Bhagat Beni Ji
Bani
Registered in Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji : 3 shabads( Sri Raag page 93, Rag
Page 974, Parbhati page 1351)
Principal
Teachings : A man should emancipate himself from materialistic ties whilst
living in this world. To hope for salvation after death is a fallacy. The
person who can’t get salvation during his own life time, how can he get it
after his death? To achieve the spiritual heights, one must become a
follower of Guru. As stated on page 1351 :
Whoever does not realize the essence of the soul all
his religious actions are hollow
The
details of the life of Bhagat Beni ji are not authentically available in
history. His parents name, time and place of death are not known in
authentic documents. According to Sakhi Bhai Narayan Singh ji, he was born
in 1630 Bikrami in the village of Aasni Brahmna.
Bhai
Gurdas ji(Sikh Scholar) has described and explained his life actions in his
vaars. From that we come to know that Beni ji was a narrator of religious
stories and an excellent scholar. Devotees used to take him to their houses
for religious discussions and talks. He used to explain and narrate the
stories from the old religious scriptures in a very logical and loving way.
What ever somebody would give him after Katha(narration) was his means of
earning a livelihood.
One
day Bhagat Ji was coming home after narrating Katha at some body’s house,
when he came across a saint on the way. The saint exchanged a few words with
him. The saint asked him about his profession and where was he coming from.
Beni ji told the saint about his profession.
The
saint said to Bhagat Beni ji,” Beni, the stories and tales of the great
personalities that you narrate to people and earn your livelihood, why don’t
you try to change your life according to those stories? Just look at how
people donate their money just listening about the lives of great
personalities, imagine what will happen if the narrator becomes as good as
that character he is talking about? Whoever does this gets accepted in the
court of God and he gains contentment. “
After
listening to the Saint’s talk, Beni ji accepted him as his Guru(Religious
teacher). Now instead of going to people’s houses to narrate stories(Katha),
he started going to a solitary place in a jungle for meditation of God
daily. In the evening, he would come back to his house without any money.
When his wife and other members of the family asked him about why he had no
money again, he used to say,” Now I have left my job as a narrator, so
instead of going to people’s houses, I have taken the job of narrator to the
King.”
After
a few days when necessary things in the house were about to finish, the
family once again reminded him about the money situation. He said,” The king
is a great man. I have not asked him about the salary yet. He himself will
give me a lot of money.”
While
Beni ji tried to put things off, more time passed. There was extreme
shortage of food and other essential things in the house but Bhagat Beni ji
kept meditating on God’s name. He kept himself aloof form all these things
to such an extreme that all his desires vanished.
On
the other hand, to protect and shelter a true devotee, God Himself came to
earth in the disguise of a king and sent a cart load full of food and other
essentials to Beni ji’s house. The family was assured that soon they would
get more stuff. “This
was just an offering given to Beni ji as he used to narrate Katha to me. His
salary is yet deposited with me.” Said the king to members of the family.
Beni ji’s wife and other members of the family were overjoyed after seeing
all the material goods and the food. They began to arrange and look after
the things. The King(God) went to the jungle and met his true disciple(Beni
ji). He embraced Beni ji and blessed him with numerous blessings including
the Divine enlightenment. Sri Guru Arjun Dev ji states on page 1192 :
The Guru blessed Baynee with His Divine Illumination.
O my mind, you too must be the Lord's slave.
Who
ever meditates on God’ name with concentration and complete mental focus
with unconditional surrender to the Almighty, gets all the blessings from
Him and all of his worldly jobs are accomplished by the Creator. As
mentioned on page 638 :
God automatically does the work of those who love the Name of the Lord.
Almighty God also grants
His devotee an esteemed reputation and victory. Bhai Gurdas ji described
this incidence in his 10th
vaar pauri 14th :
Saint Beni, a gurmukh, used to sit in solitude
and would enter a meditative trance.
He would perform spiritual activities
and in humbleness would never tell anyone.
Reaching back home when asked, he would tell people that
he had gone to the door of his king (the Supreme Lord).
When his wife asked for some household material
he would avoid her and thus spend his time performing spiritual activities.
One day while concentrating on the Lord with single-minded devotion, a
strange miracle happened.
To keep the glory of the devotee, God Himself in the form of King went to
his
house.
In great joy, He consoled everyone and made available profuse money for
expenditure
From there He came to His devotee Beni and compassionately loved him.
This way He arranges applause for His devotees
His
three shabads are found in Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji. In these shabads he has
described to us the signs of achieving Dasam Duar(10th
door) and Param Padh (Highest stage of spirituality). If a
person’s consciousness enters Dasam Duar, he is emancipated from the cycle
of life and death. Beni
ji inspires us to achieve this stage while actually living in this life. He
has condemned the concept of salvation after death. The person who can’t
liberate himself from the materialistic ties of this world, how can he get
salvation after death. How can his soul be freed? He orders this on page 93
:
Says Baynee, listen, O devotee:
who has ever attained liberation
after such a death ?
No
doubt he has described different spiritual areas of Divinity, but at the
same time he has opposed the baseless, false rituals and ceremonies also. To
achieve the spiritual height is the motive of human life. For this
achievement, Guru’s guidance and Grace is very important. As on page 1351 :
Whoever does not realize the essence of the soul
all his religious actions are hollow and false.
Says Baynee, as Gurmukh, meditate.
Without the True Guru, you shall not find the Way.
It
is true that Bhagat Beni ji left this world in 16th
century but he has made himself immortal by his words enshrined
in Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji.