ONCE upon a time, a farmer's wife was sitting and sifting corn. All of a sudden a crow flew by and swooped off with a kernel of corn from her basket. The farmer's wife got really angry and threw a mud ball at the bird. She had such good aim, the mud ball hit the crow, who fell to the ground, the kernel of corn fell out of the crows mouth and it rolled under the roots of a great big Banyan tree. The farmer's wife ran up to the crow, and grabbed it by the tail, "Give me back my kernel of corn, if you don't, I'll eat YOU instead!
This was during the time of Guru Hargobind Ji, the 6th Sikh Guru and in India the Sikhs were being starting to be persecuted. Guru Hargobind knew that it time to prepare an army of saint-soldiers for battle for the defense of the all his Sikhs and of the Dharma. He didn't want to attack anyone, but his Sikhs needed to be able to defend themselves and others if war was declared on them. Guru Hargobind was a beautiful saint and the Sikhs loved him very much. They completely trusted him, saying, "Guru Ji, we are at your feet, you are the True emperor, you are the True King."
May I ask you a question? Do you know why your soul chose to be born in your human body? It is because it wanted to! It came in to your body so it can have a human experience. It wants to experience something very special. Mostly we don't remember exactly what that special something is, do we? Does everyone always remember exactly what their soul wants to experience in this life? No… and that's OK, because if we remembered what the soul wanted to experience, that might spoil the surprise of discovering it for ourselves, wouldn't it?
Once there were two students. One day they were both told that they had received the great honor of seeing the Grand-Master. They were both very excited and humbled by this honor. The two students hiked to a remote mountain top to a very beautiful temple there. Both students were excited to see the Grand-Master.
One day, a boy was sitting in his room watching T.V. when his sister came into the room, "Do you remember Auntie ji?" She said, "I love her. She understands everything. She just says a few things and people change for the rest of their lives." The brother wasn't really paying attention, "Ummm, yeahh... uh... I'm watching my T.V. show, I need to watch the final episode!" So the sister waited until his show was over and came back, "Ok, I waited, now c'mon let's go. Don't you know she can talk to the heavens?" Her brother wasn't really listening to her, he was playing video games. "Uh... yeah heavens... ooooh I'm about to level up!" Then the sister said, "I know where you keep your allowance. Bye! I'm taking it!" So he finally stopped playing his game, "No stop!.... Ok, I'll go with you. but it doesn't matter. Adults are all the same, they just like to talk."
Once upon a time there was a beautiful deer who spent every day prancing around in the woods. And every day she noticed a wonderful smell. It smelt better than rain; it smelt better than flowers; in fact, the deer had never smelled anything so enchantingly wonderful. The deer wondered where the smell came from. She began to sniff around, "Sniff, sniff. Maybe this perfume is coming from inside the tree!" She ran over to a tree, but it just smelt like a normal tree.
Once there was a man who came to visit his friend. His friend was a good host, and he said, "Oh, come in. It's great to see you old friend. Please come in, I'll get you something to eat."
Once there was a king who was both good and righteous. He was known far and wide for his wisdom and his kindness to the people of his kingdom. After many years, he began to feel bored with being a king, so he asked his adviser, "How old is my son now? I want him to become king so I can quit this job." The adviser said, "Your son is only 15 years old. The law says he must be 18 years old before he may be crowned as the king." The king said, "No, no no... that is no good at all. I want him to become king now." The adviser said, "You yourself are still a young king. If you were to wait for 3 years, you would still be very young to be retiring from your duties as a king." The king thought this over.
A long time ago in India there was a simple farmer named Dhanna. He lived a quiet life and loved to farm. Every day on his way to his fields, he passed by the house of a pundit who did many rituals and prayers, and Dhanna found this very interesting. One day he saw the pundit serving food to a stone statue. And he asked the pundit, "Why are you bringing food to a stone?" The pundit replied, "This is not a stone! This is a Thakur. If one pleases the Thakur all their wishes come true. You must feed the Thakur first, and only after that can you eat."
