Dhanna

Dhanna was a simple hearted farmer.

One day, Dhanna was passing a pundit's house who was "feeding" a stone idol. Dhanna was quite perplexed by this. So Dhanna asked the pundit about it. The pundit was kind of hungry and wanted to get this feeding over as soon as possible and really wasn't in a mood for Dhanna's simple inquiries.

He replied, "Oh, nothing, just feeding God. Now if you will excuse me..."

"Really?! What does God give you if you feed it?"

Pundit: "Everything. Now, I really must ask you to leave..."

Dhanna liked this idea of giving a little food and getting back everything! So Dhanna asked the pundit if he could also have a God to feed.

At this time, the pundit's stomach was audibly complaining about lack of food. So he hastily picked up the nearest stone off the ground and said, "Here! First feed it, then you eat. Goodbye!"

Saying that the pundit dived into the food left over by God. Dhanna held the stone closely and hurried home.

As soon as Dhanna got home, Dhanna cooked the best meal he could for God. He placed it in front of the stone and said, "Here God, please eat. Afterwards, I want to discuss many things with you. I need a new cow for example, but for now, please eat."

Saying that Dhanna sat in front of God and waited. And waited. And waited.

After a while, Dhanna said, "Look God, I really have no time for your silence. Come and eat at once! I have many chores to do."

After several hours, Dhanna was thinking that perhaps God was annoyed at him. So Dhanna tried to persuade God to forgive him: "Look here God, I haven't eaten in a while. Now it is entirely possible that I have done something to annoy you but believe you me, we can discuss this much better after we have some food is in our stomachs."

Slowly the night deepened. Dhanna said, "Look God, I have one nerve left and you are dancing on it. Either eat your food or I will....", Dhanna couldn't really think of anything so he just stomped his foot in anger.

Pretty soon, it became daylight. Now Dhanna was quite disoriented. Sometimes Dhanna would curse God, sometimes Dhanna would hug God and sometimes Dhanna would cry.

Two long and hungry nights passed in this manner. Then at early morning on the third day, when Dhanna was too weak to curse any more, WaheGuru decided to do the thing WaheGuru does best - play.

WaheGuru appeared inside the stone. It was the most beautiful human body that Dhanna had ever seen - it seemed to glow with light and life. Dhanna forgot all his fatigue and anger and hunger; and just gaped at WaheGuru.

WaheGuru stepped out of the stone and said, "Dhanna, sorry, I am late - had to deal with a couple of universe creations - but would you be kind enough to warm up the food?"

Dhanna, keeping one eye on WaheGuru, warmed up the food and presented it to WaheGuru. WaheGuru joyfully ate and fed Dhanna too.

It was daylight by then. Dhanna said, "Look God, I am tired - I haven't slept for 2 nights - and all I can think of is bed. You, on the other hand, haven't done much. How exhausting is sitting in that stone anyways? So if you don't mind, would you feed the cows while I take a short nap?"

When Dhanna woke up, WaheGuru had finished all the farm chores and prepared a delicious yogurt drink for Dhanna. Dhanna drank and said, "You know God, you are just too good. I don't know why but I feel so close to you. You feel like my best friend. In fact, you feel like ... me! Now lets go and work on the farm."

Saying that, Dhanna put his arms around WaheGuru and went to the farm.

Dhanna fell head over heels in love with WaheGuru. He couldn't resist being with WaheGuru. They spent the next few days literally arm in arm. Even at night, Dhanna would hold WaheGuru's hand and listen to WaheGuru's songs - WaheGuru sang a lot - and would drift off to sleep.

A week later, the pundit was passing Dhanna's hut. Dhanna saw him and ran to him and said, "Oh, you wonderful man, thank you so much for that God..."

Pundit, "What??? Oh, yeah, sure, anytime. Look, I am in a hurry. I am going to the conference KPPARR (Keeping Poor Poor And Rich Rich)."

Dhanna: "But please come and drink some yogurt-drink. God makes the best yogurt-drink."

Pundit: "What now? God makes something?"

Dhanna: "Oh, the best stuff. Just look at God - how beautiful!"

Pundit looked and indeed someone was pushing the cows on the farm. And yet there was nobody to be seen.

Pundit: "Who is that?"

Dhanna: "Why, that is God, of course. Oh, you should hear God sing..."

Pundit was quited intrigued by now. And repeatedly asked Dhanna about this strange phenomena. After a while Dhanna realized that Pundit could not see God. Dhanna promised that he would talk to God about this.

After the pundit left, Dhanna went to WaheGuru and said, "God, how come pundit can't see you?"

