5/23/08

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.

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