The Karas of the Guru

     The young and vibrant Guru Gobind Rai held a congregation with singing Gurbani everyday. Many types of people would come to these gatherings to sing and to hear the Guru speak. One time a Brahman was concerned for the Guru, "The hill Rajas are responsible for the death of your father. They tortured and killed his Sikhs. They will surely attack you as well. The stars are crossed my friend, bad times are ahead."

     The Guru listened patiently as the Brahman continued, "The Saturn god, Shani Dev is the one who is powerful to punish your enemies and bless your people with happiness. You should do a service to this god for his blessing." Guru ji politely replied, "We don't pray to such gods, we believe that there is only One God that is fully everywhere, that is what we pray to." The Brahman was determined to help though, "That's all good but you don't understand! With Shani's help you will easily win all battles, you will be given powers you can't even guess about and your people will be wealthy and happy. A ceremony for Shani must be done! I can do it myself, I will do the honors with full ritual."

     The Guru with his usual smile spoke, "Well if we must do it.." The Brahman jumped up in excitement, "Good choice, great sir, I will need pure iron and mustard oil to perform the ceremony." The Guru arranged for these items to be given to the Brahman. "You won't regret this, Shani Dev is all-powerful, trust me you want to be on his good side." So the Brahman left the Guru's presence carrying the ritual items quite happy, having convinced him of the importance of worshipping the Saturn god.

     On the way out he met some Sikhs who were wondering why he was so happy. He explained the whole conversation. The Sikhs intuitively knew that Guru ji was setting a test for them. So they told the Brahman, "We'll hold the iron and mustard oil for you. Why don't you come back tomorrow, and we'll do the ritual then." The next day everyone was gathered together for kirtan and the Brahman asked the Guru, "We are going to do the service to Shani now right?! I gave the items to some of your Sikhs. Just tell them to bring me the stuff and I will help win Shani on to your side."

     Guru ji called to his Sikhs, "Do you have anything to share with the sangat?" One of the Sikhs stood up, "Yes! We don't believe in praying to gods and goddesses. You have taught us that worshipping them is useless compared to worshipping Ik Ongkar. Instead of using the items for a ritual we decided to donate it for a useful cause. We donated the oil to langar, it will be used to feed people. We gave the iron to a smith who made Karas out of it. Now we donate the Karas back to you. May they remind us to never do false rituals. May they remind us of the Infinite Ik Ongkar. May they remind us of the spiritual brotherhood of the Khalsa. These will destroy the enemy and grant us blessings."

     As his beloved Sikhs talked, Guru ji was bursting with joy. They knew his mind and they saw through the ritual. May we see the One God in ourselves and that be our greatest protector!