WaheGuru: "Oh ... mainly because he really doesn't want to see me. He is more interested in my maid - Maya."

Dhanna: "But I don't understand. How can one see you?"

WaheGuru: "One has to become pure. And in this age, Dhanna, the easiest way to become pure is by reciting the True Word."

Dhanna: "True Word?"

WaheGuru: "Yes, Sat Naam - Sat Naam is the magic of this age. Even a little bit of it will open your eye that is needed to see me."

Dhanna: "But, I haven't recited Sat Naam. How come I can see you?"

WaheGuru touched Dhanna's forehead - Dhanna went inside. Inside he saw that he, Dhanna, had done heavy religious efforts for over 100 lifetimes. He had stood in water all night and in the hot sun all day for many lifetimes. He had hung upside down for several others. He had been a celibate in one lifetime and a moni (ones who don't talk) in another. But he had progressed spiritually very little.

Then in his previous life, he had met an adept guru who had shown him how to recite Sat Naam. And by reciting Sat Naam for just one lifetime, Dhanna had become pure.

Dhanna fell at WaheGuru's feet and cried, "Please forgive this fool, I treated you as an equal..."

WaheGuru picked him and held him close, singing songs of comfort, "Dhanna, now the time is right for me to leave. The way you see me now is the superficial way of meeting me. The real way is inside. Now you must start Sat Naam again and then I will meet you inside."

Saying that WaheGuru vanished into thin air. Dhanna was enlightened now, else he would cursed WaheGuru. Immediately he started Sat Naam with each breath.

Within days, Dhanna met WaheGuru in WaheGuru's real form - the formless One - inside.

Lions

SukhChan Singh (from Nanaksar) personally related this true story to me...
It was during the anti-Sikh riots. I was at that time living in the Gurudwara (Sikh place of worship). There were 7 other people living there besides me. Trouble started brewing early in the morning. We noticed about 50 young men gathering outside a few hundred metres away from the Gurudwara. We didn't really pay too much attention to them.

By noon, the group had turned into a rowdy crowd of about 300. We became quite concerned at that point. Our telephone wires had been cut, so there really was not much we could do. But we were still in high spirits.

At about 3 pm, a truck driven by a Sikh was driving along when the crowd attacked it. The Sikh gave up the truck and ran to the Gurudwara. Some of the goons overtook him and injured him but he was a strong guy and managed to escape. Still, he was quite bloody when he came in. That increased our number to 9. The number outside had increased to about 500 by evening. They were very loud and obnoxious by now.

We tried to ignore them and began our evening program at 6 pm. But as the darkness approached, the rabble become more and more bold. In fact, soon they started stoning the gurdwara. We stopped the evening program and placed all the Guru Granth Sahibs in the safest place possible.

At 7.30 pm it was very dark and the rabble became so bold that they put fire to the gurdwara's gate. It hit us then how serious the situation was - we soon would be killed!

Our group leader (the Jathedaar) gathered us and said, "We have faced worse situations then this - we have gone through two holocausts but we live and will live in freedom forever! We have never given up and will never give up. The enemy stands outside - there are 500 hundred, we are 9 but remember Guru Gobind Singh jee (the Sikh 10th spiritual master) has made each of us equivalent to 125,000! Get prepared to fight!"

He said this in such high spirits that our body hair stood on their ends. Even though I had been seriously ill for the past 3 months, I too was ready to fight. He then told us that we must make two groups. The first group of five will go out first and fight the enemy. The the rest (4) can go later. Everybody agreed - he then chose 4 other men. I was not chosen, most probably due to my illness.

The five put on the martial uniform of the Sikhs. Then the Jathedar did prayer to Guru Gobind Singh jee saying, "Dear father, we are coming to your land. Please prepare for us!"

Then the five then took out their swords and with the Sikh war cry
BOLE SO NEHAAL! SAT SRI AKAL!
BOLE SO NEHAAL! SAT SRI AKAL!
(the one who utters "Sat Sri Akal" (timeless Truth) becomes blissful)
filling the air, came out the face the enemy. You will not believe what happened then. Seeing 5 Sikhs in the uniform of Guru Gobind Singh jee, the rabble of 500 ran away!

It was as if 5 lions were chasing 500 hyenas away!

WahDuu!

Translated from "Se Keneha" by Bhai Seva Singh

Once a lady came to Baba Harnaam Singh jee and said, "Baba jee, I have a brother who is physically and mentally disabled. He can neither hear or speak. He also has a difficult time walking. I used to take care of him but now I am married and must leave him behind. But I am afraid noone will take care of him after my departure. After much thought I have come to you, Baba jee, please take care of him. He is a simpleton and needs love and patience."

