the Word is dear to Thy Soul. Thou hast removed the transmigration of those on whom Thou lookest with favour.

Balwand and Satta

When the time was at hand for Guru Angad to end His worldly mission He sent for Amar Das and gave to Him the duty of dispensing Naam to the world.

He gave Him instructions on His Sacred Mission. During His life He had commissioned Amar Das to build a city – nowadays called Goindwal – on the banks of the River Beas. Guru Angad told Amar Das to leave His own seat in Khadur and go there to Goindwal, where all children of God should be brought together regardless of caste or outer trappings. He then had His sons, who looked down on Amar Das as a poor servant, bow down before Him. Later, however, one of Guru Angad’s sons, Datu, took up his father’s seat in Khadur and claimed the Guruship as his family inheritance.

As instructed Guru Amar Das set up His place at Goindwal – then called Gobindwal. There people of all castes were brought together and all outer forms and rituals laid aside. Visitors would all eat together at the free kitchen and forget their social position; if they did not, they were denied the Guru’s darshan. The Guru freely distributed the heavenly manna of Naam to one and all who came with hungering souls. Guru Amar Das Himself had only one suit and lived on the coarsest fare. Whatever was contributed to Him was given over for the maintenance of the free kitchen and the care of the poor and needy. All were taken care of according to their wants and there was Great Love among the brotherhood.

Many wonderful stories are told of Guru Amar Das’s Grace, and the little city of Goindwal became the centre of Light in the dreary world. It is by the Grace of God that wherever that Human Pole is, that place becomes a veritable Paradise on earth. Guru Ram Das, the successor to Guru Amar Das who spent many deeply devoted years at His feet, paid homage to the presence of the Saints or Sadhus:

Wherever a Saint walks the land, the entire region becomes purified. All the places of pilgrimage set up after the various gods and goddesses pine for the dust of the Sadhus’ feet, all, all wish for a devotee of the Lord so as to be blessed with the feet of a Sadhu.

Guru Amar Das Himself says:

When the Satguru recites His verses and hymns, the world blooms again by His Love.

Such was the the case also in Jesus’s time, and nowadays some of us have seen that same Grace still pouring out, an unending well of bliss at the feet of Baba Kirpal.

Attracted by such Grace, people of all sorts came to the Guru. Pandits, brahmins, yogis and those enamoured of outer rites and rituals came. The peasants and the nobly born came. At His feet their angle of vision changed. That which the scriptures hinted at was made manifest. That which they had sought outwardly they were shown in their own body-temples. One such seeker, Bhikha, having been transformed at the Guru’s feet, wrote the following:

By the Guru’s Divine Knowledge and Meditation man’s soul is blended with God […] I have continued searching for a Saint and seen many holy men – sanyasis, ascetics, and sweet-voiced pandits – I have roamed for a year, but none of them satisfied me. I heard what they had to say, but I was not pleased with their conduct. What shall I say of those who, renouncing God’s Name, attach themselves to mammon? God has caused me to meet the Guru; as Thou, oh God, keepest me, so I abide.

The great emperor Akbar was a shrewd and just man. Having heard of the Guru, he travelled to His place. He ate of the coarse food with everyone else. He was impressed with the large number of people who ate freely there. He went to the Guru and asked him to accept some land for His work. The Guru replied that God had given him land with everlasting tenure. After a while with the Guru, the emperor said,

I see You desire nothing. From Your kitchen countless beings receive bounty and I entertain similar hopes.

In the times of the Gurus there are many people who seek Guruship for worldly reasons. One such was Datu, the son of Guru Angad mentioned above. When he heard of the reverence in which Guru Amar Das was held and the contributions which were pouring in for His work at Goindwal, he could not bear it; since he was claiming to occupy his father’s seat at Khadur, he thought all these were due him alone.

He went to Goindwal.

How can you, who were just a mere water-carrier in our house, be sitting as a Guru today?

he asked, and kicked Guru Amar Das off His seat. The Guru, Who was all humility, replied,

Great King, please pardon me, for you must have hurt your foot!

