[ p. 31 ]a
The Guru desired to return to Amritsar, and duly informed the Emperor. The Emperor replied, ‘ I am not feeling well. My physicians tell me I must have change of air, and I shall thus regain my strength. I therefore intend to spend this summer in Kashmir. If thou desire to defer thy homeward journey until Thursday, the lucky thirteenth day of the half-lunar month, we will travel to Kashmir together, and I shall enjoy thy pleasant companionship.’
The Emperor and the Guru set out on the appointed day. Bhai Jetha, knowing the Guru’s compassionate disposition, concealed from his sight Chandu, led along amid the scavengers and dogs. The Guru’s tent, which was always pitched with the Emperor’s, was magnificently appointed, and the Guru’s youth and beauty excited universal admiration. One day the Empress Nur Jahan, beholding him, asked one of her handmaidens who that handsome young man was who ever accompanied the Emperor. The servant, who was well acquainted with the Guru’s circumstances, detailed them to Her Majesty. The Empress longed to meet him, and on the following night made further inquiries regarding him of her husband. ‘ Hath that priest who accompanieth thee a wife?’ The Emperor, in ignorance of the Guru’s status, replied in the negative. The Empress said it was very strange that at his age, and possessing health and wealth, he should have sufficient continence to lead a single life.
Next morning, as the Guru’s tent was on the bank ‘of the Bias, and he was alone, the Empress, accompanied by her co-queens, nearly as fair as she, went with the Emperor’s permission to visit the great Sikh priest. The Empress was struck with awe on beholding the Guru. He thus addressed her and her companions: ‘O fair queens, great hath been your good fortune that you have obtained in your [ p. 32 ] human birth high family and high position without any anxiety for your maintenance, and that, being so beautiful, you are an emperor’s consorts. Wherefore, worship God who gave you these manifold favours. Be virtuous ever. A woman’s happiness and salvation largely depend on her devotion to her husband. Fear God, preserve yourselves from sin and wickedness. Keep your hearts under restraint. However close may be the relationship of sons, wives, and husbands, at the last moment there shall be none to render assistance. It is only virtuous acts which uplift the soul to communion with God. The lower animals feel love and similar pleasures, but it is only human beings who are privileged to worship their Creator.’ The queens pondered on this discourse, returned to the Emperor, and extolled the Guru’s passionless and sinless nature.
When the Guru and the Emperor had crossed the river Bias, the Guru induced him to accompany him to Goindwal. There the Guru bathed in the Bawali, visited the upper room in which Guru Amar Das had lived, and held an affectionate interview with his sons. The Guru then said to the Emperor, ‘ I am now going to Amritsar, and thy Majesty may continue thy journey to Lahore.’ The Emperor replied, ‘May I too not behold thy sacred temple?’ The Guru, seeing the Emperor’s friendly curiosity, consented to conduct him to Amritsar. On the way they passed a night at Tarn Taran, whose history the Guru related to the Emperor.
The Emperor encamped at the village of Gumtala, near Amritsar, where now the district court is held, while the Guru with his followers went into the city. Bhai Jetha preceded the party to inform the Guru’s mother and the Sikhs of his approach. All the inhabitants came forth to meet him. When the Guru arrived at the Takht Akal Bunga, Bhai Budha offered a thanksgiving for his return. The Guru, having performed all due worship and observances, [ p. 33 ] prayed and circumambulated the temple. He then went to his private apartments, where his mother most affectionately greeted him after his long absence. The Emperor sent sacred food and offered to defray all the expenses of the completion of the temple. The Guru, however, wishing to retain for the Sikhs exclusive proprietary rights in it, replied, ‘ The place where the money of one person is spent becometh that person’s property. This temple erected to God belongeth to God. All are equal sharers in it. It will be gradually completed. The Sikhs will do the work. Like Guru Nanak’s religion, all are partners in it, and none are excluded.’
The Empress Nur Jahan, and her co-queens, went again to visit the Guru. They also went to see the temple, and ended by visiting the Guru’s mother. She gave them religious instruction, and recited to them the hymn which Guru Nanak addressed to Nur Shah, the queen of Kamrup. The Guru’s mother also recited to her visitors the following verses of Guru Nanak :—
She who is pleasing to her beloved adorneth his home,
While she who speaketh falsely is of no account ;
She who speaketh falsely is of no account; her spouse will not even behold her.
