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Guru
Angad Dev Ji
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Guru Angad Dev was born on March 31, 1504
in a village called Harike in Ferozepur district of the
Punjab. His father, Bhai Pheru was a trader. His parents
called him Lehna. He was married at the age of fifteen.
His wife, Khivi was a native of Mattei di Sarai in
Ferozepur district. His father grew weary of Harike and
with his family returned to his ancestral place, Mattei di
Sarai and lived there. Bhai Lehna's wife gave birth to two
daughters, Amro and Anokhi, and two sons called Dasu and
Datu.
When Mattei
di Sarai was sacked by the Mughals and Baloches, Bhai
Lehna and his father moved to Khadur, now a famous town
near Tarn Taran. Bhai Lehna grew very religious under the
influence of his mother, Daya Kaur, and became a devotee
of Durga, the goddess of Shakti. |
He used to
organize yearly pilgrimage of devout Hindus to
Jawalamukhi, a place of Durga temple in the
lower Himalayas where fire issued from the
mountains. He used to lead Durga dance around
the fire in a harness of jingling bells
Bhai Jodha, a Guru's Sikh, lived in Khadur and
it was his daily routine to rise early very
morning and recite Japji and Asa di Var. One day
as Bhai Lehna attentively listened the Divine
Sabad recited by Bhai Jodha, his mind obtained
peace. After the day break he asked Jodha who
had composed that stimulating hymn. Bhai Jodha
then told him all about Guru Nanak, who was
living at Kartarpur at that time. The touch of
divine Sabad made such an impact on Bhai Lehna's
mind that he got impatient to meet the Guru.
When he was on his annual pilgrimage to
Jawalamukhi, he broke his journey at Kartarpur
to offer his obeisance to the Guru.
During his meeting, the Guru spoke to him of the
True Creator, leaving such an mpression on Bhai
Lehna that he threw away the jingling bells,
which he was carrying with him to dance before
the goddess. He had obtained such a peace of
mind that he decided to discontinue his
pilgrimage and abide with the Guru. On seeing
his ncreasing devotion, the Guru said to him one
day that he should go home and settle his
affairs and on his return he would initiate him
as his Sikh.
Upon this Bhai Lehna returned to Khadur for some
time.
A detailed account has been given in the last
chapter regarding the circumstances which led to
his succession to Guruship. One day as Sikhs
assembled, Guru Nanak seated Bhai Lehna on his
throne, put five paise and a coco-nut in front
of him and bowed before him and then said to
Bhai Buddha,"This is my successor- Guru Angad;
put a tilak on his forehead in token of his
appointment to the Guruship." Bhai Buddha did
so. The Guru then ordered his followers to obey
and serve Guru Angad; who was in his own image.
Bhai Gurdas describes the succession to Guru
Angad (Var 1, pauri-45):
"Angad got the same tilak, the same umbrella
over his head, and was seated on the same true
throne as Guru Nanak. The seal of Guru Nanak's
hand entered Guru Angad's, and proclaimed his
sovereignty."
After his appointment to the Guruship, Guru
Nanak directed Guru Angad to return to Khadur.
Upon this Guru Angad returned to Khadur and
lived there.
GURU ANGAD
IN SECLUSION
The Guru sat in a room locked
from outside near Khadur, and meditated on God
without ny distraction or interruption. He did
not eat or drink anything except a pot of milk
daily. About six months passed like this and the
Sikhs did not know the whereabouts of the Guru.
One day Bhai Lalo, Bhai Saido and Bhai Ajita and
other Sikhs came to Bhai Buddha and asked him
the whereabouts of the Guru.They had searched
Khadur and other places but could not find him
anywhere. It is said that Bhai Buddha
concentrated his thoughts on the Guru and was
able to visualize his place of meditation. Next
morning they all went to the house near Khadur
where the Guru was sitting in seclusion. The
owner of the house gave them no information but
went inside the house and told the Guru about
the visit of four Sikhs. The Guru told the owner
that they should be shown inside. He embraced
Bhai Buddha and uttered the following Slok:
"Cut off the head which boweth not to the Lord,
Nanak, take and burn the
wretched body which feeleth not the pain of
separation." (Slok Mohalla 2, p-89)
Bhai Buddha requested him to take his seat as
Guru and receive the Sikhs publicly. fter this
Guru Angad came forth from his seclusion. When
the Guru came out, crowds went to see him and
presented to him their offerings. Whatever
he received, the Guru passed on to his kitchen.
There were continuous preaching, singing of
hymns and repetition of Name.
EMPER OR
HUMAYUN COMES TO THE GURU
Emperor Humayun succeeded his
father Baber but he was badly defeated by Sher
Shah. umayun inquired for some saint who could
help him regain his throne and kingdom. He was
advised to seek assistance of Guru Angad. Upon
this Humayun came to Khadur. At that time the
Guru was in a trance and the minstrels were
singing the hymns. The Emperor was kept standing
unattended. Humayun felt offended and in moment
of rage, he put his hand on the hilt of his
sword with the intention of striking the Guru.
The word, however, did not come out of the
sheath
which gave Humayun time to repent his act. Upon
this the Guru addressed to him,"Where was your
sword when you were facing Sher Shah? Now when
you have come amongst the priests, instead of
saluting them respectfully, you want to draw
your sword on them. In a cowardly manner you
fled from the battle ground, now posing as a
hero you wish to attack the priests engaged in
their devotion."
