Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji : Message of the 4 Gursikhs (Part-2)

68. Message of the 4 Gursikhs (Part-2)

Rai Balwand Ji and Satta Ji

According to the writings of Baba Prem Singh Santrain Ji, Balwand ji was the son of Rajada and Satta ji was his cousin(mother’s sister’s son) . Both of them recited Kirtan in the congregation of Sat Guru Arjun Dev ji. As stated in Gurupur Parkash written by Baba Prem singh :

Balwand is the son of rajaada He sings good hymns in the guru’s feet Satta is the son of their aunt Who is poor and full of sorrow and pain He has tried to obtain wealth but to no avail After wandering and roaming he has returned to the guru’s door

There was once a shortage of money in the house. So in order to earn some money, Balwand ji stopped his Kirtan and went to earn a living in a foreign country. He tried several different methods to earn money but he was unsuccessful. At last in deep despair, he came back to Satguru Arjun Dev ji’s shelter. Suffering from poverty and misery, he stood before Guru Arjun Dev ji with folded hands, sang praises of the Almighty and asked for help. He said,”

I have come to your door and shelter, bestow your mercy Immense lofty Reputation have you, vanquisher of pain, sorrow and misery of the poor Saviour of dropadi and a morsel you lift aginst an elephant Destroyer of armies of demons giver of victory to gods Prehlad was saved from pain in blink of an eye as was pudreek rishi Evil minded Balmeek was saved reciting your name and gained the four qualities Ganka a prostitute was delivered which pilgramge did she need to visit ? i.e you As you have emancipated these people so deliver me too o lord

Guru Arjun Dev was very pleased to hear his ‘Swayia’ in Guru-Darbar. Satguru ji blessed him spiritually and with wealth. Congregation was also pleased to listen to their kirtan and they gave a lot of money. Then Satta jiand Balwand ji were given the title of Rai which means chief or king. As mentioned in Gurpur Parkash :

listening to them Guru ji was pleased and bestowed much money. The congregation listened and donated a lot of money. They emerged as leaders amongst many and in a short time became rich

So many years were spent in serving the Guru. Due to the melodious kirtan, money began to accumulate. This caused a feeling of pride in their mind that they were the best singers and congregation gathers here to listen to them only. They felt the reputation and prestige of Guru Ghar(house of guru or a temple) was due to their presence only. Such thoughts overpowered them and they forgot their previous days when they were saved from starvation. The false pride of money and people around them controlled their thinking. Balwand ji fixed a day for the marriage of his daughter. He thought about doing the Nikkah(marriage ceremony according to Muslim religion) with lot of pomp and show. So after finding a good match both(Satta ji, Balwand ji) requested Satguru Arjun Dev ji as : They went and said to the Satguru to marry their daughter by blessing money and wedding items. The daughters wedding will be big they said whoever sees or hears of it will give praise. They asked guru ji that they had fixed the marriage of their daughter and wanted this occasion to be shown to the people with great glamour and pride. So they asked for more money for the wedding. Satguru ji heard this request and ordered,” Satta jiand Balwand ji! You can take as much wealth as you need.” Both of them were happy but influenced by greed they thought that guru ji may not give enough and so why not ask for the takings for one day. They replied,” Guru ji , please give us all the offerings on the day of Baisakhi.” Satguru ji smiled and said,” O.K. If your work can be accomplished with the offerings of Baisakhi, then you can take it.” They recited Kirtan happily and went home. They started to wait for Sangradh(First day of the month) of Baisakhi eagerly. Finally, the day of Baisakhi came. They came early that morning to Guru Darbar and started Kirtan. Just see the irony of fate, rain began to fall heavily on that day and the Congregation from far and near villages couldn’t come. So due to the small number of people, offerings were also insufficient. After the Kirtan was over, Satgur ji gave them all the offerings to them, but it was not enough according to their expectations. They threw away the bag containing the offerings before Satguru ji and said,” You have cheated us.” Satguru ji gave 100 rupees(Indian currency)more and said,” Use this amount and take more if you need.” But because of their pride, they talked bad about Satguru ji and went home in an angry mood : With a foul mind they walked out. And they Spoke slanderous words about for the guru they vowed not to come near the guru’s house and never to sing Hymns again