Her spouse forgetteth the wicked wife; false that she is, She passeth the night in separation.[1]
The Emperor said to the Guru, ‘ Thou art a very young man. Many very beautiful women come to see thee. It is hard to subdue youthful passions. How dost thou succeed in doing so?’ The Guru replied by a parable : ‘ There was once a very religious and chaste man who had conquered his passions. A lewd and adulterous king used to wait on him. The saint once asked him what desire he sought to gratify by his attention to him. The king replied, ‘Iam a lustful man. I ever desire sexual pleasures [ p. 34 ] and the gratification of all my desires.’”” The saint replied, “‘ Because of this enjoyment thou hast only eight days more of life which thou mayest enjoy as thou pleasest. On the ninth day thou shalt die.” The king inquired what he could do to avert his fate. The saint replied, “‘ Meditate on God’s name.” The king then abandoned worldly affairs, and so applied himself to devotion that all impure desires left his mind. On the ninth day he went to the saint and told him how he had spent his time since their last interview. The saint said that his life was saved by the power of his devotion, and inquired how he had abandoned sensuality. The king replied that it was through fear of impending death. Then the saint said, “‘ That is an answer to the question thou didst propound. That is the way to avert thy fate. Thou thoughtest that thou shouldst die in eight days, so no evil desires entered thy mind, while, as for myself, I am not certain that death will not come and seize me at any moment. On this account my mind is unswayed by passion.”” O Emperor Jahangir, there is no reliance to be placed on death ; 1t cometh like a thief when we expect it not. If a man had information, he would not allow his house to be plundered. Guru Nanak hath said :—
My brethren, know that death impendeth over your heads :
Man is like a fish upon which the net falleth unawares.’ [2]
After hearing this the Emperor remained a few days with the Guru, and then proceeded to Lahore.
The Emperor left Wazir Khan and Kind Beg at Amritsar with instructions to endeavour to induce the Guru to go to visit him at Lahore. When they succeeded in doing so, the Guru went to his mother to communicate his intention, and make his obelsance to her before his departure. Having made new arrangements for the performance of the duties of [ p. 35 ] the temple and the kitchen, he mounted his horse, and set out with a small escort. He remained for a night at a village half-way, and next day pitched his tent in Muzang, a suburb of Lahore. The following morning he visited the birthplace of Guru Ram Das, the Bawali whose construction Guru Arjan had planned, and the place where he gave up his spirit. He caused a small temple to be erected there, and appointed Bhai Langaha to take charge of it. A large fair is held at the place yearly on the anniversary of Guru Arjan’s death—the fourth day of the hight half-of Jeth (May-June). ’ When people remarked that Chandu, who had been brought from Amritsar with the Guru’s party, justly suffered for his misdeeds, the Guru said that every man’s acts clung to him. Chandu was reduced to a most deplorable condition. His eyes became blind from weeping, his body dried up, and only a skeleton remained of what was once the sleek and handsome minister of the Emperor. He was daily led through the city streets, when the children used to throw handfuls of dust on his head, and the women to utter every imprecation on him. Bhai Bidhi Chand and Bhai Jetha delivered Chandu over to scavengers, who led him round the streets to beg. He who used to take bribes of thousands of rupees was now glad to get kauris and the leavings of others for his support. For a sacrificial mark on his forehead he had now the marks of shoe-beatings, and for necklaces of pearls and diamonds he had old slippers suspended from his neck. After fifteen days of this treatment in Lahore death came to his relief. A grain-parcher, on seeing him, became so enraged that he struck him on the head with an iron ladle full of burning sand. On this Chandu fell with painful cries and swooned. The grain-parcher dealt him a similar blow as he lay unconscious on the ground. His skull was fractured, and his soul became the spoil of death’s myrmidons. The [ p. 36 ] scavengers threw his body into the river Ravi. When the Emperor heard of Chandu’s death, he said that he richly deserved his fate. The Guru, however, prayed that as Chandu had suffered torment for his sins in this life, God would pardon him hereafter.
When Prithia’s son Mihrban heard of Chandu’s death he was greatly distressed. He said, ‘ Sulahi died when he set himself against the Guru. When my father, too, became the Guru’s enemy he perished in his thoughtless career. And now Chandu ts dead. It is not known what magic the Guru possesseth that no one may withstand him.’ Mihrban exchanged turbans with Karm Chand, Chandu’s son, in token of life-long friendship, and took counsel with him how to effect the Guru’s ruin. They proceeded to Prince Khuram, afterwards the Emperor Shah Jahan, and poisoned his mind against the Guru.
