Guru Nanak Sahib ji & Veeran Malhar
On one of Guru Nanak Dev ji’s travels…
(Bhai Saado and Sheehan are said to have acompanied Guru Nanak Dev ji in one of Guru jis travels)
Mardana: O Sheehan, see, the Guru has opened his Lord’s-love-immersed eyes and his forehead is showering benevolence. It appears he is going to bless someone.
Sheehan: It does appear like that. He travels to distant places as if he is searching someone.
Mardana: Yes, he is benevolent in many ways. Sometimes he showers his blessings on a large gathering but sometimes he blesses those who are already on the religious path. Sometimes he blesses some top saints who consider themselves as having reached the Lord but are actually stuck in some mistaken belief. He clears their mistaken beliefs and puts them on the right path.
Sometimes he blesses those who are occupying religious seats but are in pride and nurture hatred in their mind for other religions. (Laughingly) the true Guru is miraculous. Sometimes he blesses the robbers, criminals and sinners and puts them on the true path of love of the Lord.
One is the Lord whose will one cannot know and one is the Guru. We cannot guess what miracle he is going to do today. See, he is in meditation since early morning. Now, he has opened his eyes. Benevolence is showering from his face.
Meanwhile the Guru said: Come. Let us move. Get ready.
Mardana: Beloved Guru, where do we go?
Guru: Let us move. We are already in travel. The town is near. One person is in pursuit but is stuck in mistaken belief. It is like a barrier against a river. When the barrier is removed t;he river flows uninterrupted. Similarly, if his mistaken belief is removed, he will move forward with vigor.
On listening to the Guru’s wish they moved ahead. They reached the town. They asked someone: Where does Veeran Malhar live?
The person replied: A little further on this very street on the left side. They reached there and entered the hrarden. There, Veeran Malhar was sitting busy in some work. He saw them, stood up and with folded hands said: Greetings to you.
Guru: God bless you.
Then hurriedly he brought a bed. Spread a nice white sheet on it and said: Welcome, please sit down.
The Guru sat on the bed and on the ground in front, on a mat, sat Veeran Malhar and the Guru’s companions.
Guru: Veeran Malhar, say, how are your ascetic practices going on? Veeran Malhar: I am a poor farmer. What do I know about the Lord? Mardana: Speak frankly and take some good gainful advice.
Veeran Malhar (heaving a sigh softly): What is the name of the Godly soul?
Mardana: Nanak from the Lord.
Veeran Malhar (Heaving a long sigh of relief: I am fortunate that a Godly soul has himself come and given a glimpse. Thanks, 0 Lord. Lord is great and benevolent.
He bowed to the Guru again and said: 0 Nanak! I have heard you consider Muslims and Hindus as equal. I am in a fix. When I am at home, I remember the one Lord. When I go to the mosque, there, they tell Hindus are not allowed in the Lord’s palace. Only Muslims are allowed and there is one friend Mohammed at His gate. Nobody else can go there. There is no Ram or Krishna. Even if they are, they are not allowed there. Then I ponder if Hindu prophets are not allowed there, then why the Lord created them.
The Muslim priests say that since they are non-Muslim, they will burn in hell. Then my mind questions: Why does Lord create something to burn in hell? Does he feel happy to see the hell burning? If I talk to a pandit, he says, Muslims are untouchable. They cannot get salvation. Then they talk against the prophet who has to help in getting salvation.
Then I pray to God: 0 Lord, tell me which ship should I go on, Muslim ship or Hindu ship? Which ship will sail and which will drown? Which ship will take me across? My heart is pierced with this thorn and I have no peace of mind.
I have heard you have meditated for ages and have got a robe of honour from the Lord. You tell who is allowed and who is not allowed in the Lord’s palace? For the sake of the Lord, you tell truly.
Guru: O dear, the truth is that as you sow, so shall you reap? Peace of mind is in contentment that whatever the Lord does is good. But salvation is in Name. Without Name everybody is in the bond of ego.
Veeran Malhar: But you are the Lord’s beloved. You are immersed in His love. You take out the thorn from my heart that the Muslim priests have pierced and Hindu priests have not pulled it out. You pull it out. You tell who is allowed in the Lord’s palace?
Guru: Both, Muslims and Hindus agree that one Lord has created this world. So, Lord is the creator. His created beings are His children. Who is lovable and who is not? You only tell, amongst your own children, who is lovable and who is not?
Veeran Malhar: All children are lovable but the one who has goodness in him is more lovable.