The next morning, the congregation gathered at Guru Darbar, But Satta jiand Balwand ji did not come to sing Kirtan. After waiting for some time, Sat Guru Arjun Dev ji sent one man to bring Satta ji and Balwand ji from their home. The person, abiding by the Guru’s order, went to their house and gave them the message. Both of them were overpowered by their pride and they started maligning Guru Ji, insulting and slandering all the Guru’s too. The messenger Gursikh could not tolerate it. He came back and said,” Lord! Rababis have been overpowered by pride. They spoke insulting words. The embodiment of peace and patience, Sri Guru Arjun Dev ji Himself went to Satta jiand Balwand’s house to persuade them to come and sing kirtan for the congregation. The entire event is beautifully described by Bhai Vir Singh Ji in very touching way which is worth reading. It reads,’ Look there! Near the Dharam Saal of Bhai Salo ji, the Divine Light is standing in the door steps of Satta jiand Balwand ji. The corpses of both the people(Satta jiand Balwand ji) didn’t even get up to pay respect to the eternal truth. Their stubbornness and false pride didn’t allow them to at least be grateful and say,” Welcome !O eternal light. Great are you and greater are your deeds. You are superb who has this high degree of peace, patience and love.” Sri Guru Arjun Dev ji lovingly said to them,” Why are you annoyed, O servants of divine words (Shabad)? Why didn’t you come to the Darbar today? Are you annoyed over some material things? What ever you have, try to serve your purpose with that. If you need more in the future, you will get more to meet your needs. This is a rotating cycle.” Both of them (Satta jiand Balwand ji) answered in a very angry voice,” We have received 100 rupees from your so called main treasure. We heard about your treasury every day but never saw it. It was empty. There were millions of rupees offered and it all disappeared. Nothing stayed. Where have you buried the treasure of Guru Nanak? Now we will work with someone else who will honor and admire our tunes and earn our livelihood in this way. As long as we stayed with you, we wasted our gift of music.” They further said,” You have lost your memory. For so many years, no body knew Guru Nanak. When Mardana recited Kirtan, only then Guru Nanak came into existence. Lehna(Guru Angad Dev ji) couldn’t become a guru, hadn’t our ancestors helped him. He would have remained a mere son of a Khatri without our support. It was all due to our ancestral rababi singers that Lehna(Guru Angad Dev ji) achieved the heights of a guru and sons of Guru Nanak(Sri Chand ji and Lakhmi Das ji) remained without the title of Guruship. The reputations of your father and forefathers were basically created and nurtured by our family Rababis. We have made you a Guru. Now we are unhappy. We will create a new Guru and sing his praises. We will ask the congregation to stop giving you offerings. Then you will come to know whether this Guruship was bestowed on you or did we contribute this Guruship title. Until now you have not recognized our efforts. Now you will come to know when we make somebody else a Guru.” Sri Guru Arjun Dev ji silently tolerated his own insult but he couldn’t take it any more when they started making insulting remarks and slandering Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji and Sri Guru Angad Dev ji. Guru Arjun Dev ji left the place saying,” They have become too proud to the point of bursting” These words of Guru ji became a curse for the rababis. In Punjabi guru ji used the word ‘Fit jana‘ which has two meanings. One means to become so proud as to split open. In another sense it also means to blister open with leprosy.