Humayun repented and begged
for Guru's spiritual assistance. The
Gurureplied,"Hadst thou not put thy hand on the
hilt of thy sword, thou shouldst at once
obtained thy kingdom. Thou shalt now proceed for
a time to thine own
country, and when thou returnest thou shalt
recover thy kingdom." Humayun went back to his
country and having obtained a reinforcement of
cavalry from the king of Persia, he returned to
India. After fighting a pitched battle he
recovered his empire and captured Delhi.
CITY OF GOINDWAL
One day a man, Gobind, came to
the Guru and said that if he became victorious
in a lawsuit against his relations, he would
found a city in honor of the Guru. Fortune
favored him and he started to found the city on
the bank of the river Beas. He began the work
but what was done during the day, was in some
mysterious manner undone at night. Gobind came
to the Guru and prayed to him to grant him his
desire to build the city.
Upon this the Guru sent Baba Amar Das to help
him. Babaji prayed to God for His ssistance. The
city's work proceeded without any further delay
and Baba Amar Das named it Gobindwal and later
on it was called Goindwal. Gobind did
not forget to build a palace in it for his
benefactor Amar Das. When the work was
successfully completed, Gobind went to the Guru
to offer his thanks and to beg him to come and
live in the newly founded city. The Guru did not
wish to leave his town, so he ordered Baba Amar
as to go and live in Goindwal by night and come
to him by day. Babaji obeyed the Guru and
settled in Goindwal. In the process of time he
took with him all his relations from Basarka and
helped them in settling there.
Baba Amar Das was now living in Goindwal and his
daily routine was- to rise very early in the
morning, take a pitcher of water from the river
Beas and proceed to Khadur which was about three
miles away. The pitcher of water was for Guru
Angad to bathe with. On the way he would recite
Japji. There was a mid-way spot which was called
Damdama or breathing place where he could rest
for a while. A temple was erected on this spot
later on. After attending the morning service,
Asa di Var, he would fetch water for the Guru's
kitchen, clean dishes and bring firewood from
the forest. During the day he would learn
Gurbani (Word) from the Guru. In the evening he
would attend Sodar and evening Kirtan. After
putting the Guru to rest, he would return
walking to Goindwal backwards in supreme
reverence for his Master.
GURU ANGAD AND TAPA
There lived a
Sadhu (monk), Tapa in Khadur. He was worshipped
as a Guru by the Khahira Jats only. Tapa had
jealousy against the Guru and contended
reverence shown to Guru by his followers. He
maintained that he should be
worshipped instead of the Guru since Guru was a
family man and not an ascetic.
One year there were no monsoons and as a result
there was a drought in the land. People were
distressed and went to Tapa for his help to
procure rain. Tapa told them that he was a monk,
yet no one worshipped him and instead everybody
worshipped the family man (Guru), and so he
asked them to go to the Guru and ask him to
procure rain for them. They went to the Guru who
replied,"Be satisfied with God's Will." They
came back to Tapa who told them,"If you expel
the Guru from the town, I will bring rain within
twenty-four hours." Ultimately the Guru left the
town and went seven villages away from Khadur
where Tapa had no influence.
When Baba Amar Das arrived in Khadur next
morning, he found the Guru's house empty. On
inquiry the people narrated the whole story to
Babaji. In the meantime Tapa failed to bring any
rain. Upon this Baba Amar Das asked the people
if a lamp could be substituted for the sun. He
asked them to punish Tapa ifthey wanted rain. It
so happened that as Tapa was being punished, the
rain came in torrents. After that the people
went to the Guru to ask for forgiveness for
their acts.
When Guru Angad heard of Tapa's punishment, he
felt much grieved and addressed to Amar as,"You
have not obtained the fruits of my
companionship, which are peace, forbearance and
forgiveness." On hearing this Babaji fell at the
feet of the Guru and humbly sought his pardon.
He confessed that he got Tapa punished because
he could not take Guru's insult and promised to
obey the Guru's instructions in future.
One night in March 1552, it rained all night,
cold winds blew and lightning flashed. Baba Amar
Das brought a pitcher of water from river Beas
for his Master. While he was coming to the
Guru's house, he struck against a wooden peg
which a weaver had driven into the ground, and
he fell into the loompit. It was a weavers'
colony and when they heard the thud of his fall,
one of the weavers' wife said,"Who could it be
at this early hour? It must be that homeless
Amru who sleeps not, who knows no rest and who
tires not. He is ever bringing water from the
river and firewood from the forest; and what a
Guru to serve!" The Master felt the twitch and
was deeply moved. He embraced Baba Amar Das who
was seventy-three years old then and said,"My
Amar Das, he will be the home of the homeless,
the honor of the unhonored, the strength of the
strengthless, the support of the supportless,
the emancipator of the captive." After that Guru
Angad
installed Baba Amar Das in his seat, put five
paise and a coco-nut before him, and asked Bhai
Buddha to put saffron tilak of Guruship on his
forehead. He was then declared as Guru Amar Das:
"Jot uha jugat
sai seh kaya pher paltiai." (Ramkali ki Var- Rai
Balwand, p-966)
'Divine Light is the same
Way and Mode are the same The Master has only
changed the body."
(Translation of the above)
Guru Angad
directed him to live in Goindwal and left for
his heavenly abode on March 29, 1552.
Submission to Guru's order and worship of God,
was the guiding principle in selection of the
Guruship. Inspite of the opposition of his sons
and relations, Guru Angad conferred the Guruship
on Baba Amar Das who was proved to be the
fittest and the most worthy for the Divine
throne of Guru Nanak.
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