Saakhi ( “Vasde raho, Ujad Jao” )

During one of his Udasis Guru Nanak Dev Ji Maharaj along with Bhai Mardana ji visited a village where the people were very mean and did not paid any attention to spiritual values or honesty in their lives. Upon leaving the village after some days he rose his hand up and blessed the villagers and said – “Vasde raho”(May u prosper).

Next day Guru Nanak Dev Ji Maharaj along with Bhai Mardana ji reached another village. In this village contrary to the people of the previous village the residents were very kind, honest and spiritual minded. They respected and paid utmost respect to Guru Nanak Dev ji. Guru ji spent some days there very comfortably and then bid farewell to village. While leaving, on outskirts of village Guru Nanak Dev Ji Maharaj rose his hand up again said, “Ujad Jao” ( May you get displaced).

On hearing this Bhai Mardana ji was taken by surprise. He asked the Guru why he did so.
The Guru’s response was simple :
These people are good people with great values, and if they leave the village and go to
different parts of the world wherever they go they will spread these values among the local population. More people will get influenced and become good and ethical ( by doin their sangat). The world will change for the better. Whereas people from the first village had no values and thus must live there only because these are not the values that need to be spread.

“Sat sangati kaisee jaaneeyai. Jithai eko naam vakhaaneeyai” (sggs 72)

–> How is the Society of the saintly souls to be known? There, only God’s Name is chanted

Encounter with Ascetics

Sidhi Sadhus are a sect of ascetics. They generally live on high mountains. They believe that salvation can be sought by torturing the body.

Guru Nanak Dev was a constant traveller. After covering far flung areas in the plains of India he went to important places in the Himalayan hills. While travelling in the hills, the Guru met a group of ascetics led by Gorakh Nath. They were in the first instance surprised to see the Guru at an altitude of 6000 meters. They wanted to humble him in a debate on philosophy of life. This they could not do ( i.e. they failed). Guru Nanak had better arguments. Some of the questions and answers from the discussions that took place are as follows…

Nanak: What is the use of wandering around? Purity comes only through Truth.

Sidhas : “Who are you? What is your name? What is your way? What is your goal? Where is your
seat? Where do you live, boy? Where did you come from, and where are you going?

Nanak: He (God) dwells deep within the nucleus of each and every heart. This is my seat and my
home. I walk in harmony with the Will of the True Guru. I came from the Celestial Lord God; I go
wherever He orders me to go. I am Nanak, forever under the Command of His Will.

Sidhas: The world-ocean is treacherous and impassable; how can one cross over?

Nanak: As does the lotus flower floats untouched upon the surface of the water, with one’s
consciousness focused on the Word of the Shabad, one crosses over the terrifying world-ocean. O
Nanak, chant the Naam, the Name of the Lord and enshrine the one Lord in your heart.

Sidhas: “Where did we come from? Where are we going? Where will we be absorbed?

Nanak: By His Command we come, and by His Command we go; by His Command, we merge in
absorption. Through the Word of the Shabad, the state of dignity is attained. We emerge from Truth,
and merge into Truth again. The pure being merges into the One True Lord.

Sidhas: “What can you tell us about the beginning? In what home did the absolute dwell then?

Nanak: We can only express a sense of wonder about the beginning. The absolute abided endlessly
deep within Himself then.

Sidhas: Who is your guru? Whose disciple are you?
Nanak: The Shabad (Word) is the Guru, upon whom I lovingly focus my consciousness; I am the
‘chaylaa’, the disciple (of Shabad-Guru). O Nanak, throughout the ages, the Lord of the World is my
Guru.

Sidhas: What is that meditation, which leads the mind to be absorbed in itself?”||45||

Nanak: Eradicating egotism and individualism from within, and erasing duality, the mortal becomes
one with God.

Sidhas : “What is that wisdom, by which one remains steady and stable? What food brings
satisfaction?”

The stories of one’s ancestors make the children good children. They accept what is pleasing to the Will of
the True Guru, and act accordingly. ( Guru Granth Sahib Ji – 951)

Nanak: Drinking in the Ambrosial Nectar (Nectar of Shabad – Word), the soul settles in peace.
Hunger for the True Lord shall consume your pain, and through the True Lord, you shall be satisfied.

Ultimately they decided to impress him by the power of their miracles. They gave the Guru an empty bowl and asked him to fill it with water from the nearby tank. The Guru went there but came back empty-handed. He was not distracted by diamonds and pearls which were lying there. The Guru said: “Sorry! There is no water there.” They were ashamed to hear the Guru say: “I had gone there looking for water. I had nothing to do with diamonds”. They became his disciples.

It was during the time of Guru Arjan Dev Jee. Sangat was coming from Kabul (Afghanistan) to Amritsar for darshan of Gurujee. They met a Sikh and his wife on their way. This Sikh did a lot of sewa of the sangat. He massaged their legs, waved fan over them as they rested, brought water for them, everything. The next day they proceeded with this Sikh to Amritsar. As they reached Darbar Sahib, the jathedar of that Kabul sangat asked a few boys to take care of the shoes of everyone. None of the boys was ready to do it, as they all were very much eager to be the first ones to have darshan of Gurujee. At last this Sikh came forward and said I shall do it.

The sangat went inside and waited for 30-45 minutes, but Gurujee didn’t show up. Then the jathedar went ahead and asked Baba Buddha Jee where Gurujee was.

Babajee : Gurujee has gone to see the sangat coming from Kabul.

Jathedar : But we are the sangat from Kabul!

Babajee : Didn’t you meet Gurujee?

Jathedar : No Babajee, we didn’t. But we met a Sikh and his wife and they did a lot of sewa.

Babajee : Where is that Sikh now?

Jathedar : We left him to look after the shoes of the sangat.

Babajee, followed by the jathedar, followed by the entire sangat went outside to look for that Sikh. They saw him cleaning all the shoes with his own chola.

It was none other than Guru Arjan Dev Jee Himself

Baba Buddha Jee went forward and took away the pair of shoes Gurujee was cleaning. Babajee said “Why are you doing this?”. The entire sangat was now in tears. Gurujee smiled and said “Babajee, I haven’t seen Guru Nanak Dev Jee, but you have. Take a look again at this pair of shoes”. Babajee took a good look at the pair of shoes, and since he had been with Guru Nanak Dev Jee, he immediately recognized that it was Guru Nanak Dev Jee’s pair of shoes.

Moral of the sakhi : When doing sewa at the Gurdwara, do it with this thought in mind that who knows who is visiting the Gurdwara today! Who knows which Gurmukh soul has come today! If you are cleaning a small kid’s shoes, have in mind that it could belong to one of the Sahibzaade. If you are cleaning a bibi’s shoes, have in mind that it could belong to Bibi Bhani. If you are cleaning a bhai ji’s shoes, have in mind that it could belong to Bhai Bailo.