Young Gobind Rai was a very playful boy and he and his friends used to go down to the riverside to play almost every day. They weren't the only ones who went there. A lot of people used to bathe at the river Ganga because it was also a holy spot. One of them was Shiv Dutt, a very rich and wise man. At the riverside he built a platform and placed statues of different gods on it to make a kind of altar. He did his prayers and recited his chants in front of this platform. He was a spiritual man and was greatly respected by others.
Gobind Rai was born in the city of Patna in the state of Bihar. Gobind Rai; A divine soul sent from the heavens to help this earth. People always noticed that when he played with his friends, even though he was physically stronger, he was always kind to everyone. He was always having fun, joking around and he laughed all the time. And there were so many games he liked to play with his friends. Sometimes he also liked to do mischief.
Like most children, young Gobind Rai liked to have fun. But unlike most children, he never cried and he was always in a happy mood. His mother dressed him up in princely clothes and put a feather in his turban and he always looked very clean and handsome. He was looked after by everyone and was very well protected. His mother, grandmother and uncle were all very saintly people who played with him and raised him in his early years. They loved him so much. Throughout his childhood Gobind Rai had entertainment, games, friends and everything, he was always happy.
In the village of Poola lived a young man named Taru. He worked very hard every day on his farm with his family. He was also a very devoted Sikh of Guru Gobind Singh and he always loved serving people. Everyone knew he loved to serve and everyone loved Bhai Taru. Bhai Taru believed all people are children of God. He also learned from Guru Gobind Singh Ji to treat all people with equality and love. He didn't care if someone was Hindu or Muslim, he just wanted to serve the God in them.
Once upon a time, in a village in the Punjab, there was a very old man named Bhai Sud. He was 86 years old and he was well known for being truly wise. One day, as he was taking his daily walk, he saw the village chief running around in a frantic hurry. He yelled to Bhai Sud in alarm, "Bhai Sud Ji, there is a gang of bandits coming this way! They have been going from village to village, stealing everything, killing people and destroying everything in their path!"
In the cycle of life everything that has ever been born will eventually die. When human beings die our spirits go to a spiritual realm. That is very joyful for some people. Other people might think of their lives with sadness or regret. There are so many realms the spirit can visit and in one there is a being call Yam Raj. Yam Raj sends messengers to collect a person when it is time for them to leave their earthly body. Yam Raj sends the Angels of Death to help the soul of the person connect to their Higher Self.
The lion is the king of the jungle. Once there was a lion that was not grateful for being king. Instead he thought he was better than everyone else. He would say, "Look at me I'm the greatest, I'm the strongest, I'm the most virtuous, I'm simply the best". Well his wife told him, "If you are the best, why don't you ask everyone else, maybe they don't think so."
Once a long time ago there was a thief. His father had trained him to be a thief. He was a really good thief because he listened to everything his father taught him about stealing. One thing his father told him was this: "Never listen to anything a saint says. Don't even listen to a single word out of the mouth of a saint. If you hear what saints say, you will not be able to be a thief." He was the best thief around.
A noble King had all his subject do a fast in honor of Vishnu on the day of Ekadasi. There was one man who didn't do the fast though, he was a Sikh of Guru Nanak. "I am constantly fasting. I eat little food and sleep little. I fast from any and all temptation that distract my devotion to God," explained the man. The King was very impressed and wanted very much to meet this Guru. But how would he ever meet this famous saint known as 'Baba Nanak'?
Bhai Gopal was a simple man, a Sikh of the Fifth Guru. Once a man came his store so Bhai Gopal could store his 500 coins. But Bhai Gopal was busy and forgot to put it in a safe place. Later the man came back and asked for his coins. Bhai Gopal said, "I'm sorry friend it looks like I don't have your coins." The man got angry and said, "I had 500 coins, I'll report you to the emperor!" The emperor devised an interesting way to find the truth...
Once there was a king who thought he was the greatest man in the world. His adviser informed him that there was in fact a greater man than him. The king greatly wanted to know who this could possibly be, so they both went out to meet this person. It turned out to be an old man. He was very humble and poor, but he was a man of God. See how the old man taught the king what greatness truly is...
