Thursday, December 13, 2007

Bhagat Dhanna Jee

(Long Story but it is an eye opener for me)
Bhai Dhanna jee was a simple hearted farmer.
One day, Bhai Dhanna jee was passing a pundit's house who was feeding his thakur - a stone idol. Bhai Dhanna jee was quite perplexed by this. So Bhai Dhanna jee asked the pundit, "What are you doing?"

The pundit was kind of hungry and wanted to get this feeding over as soon as possible and really wasn't in a mood for Bhai Dhanna jee's simple inquiries.
He replied, "Oh, nothing, just feeding my thakur. Now if you will excuse me..."

Bhai Dhanna jee found that incredibly funny, "What use is feeding a stone?"
Pundit, "That is not a stone, it is God."
"Really?! What does God give you if you feed it?"
Pundit: "Everything. Now, I really must ask you to leave..."

Bhai Dhanna jee liked this idea of giving a little food and getting back everything. So Bhai Dhanna jee asked the pundit if he could also have a thakur.
At this time, the pundit's stomach was audibly complaining about lack of food. So he hastily picked up the nearest stone off the ground and said, "Here. First feed it, then you eat. Goodbye."
Saying that the pundit dived into the food left over by thakur. Bhai Dhanna jee held the stone closely and hurried home.

As soon as Bhai Dhanna jee got home, Bhai Dhanna jee cooked the best meal - saag and makkee di roti for dinner. He placed it in front of thakur and said, "Here thakur jee, please eat. Afterwards, I want to discuss many things with you. I need a new cow for example, but for now, please eat."
Saying that Bhai Dhanna jee sat in front of thakur and waited. And waited. And waited.
After a while, Bhai Dhanna jee said, "Look thakur, I really have no time for your play. Come and eat at
once! I have many chores to do."
After several hours, Bhai Dhanna jee was thinking that perhaps thakur jee was annoyed at him. So Bhai
Dhanna jee tried to persuade thakur jee to forgive him: "Look here thakur, I haven't eaten in a while.
Now it is entirely possible that I have done something to annoy you but believe you me, we can discuss this much better after this saag and makkee dee roti is in our stomachs."
Slowly the night deepened. Bhai Dhanna jee said, "Look thakur, I have one nerve left and you are
dancing on it. Either eat your food or I will....", Bhai Dhanna jee couldn't really think of anything so he just stomped his foot in anger.

Pretty soon, it became daylight. Now Bhai Dhanna jee was quite disoriented. Sometimes Bhai Dhanna jee would curse thakur, sometimes Bhai Dhanna jee would hug thakur and sometimes Bhai Dhanna jee
would starting crying.

Two long and hungry nights passed in this manner. Then at amrit vela on the third day, when Bhai Dhanna jee was too weak to curse any more, Waheguru jee decided to do the thing Waheguru jee does best - play.
Waheguru jee appeared inside the stone. It was the most beautiful body of a young man. Bhai Dhanna lost all his anger and just gaped at Waheguru jee.
Waheguru jee stepped out of the stone and said, "Bhai Dhanna jee, sorry, I am late - had to deal with a couple of universe creations - but would you be kind enough to warm up this saag and makkee dee roti.

How did you know that this is my favourite food?"
Bhai Dhanna jee, keeping one eye on Waheguru jee, warmed up the saag and presented it to Waheguru jee. Waheguru jee joyfully ate and fed Bhai Dhanna jee too.
It was daylight by then. Bhai Dhanna jee said, "Look thakur jee, I am tired - I haven't slept for 2 nights - and all I can think of is bed. You, on the other hand, haven't done much. How exhausting is sitting in that stone anyways? So if you don't mind, would you feed the cows while I take a short nap?"

Waheguru jee really didn't have a choice. So he did all the farm chores.
When Bhai Dhanna jee woke up, Waheguru jee had prepared lassi for Bhai Dhanna jee. Bhai Dhanna jee drank and said, "You know, thakur, you are just too good. I don't know why but I feel so close to you. You feel like my best friend. Now lets go and work on the farm."
Saying that, Bhai Dhanna jee put his arms around Waheguru jee and went to the farm.
Bhai Dhanna jee fell head over heels in love with Waheguru jee. He couldn't resist being with Waheguru jee. They spent the next few days literally arm in arm. Even at night, Bhai Dhanna jee would hold Waheguru jee's hand and listen to Waheguru jee songs - Waheguru jee sang a lot - and would drift off to sleep.
A week later, the pundit was passing Bhai Dhanna jee's hut. Bhai Dhanna jee saw him and ran to him and said, "Oh, pundit jee, you wonderful man, thank you so much for that thakur..."
Pundit, "What??? Oh, yeah, sure, anytime. Look, I am in a hurry. I am going to the conference KPPARR (Keeping Poor Poor And Rich Rich)."