Guru: We cannot see the Lord but the important thing we know that he is the creator and father and for him all are equal as we feel our sons are. Who is more loveable, who is pious. So, now you can judge who is more loveable. It is the one who has goodness. Veeran Malhar: Yes, you have said right. Now you tell me about the heavens also. Which prophet is loveable, whether it is Mohammed or Ram or Krishna?
Guru: The Lord, who is present here, there, everywhere, in His court, He is the one and only one Lord. Rest, are all standing at his door, they are in millions. Millions of Ram, millions of Krishna, millions of Mohammed, millions of saints and millions others, they cannot be counted. They have millions of dresses, millions of paths, millions of Hindu priests and millions of Muslim priests. 0 brother, but those who have treaded on the true path of ‘recitation of the Lord’s Name with love’ have got salvation. If you tread on this path you will get salvation, otherwise not. From the above-mentioned millions those who have treaded on this true path have got salvation, others have not. So, there are millions in ascetic practices but only those who have treaded on this true path have got salvation. Without the Lord’s name and without the sensation of the Lord in the mind and body all are without the love of the Lord.
Now, if we talk of the Lord, then he is One and only One. There was no second, there is no second and there will be no second. He is the only one. He is the one Lord of all prophets, saints and sadhus. But if you want to find His limit as you measure your land, then that will be folly. The creation cannot understand the Creator. The finite cannot estimate the Infinite. He is limitless and indescribable in words.
We have to remain in devotion. We have to love Him. Being near Him gives comfort. We should always remain in His presence. That is the salvation. The rest who do not tread on the spiritual path, who do not recite His Name, they are in sentimental love. They are enticed in the short-lived worldly pleasures. They do not understand the ecstasy of the soul. Their education, their knowledge, their vocation are all in ego. The educated, the uneducated, the believers in religion, the atheists, all are in envy. They increase the unhappiness and suffering of mankind. What is the use of that education that increases the suffering of mankind and does not allay its suffering.
Further, if you ask about the Lord’s door and wish to listen to happiness hriving words, then listen.
Then Mardana played the rebeck and sang a divine song.
O Lord, where is your door, where is your palace where you sit and hrive your love to everyone, where the divine songs are sung, where the angels sing your praises, where the breeze, fire and water sing your praises, where the Shiva, Brahma and Indira sing your praises? 0 Lord, you are great, your Name is always true. 0 Lord, you were, you are and you always will be. 0 Lord, you are the king of kings, your command is supreme.
The enthralling divine song depicting love of the Lord elevated Veeran Malhar’s mind and he went into deep meditation. He got the sensation of the Lord in his mind and body. He was filled with ecstasy. Even, after the divine song finished he kept sitting in meditation for a long time.
When his mind came out of the trance, then his mind said: This is the true Guru who has himself come to my house. It is he who has got this treasure of Name that he is showering. He is the image of the Lord. He has come from the Lord. He sees the Lord here, there, everywhere. One can see the Lord in his eyes and feel the Lord in his words. He is prophet of the prophets.
He opened his eyes and looked towards the radiant face of the Guru. He could not bear the dazzle and falling at his feet said: 0 Nanak, you are the Lord’s image. You bless me. You have taken out the thorn from my heart. Now, you apply the cream of hrrace on my heart. Be hrracious. I am a beggar at your door. You bless me.
Guru: O dear Veeran Malhar: Listen, who reaches the Lord’s door? A saint who has controlled his five senses and reined them. One who keeps company of holy people, one who has tread on the footsteps of a saint and has become a saint, he is welcome at the Lord’s door. He is welcome and respected here. He is welcome and respected at the Lord’s door. He is respected at the Lord’s palace. But how does one become a saint? That is by remembering the Lord incessantly, by remembrance of His Name. How do you remember His Name? That is by recitation of His Name. How do you get into recitation of Narne? By joining the holy conh’Tegation. The Guru gives the Name.
This is the true path and all else is mistaken belief.
Veeran Malhar: Then 0 benevolent Guru, you put me on that true path, so that by treading on it, I will learn to become a saint.
Then the Guru was gracious. He put Veeran Malhar on the true path of recitation of the Lord’s name with love.
Veeran Malhar started treading on the path of Name. He remained steadfast in recitation of Name.
The Guru blessed a seeker of the Lord who was stuck in the middle because of misguidance from the ego-minded clerhry.
O Great Guru Nanak !!
Acknowledgement: http://tuhitu.blogspot.com/