When the Guru heard of Mihrban’s arrival in Lahore, he sent Bhai Paira and Bhai Pirana to try to dissuade him from his hostile designs. They exhorted him, ‘ Abandon strife and come to terms with the Guru. Nothing is gained by dissension. What did thy father gain by his enmity with Guru Arjan ? who said :—
The advantage of union cannot be described, Nanak, it is beyond expression.[3]
Thy jealousy shall cause misery even to thyself.’ Mihrban replied, ‘My father at his death enjoined me never to make friendship with the Guru. I cannot disregard my father’s injunctions.’ When the envoys represented the Guru’s supernatural power, Mihrban replied, ‘ I am aware of that. Even with such power Guru Arjan abandoned Amritsar through fear of Sulahi, and was subsequently unable to avert his own death. The masands are now Har Gobind’s friends solely because he hath bribed them. My [ p. 37 ] father, it is true, failed, but he was a poor unsophisticated man, unable to cope with my clever uncle Arjan. Why did not Har Gobind work miracles against Chandu when he caused him to be sent to the fortress of Gualiar ?’ Bhai Paira replied, ‘ Thou art still a child and knowest nothing. Great men have great endurance. They can endure the bad language of enemies as if it were a rain shower, and can withstand them like mountains.’ On hearing this, Mihrban’s anger blazed forth, and, seeing it, Bhai Paira and Bhai Pirana returned to the Guru.
The Guru, on hearing of the failure of their negotiations, said, ‘I will go myself to Mihrban. He is my first cousin, and I will endeavour to conciliate him. Although he is at enmity with me, yet he cannot treat me with discourtesy.’ Muihrban gave him a respectful reception, and seated him by his side. The Guru opened the conversation, ‘ Thy father and mine are in heaven. We are both brothers now, so we ought not to bear each other enmity from which happiness can never result.’ The Guru then quoted the following slok of their common relation, Guru Ram Das :—
He in whose heart there is jealousy shall never prosper.
No one shall heed what he saith ; he is a fool ever crying in the wilderness.
He in whose heart there is calumny is known as a calumniator; everything he hath done or doeth is in vain.
He ever causelessly slandereth others; he cannot show his face to any one; it hath become black.
In the Kal age the body is the field of works ; as man soweth so shall he reap.
Justice is not administered on false evidence; when a man eateth poison he dieth.
My brethren, behold the justice of the true Creator—as any one acteth, so shall be his reward. [ p. 38 ]
The slave Nanak hath obtained all enlightenment and preached the words of God’s court.[4]
The Guru continued, ‘ The Lord of the world, the Supreme Being will not be pleased to bestow happiness or prosperity on those who harbour evil in their hearts, while, on the contrary, the Creator will make him happy who is pleased with the happiness of others.” The Guru then quoted the following from Kabir :—
Indulge not in envy and bickering, O my soul. Do good deeds and gain their reward.[5]
The Guru concluded his remonstrance, ‘ Friendship is ambrosia, dissension poison. Wherefore banish dissension, and thou shalt be happy. Kings and emperors bow before the Guru’s throne. It is not proper for scions of his house to flatter or pay court to worldly people like Chandu’s son ; nor does it beseem them to squander the wealth of the Sikhs in illicit gratuities.’
Mihrban, far from being convinced by all this good advice, only became more enraged. He vented his wrath on the Guru, and said, ‘The enmity that hath subsisted between us I will never forget. Leave me.’ The Guru addressed him for the last time, ‘I desire that thou mayest live in peace, but who can set aside God’s will?’ Saying this the Guru retired to his tent. He remained several months at Lahore, preaching to his disciples and leading them to the paths of religion and rectitude.
A masand named Sujan resided in Kabul. He had there amassed for the Guru great wealth from tithes and offerings, and considered how this wealth could reach the Guru, or be best applied to his advantage. He had heard that the Guru had a great love for horses. He therefore searched Kabul and Bukhara for a steed [ p. 39 ] worthy of his spiritual master. At last he found a horse of rare strain, beauty, and speed, which he purchased for a lakh of rupees as an offering likely to assist him in obtaining ultimate salvation and making the true king happy. Sujan covered the horse with dirty clothes, and took him with fifteen or twenty others which were going for sale to the Panjab. The object of these precautions was that the animal might not be specially remarked and coveted on the way by some Muhammadan official. In those days, whenever the Turks[6] saw a good horse, a good sword, or anything else desirable, they appropriated it for themselves with scant ceremony towards the owner. As the cavalcade was crossing the Indus at Atak, the eye of an official happened to fall on the Guru’s horse, and he inquired whence it had come and whither it was going, remarking at the same time that it would make a suitable present for the Emperor. Sujan said that the other horses were for sale, but he was taking this particular one as an offering to the true king.
