Some Random Memories
The following memories may not be connected to Gurmat too much, but I am listing them anyway, as Bhai Sahib's memories are repeatedly coming in my mind and this is my way of paying homage to them.
Some Random Memories
Saade Vedanti jee
In the late 90s when we all started doing Santhiya, Bhai Sahib started calling me “Vedanti jee”. At one time I protested saying that I was dead against the Vedanta school of thought, then how could I be nick-named Vedanti jee. Bhai Sahib was in a very jolly good mood and replied saying that Ved means knowledge and that his interpretation of this word Vedanti was knowledgeable person. Who could speak in front of Bhai Sahib. I meekly accepted the new nickname. So from that day, when ever Bhai Sahib wanted to speak to me in love, he always addressed me as “Saade Vedanti jee”.
Call me Bayee
One day at Weston Gurdwara Sahib, in 2000, Bhai Sahib, after Abhyaas, very seriously requested us to stop calling him "Bhai Sahib" as he did not feel comfortable with it. He said that the title "Bhai Sahib" only suited Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee. I asked him as to what else would we call him then. He suggested that we call him "Baayee" which means brother in Malwa region of Punjab. I protested saying that since I had been calling him Bhai Sahib for almost 10 years, it would be hard for me to switch.
He replied back by saying that, he found it against Gurmat to be called Bhai Sahib. At this I responded by citing a quote from Jail Chithiaan, in which Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee has written that when all Sikh prisoners started doing Gurbani Paath all day long, their hearts became very soft, all enmities vanishied and all Singhs there started addressing each other as "Bhai Sahib". At this wonderful reply that Guru Sahib himself blessed me with, Bhai Sahib kept quiet and did not raise this issue again. We did a sigh of relief.
Using Shayers to Respond to Bhai Sahib
One day (many years ago) I was sick and had high fever and flu. I did not show up to have Darshan of Sangat. I was home resting. I got a call from Bhai Sahib. When I told him that I was sick, he started laughing and said, how did a jackal beat a lion? By jackal he meant fever and by lion he meant a Singh i.e. this Daas. I did not say anything back and then he ordered me to come right away. I was not feeling well but could not say no to Bhai Sahib. When I arrived in Sangat, Bhai Sahib was very pleased and looked at me with his regular sweet love-showering gaze. Then he commented, “tu taa changa bhala hai” (You look just fine i.e. not sick).
When Bhai Sahib said that above Bachan, I immediately shot back with Mirza Ghalib’s famous Shayer:
ਉਨਕੇ ਦੇਖੇ ਸੇ ਜੋ ਆ ਜਾਤੀ ਹੈ ਚੇਹਰੇ ਪੈ ਰੌਨਕ.
ਵੋਹ ਸਮਝਤੇ ਹੈਂ ਕੇ ਬੀਮਾਰ ਕਾ ਹਾਲ ਅਛਾ ਹੈ. (Punjabi)
उनके देखे से जो आ जाती है चेहरे पे रौनक.
वोह समझते हैं के बीमार का हाल अच्छा है. (Hindi)
(By looking at their face, a brightness or freshness arrives on my face; and they think that the sick one is feeling better)
Basically what I was trying to say is that the freshness on my face is not because I am not sick but because I had his Darshan. At another occasion, as if it was a premonition, I said to Bhai Sahib, out of nowhere, quoting an old song:
ਹਜ਼ਾਰ ਬਾਤੇਂ ਕਹੇ ਜ਼ਮਾਨਾ, ਤੁਮ ਮੇਰੀ ਵਫ਼ਾ ਪੇ ਯਕੀਨ ਰਖਨਾ.
हज़ार बातें कहे ज़माना, तुम मेरी वफ़ा पे यकीन रखना.
With Bhai Sahib I was comfortable using the most difficult Farsi and Urdu words while conversing because he understood them. Today, with whom am I going to talk in that style? No one.
We will have to come back if we don't complete our Sewa
One day, Bhai Sahib said to me, that we all had been brought together by Guru Sahib to do the Sewa of Gurmat Parchaar. If we don’t succeed in doing it as destined, we all would have to come back again, to complete the Sewa. He further said that in many previous lives, we all had been together.
Bhai Jagtar Singh jee had Darshan of Bhai Sahib and did not have Darshan of Bhai Sahib
Bhai Jagtar Singh jee never had Darshan of Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee, in physical form, even though Bhai Jagtar Singh jee lived in the era when Bhai Sahib too was alive physically in this world. Bhai Jagtar Singh jee regretted this very much and wished that he had woken up to Sikhi, when Bhai Sahib was here physically. Having said that, Bhai Sahib did used to mention that when he was studying or when he used to travel to Ludhiana, there used to be a Tejasvee Gurmukh sitting on a chair in a park in Model Town, whom he now suspected to be none other than Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee. Then he used to comment that it is quite possible that Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee had gazed upon him with an eye of grace and this way he had been blessed with Gursikhi many years later.