And He left that seat for Datu to sit on. He then retired to His native village of Basarka singing this song of Kabir:

Oh Kabir, heart-burning ariseth from claims, he who hath no claims is without enmity. He who hath no claims deemeth Indra poor in comparison.

And He went into seclusion and sat in samadhi.

Datu in the meantime was free to sit in the Guru’s place and felt very proud. However, he found few followers at Goindwal, and so he packed up as much wealth as he could take and returned to Khadur. On the way he was attacked by robbers and struck in the very foot with which he had kicked Guru Amar Das.

Those disciples who had been used to the bliss of Guru Amar Das’s presence were now in great distress. They left the place and searched all over for Him but He was not to be found. At last they prevailed on Bhai Buddha, a very advanced disciple of Guru Nanak, to help them. Bhai Buddha was afraid the Guru might be angry with him if he found Him but the distress of the disciples was so deep that he had to give in. Bhai Buddha had the Guru’s mare put at the head of the search party and sure enough she made her way to the Guru’s house at Basarka.

But when they came to His dwelling they found the door bricked up and a sign reading,

Whoever opens this door is no Sikh of mine, nor am I his Guru.

However, as there was no prohibition against finding another entrance the desperate disciples broke open the side of the wall. The Guru arose from His deep meditation and asked why they had opened the door in disregard of His orders. The poor Sikhs explained they had not come in the door, and Bhai Buddha pleaded:

Guru Angad has attached us, oh Guru, to Thy skirt; yet You have left us and concealed Thyself. How are we to receive Spiritual Consolation?

The Guru smiled and remained dent. Unable to disregard His loving Sikhs, He mounted His mare and returned to Goindwal.

The Guru was the lover of all mankind. His heart was a great ocean of compassion which drenched all the world, continuing as He was the great work begun by Guru Nanak. The work of the Guru is really the work of God and goes far beyond our mortal ken. In return for sorrows, heartaches, pain and all the misery of the world, He gave out the wine of Bliss and Truth. Full of pity for the suffering humanity, He worked from early morn to late night with no recompense. For all this the worldly people looked for some hidden motive or perversion, while the religious leaders who made their money and worldly fame in the name of Religion waged open opposition to His work. Never once do we find that Guru Amar Das uttered a bitter word against such people but always prayed that God should change their hearts to love.

Once some Mohammedan leaders sent their followers out to beat the Sikhs and break the earthen pots in which they gathered water. When His disciples asked Him what to do, Guru Amar Das told them to use goatskin bags which were harder to break. When they pierced the goatskin bags with arrows He told them to use brass utensils, but they knocked those over with bricks and stones and continued to beat the Sikhs.

How long should such tyranny be borne?

He was asked.

As long as you live.

He counselled the virtues of patience, contentment and mercy, and told them that there was no greater weapon than forgiveness.

Whatever a man sows, he shall reap. If he sows trouble, trouble will be his harvest. If a man sows poison, he cannot expect ambrosia.

The Guru also faced the long and bitter opposition of the Hindu Brahmins. When their lengthy hostility failed to disturb the Guru they decided to complain to the emperor. They told him that the Guru had abandoned all the Hindu customs, rites and rituals, and had eliminated the four castes. The Guru, they said, speaks of Wahguru instead of Ram, does not reverence Brahmins or Yogis, gods or goddesses, and because of Him no one obeys the Vedas or Smritis anymore. And they added that such conduct was likely to lead to political disturbances or insurrection. The emperor, after repeated complaints, decided to have the case brought before him. His summons to the Guru was not the stern order of a modern court but rather read,

Kindly grant me a sight of Thee.

The Guru, on hearing the request, said that he was too old to go and called for Jetha Ji – who later became Guru Ram Das – to go in His stead. He embraced His loving disciple and addressed him in a very moving manner. With intoxication flowing from His eyes He told Jetha that the disciple had become One with the Master and so none could prevail against him; He was entrusting him to uphold the Great Truth; if he could not answer any question, Guru Amar Das told him, he had merely to think of the Guru and a proper reply would come.