The official endeavoured to persuade Sujan to let him have the animal, but in vain. He thereupon wrote to the Emperor Jahangir that a Sikh was taking a horse of untold value to Guru Har Gobind, and advised him to take possession of the animal by every possible means, for he was worthy of a monarch. The Emperor, whose friendship for the Guru had never been real, replied by sending some troops to the official with an order that he must not allow the horse to cross the river. If the owner were very greedy, the price of the animal should be paid him, but if he refused to take it, force should be employed. Sujan refused to surrender the horse on any consideration. He maintained that the Guru had paid for him, and he was consequently his property. The Emperor’s men told Sujan he might [ p. 40 ] give all the other horses to the Guru, but this particular one must be the Emperor’s perquisite. Sujan continued his journey to the Guru and told him how he had been robbed of the horse procured with such difficulty and solicitude. The Guru recommended patience, and predicted that nobody but himself should ever ride the animal.
When the Emperor desired to mount, the animal shook its head, which was regarded as a bad omen. The Emperor then desisted, and ordered that he should be fed on rare mashes, but the next day the horse would neither eat nor drink. The Emperor’s most accomplished veterinary surgeons declared that an evil eye had caused the malady. Wazir Khan, the Guru’s friend, reminded the Emperor that the horse belonged to the Guru, and that property taken from others could not bring luck to its possessor. All known medicines were tried, but in vain. When the horse was on the point of death, Rustam Khan, the head Qazi, said, ‘If the holy Quran were read for him he might recover.’ Upon this the Imperor presented him to the Qazi with permission to exercise on him his spiritual power.
As the Qazi was leading him home, the animal neighed when passing the Guru’s tent. This was interpreted as an appeal to the Guru to rescue him from the Qazi’s hands. The Guru sent for the Qazi with the object of negotiating the purchase of the horse. It was agreed between them that the Guru should have the horse for ten thousand rupees. The Qazi signed an agreement to that effect, and it was further stipulated that the price should be paid at the time of the Diwali fair in Amritsar. The Guru took the animal to the stable, and by simply patting him on the neck restored him to his usual strength.
A Muhammadan saint, Mian Mir, originally named Muhammad Mir, born in Sistan in A.D. 1550, found his way like many other distinguished Muhammadans to the Panjab, and settled in a barren plain about [ p. 41 ] five miles from Lahore. He gained a high reputation for sanctity and devotion. Jahangir in his autobiography wrote of him:‘ Truly he is the beloved of God. In sanctity and purity of soul, he hath no equal in this age. This humble servant [namely the Emperor] used to go to the darwesh, who explained to him many minute points of theology. It was my desire to make him an offering of money; but as he was above worldly things, I dared not make the offer, and contented myself with the presentation of the skin of an antelope to serve as a mat for reading his prayers on.’
The Guru resolved to visit Mian Mir, and duly notified his intention. The saint went forth to meet him, entertained him in his house, and treated him in every way with the greatest respect. The Guru inquired to what degree of divine knowledge he had attained, if he had succeeded in keeping his mind under restraint and repressing his desires, and if he had yet felt the blissful inward satisfaction of having met God. Mian Mir courteously replied : ‘He to whom thou showest favour hath found everything. Having abandoned all false worldly things I have found the true God, who is beyond conception and expression. Whoever hath seen Him hath abandoned pride and obtained peace. My mind is at rest and no longer tormented by desires. The pleasure of meeting God is incommunicable. In the words of Bhikan :—
Though one try to utter God’s praises, they cannot be fully uttered ; They are like sweets to a dumb person.[7]
‘The man who possesseth divine knowledge is happy at every time and in every place. The man who possesseth it not,iseverunhappy.’ After further conversation on the same and kindred subjects the Guru returned to his camp. The nobles who [ p. 42 ] had heard the colloquy reported it to the Emperor, and expressed to him their surprise that an elderly saint like Mian Mir should treat a married Sikh Guru with such respect. The Emperor asked Mian Mir for an explanation. Mian Mir replied: ‘The Guru is a sincere believer in God. His heart is pure and his words leave an impression on the mind. From those who hear him all doubts depart. On this account I have received him, and thought him worthy of respect and reverence.’