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THIRD UDASI:
The third Udasi was undertaken towards the west. Guru Nanak reached Pakpatan
(Ajodhan) where he met Sheikh Brahm who was the eleventh in succession
to Baba Farid, whose Bani is also included in Guru Granth Sahib. The Guru
had wide range of discussion with Sheikh Brahm. The Guru stated,
The Sheikh asked the Guru to explain,"You say ,'There is only one God, why should
there be a second?', and I (Sheikh) say:
The Guru replied:
In a Var (like Asa di Var) there has to be two beings; and the Sheikh asked the
Guru to let him hear a strain in praise of the One God. "My idea is",
said the Sheikh,"that adoration cannot be performed without two beings,
that is, God and the Prophet. Let me see whom thou makest man's intercessor."
Upon this the Guru asked Mardana to play the rebec and he uttered the
first Slok and Pauri of Asa di Var:
God Himself created the world, and formed Himself into
Name,
He created Nature by His power; seated He beheld His
work with delight.
O Creator, Thou art the Giver; being pleased Thou bestowest
and practisest kindness.
Thou knowest all things; Thou givest and takest life with a
word.
Seated Thou beholdest Thy work with delight." (Asa Mohalla 1, p-462-63)
The Sheikh then wanted a knife,"Give me such a knife that those who are killed
with it, shall be acceptable to God. With the ordinary knife the lower
animals are killed. If a man's throat be cut with this knife, it becomes
carrion."
The Guru replied in affirmative:
On hearing this the Sheikh raised his head in amazement and said,"Well done.
O Nanak, there is no difference between God and thee. Kindly bless me
so that I too may be on good terms with Him." The Guru replied,"Sheikh
Brahm, God will cause thy ship to arrive safe." The Sheikh requested the
Guru to give him the firm promise of this. The Guru complied and blessed
him with salvation.
According to Puratan Janamsakhi, the first nine pauries (stanzas) of Asa di Var,
were uttered by the Guru during the discussion with Sheikh Brahm and other
fifteen pauries of Asa di Var were uttered for Duni Chand Dhuper of Lahore.
The Guru then proceeded to Multan, Uch, Sakhar and reached Lakhpat, where
a Gurdwara stands marking the memory of the Guru. Then he reached Kuriani
where a tank is called after Guru's name. He visited Miani, about fifty
miles west of city of Karachi and visited the temples of Hindus and the
Muslims in the area. Near Hinglaj, there is a Dharmsala preserving the
memory of the Guru's visit to this place. From there he boarded a ship
for Arabia.
GURU NANAK AT MECCA:
He disguised himself in the blue dress of a Mohammadan pilgrim, took a faqir's
staff in his hand and a collection of his hymns called 'Pothi' under his
arm. He also carried with him like a Muslim devotee, a cup for his ablutions
and a rug whereon to pray. Like a pilgrim he went inside the great mosque
where the pilgrims were engaged in their devotions. When he lay down to
sleep at night, he turned his feet towards the Kaaba. A priest, Jiwan
kicked him and said,"Who is this infidel sleeping with his feet towards
the House of God?" The Guru replied,"Turn my feet in the direction in
which God is not." Upon this Jiwan seized the Guru's feet and dragged
them in the opposite direction. Whereupon, it is said, the Kaaba (temple)
turned around, and followed the revolution of Guru's body. Some say that
when the Guru asked the priest to turn his feet in the direction where
God was not, the priest came to realization that God was everywhere. But
those who witnessed this miracle were astonished and saluted the Guru
as a supernatural being.
Then the Qazis and the Mullas crowded round the Guru and asked whether he was
a Muslim or a Hindu? The Guru replied that he was neither of the two.
Then they asked,"Who is the superior of the two, the Hindu or the Muslim?"
The Guru replied,"Without good deeds, both will repent. The superiority
lies in deeds and not in mere creeds." The chief priest was a seeker of
the Truth and he asked for Guru's blessings. The Guru preached the doctrine
of Nam. He then gave instructions to the priest in the art of true living,
to practice to live in His presence day and night and to glorify the Lord
and thereby to rub out the dirt of sins from the tablet of the mind.
He disguised himself in the blue dress of a Mohammadan pilgrim, took a faqir's
staff in his hand and a collection of his hymns called 'Pothi' under his
arm. He also carried with him like a Muslim devotee, a cup for his ablutions
and a rug whereon to pray. Like a pilgrim he went inside the great mosque
where the pilgrims were engaged in their devotions. When he lay down to
sleep at night, he turned his feet towards the Kaaba. A priest, Jiwan
kicked him and said,"Who is this infidel sleeping with his feet towards
the House of God?" The Guru replied,"Turn my feet in the direction in
which God is not." Upon this Jiwan seized the Guru's feet and dragged
them in the opposite direction. Whereupon, it is said, the Kaaba (temple)
turned around, and followed the revolution of Guru's body. Some say that
when the Guru asked the priest to turn his feet in the direction where
God was not, the priest came to realization that God was everywhere. But
those who witnessed this miracle were astonished and saluted the Guru
as a supernatural being.
Then the Qazis and the Mullas crowded round the Guru and asked whether he was
a Muslim or a Hindu? The Guru replied that he was neither of the two.
Then they asked,"Who is the superior of the two, the Hindu or the Muslim?"
The Guru replied,"Without good deeds, both will repent. The superiority
lies in deeds and not in mere creeds." The chief priest was a seeker of
the Truth and he asked for Guru's blessings. The Guru preached the doctrine
of Nam. He then gave instructions to the priest in the art of true living,
to practice to live in His presence day and night and to glorify the Lord
and thereby to rub out the dirt of sins from the tablet of the mind.
