Life is Beautiful and yet many of us are ignorant of this BEAUTY – Ever wondered what is the “Missing Link” – Today, I will be sharing yet another story that revolves around the Art of Seeing BEAUTY in LIFE…Join me in this NEW SNIPPET of Awareness…This is a TWIN ARTICLE – and so don’t forget to catch up NEXT WEEK as well to comprehend the message in totality.
Life, a Fabulous Gift, demands some necessities to survive but man in his ignorance gets misdirected and complicates his LIFE and then starts the juggle of Life and the beautiful Soul who had to enjoy the “Gift of Life” ends up entangled in the “Web of Wants”
NEEDS and WANTS are very DIFFERENT and yet we tend to use the two words interchangeably – Precise reason why LIFE gets thorny for us.
NEEDS are necessities to survive in this WORLD – One cannot efficiently perform without them – Oxygen, Water and Food are man’s primary needs – and then come the essentials to live a “Healthy and Happy Life” – Clothing to provide comfort against weather and Protective Housing that ensures our Safety and Security in this World – Absence of these can lead to adverse outcomes and sometimes DEATH – END of LIFE.
WANTS are Desires – Luxuries that one would like to have – Big Homes and Mansions, Branded Clothes, Entertainment Travels and Food Delicacies are some of the “WANTS” of Human Beings. Wants are not essentials and so they can be side-stepped simply because they have less to do with LIFE and more to do with EGO.
REALITY CHECK !
It is often difficult to know if we are fulfilling our NEEDS or fluffing our WANTS and so time and again and especially in Moments of urgency we must PAUSE and ask a valid question before we get on the Road to Procurement – “Can I survive without this?”
- If it is a NEED, the answer would be NO
- If it was a WANT, the answer would be YES
Getting back to the topic of the day – The story revolves around two Officials – Bhai Balwand & Bhai Satta who performed Kirtan in the Darbar of Guru Arjan Dev ji.
Some historic records suggest that Bhai Balwand ji was the son of Rajada and Bhai Satta ji was his cousin brother. Both shared their lineage with Bhai Mardana – The first Sikh and long-time companion of Guru Nanak Dev. It is believed that the brothers started their career under Guru Angad Dev ji sometime after he succeeded Guru Nanak and continued to serve the Gurus until the time of Guru Arjan Dev ji.
Bhai Satta and Bhai Balwand were gifted the Art of doing Kirtan which mesmerized the Sangat. Life was going PERFECT – All NEEDS were satisfied – Both Brothers were happy and continued to please the Guru’s visitors with their songs and music. The congregation at the Darbar was pleased to listen to their kirtan and offered a lot of money – Both brothers emerged as leaders amongst many and in a short time became RICH and were given the title of “Rai” which means Chief or King.
And then ONE DAY, the unthinkable occurred – The demon of “Arrogance” walked into their LIFE. They started to believe that they were the BEST SINGERS and congregation gathered at the Guru’s Darbar only to listen to them. Both brothers assumed that it was on account of their music that the Guru had become Famous. They were rude in their conduct and arrogant in their dealings with the Sikhs. One day Baba Buddha asked them to sing him a Shabad. They gave a rude reply and refused. Hearing this, Guru Arjan Dev ji decided to get the matter sorted and clear the missing links so that “Arrogance” does not drive them insane.
Take Away Pointer !
“Nip it in the BUD” or You will require an AXE to Deal with the Mess this tiny bud might grow into…
When the brothers came to sing in the Evening Sangat, Guru Arjan Dev ji turned his back on them. The brothers tried to catch the glimpse of Guru, but he avoided their salutation. This made them dejected and they asked for the reason behind this attitude of Guru ji – They wanted to know that offence they had committed.
Guru ji replied saying, as they would not sing to a Sikh of his, they must not sing to HIM as well. Hearing this, they were ashamed and fell at his feet and begged forgiveness, which the Guru ji gave in good nature.
Their “Arrogance”, however, was not totally humbled… “Arrogance” assures that we are better than others and that we deserve more respect, consideration, favors, and attention than other people do…Arrogance encourages us to start living in our own little Egotistical Bubble.
The seeds of Arrogance had been sowed in the souls of both brothers and now all that was needed was an opportunity for the seeds to sprout… Prithi Chand, elder brother of Guru Arjan who wanted to become the Guru and enjoy the wealth that came to the Guru Darbar, in his crafty ways watered these seeds and bloomed the shrubs of Superiority & Egotism.
