Shri Goindwal Sahib

[I humbly bow]

I love this story, apologies if it is already posted.

When Guru Amar Dass reached Goindwal, the devotees flocked to pay homage to him, a daily darbar was held and the sikhs were attending in huge numbers. The Guru felt that the number of devotees was increasing steadily, but there was a scarcity of water; there was only one well in the city.

So in order to fulfill the intensifying demand of water, the Guru decided to construct a step well (Baoli). This would also be a place where the devotees could have a holy dip. The Guru also arranged to have a common kitchen built close by, so that all the devotees could sit together and share a meal without discrimination.

The construction work started in 1559 AD and the devotees worked with great enthusiasm, the sikhs worked so hard that the Baoli was almost complete within a few days. All of the steps leading to the water were complete, however they found there was a large rock stopping the flow of water. All of the workers came out of the well and requested the Guru's advice. After visiting the Baoli Guru Ji said

'There is a big rock under the base of this well, unless the rock is blasted the water will not gush up, but i fear whilst blasting the rock, the water will gush up with so much force that it will rise within moments. The man who attempts to blast the rock will be overpowered by the water and may drown.'

When the devotees heard heard this they looked at each other. Who would take such a risk?

But a brave son of Vairowal Sri Manak Chand at once volunteered to go down and blast the big rock. Guru Ji passed Sri Manak Chand a large hammer and blessed him so that he would be successful. Sri Manak Chand took the hammer and went down into the Baoli, he struck the rock with great force that it craked on the first hit. The water gushed up with such force that Sri Manak Chand was overpowered and drowned. But by Guru's grace he soon appeared out of the water walking up the steps of the Baoli.

The Guru declared that whoever recites Japji Sahib once at every step of the Baoli would be free from the cycle of 84 lakh births and deaths.

Wjkk Wjkf

[۹βkaur۹β]

[Heera Singh]

i went there about a year n a half ago... absolutely amazing... we got there @ nite.. n there were these 3 singhs that were actually doing japji sahib da paath on every step... sum1 told us they'd been there the entire day since early morning... i tink i's 52 steps right?

.... n then there's me... i did one each way (up and down).. n called it a nite!

[khalistan_zindabaad]

84 steps. . .have to have full kes isnaan each time ans recite japji sahib on each step. takes approx 15 + hours, depending on speed etc. fateh

[Heera Singh]

full kesh ishnaan after each step? i thought it was regular ishnaan after each step, and full kesh ishnaan once u get to bottom?

and yeh... 84 steps.. makes sense...

[AK-47]

singhs have said full keshi ishaan, they said when you get to the bottom just get in there and dunk ur head underneath, kesh and everything! then jump out and climb back to where u was and start ur next path!

u need some next level kirpa to do that man!!

[Heera Singh]

seriously... maybe we shud all go there n do that... :D wud be an amazing experience...

[B4ND4]

The Guru declared that whoever recites Japji Sahib once at every step of the Baoli would be free from the cycle of 84 lakh births and deaths.

Any references would be good.

[JustME]

seriously... maybe we shud all go there n do that... :D wud be an amazing experience...

if there was enough sangat to go...........with wahegurus kirpa id defiantly be up for it.............. :nihungsmile:

[I humbly bow]

The Guru declared that whoever recites Japji Sahib once at every step of the Baoli would be free from the cycle of 84 lakh births and deaths.

Any references would be good.

If you google it there are loads of references, I found this one particularily interesting, this bit wasn't included in the book

http://www.sikhs.org/guru3.htm

'With a view of providing the Sikhs with a place where they could have a holy dip while visiting Goindwal the Guru had a type of deep open water reservoir called a baoli dug. As the Hindus believed in reincarnation in 84 hundred thousand species, Guru Amar Das had the well dug with exactly 84 steps. To symbolize that God could be reached through his remembrance rather than just a cycle of reincarnations he declared that who ever would descend the 84 steps for a bath while reciting the Japji of Guru Nanak at each step would be freed from the cycles of births and deaths. '

My mum recently brought back a collection of books on the life stories of the sikh Guru's, and me and my sister are slowly working our way through them. We would have been working through them faster is she hadn't brought the Harry Potter book set aswell

I've wanted to visit, but it takes me 30mins to do japji sahib (an improvement on the 80mins it used to take me when I first started), so it'd be REALLY difficult to get all the way to the bottem - at least 42 hours. Hopefully i'll be able to do it one day!

wjkk wjkf