With great devotion Jetha fell at his Master’s feet and said,

Oh my Lord, I know nothing of myself. Your darshan is my morning and evening prayer; my thoughts will ever be on the Guru and I will do whatever You order.

So the Brahmins made their complaint and the emperor asked Jetha to reply.

He said,

In the four ages God was worshipped under the names of Wasdev, Hari, Gobind, and Ram. The Guru took the initials of these four names and made the word Wahguru which is praise of God and the Guru. The great rishis who composed the Shastras wrote that when the Saints meet and repeat the Name of God, there are the Ganges, Jumna, Saraswati and Godavari – places of Hindu pilgrimage. It is true that by bathing at these places the body is cleansed, but in the company of Saints and by repeating the Name of God the mind itself becomes pure. Better than idol worship is to see the Light of God in all and to hurt none; no place of pilgrimage is equal to mercy. To bear no enmity is tantamount to fasting. To renounce hypocrisy and repeat the Name of God are the main elements of our faith. The Satguru gives honour to all while He Himself remains humble … Selfish and ambitious men roam and wander in search of wealth, but the Guru has no worldly desires. He knows that God is in all creatures, pervading all, and so is ever firm in faith, harbouring no doubts and renouncing all superstition.

The emperor, who was a man of justice, was deeply impressed by Jetha’s answer and said that the accusers of Guru Amar Das should in fact ask Him for forgiveness.

Once the Guru, Who was the Living Pilgrimage, did return to the Hindu holy places which before He had frequented in vain. There were pilgrim taxes in those days, but by order of the emperor, the Guru’s party was exempted from that. Wherever He went, He gave out the age-old teachings of Naam. People of all sorts joined the Guru’s party. Some came just to be near the Master and hear His words, others came to be free of tax and safe from robbers. Wherever He went, the unfortunate tax collectors went home with empty pockets, for everyone would cry out Sat Naam, and say they were with the Guru.

Guru Amar Das told the people,

As the tax collectors have not been able to prevail against you, so Death, another tax collector, shall have no power against those who know and repeat the True Name of God.

Bibi Bhani was the daughter of Guru Amar Das and also the wife of Guru Ram Das – Who became Amar Das’s successor. She was extremely devoted and worked all day in the Guru’s kitchen. One night she was sitting before her father while He was in deep samadhi. She noticed that the couch He was sitting on had a broken leg and was on the verge of collapse. She put her hand under it and stayed like that through the long night. When the Guru came out of meditation, He saw His daughter there and asked why she had endured such torture. She said that if her wretched body could do any service for the Guru she was indeed fortunate. The Master was very pleased and told her to ask a favour. Her request was that the Guruship should remain in her family.

Guru Amar Das told her that a universal saviour – Guru Arjan – would be born to her, but added,

You have dammed the clear-flowing stream of the Guruship and consequently great trouble and annoyance shall result.

As is known, the Guruship, did stay in that two others, Guru Har Gobind and Guru Gobind Singh, had to organise Their followers into an armed force to protect the innocent people.

Like His Master before Him, when the time appeared for Him to leave the physical vesture, Guru Amar Das tested His disciples so as to demonstrate to all who was fit to succeed Him. That story is now well-known: how He had His disciples make and unmake platform after platform, moving from one spot to another, always finding something wrong. After so many times of this only Ram Das remained building; all the others lost faith, doubting the Guru’s sanity. – According to tradition, He was 125 years old at the time. They say that Ram Das built and unbuilt some 70 platforms for his Master and said he would spend his whole life in such work if the Master wished. He had seen both within and without the True Greatness of his Master; how could he doubt Him?

So when He had to leave, Guru Amar Das told His disciples:

God’s summons has come. I am about to depart. Let no one mourn for me lest they incur my displeasure for I am returning to the Feet of God. When I have gone sing God’s praises, hear the Inner Word of God and obey God’s will.

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The story of the Saints is full of sweetness and inspiration, a bubbling oasis in the desert of the world. It is a story which continues in every age. It is told in the man-body, a most precious boon given by God. The Living Master tells this mystic tale; His disciples may hear it day and night without cease. Otherwise the world is all in torment with no way out.