Guru Angad Dev - The Apostle of Obedience

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Guru Angad Dev

The Apostle of Obedience

The atrocities, committed by the Muslim invaders, had, no doubt, put the indigenous population of India into great suffering. But the impact of the Brahmanical malpractices was much greater. Through the convention of rituals and caste discrimination the Hindu priesthood was plundering the innocent people. Under such circumstances Bhai Lehna was born on March 31, 1504, AD, at village Mate-dee-Saran in the present District of Ferzpore in Punjab. His father, Baba Pheru Mal, ran a successful business of rope making. His mother, Mai Daya Kaur was a very pious lady. He was married to Bibi Kheevi, the daughter of Devi Chand in the year 1519 AD.

Although Bhai Lehna was an ardent devotee of the Goddess Vaishnu Devi and used to go to her Temple in the Hills every year on pilgrimage, he was disillusioned with the Brahmanical liturgy. While passing through the vicinity of Kartarpur, on his way to the Temple, he had often heard about the Unversal mission of Guru Nanak, his Gurbani (the celestial revelations) and non-sectarian teachings. It was in the year 1532 AD when he decided to go and see Baba Nanak. Once he was there the divine light transcended and the man, who was born in luxuries of an affluent Khatri family, became the humble and most obedient disciple of Guru Nanak.

Guru Nanak was busy in his rice fields when Bhai Lehna, dressed up in spotless clean clothes, approached him. In spite of the presence of farm-labour, Bhai Lehna was ordered to carry away a bundle of paddy soaked with mud. Without a moment of hesitation he obeyed the order. When Mata Sulakhni, Guru Nanak's wife, expressed her apprehension against putting a thorough gentleman into such an unclean ordeal, Guru Nanak pronounced, "The bundle, in fact, was the weight of humnity. The mud represented the spattering of saffron showered on him to honour his willingness to carry the responsibility."
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India's caste ridden society did not permit a high status person to partake in a menial task. A mouse was lying dead at the Temple. Ordinarily a shudra (low-caste) would be called to throw that away. But Guru Nanak asked his two sons for the removal of the carcass. When they refused, he merely looked towards Bhai Lehna. Without any vacillation he cleared the place.

Once Guru's bathing cup fell into a sewer. He summoned his sons to take that out. As the spot smelled foul, they told the father to leave that and buy a new ...

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