|| Shri Hari ||

Why does the Jeev Return?

continued......

I have heard a tale, that one day, Shri Guru Nanakji Maharaj was going somewhere.   Accompanying him were two to four of his disciples. They were passing through a village's store house of grains.  There were many piles of various grains, such as wheat,  millet, beans,  etc.   At that time, a goat came and from the pile of beans, he began to eat.   The owner of the grains was sitting there.   He caught hold of the goat by the ear, and began to beat him with a stick.  After much beating,  he managed to get the goat to release the grain from his mouth.  Watching this incident,  Shri Guru Nanakji Maharajbegan to laugh.    The disciples with him,  were astonished, and asked him -  'Maharaj !  the goat is being beaten, and you are laughing.   Every action of a saint is with a certain purpose.

  

The disciples said,  'please share with us why you are laughing?'   At that time, Nanakji Maharaj said -  See !  the one beating the goat, that miserly one,  is the son of this goat, and in previous birth, this goat was the father of this miser. It was his nature to sit in the shop.   The shop was inside and there was a veranda outside, in which he used to sit.   Hence regularly at night, this goat comes and sits here.   It does not know this, but it only likes this place. He had undergone many austerities and prayers, to get a son. The money earned all belongs to the goat,  but now in his possession he does not even have a few beans.    Every time he comes to eat, he gets beaten up and the beans are taken out of his mouth.  Then too people continue to hoard.'  (continued....)

From "Kalyaankari Pravachan"  in Hindi by Swami Ramsukhdasji