Bhai Sahib Vir Singh jee, perhaps the greatest modern Sikh spiritual writer, once was sent a message from his old college friend who he had lost touch with since college. His friend was in the hospital and asked Bhai Sahib to visit him there urgently. Surprised and also eager to serve, Bhai Sahib promptly went to the hospital. His friend was dying and the doctors had given him a few weeks to live.
His friend was not at all spiritual oriented. Seeing Bhai Sahib he started weeping and said: "I have led a wasteful and useless life. Now death approaches and I am afraid."
Bhai Sahib was very soft hearted (read his books and you will attest to this) and said: "There is always mercy in the Guru's house - start meditating on the Guru's Word - SatNaam WaheGuru".
It is a common saying that a drowning man will hold on to a twig with all his might. So his friend dived deeply into Word meditation. Bhai Sahib came back home and gradually forget about his friend (he was never close to him during college years).
A few weeks later, Bhai Sahib had a dream about his friend. His friend was sitting atop the berry tree at the Golden Temple in Amritsar and was joyfully eating berries. He looked down at Bhai Sahib and said: "Guru Nanak has taken me in. I am free! Here - have a berry...", and threw one at Bhai Sahib. This startled Bhai Sahib jee and he woke up.
Bhai Sahib was a deep researcher into spiritual matters. He realized this was no ordinary dream, therefore he noted down the day and time in his diary - it was 1:16 am. He also resolved to visit his friend that day.
Later that day, Bhai Sahib jee went to the hospital and found his friend's bed empty. Upon inquiry, he was told that his friend died at 1.16 am that morning.
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A somewhat similar incident occurred recently. My Uncle passed away last year. He was an extremely spiritual person who spent all his life in meditation, keertan and Guru's service. When my Uncle's body died last year, his soul visited a man in Seattle that he spiritually loved very much. The man personally related this incident to me:
He said he was awoken up at 4am that day. He saw two figures standing near his bed - one close to him and one standing a few feet behind. The one in front was dressed quite royally and was glowing with light. Without a word, the figure gave a smile and a slight bow and vanished. Later that day, he found out about my Uncle's passing at 4am that morning and he realized it was he who had visited him.
A little bit of glimpse into my Uncle's spiritual life:
Once, in the 70s, he decided to recite Jap Ji for 2.5 hours for 40 days. He would do this at night while walking back and forth in his backyard. Quite interestingly (since his house was in the middle of the city) many snakes would suddenly appear in his path, hang around for a minute or so and disappear! He told me it was Maya (I never could figure that one out).
He also had a vision of the Sikh tenth master, Guru Gobind Singh jee, on two occasions. Once he was sitting in sangat (a congregation of people listening to keertan or in meditation) and he saw the tenth master walk up. This was so real that my Uncle stood up. The Guru held up his hand in my Uncle's direction as a way of blessing him. My Uncle bowed and the Guru vanished. Other people wondered why my Uncle was standing and bowing - he realized this and made a excuse of going out for a water break.
Another time, the Guru came to him while he was alone in his room in meditation (probably on one of his 40-day meditations - he was usually in the midst of one of them!). When my Uncle bowed to touch the Guru's feet, the Guru vanished again - my Uncle told me the next time the Guru shows up, he is going to keep one eye on the Guru when he bows!
