Conversation Of The Emperor And Guru Har Gobind Ji

[Guest Guest]

When Guru Har Gobind Sahib Ji Maharaj reached the Jamna river, he pitched his jamp in a flower garden near Majnun's hillock and dismissed the envoys Wazir Khan and Kind Beg to inform the Emperor of his arrival. Wazir Khan highly praised Guru Ji. Crowds of Sikhs came forth from Dehli to see him. Guru Jis arrival recalled Satguru Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji's death to their recollection and they began to mourn. Guru Ji consoled them by repeating to them his father's words:

'Fortunate are those Saints of Yours, O God, in whose houses the wealth of the name dwells.

Their advent into the world is acceptable, and profitable are their acts

O my God, I am a sacrifice to your Saints.

I would make a chauri of my hair, wave it over them, and put the dust of their feet on my forehead.

Philanthropic men have come who are beyond birth and death ;

They give their lives, apply men to devotion, and cause them to meet God.

True their order; true their empire; with truth are they imbued. .

True is their happiness, and true their praise ; they know God to whom they belong.

I would fan, draw water, and grind for God's servant.

Nanak's supplication to God is, that he may obtain a sight of His servant.

Guru Ji satisfied all the doubts of his Sikhs. His instruction dispelled the fog of their ignorance, all light shone on them, and divine knowledge filled their hearts.

The Emperor received Guru Ji witn great apparent respect. Seeing him very young and already installed as Guru, he put him the following question to test his knowledge of divinity :— 'What is the essential difference between the Hindus who worship Ram Narayan, Parbrahm, and Parbrahm, and the Muslims who pray to Allah, the bounteous Lord ?'

Guru Ji replied with the following hymn of Satguru Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji Maharaj :—

The Bounteous One is the Cause of causes;

The Merciful One cherish all.

Allah is invisible and unequalled ;

He alone is God great and infinite.

I bow to the one God, the Lord of the earth :

The Creator pervads every place.

As Madho He is Lord and Life of the world,

The Destroyer of fear ; worship Him in thy heart.

Whether known as Rikhikesh, Gopal, Gobind,

Or Mukand, you alone, 0 God, are the kind Master.

You are at once Pir, Prophet, and Shaikh ;

Master of hearts, You dispense justice.

You are holier than the Quran and the other Muham-madan books.

Whether as Narayan, Narhar, or the Compassionate,

Thou pervads every heart and are the heart's support.

As Wasdev you dwell in.every place.

Your sport is not understood.

You are the Bestower of kindness and mercy.

Grant us devotion and worship of You, O Creator.

Says Nanak, when the Guru has removed superstition,

Allah and Parbrahm are the same.

The Emperor then asked Guru Ji to explain the order of the world. Guru Ji replied, ' He who created it preserves it and will destroy it. Endless animals visible and invisible, which sprang from the Creator, shall be again absorbed in Him. Through pride they all suffer. But when man meets the true Guru, and joins the saints' society, his pride and arrogance are swept away, and he obtains salvation.'

Upon this the Emperor inquired how man could keep his mind pure from the contact of the world The Guru replied with the following hymn of Satguru Sri Guru Amar Das Ji :—

When the heart is filthy, everything in man is filthy the heart is not cleansed by cleansing the body.

The world is led astray by superstition, my brethren only a few know it.

O my soul, repeat the one Name

The true Guru has given me this treasure.

Even when men learn the postures of the Sidhs practise restraint of their senses,

Neither their mental filth nor the filth of their pride departs.

There is no means of purifying the heart except by taking shelter in the true Guru.

By meeting the true Guru, my brethren, the heart changed beyond expression.

Says Nanak, if any one die on meeting the true Guru and be again reanimated by his teaching,

The filth of his selfishness shall depart and his heart become pure.

The Emperor then asked, ' 0 Guru Ji, tell me who are holier, the Hindus or the Muhammadans. The four elements are equally diffused in all animals from the worm to the elephant, how then is it that their lights and understandings are different ?'

Guru Ji replied with the following hymn of Bhagat Kabir Ji :—

In the beginning God by His Omnipotence created light and from it all the races of men.

From the one light the whole world was created; then who is good and who is bad ?

O my brethren, lose not yourselves in doubt.

Creation is in the Creator, and the Creator in the creation; He fills every place.

Matter is one, but the Fashioner fashioned it in various ways.

There is no fault with the vessels of clay and no fault with the Potter.

The one true God is in all; everything turns out as He has ordained.

He who obeys the will of God and recognizes Him as one, is His servant.

God is invisible; He cannot be seen; the Guru has given me sweet molasses to eat.

Says Kabir, my doubts are abandoned since I have seen the Spotless One everywhere.

The Emperor was much interested in these hymns and with the Guru's general exposition of his doctrines, and before dismissing him desired to hear his ideas on the duties and attributes of a monarch.

Guru Ji then said, 'A good monarch is ever philanthropic. He can never endure to see a man in misery without making great efforts with mind, body, and wealth to remove all his sufferings. If he see a man hungry or in need of a house to dwell in, he supplies his necessities. He provides poor persons with work—to repair a fallen well or bridge, to level an uneven road or to plant trees on the roadside.' Upon this Satguru Sri Guru Har Gobind Sahib Ji Maharaj took his leave.

[Jin prem keyo tin he prabh payo]

guru ji is amazing