Bhai Dhanna jee: "But please come and drink some lassi. Thakur jee makes the best lassi."
Pundit: "What now? Thakur jee makes something?"
Bhai Dhanna jee: "Oh, the best stuff. Look at him, how beautiful he is."
Pundit jee looked and indeed some was pushing the cows on the farm. And yet there was nobody to be seen.
Pundit jee: "Who is that?"
Bhai Dhanna jee: "Why, that is thakur jee, of course. Oh, you should hear him sing..."
Pundit jee was quited intrigued by now. And repeatedly asked Bhai Dhanna jee about Thakur jee.
After a while Bhai Dhanna jee realized that Pundit could not see Thakur jee. Bhai Dhanna jee promised that he would talk to Thakur jee about this.
The pundit left. Bhai Dhanna jee went to Waheguru jee and said, "Thakur jee, how come pundit jee can't see you?"

Waheguru jee: "The pundit jee really doesn't want to see me. He is more interested in my maid - Maya."
Bhai Dhanna jee: "But I don't understand. How can one see you?"
Waheguru jee: "One has to become pure. And in this age, Dhanna jee, the only way to become pure is by reciting naam."
Bhai Dhanna jee: "Naam?"
Waheguru jee: "Naam is the magic of this age. Even a few minutes of naam will bring the magic that is needed to see me."
Bhai Dhanna jee: "But, I haven't recited naam. How come I can see you?"
Waheguru jee, at that point, touched Bhai Dhanna jee's forehead. Bhai Dhanna jee's surat went inside.
Inside he saw that he, Bhai Dhanna jee, had done heavy tapasaya for over 100 lifetimes. He had stood
in water all night and in the hot sun all day. He had hung upside down for several lifetimes. He had been a celibate in one lifetime and a moni (ones who don't talk) in another. But he had progressed spiritually very little.
Then in his previous life, he had met an adept guru who had given him naam. And by doing naam for just one lifetime, Bhai Dhanna jee had become pure.

Seeing Waheguru jee was the reward for his naam from previous life.
Bhai Dhanna jee fell at Waheguru jee's feet and cried. Saying, "Please forgive this fool, I treated you as an equal..."
Waheguru jee picked him and held him close, singing songs of comfort, "Bhai Dhanna jee, now the time is right to leave. The way you see me now is the superficial way of meeting me. The real way is inside. Now you must start naam again and then I will meet you inside."
Saying that Waheguru jee vanished into thin air. Bhai Dhanna jee was enlightened now, else he would cursed Waheguru jee. Immediately he started naam with each breath.
Within days, Bhai Dhanna jee met Waheguru jee in Waheguru jee's real form - the formless one - inside.


Moral :
God is within us all and pervades throughout his creation (there is universe beyond universe...Japji Sahib). So if we want vision of God then we need to meditate on his name (he has innumerable names, as told to us by Guru Gobind Singh Ji). It is important to note that God DOES NOT take any form, but for our purpose he can give us a vision in any form. For example, Waheguru was inside the young man as much as he was inside bhai Dhanna but for Bhai Dhanna's experience, God spoke through the young man. Guru Granth Sahib tells us that in Sach Khand, where the light of God dwells, blessed saints merge with God (as Guru Gobind Singh Ji did in his previous incarnation). Therefore when a christian wants to "see God" he may get vision of Jesus, a Muslim that of Mohammed and so on. If you vision God as a radiant light which pervades throughout the universe, then if you are blessed this may be the vision you will see. An important concept in Sikhism is that God does not take form (Guru Grnath Sahib and Dasam Granth), he is formless and pervades throught his creation.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am sure the intention of posting the story was to express the point of innocent love and devotion to God BUT the story posted about God appearing in a STONE IDOL is TOTALLY AGAINST Gurbani and is THEREFORE FALSE.

If Bhagat Dhanna Ji met Waheguru through worshipping a stone, then this means that as a result of Guru Arjan Dev Ji including the Bani of a someone who has supposedly found God by worshipping a stone, Guru Sahib has accepted that one can meet and experience God through a lifeless stone. But Guru Sahib's Hukam (order) is:
ਜਿਸੁ ਪਾਹਨ ਕਉ ਠਾਕੁਰੁ ਕਹਤਾ ॥ ਉਹੁ ਪਾਹਨੁ ਲੈ ਉਸ ਕਉ ਡੁਬਤਾ ॥2॥
ਗੁਨਹਗਾਰੁ ਲੂਣ ਹਰਾਮੀ ॥ ਪਾਹਨ ਨਾਵ ਨ ਪਾਰਗਰਾਮੀ ॥3॥
"That stone, which he calls his god, that stone pulls him down and drowns him. ||2||"
(Soohee, Ang 739, SGGS).



