Guru Amar Das Ji lived in a little village called Goindwal. He had many followers and many important people would come to visit him. The Raja of Haripur once came to pay respect to this old, holy man. Along with the Raja were all his royal courtiers and queens. The Raja had just married a young woman who was wearing a veil. Guru Ji, who always taught that women are equal to men, asked the woman, “Why don’t you reveal your face?” The girl said nastily, “At least it protects my eyes from seeing the kind of people around here.” Why she would speak so rudely to the Guru, no one knows, but the Guru said, “Oh, insane lady! If you do not like the Guru’s face, than why have you come here?!” The Guru spoke with authority and everyone there could feel that something serious had just happened.
The Rani then went crazy and she started screaming. She ripped off all of her clothes and ran into the jungle. In a moment she went from being okay to being completely out of her mind. No one knew what happened to her or where to find her. She stayed in the jungle. She would run around talking to herself and acting like an animal. The people of Goindwal grew scared of her, and began to think she was an evil witch who might curse them. She could sometimes be seen running around in the jungle or in the town stealing food and eating old langar at night. She was certainly not who she used to be.
In Gowindwal, there was a very devoted Sikh who used to listen very carefully to everything Guru Amar Das Ji said. After each thing that Guru Ji said this Sikh would just say “Sach ji, sach,” meaning “True sir, true.” Because he said this so much people started to call him by the name ‘Sachan Sach’. One day Sachan Sach was gathering wood from the jungle. He recited mixed up lines of Gurbani, that only made sense to himself, but it didn’t matter. All of a sudden the crazy, naked queen leapt out and attacked Sachan Sach biting and scratching him. He had a bundle of wood on his back, and more wood in his hands. He dropped the wood in his hands on his own feet. “Ow!” he said. Then she started to beat him, and then he fell on the ground with the heavy bundle of wood on top of himself. He was defenseless as she continued to attack him. Then she suddenly ran away. She leaped back in to the jungle where she had come from.
Sachan Sach recovered when he could. He picked himself up. He had bruises, bite marks and scratches all over his body. He ran back to Goindwal and fell into a pool of water. He was brought to the Guru. He told the whole frightful story of what happened. He said, “A witch jumped out of nowhere and attacked me. She was possessed by demons and wanted to steal my soul!” Guru Amar Das patiently listened until he finished the story. Then he gave Sachan Sach his shoe and told him, “Go back to the jungle and when you see the queen, I want you to touch her on the head with this shoe.” Sachan Sach didn’t really want to to that, but he agreed.
He went to the jungle again, he was really scared. Not long after he had been in the jungle, the rani jumped out to attack him. Quickly he touched her with the shoe, and then by the Guru’s Grace she was suddenly changed. She came to her senses and didn’t know why she was in the jungle naked. She was very confused, she had no idea what was going on. She thought, “Who is this guy and what does he want with me? Why am I dirty and naked?” Sachan Sach saw what she was feeling and his heart opened to her. Sachan Sach ripped his shawl in half and gave her half so she could cover herself.
Both the rani and Sachan Sach returned to the Guru. The rani apologized to the Guru for being rude to him, and the Guru forgave her. Then the Guru gave Bhai Sachan Sach a beautiful new shawl and blessed him for his innocence and devotion. Even though Bhai Sachan Sach’s brain didn’t work like most people’s brain, Guru ji honored him in public and said, “Bhai Sachan Sach is devoted and he is beloved by God. He is honored in this world and honored in all other worlds as well.”