Bhai Leela - Raam Singh jee

Sikhs from Sindh province of Pakistan are known for their love and devotion for Guru Sahib. Because of lack of parchaar, many of them have not been able to adopt the Khalsa way of Sikhi but the ones who have become the Khalsa of Guru Gobind Singh jee, lead an amazing life of a Sikh. One such gursikh, tyaar-bar-tyaar amritdhari singh was Bhai Leela-Raam Singh jee. His name prior to amrit chakk was Leela Raam and after amrit-chhak, with the hukam of Punj Pyaare, he became Bhai Leela-Raam Singh.

Bhai Leela-Raam Singh took amrit when he hit the teenage years. He was blessed with great faith and devotion for Guru Sahib. He used to get up early in the morning, do naam-abhyaas, then nitnem and finally go to the gurdwara sahib and listen to kirtan. Then he used to sweep the floor of the Gurdwara Sahib and do other sewa as required. Only after this nitnem, he used to start his day. He, by the kirpa of Vaheguru, never deviated from this nitnem. In the evening too he used go to the gurdwara sahib and listen to kirtan and katha there. He was leading an amazing life. He was in great rass.

Before doing anything, he used to perform ardaas before Guru Sahib. He had complete faith in Guru Sahib. When he was studying in college, a great incident occurred in his life. It was his final exam that day. Before the exam, he decided to do ardaas before Guru Granth Sahib jee and also prepare karaah parshaad for ardaas. He asked the Granthi Singh to prepare degh (karaah parshaad) and perform ardaas for him as he was goingt to write the final exam that day.

Granthi Singh was a singh of mastaani (oblivious of worldly problems) condition. He was a good gursikh with a lot of sewa. He told Bhai Leela-Raam Singh that it would take about 2 hours to prepare degh. It was 8 am at that time and his exam was at 10 am. Bhai Leela-Raam Singh had already made up his mind to offer degh to Guru Sahib and then do ardaas. He asked the Granthi Singh to try to do this as possible.

The Granthi, first did punj ishnaana and then changed his clothes to wear clean degh-waale clothes. Then he started started doing sudhaayee (cleaning) of karaahi (utensil) and pateela (utensil) to be used for preparation of degh. He took his time, oblivious of the urgency of Bhai Leela-Raam Singh’s exam. Then he cleaned the kitchen area, and while doing all this he was doing paath.

By the time, the Granthi Singh, put ghee (butter) and started heating aata (flour) in it, they heard the clock ringing for 10 am. It was 10 am. The Granthi Singh did not pay any attention to the time and kept doing paath all this time. Thoughts were coming to Bhai Leela-Raam Singh’s mind that he was probably going to miss his exam. He also thought of going without the degh but his nirmal budh (clean intelligence) did not let him take this decision. He said to himself that worse comes to worse, he would lose a year. So what? He controlled his mind and focussed it back on baani.

Bhai Leela-Raam Singh looked at the Granthi Singh who was oblivous (be-parvaah) of his suroundings and was slowly stirring the flour. It seemed as if he did not know how to work fast. He was totally absorbed in the pyaar of Guru Sahib. Seeing him in such state, Bhai Leela-Raam Singh too came in more pyaar and totally forgot about the exam. Around 12 pm, the degh was ready and they took the degh to the darbar of Guru Sahib.

Bhai Leela-Raam Singh was thinking that there was no point of going to the exam now as it was too late. Thinking this he told the Granthi Singh that there was no point of doing ardaas now as the time to write the exam was over. The Granthi Singh smilingly told him that all he knows is that he is going to do an ardaas for Bhai Leela-Raam Singh's success in exam and as for time, that was the worry of Guru Sahib.

The Granthi Singh did the ardaas and he mentioned, “Sache Paatsshaah, Aap jee ne bahut kirpa keeti, apne Sikh noo apne charnaan dee preeti bakshee atay aap dee ditti shardha anusaar, aap jee daa Sikh karaah parshaad dee degh lai ke haazir hoiya hai. Sachay Paatshaah jeeo, aap jee jaani jaan ho. Ih Sikh ne ajj imtihaan vich baithna hai. Tussi kirpa karni, iss noo kamyaabi bakshni.”

(Translation: O Sachay Paatshah (true king), you did great kirpa on your Sikh by giving him love for your lotus feet and with great faith your Sikh has come with degh. O true King, you know everything and this Sikh has an exam today. Please bless him with success in exam).

The Granthi Singh did ardaas with great love and devotion. As Bhai Leela-Raam Singh came out of Gurdwara Sahib a thought came to his mind that there was no use of going to the exam now as there was hardly any time left now. Then his conscience stopped him from doing so as this would be contemptuous to the ardaas he had just done. He gained faith and went to his college to write the exam. As he approached the school, he saw a lot of students standing outside. He thought that they were already done with the exam and now were discussing the exam.

As he got closer to the crowd, his friends came to him and informed him that the exam was 3 hours late and that it was going to start in 5 minutes. When Bhai Leela-Raam Singh heard this, he excused himself from his friends as his emotional state was not under control. He had tears in his eyes and his rom rom (every cell of his body) was thanking Guru Sahib. Then under the spell of the love of Guru Sahib, he sang the following shabad:

SATGUR MERA BE-MUHTAAJ|| SATGUR MERAI SACHA SAAJ|| SATGUR MERA SABHAS KAA DAATA|| SATGUR MERA PURAKH BIDHAATA||1||

GUR JAISA NAAHI KO DEV|| JIS MASTAK BHAAG, SO LAAGA SEV||1|| RAHAAO||

SATGUR MERA SARB PRATPAALAI|| SATGUR MERA MAAR JIVAALAI|| SATGUR MERE KE VADIYAAYEE|| PRAGAT BHAYEE HAI SABHNI THAYEEN||2||

SATGUR MERA TAAN NITAAN|| SATGUR MERA GHAR DIBAAN|| SATGUR KAI HAUN BAL JAAIYA|| PARGAT MARG JIN KAR DIKHLAAIYA||3||

JIN GUR SEVIYA, TIS BHAU NA BIYAAPAI|| JIN GUR SEVIYA, TIS DUKH NA SANTAAPAI|| NANAK SODHAI SIMRAT BEYD|| PARBRAHAM GUR, NAAHI BHED||4||