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				68. Message of the 4 Gursikhs (Part-2) Rai Balwand Ji and Satta Ji According to the writings of Baba Prem Singh Santrain Ji, Balwand ji was the son of Rajada and Satta ji was his cousin(mother’s sister’s son) . Both of them recited Kirtan in the congregation of Sat Guru Arjun Dev ji. As stated in Gurupur Parkash written by Baba Prem singh : Balwand is the son of rajaada He sings good hymns in the guru’s feet Satta is the son of their aunt Who is poor and full of sorrow and pain He has tried to obtain wealth but to no avail After wandering and roaming he has returned to the guru’s door There was once a shortage of money in the house. So in order to earn some money, Balwand ji stopped his Kirtan and went to earn a living in a foreign country. He tried several different methods to earn money but he was unsuccessful. At last in deep despair, he came back to Satguru Arjun Dev ji’s shelter. Suffering from poverty and misery, he stood before Guru Arjun Dev ji with folded hands, sang praises of the Almighty and asked for help. He said,” I have come to your door and shelter, bestow your mercy Immense lofty Reputation have you, vanquisher of pain, sorrow and misery of the poor Saviour of dropadi and a morsel you lift aginst an elephant Destroyer of armies of demons giver of victory to gods Prehlad was saved from pain in blink of an eye as was pudreek rishi Evil minded Balmeek was saved reciting your name and gained the four qualities Ganka a prostitute was delivered which pilgramge did she need to visit ? i.e you As you have emancipated these people so deliver me too o lord Guru Arjun Dev was very pleased to hear his ‘Swayia’ in Guru-Darbar. Satguru ji blessed him spiritually and with wealth. Congregation was also pleased to listen to their kirtan and they gave a lot of money. Then Satta jiand Balwand ji were given the title of Rai which means chief or king. As mentioned in Gurpur Parkash : listening to them Guru ji was pleased and bestowed much money. The congregation listened and donated a lot of money. They emerged as leaders amongst many and in a short time became rich So many years were spent in serving the Guru. Due to the melodious kirtan, money began to accumulate. This caused a feeling of pride in their mind that they were the best singers and congregation gathers here to listen to them only. They felt the reputation and prestige of Guru Ghar(house of guru or a temple) was due to their presence only. Such thoughts overpowered them and they forgot their previous days when they were saved from starvation. The false pride of money and people around them controlled their thinking. Balwand ji fixed a day for the marriage of his daughter. He thought about doing the Nikkah(marriage ceremony according to Muslim religion) with lot of pomp and show. So after finding a good match both(Satta ji, Balwand ji) requested Satguru Arjun Dev ji as : They went and said to the Satguru to marry their daughter by blessing money and wedding items. The daughters wedding will be big they said whoever sees or hears of it will give praise. They asked guru ji that they had fixed the marriage of their daughter and wanted this occasion to be shown to the people with great glamour and pride. So they asked for more money for the wedding. Satguru ji heard this request and ordered,” Satta jiand Balwand ji! You can take as much wealth as you need.” Both of them were happy but influenced by greed they thought that guru ji may not give enough and so why not ask for the takings for one day. They replied,” Guru ji , please give us all the offerings on the day of Baisakhi.” Satguru ji smiled and said,” O.K. If your work can be accomplished with the offerings of Baisakhi, then you can take it.” They recited Kirtan happily and went home. They started to wait for Sangradh(First day of the month) of Baisakhi eagerly. Finally, the day of Baisakhi came. They came early that morning to Guru Darbar and started Kirtan. Just see the irony of fate, rain began to fall heavily on that day and the Congregation from far and near villages couldn’t come. So due to the small number of people, offerings were also insufficient. After the Kirtan was over, Satgur ji gave them all the offerings to them, but it was not enough according to their expectations. They threw away the bag containing the offerings before Satguru ji and said,” You have cheated us.” Satguru ji gave 100 rupees(Indian currency)more and said,” Use this amount and take more if you need.” But because of their pride, they talked bad about Satguru ji and went home in an angry mood : With a foul mind they walked out. And they Spoke slanderous words about for the guru they vowed not to come near the guru’s house and never to sing Hymns again The next morning, the congregation gathered at Guru Darbar, But Satta jiand Balwand ji did not come to sing Kirtan. After waiting for some time, Sat Guru Arjun Dev ji sent one man to bring Satta ji and Balwand ji from their home. The person, abiding by the Guru’s order, went to their house and gave them the message. Both of them were overpowered by their pride and they started maligning Guru Ji, insulting and slandering all the Guru’s too. The messenger Gursikh could not tolerate it. He came back and said,” Lord! Rababis have been overpowered by pride. They spoke insulting words. The embodiment of peace and patience, Sri Guru Arjun Dev ji Himself went to Satta jiand Balwand’s house to persuade them to come and sing kirtan for the congregation. The entire event is beautifully described by Bhai Vir Singh Ji in very touching way which is worth reading. It reads,’ Look there! Near the Dharam Saal of Bhai Salo ji, the Divine Light is standing in the door steps of Satta jiand Balwand ji. The corpses of both the people(Satta jiand Balwand ji) didn’t even get up to pay respect to the eternal truth. Their stubbornness and false pride didn’t allow them to at least be grateful and say,” Welcome !O eternal light. Great are you and greater are your deeds. You are superb who has this high degree of peace, patience and love.” Sri Guru Arjun Dev ji lovingly said to them,” Why are you annoyed, O servants of divine words (Shabad)? Why didn’t you come to the Darbar today? Are you annoyed over some material things? What ever you have, try to serve your purpose with that. If you need more in the future, you will get more to meet your needs. This is a rotating cycle.” Both of them (Satta jiand Balwand ji) answered in a very angry voice,” We have received 100 rupees from your so called main treasure. We heard about your treasury every day but never saw it. It was empty. There were millions of rupees offered and it all disappeared. Nothing stayed. Where have you buried the treasure of Guru Nanak? Now we will work with someone else who will honor and admire our tunes and earn our livelihood in this way. As long as we stayed with you, we wasted our gift of music.” They further said,” You have lost your memory. For so many years, no body knew Guru Nanak. When Mardana recited Kirtan, only then Guru Nanak came into existence. Lehna(Guru Angad Dev ji) couldn’t become a guru, hadn’t our ancestors helped him. He would have remained a mere son of a Khatri without our support. It was all due to our ancestral rababi singers that Lehna(Guru Angad Dev ji) achieved the heights of a guru and sons of Guru Nanak(Sri Chand ji and Lakhmi Das ji) remained without the title of Guruship. The reputations of your father and forefathers were basically created and nurtured by our family Rababis. We have made you a Guru. Now we are unhappy. We will create a new Guru and sing his praises. We will ask the congregation to stop giving you offerings. Then you will come to know whether this Guruship was bestowed on you or did we contribute this Guruship title. Until now you have not recognized our efforts. Now you will come to know when we make somebody else a Guru.” Sri Guru Arjun Dev ji silently tolerated his own insult but he couldn’t take it any more when they started making insulting remarks and slandering Sri Guru Nanak Dev ji and Sri Guru Angad Dev ji. Guru Arjun Dev ji left the place saying,” They have become too proud to the point of bursting” These words of Guru ji became a curse for the rababis. In Punjabi guru ji used the word ‘Fit jana‘ which has two meanings. One means to become so proud as to split open. In another sense it also means to blister open with leprosy.

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