GURU AT MEDINA:
In due time the Guru proceeded to Medina, another holy city of the Muslims where
their Prophet Mohammad lived for many years and breathed his last. He
reached at nightfall and stopped outside the town. It happened to be a
place where lepers were segregated and no provision was made for their
comfort or treatment. History states that the Guru healed them all and
as a result, the people came in crowds to have holy glimpse of the Guru.
After that he journeyed to Bagdad through Basra.
GURU AT BAGDAD:
There lived a very famous Muslim saint, Pir Abdul Kadar who died in Bagdad in
1166 A.D. He was also known as Dastgir and his successors were called
Dastgirs too. The Muslim high priests did not like unethical and immoral
musical verses. Instead of condemning the demoralizing poetry, they outrightly
rejected the music ('Rag') itself. So according to Muslim Shariat (code
of law), music was forbidden. The whole of Sikh scripture is in verse
and in various different forms of Rags and Raginis. In the morning the
Guru shouted the call for prayer, on which the whole population became
rapt in silent astonishment. May be he did it differently than the Muslims.
Then Mardana played the rebec and the Guru started the Sabad Kirtan (musical
recitation of Gurbani). Whosoever heard was in ecstasy. The news spread
in the city. The high priest Pir Dastgir, another holy man, Bahlol and
others came to see the Guru.
According to the Mohammadans there are seven skies above the earth and seven
nethers including earth itself. The Guru began to recite the Japji. When
he repeated the twenty-second pauri (stanza) of Japji, the Pir got wonder-stuck
hearing something contrary to the authority of the holy Quran, that there
were hundreds of thousands of nethers and upper regions, and that at last
men grew weary of searching for them. The Pir then called upon the Guru
to give a manifestation of what he said. Upon this it is said, the Guru
laid his hand on the priest's son and showed him upper and lower regions
described in Japji- pauri 22. To prove whether the boy actually saw those
regions, he brought Parshad (sacred food) from one of those regions and
gave it to his father. Both the Pir and Bahlol bowed before the Guru and
asked for his blessings.
Bahlol became Guru's follower. It is said that he spent sixty years at the foot
of the slab, where the sacred feet of the Guru had rested during their
discussion. Later on a shrine was built there in the memory of the Guru.
The English translation of the inscription on the slab inside the shrine
is:
"In memory of the Guru, that is the Divine Master, Baba Nanak, Faqir Aulia,
this building has been raised with the help of seven saints, and the
chronogram reads. The blessed disciple has produced a spring of Grace
year 917" (Muslim year).
Swami Anand Acharya of Sweden mentions in his book 'Snow Bird', published by
Macmillan & Sons, London, that during his visit to Bagdad, he found
another inscription on the slab, dated 917 Hijri. The inscription reads:
"Here spoke the Hindi Guru Nanak to Faqir Bahlol, and for these sixty years
since the Guru left Iraq, the soul of Bahlol has rested on the Master's
word like a bee poised on a dawn-lit honey rose."
RETURN FROM BAGDAD:
From Bagdad the Guru passed through Iran, Turkstan and Afghanistan and then reached
Kabul. Some writers believe that the Guru took the popular route from
Bagdad towards Tehran, Kandhar and reached Kabul. On his way he passed
through Mehds. Bhai Mani Singh's Janamsakhi makes a reference of his visit
to this place. Since the visit of Guru Nanak to Kabul, the Sikh contacts
had been carefully maintained. Sikh preachers were stationed there to
disseminate the teachings of the Guru. At one time Bhai Gurdas also served
as one of the Sikh missionaries at Kabul.
From Kabul the Guru proceeded to Jalalabad, Sultanpur and passed through Khyber
Pass to reach Peshawar. There are Gurdwaras at Jalalabad and Sultanpur
to mark his visit. There are springs of water associated with his visit.
The Guru paid a visit to the Gorakh Hatri and had discourse with Jogis.
He also went to Hassan Abdal, now known as Panja Sahib, and sat at the
foot of the hill.
GURU NANAK AND VALI KANDHARI:
On the top of a small hill, there lived a Muslim Faqir called Vali Kandhari who
was well-known in the area for possessing miraculous powers. Mardana needed
water which could only be obtained from Vali. Mardana told Vali that Guru
Nanak had arrived and he advised him to see the Guru, who was a great
saint of God. Vali who claimed holiness exclusively for himself, became
offended on hearing the Guru's praises. He refused to give water saying
that if the Guru were such a holy man, he could provide water to Mardana.
When this reply was communicated to the Guru, he sent Mardana back to
the Vali with a message that he (Guru) was a poor creature of God, and
laid no claims to be a saint. The Vali paid no heed to this protestation
and still refused to provide water.
Upon this the Guru picked up one stone and a stream of water immediately issued
forth. In fact this water came out from the Vali's tank which dried up.
This naturally increased Vali's rage and it is said that through his miraculous
powers he hurled a small hillock upon Guru Nanak's unoffending head. The
Guru, on seeing the descending hillock, held up his right hand, and as
it touched the hand of the Divine Master, the hillock came to a standstill.
With the divine touch, the stone melted and softened like wax and left
the mark of the Master's palm indelibly deep into it. Vali Kandhari was
very much astonished and at last fell at the feet of the Guru and begged
for forgiveness. The Guru expressed,"O friend, those who live so high,
should not be hard at heart like a stone." Vali was blessed by the Master.
The imprint of the Guru's hand (Punja) is still visible on the stone and the
pool of crystal clear water still flows from there. There stands a Gurdwara
which is known as 'Punja Sahib'. It is now situated in west Pakistan.
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