Baba Harnaam Singh jee was the personification of love and patience. He was a simple, beautiful Sikh who lived a life according to the Guru's will. He smiled and said, "Daughter, this is Guru Nanak's house. The Guru is the support of the support-less. Please bring your brother, the Guru will look after him."

The lady thanked him and next day, brought her brother to Baba jee. Her brother who was referred to as "Sadhu" was indeed a simpleton. His legs were quite bent which made his walk quite difficult and somewhat comical. Only with much difficult could he listen or speak. He also looked hungry, so Baba jee straight away sent him to the kitchen. After sometime the people from the kitchen came running to Baba jee and said that Sadhu has already eaten eight chapatis and wants more. "We are afraid he might get sick," they said. Baba jee laughed and said, "Let him eat his fill. Only the Guru's house can satiate the body and the soul."

Sadhu ate twelve chapatis before raising his arms in surrender and happiness.

Baba jee called him and said loudly in his ears, "WAHEGURU WAHEGURU!!"

Sadhu, after some difficult, started saying, "WahDuu WahDuu."

Baba jee was extremely happy and gave him a rosary and showed Sadhu how to use it. Sadhu took the rosary and started saying "WahDuu". At morning and evening time, Baba jee would call Sadhu to come and join him during singing and meditation. Sadhu also started to work in the farm. And he would always keep on saying "WahDuu WahDuu."

After three months, with the power of the mantra he became quite well both physically and mentally. He started walking much better and also could hear better. He now started saying "WaheGuru WaheGuru" correctly. He would never miss morning meditation and singing even though he did not understand anything.

After six months, Sadhu became quite normal. He could walk quite well. He took on several easy responsibilities in the kitchen. After a year or so, he became a baptized Sikh - he was renamed Sadhu Singh.

After that, many changes started taking place in Sadhu Singh. He would always say "WaheGuru". Even during sleep several people heard him say, "WaheGuru WaheGuru." In fact, Baba jee too once came to see him during sleep. After hearing this he was very pleased and remarked that "The guru has done grace on Sadhu Singh because he says "WaheGuru" all the time and does so much selfless service of others. In addition, he does not care for any fruit to bear from either of his actions. Indeed he does not even know the deeper meanings of Word-meditation and why it should be done - he simply does it with 100% of his mind and body. Also he neither hears anybody's slander nor does it. He is simple-hearted, therefore this spiritual miracle has happened."

Even more subtle spiritual things happened on Sadhu Singh. He started hearing un-struck sounds within him. Since he was still very much a simpleton at heart, he didn't really understand what the sound was and would often climb on the roof to see where this sound was coming from! He would also often complain, "Someone is playing music all the time and someone is singing "WaheGuru" - I can't even sleep because of this!" Then he would be very puzzled when other people told him that they couldn't hear any sounds.

Sadhu Singh became quite famous. A lot of people started believing that Sadhu Singh's words became true. And they would try to please him with clothes and food. His brother from Ludhiana, Punjab started visiting him regularly. One day his brother decided to take Sadhu Singh to Ludhiana.

Disaster struck! Sadhu Singh's brother had a television (this was a rarity in those days). Sadhu Singh, being a simpleton, immediately became engrossed with it. He spent a week in Ludhiana and he watched the television from start to end.

When Sadhu Singh came back, he was a different man. Although he still carried the rosary around and did "WaheGuru WaheGuru", his mind was engrossed with the scenes he had seen on television. In fact, he would tell anybody and everybody about it. He would say, "On the trolley (he called television "trolley"), there are mountains, women dancing, farms, even holy temples. People fight and die on trolley." Everyone was quite amused at first but then it became a serious problem since Sadhu Singh replaced praises of WaheGuru with praises of trolley! Baba Harnaam Singh jee too scolded him and told him to stop talking about television. Sadhu Singh nodded but still went on singing the trolley's praises. This lasted about two months. After that Sadhu Singh somewhat returned to his old self, but his spirituality diminished drastically. Although he didn't talk about the trolley that much, he was constantly thinking of it.

Then his spirituality was struck a fatal blow - his sister took him with her to Delhi. Sadhu Singh stayed with her for one full month and watched television to his heart's content. He became a total devotee of television.

Sadhu Singh became so engrossed with television that even when he came back to live with Baba jee he would still go to a nearby house at evening time to watch television. He no longer heard any un-struck. His Word-meditation too became a mere mouth function.