2 October 1899 

Lots of Love from Jaimal Singh to my obedient son, Babu Sawan Singh, and to Babu Hari Ram, Babu Mohan Singh, Malik Thakar Das, Babu Gajja Singh, Basant Singh, Narain Singh, Amar Singh, and the younger Bibi Ji. 

May His Grace and Mercy be upon all of you. 

I was very happy to receive your letter and know about your well-being.

Without the Satguru’s refuge, the being – jeev – can achieve nothing. Whatever Spiritual Goal is to be attained will be through the Grace and Mercy of the Satguru. But the being is exceedingly impure, so all the time, every single day, he has to live within the Satguru’s refuge and His will. 

Chanan Singh is still at the Dera. He will leave for home on Monday, 2 October, and return to Khairagali, he says, in a month. You have subscribed to the Khalsa Akhbar for me. How much did you pay for it? I returned the single issue that arrived here in the name of Jawala Singh Sant – I would have kept it, had it been in my name. Since then there has been no word from them. I will accept it for the period for which you have subscribed, provided they send it under my name. Please write to them that since the correct name is Jaimal Singh, why was it sent to Jawala Singh?

The situation of the brick-kiln: water is not available because it has not rained here at all. Even the maize crop had to be planted by irrigating from the well. The well is working day and night, and still there is not enough water. We were told that we can use the well after the ploughed fields have been irrigated and the wheat crop sown. It is a matter of two or three months; the work on the kiln will start as soon as we get water.

Ghee is indeed very expensive here, but Bibi was determined to send you fresh ghee. How can we place a price on that? We, too, eat it here. I sent it to you because I look upon you as my own son. A value cannot be placed on that, just as bread and water belong to the Satguru but are beyond price. However, if you insist, send whatever you think appropriate, but only up to, or less than, 20 rupees, no more than that.

I am very pleased with you, my son. This separation is for a short while. Have no doubt: it will happen just as you have written, that your soul should never part from the Real Form, the Shabd Dhun. There are some debits and credits still to be settled, that’s why there is a delay.

I am very pleased that you hold Satsang on Sundays, and also that you sit in Bhajan for two or three hours. Advise your mind that its actions are not within the instructions of the Satguru. Whatever is done according to the instructions of the Satguru is the Satguru’s work and is spiritual in nature. However little it may be, it will account for a lot.

Here is an illustration for you to understand: if a field is sown with seed after timely ploughing and watering, each grain of that seed multiplies into a handful. Some wheat stalks even sprout sixty or seventy clusters, that is, ears of wheat, from a single grain. Sometimes a single grain grows into a kilogram of grain. However, if similar grains of seed are sown in barren soil, even the seed itself is lost. So whatever the mind does – the doubts it raises, the arguments it advances, the evil deeds it perpetrates, and the sensual pleasures it indulges in – is like sowing seed in barren soil. One should never desire such worldly things, my son. Rather one should always stay within the will of the Satguru. Whatever the Lord is to give a human being has already been given before his birth. To indulge now in low desires and thinking, or in false fruitless actions, is aimlessly wasting time. Nothing comes of such desires and reflections. If one were to put them all aside to follow the Guru’s teaching and keep oneself attached to the Shabd Dhun, one would become entirely spiritual. 

The lines from ‘Ratan Mala,’ Sri Guru Granth Sahib, are:

Kot kotantar tat kaa baitaa; gagan mandal me raakhe chaitaa. 

Rare is the person who has realised the Lord; as also the one who retains Him in the mind.

We call baitaa the soul that after reaching Sach Khand comes back with His command. The fruit that that soul received upon reaching Sach Khand through the practice of the Shabd Dhun is the same which in this age is received by the individual whose attention is absorbed in the Inner Universe. Then you, too, my son, should keep the Lord in the Inner Mind, and consider it your great good fortune that your human body has borne fruit. 

Best wishes from Bibi and all the Satsangis at the Dera. Best wishes from Chanan Singh. Bibi’s warm regards to you, her dear brother. I am out of writing paper, my son. Listen to the Shabd Dhun every day and give It True Love and affection. Basant Singh of your village came here; he went back after getting another person initiated. This, my son, is in reply to your last two letters.

2 October 1899