More memories to come, as they flash in the mind.
Daas,
Kulbir Singh
Some Random Memories
Saade Vedanti jee
In the late 90s when we all started doing Santhiya, Bhai Sahib started calling me “Vedanti jee”. At one time I protested saying that I was dead against the Vedanta school of thought, then how could I be nick-named Vedanti jee. Bhai Sahib was in a very jolly good mood and replied saying that Ved means knowledge and that his interpretation of this word Vedanti was knowledgeable person. Who could speak in front of Bhai Sahib. I meekly accepted the new nickname. So from that day, when ever Bhai Sahib wanted to speak to me in love, he always addressed me as “Saade Vedanti jee”.
Call me Bayee
One day at Weston Gurdwara Sahib, in 2000, Bhai Sahib, after Abhyaas, very seriously requested us to stop calling him "Bhai Sahib" as he did not feel comfortable with it. He said that the title "Bhai Sahib" only suited Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee. I asked him as to what else would we call him then. He suggested that we call him "Baayee" which means brother in Malwa region of Punjab. I protested saying that since I had been calling him Bhai Sahib for almost 10 years, it would be hard for me to switch.
He replied back by saying that, he found it against Gurmat to be called Bhai Sahib. At this I responded by citing a quote from Jail Chithiaan, in which Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee has written that when all Sikh prisoners started doing Gurbani Paath all day long, their hearts became very soft, all enmities vanishied and all Singhs there started addressing each other as "Bhai Sahib". At this wonderful reply that Guru Sahib himself blessed me with, Bhai Sahib kept quiet and did not raise this issue again. We did a sigh of relief.
Using Shayers to Respond to Bhai Sahib
One day (many years ago) I was sick and had high fever and flu. I did not show up to have Darshan of Sangat. I was home resting. I got a call from Bhai Sahib. When I told him that I was sick, he started laughing and said, how did a jackal beat a lion? By jackal he meant fever and by lion he meant a Singh i.e. this Daas. I did not say anything back and then he ordered me to come right away. I was not feeling well but could not say no to Bhai Sahib. When I arrived in Sangat, Bhai Sahib was very pleased and looked at me with his regular sweet love-showering gaze. Then he commented, “tu taa changa bhala hai” (You look just fine i.e. not sick).
When Bhai Sahib said that above Bachan, I immediately shot back with Mirza Ghalib’s famous Shayer:
ਉਨਕੇ ਦੇਖੇ ਸੇ ਜੋ ਆ ਜਾਤੀ ਹੈ ਚੇਹਰੇ ਪੈ ਰੌਨਕ.
ਵੋਹ ਸਮਝਤੇ ਹੈਂ ਕੇ ਬੀਮਾਰ ਕਾ ਹਾਲ ਅਛਾ ਹੈ. (Punjabi)
उनके देखे से जो आ जाती है चेहरे पे रौनक.
वोह समझते हैं के बीमार का हाल अच्छा है. (Hindi)
(By looking at their face, a brightness or freshness arrives on my face; and they think that the sick one is feeling better)
Basically what I was trying to say is that the freshness on my face is not because I am not sick but because I had his Darshan. At another occasion, as if it was a premonition, I said to Bhai Sahib, out of nowhere, quoting an old song:
ਹਜ਼ਾਰ ਬਾਤੇਂ ਕਹੇ ਜ਼ਮਾਨਾ, ਤੁਮ ਮੇਰੀ ਵਫ਼ਾ ਪੇ ਯਕੀਨ ਰਖਨਾ.
हज़ार बातें कहे ज़माना, तुम मेरी वफ़ा पे यकीन रखना.
With Bhai Sahib I was comfortable using the most difficult Farsi and Urdu words while conversing because he understood them. Today, with whom am I going to talk in that style? No one.
We will have to come back if we don't complete our Sewa
One day, Bhai Sahib said to me, that we all had been brought together by Guru Sahib to do the Sewa of Gurmat Parchaar. If we don’t succeed in doing it as destined, we all would have to come back again, to complete the Sewa. He further said that in many previous lives, we all had been together.
Bhai Jagtar Singh jee had Darshan of Bhai Sahib and did not have Darshan of Bhai Sahib
Bhai Jagtar Singh jee never had Darshan of Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee, in physical form, even though Bhai Jagtar Singh jee lived in the era when Bhai Sahib too was alive physically in this world. Bhai Jagtar Singh jee regretted this very much and wished that he had woken up to Sikhi, when Bhai Sahib was here physically. Having said that, Bhai Sahib did used to mention that when he was studying or when he used to travel to Ludhiana, there used to be a Tejasvee Gurmukh sitting on a chair in a park in Model Town, whom he now suspected to be none other than Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee. Then he used to comment that it is quite possible that Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee had gazed upon him with an eye of grace and this way he had been blessed with Gursikhi many years later.
More memories to come, as they flash in the mind.
Daas,
Kulbir Singh