Do you ever feel that your mom or dad doesn’t understand you? Well, when Guru Nanak was a boy, his father didn’t understand him. Nanak didn’t seem very interested in the world as his father hoped he would. He went to school, but he didn’t seem to like it very much. All he ever talked about was God. His father thought “Maybe I should let him do something really simple. He seems to like being outdoors.” So, he decided to have his son take care of the family cows.
Nanak took the cows to the fields and the cows enjoyed eating the sweet grass. Nanak relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful nature full of God’s presence. He felt the gentle breeze and enjoyed the trees and the sky. It was so peaceful; everything was in perfect harmony.
Sometimes he thought about God so much that he slipped into a deep meditation. Sometimes he would even sleep, but in his sleep, he was still praying. He wanted to be with God so much that even when he was sleeping, he was still deeply concentrating on God.
One time, while he was sleeping, the cows wondered into the neighbor’s field. Nanak was sleeping and the cows were eating away as cows like to do. The neighbor’s field had some corn that was coming up. It was just baby corn, and it was very sweet. The cows ate it just like the grass. A long time went by, and the cows destroyed a huge amount of the neighbor's cornfield. His field used to be full of baby corn and now there was almost nothing left. You know, a farmer waits for months and carefully waters and watches over his crop to make sure it grows strong so he can sell it. That’s how a farmer makes a living.
When the farmer saw his field destroyed, he was really upset. He thought, “I’m ruined! How will I feed my family now!!? That boy was supposed to make sure his cows don’t go into my field... and now look!!” So, he complained to the leader of the village, Rai Bular. “Rai Bular, Mehta Kalu’s son, Nanak, he, he’s destroyed my field. My corn was coming up and now it’s destroyed!”
Rai Bular and the farmer went to Nanak’s father, Mehta Kalu. Rai Bular was a very fair man. Since it was Mehta Kalu’s son who was responsible for the accident, he asked Mehta Kalu to pay the farmer for the corn that had been destroyed. So, they all went to the field to see how bad the field was so they could figure out how to make it up to the poor farmer. When they got there, the field was perfect! In fact, it was greener and better than before!
Some kind of miracle must have happened! Perhaps because the innocent child Nanak was so in love with God, he was protected. What bad can come from those who love God so much? Rai Bular remembered how at Nanak’s birth the astrologer had predicted that Nanak would be a great man. He started to think that there is something divine and special about this child, the child Nanak who was wiser than sages and always yearned to be with God and God’s saints.