Does something sound fishy? Yes! The story basically says "O yeah, idol worship is wrong BUT have enough faith and it'll work!"... sounds more like a mischievous Brahman made up the story to PROTECT HIS BUSINESS!



If we placed more faith in Guru Granth Sahib Ji rather than twisted historians, ignorant parchaariks and RSS propaganda then we would not bee in this confusion.
ਨਾਮਾ ਜੈਦੇਉ ਕੰਬੀਰੁ ਤ੍ਰਿਲੋਚਨੁ ਅਉਜਾਤਿ ਰਵਿਦਾਸੁ ਚਮਿਆਰੁ ਚਮਈਆ ॥ ਜੋ ਜੋ ਮਿਲੈ ਸਾਧੂ ਜਨ ਸੰਗਤਿ ਧਨੁ ਧੰਨਾ ਜਟੁ ਸੈਣੁ ਮਿਲਿਆ ਹਰਿ ਦਈਆ ॥7॥
"Naam Dev, Jai Dev, Kabeer, Trilochan and Ravi Daas the low-caste leather-worker, blessed Dhanna and Sain; all those who joined the humble Saadh Sangat, met the Merciful Lord, Waheguru. ||7||" (Bilaaval, Ang 835, SGGS)


Guru Raam Daas Ji is clear of how Bhagat Dhanna Ji met and had Darshan of Waheguru. Is it through worshipping a lifeless stone? Is it through God revealing himself through a stone? No. It is through the "Saadh Sangat", the company of the Holy.

Furthermore Guru Arjan Dev Ji has also said in Gurbani how Bhagat Dhanna Ji became a devotee of God and became absorbed into Waheguru. And the answer is NOT that he saw God in a lifeless stone idol.

ਇਹ ਬਿਧਿ ਸੁਨਿ ਕੈ ਜਾਟਰੋ, ਉਠਿ ਭਗਤੀ ਲਾਗਾ ॥ ਮਿਲੇ ਪ੍ਰਤਖਿ ਗੁਸਾਈਆ, ਧੰਨਾ ਵਡ ਭਾਗਾ ॥4॥2॥
Hearing of this way (of how all the Bhagats meditated on Naam), Dhanna the Jaat (farmer) applied himself to devotional worship. Waheguru, the Lord of the Universe met him personally; Dhanna was so very blessed. ||4||2||" (Aasa, Ang 488, SGGS)


No offence intended. Again I know that the intention of the post was good but the information is contrary to Guru Granth Sahib Ji, our living and present Guru.

havocsingh said...

Yeah my intentions was to show everyone how was the love of Bhagat Dhanna Jee towards a stone with full faith and with humbleness, led to Waheguru jee coming and meeting him.

I agree with you that it is wrong in Sikhism to do Idol worshipping, but this story is about How a love of devotee towards a stone makes Waheguru to appear.

There is even one more example with Bhagat Namdev Ji, who use to worship a stone which was called BHEETAL = Akaal Purakh.

Bhagat Ji entered the mandar and was kicked out because he was low class. So bhagatji did samadhi at the BACK of the mandir and Prayed to HIS "BEETHAL as to WHY he is being discriminated like this just becasue of his LOW CASTE....and Low and Behold..the MANDIR ROTATED on its FOUNDATION to FACE Bhagat namdev Ji sitting at its BACK..

This incident is mentioned by Bhagat Ji in His Gurbani in the Guru Granth Ji sahib.

If you read Bhagat Namdev Ji's bani in SGGS, Bhagat ji wrote Bheetal there which refers to Waheguru.

So with this,We must apply this to our daily life and the teaching that Guru gave us, that we must do kirtan and path with love and not for maya n etc.

Just a humble thought.
Anyway nice post anonymous.

Canuck Physio said...

Actually this story is in fact in Bhai Gurdas Ji's writings.

"(Seeing his true and loving devotion) God was forced to appear and eat his bread and buttermilk.
In fact, innocence like that of Dhanna makes the sight of the Lord available."

Although the article is a representation of the original story, it does indeed represent the basic purity and innocence of Bhagat Dhanna Ji. Indeed wisdom of the ages, you are now awaken to the knowledge that you do not need to worship stones, but by understanding the story perhaps we can find innocence that we need to gain the state of Sublime Bliss.