A guy called A. Singh was in dire need for money. He wandered here and
there, tried many different things but could not succeed in improving his
financial situation.

One day A. Singh was sitting in a park trying to relax after a very
hard day. His face showed all his pain. A very mysterious person approached
him and started the conversation:

“You look very distressed. Is everything okay?”

A. Singh looked up and saw this person who had very piercing eyes and
said, “Never mind about my problems. No one can help me. God has given me
very bad luck”.

“What is wrong with your luck?”

“Why do you want to know? I don’t think you can help me. I have met many who
promised me the world but no one has been able to produce any results”.

“I have helped many people like you. This is what I do for life. I help
people in need and you seem like a good candidate for help. Have faith and
tell me your problem.”

“I am going through financial crisis. I am under massive debt and if I don’t
do anything very soon, I will lose my home, all my belongings and they may
even take away my children and wife to work for them, till they get their
money back. My son is waiting for an operation but I don’t have money. He
will die if I don’t produce money. I have very little time and if I don’t do
anything, I will have no choice but to commit suicide”.

“Is that all? So all you need is money? I can arrange for as much money as
you want. It is very simple”.

“YOU CAN REALLY HELP ME? Please quickly tell me what you can do. I will do
anything for you, if you can get me out of the financial crisis”.

“I can take you to an enchanted garden where there is a very big building,
full of money. You can collect as much as you want but you must share your
money with me. My only condition is that you share your wealth with me. The
minimum I need is a bag full of dollars. You can bring bags full of money
from there”.

A. Singh could not believe what he was hearing. For a moment he thought
that this person was just lying to him but the seriousness of his face had
A. Singh believe this man. A. Singh thought for a moment and said,
“Why don’t you go there yourself?”

“Only you can go there. I don’t have access to that place.”

“OKAY! FINE! I will not ask you the reason. What do I care? I only want
money and that is it. Please take me there immediately.”

“I must warn you of one thing. The place where we are going is highly
enchanting. It is not as simple as just filling your bags. There is a lot of
distraction there. If you don’t stay focussed on the purpose of your visit,
you will end up not getting anything from there.”

“I also want to warn you to stay away from certain type of flowers and foods
there. If you smell those flowers, you will forget your purpose of this
visit. That garden is ruled by a very beautiful but vile lady. If you get
seduced by that lady, then too you will forget your purpose of the visit.”

“Don’t worry about that sir. I am in a very grave situation and there is no
way I will forget the purpose of my visit. If I forget my purpose, I will
endanger my family, lose all money and my son who is awaiting an operation
will die”.

They headed towards the enchanted garden and before entering the garden, the
mysterious man again warned A. Singh. A. Singh entered the garden
and saw the most beautiful flowers and trees he had ever seen. The dark
green grass was very neatly cut. He saw a huge building surrounded by
gigantic trees. He did not see anyone there. The view was so beautiful that
A. Singh was losing his sense of urgency to accomplish his mission
here. The more he looked at the scenery, more he was getting lost in the
spectacular scenes.

He entered the building and saw loads of money all over the place. He
decided to fill his bags with money and gold. Just as he was about to fill
his bag, the wall in front of him got lightened up with some scenes. It was
like a movie screen. The scene was like a movie and was a very intense
scene. He kept watching it, and forgot to fill his bag with money. He would
not have moved, if his beeper had not started beeping. He had asked the
mysterious man to remind him of his purpose. As he heard the beeper, he
again started filling his bag with money.

At every corner of the building there was a distraction for A. Singh.
He could not move two steps before bumping into a distraction. Beautiful
girls too arrived to entertain him and he found himself getting entangled in
the wonders of the building. He had limited time. He had to be out of there
in 8 hours. So far he had not collected anything.

Eight hours passed by and A. Singh did not collect any money at all.
All he had was a few coins in his pockets and a bag half filled. After 8
hours he was automatically ejected out of the enchanted garden. He came out
empty handed. When he came out, he realized his mistake. He had lost a
golden chance to better his financial situation. He was able to fill a small
bag of money but that was taken away by the Mysterious man who had sent him
in. It was his commission. A. Singh was left with nothing.

Please think! Are we all not acting like A. Singh? Gurbani clearly says
that “LOOTNA HAI TAU LOOT LAE, RAAM NAAM HAI LOOT”.

Couple of days as I was travelling back from work and I was talking to my
Gursikh friend. We were talking about Naam. A pankiti came in my mind –
LOOTNA HAI TAU LOOT LAE, RAAM NAAM HAI LOOT. I uttered it and we both
discussed how Raam Naam is loot. Loot means to get something free of cost.
We then realized how this pankiti pertains to our situation.

We have ample time and opportunity to japp naam but we don’t. Then we came
up with this story that I shared with you all. Our situation is just like
A. Singh. We are in this enchanted land where we are supposed to take
back to our homeland, bags full of Naam Dhan. But we don’t! We indulge in
the pleasures of this world. I am pretty sure that we will regret when we
die. Gurbani says so. We will regret why we wasted so much time and did not
japp naam. To do all pleasures at cost of Naam are futile.

REMEMBER THAT EVERY BREATH THAT WE LOSE IS NOT COMING BACK. WE ARE NOT
LOSING OUR BREATH BUT A CHANCE TO DO NAAM. Let us not let a single swaas go
without naam. Pyaariyo aayo naam japeeye.

Let us indulge in Naam. Whether our mind focuses or not, we should not stop
doing naam. PLEASE START RIGHT NOW. JAPP NAAM, JAPP BANI.

Let us Create a sense of urgency to do naam. Without this sense of urgency,
naam cannot be japped all the time.

DIL AGAR DAANA BAVAD, ANDAR KINARASH YAAR HAST||
CHASHAM AGAR BEENA BAVAD, DAR HAR TARAF DEEDAAR HAST||
(Bhai Nandlal Goiya)

(If the mann gets divine intelligence, mann can find yaar Vaheguru right
inside. If the eye gets to the power to see, Vaheguru can be seen all over
the place)

Let us make our mind - Daana. A Daana mind is developed by reading and
understanding baani. A daana mann will indulge in naam. An Ahmak mann will
indulge in pleasures. Choice is ours. Do we want a Daana Dil or Ahmak Dil.

Daas,
Kulbir Singh