A broken soul always makes efforts to create chaos and so did Prithi Chand – Upon hearing about this incident, he encouraged Bhai Balwand and Bhai Satta to leave the services at the Guru Darbar. He was always bitter towards Guru ji and wanted the Guru ji’s charisma to weaken. He too assumed that without the Brothers, Guru ji wouldn’t be able to hold the Sangat.
The brothers continued the Singing at the Darbar, but were now influenced by Prithi Chand and hence, their faith in Guru was distorted. One day, after many months, the brothers approached Guru ji for some MONEY to meet the expenses of a large extravagant wedding of Bhai Balwand’s daughter.
Bhai Balwand ji wanted to get his daughter married with lot of magnificence and thus demanded for money to get started with the preparations – Guru Arjan congratulated them and said that they could have all the money they needed for the wedding.
The brothers were joyful at this gesture but doubt had taken roots in their mind and arrogance influenced by greed slanted their faith in Guru ji – They thought to themselves that Guru ji may not GIVE ENOUGH and so why not ask for the takings for ONE DAY. They requested Guru ji to give them all the offerings on the “Day of Baisakhi.”
Guru ji smiled for he could see through the “Veils of Doubts” and said, “If that is what you wish – May it be all yours – You can take all the offerings of Baisakhi”. The brothers waited eagerly for the Day of Baisakhi came. But fate had NEW PLANS for them – It turned to be a RAINY DAY and the Congregation from far and near villages couldn’t come. So due to the small number of people, offerings were also less.
As decided, after the Kirtan was over, they were handed all the offerings of the day – But this amount was insufficient compared to their expectations. They threw away the bag containing the offerings before Guru ji and shouted out loud, “You have cheated us.”
Guru ji was calm and handed them “Rupees 100” and also said that they could ask for more if NEEDED…By now the demon of “Arrogance” was in full rage, the brothers rejected everything and went home in an angry mood. On their way, they uttered malicious words and vowed never to sing Hymns again and not have any relation with the Guru.
Next morning, they did not present themselves in the Darbar. Guru Arjan sent for them, but they refused to return. Guru Arjan then sent a special messenger to tell them not to delay and return to perform their duties…Third time, Guru ji himself went to call them but they were filled with Arrogance and this time they crossed all limits and spoke rudely of the House of Guru Nanak saying that the reputations of the Gurus were basically created and nurtured by their family “Rababis” and that even Guru Nanak’s court would not have been known without the music of Mardana. When Mardana recited Kirtan, only then Guru Nanak came into existence.
Guru Arjan could not endure the disrespect shown to Guru Nanak’s court, so he cursed them and said, “They have slandered the house of Guru Nanak, so no Sikh should meet them.”
Guru ji was himself an Excellent Musician. He had performed the duty of singing the Kirtan at Lahore for more than two years (When Guru Ram Das had sent him to attend the marriage of a relative). So, Guru Arjan himself started playing the Saranda and singing Gurbani. From that day onwards, the combination of RHYTHM and RHYME started in the form of Divine Kirtan. Guru Arjun Dev ji blessed Sikhs with knowledge of music and started the institution of Raagis (religious singers at Gurdwaras).
When Bhai Satta and Balwand learnt that the Sangat and Guru ji himself were doing kirtan and that the number of Sikhs was increasing day by day they were ashamed of their conduct. With no job, life was difficult and since no one wanted to talk to them, they suffered Mental Anguish. To top it all, both fell sick with LEPROSY.
Bhai Balwand and Bhai Satta were BLESSED to satisfy all their NEEDS and lived under the Guidance of Guru but when their WANTS increased, they ended up entangled in their WANTS and endured Pain and Misery. A Happy Life was ruined just because someone failed to identify the difference between NEEDS & WANTS 😦
NEEDS & WANTS – are indeed DIFFERENT – To confuse one with the other is asking for TROUBLE – Let us all be alert in our Journeys…and keep a watch on our Mind and its Dealings and should we find the weeds of Arrogance growing – Let us Nip it in the Bud.
NEXT WEEK – We bring to you the concluding part of this STORY – Log in to READ how the Brothers got themselves FREE from this WEB of WANTS…Until then, I invite you to take the TEST and Know your NEEDS & WANTS !
Journeys & Reflections 