The Story of John Singh
John Morgen was a son of high priest Rev. Bran Morgen of Barrowford, England. Young John served in the British Army and on the police force for some time but he always felt impatient. As he wanted to satisfy his spiritual hunger, he studied many religions but to no avail. Ultimately he came in contact with Giani Bharpoor Singh of Southampton who gave him basic understanding of the Sikh faith.
Morgen's interest in the Sikh faith increased every time he had some discussions with Giani Ji. He came nearer to him and saw very intimately the way Giani Bharpoor Singh himself lived and prayed. His soul was touched and he began to feel satisfaction. He started visiting Gurdwara and was delighted to see the proceedings and gladly participated in religious activities and ceremonies.
Guru's kirpaa totally transformed him and he decided to adopt the beautiful Sikh faith. He discussed his plan with his father who was a Cayholic priest and who, after seeing the favourable change in his life of his only son, gladly allowed him to do as he wished.
John and his parents visited a local Gurdwara and his father spoke in the Sangat about his son's desire to become a Sikh. He said: "I would first like to thank you all for making me and my wife feel so welcome today. I really feel that I am among friends. When John told me that he had decided to become a Sikh, my first reaction was one of great relief. Over the last eight years John has been on a long and difficult spiritual journey but by becoming a Sikh that journey has become much easier for him. I have also begun reading about the Sikh faith and I have come to realize just how great God is, and that he is not only in one place or in one church. He is all-embracing. There is one God and we are all together, hand-in-hand. I wish to thank you for showing John a way of better understanding of God, as far as any human can.
The Head Granthi performed Ardas for John and the whole sangat congratulated him. John became John Singh and he immediately travelled to Keshgarh Sahib, Anandpur Sahib along with Giani Bharpoor Singh for receiving Amrit and joining the Khalsa Panth. He then got his new name Jiwan Singh. He visited many historic Gurdwaras in the Panjab and Delhi and was overcome with his first glimpse of Darbar Sahib, Amritsar (Harimandir Sahib). While in Panjab he never missed his early hour Nitnem in the ambrosial hours of the morning and visiting Gurdwaras for couple of hours daily. He became a darling of the sangat on the very next day and was fondly remembered for a long time.
After returning to England, he became a male nurse because he felt that this profession provideed him ample opportunities to freely serve the needy (sewa). Besides his other activities, he is preparing himself to become a preacher to enlighten the hearts of misguided youths to embrace to universal philosophy of the Sikh faith to make the life wholesome physically, socially, economically, mentally and spiritually.
The Story of Gurumeher Singh
This is a story of a 22 year old young man from an American Jewish family who became a Sikh and named himself Gurumeher Singh.
Gurumeher Singh was the only son of very rich parents who were greatly distressed when their only son realized that he was a Sikh. First the parents tried to talk to him and convince him to come back to Judaism but when he did not agree they were very angry with him. As the parents did not succeed in convincing him by love, persuasion or threats, they consulted their attorney. He advised them that the only way to do something solid was to threaten the young man that they would donate one fourth of the family inheritance for charity and as proof thereof send him the legal papers. The parents accordingly wrote to the son that they were going to donate one fourth of their wealth to charity (many millions of dollars.) In addition, if he did not come back to his original faith and start living with them, they would donate the remaining billions of dollars of property and wealth to the poor and to charity. Then he would be forced to live as a poor man for the rest of his life and in this way they thought that his love for his new religion would vanish. Gurumeher Singh’s parents thought that when their son saw billions of dollars slipping away from his fortune, his love of money would bring him back.
After receiving the letter, Gurumeher Singh phoned his parents that he would come home to meet them. His father was very happy and thought that the attorney’s advice had worked well and that their son could not tolerate his fortune going away. The son reached them at the appointed time. The parents were delighted to see their dear son back home, but he told them that he had not come back to live with them but rather to congratulate them on the miracle of their donating one fourth of their family wealth, amassed by their forefathers through many years 'by hook or by crook." He further said that before this nobody in the family had ever donated any money for charities, rather they tried to grab money from others whenever they could, and now by Guru's grace as soon as he became a Singh, they donated more than the one-tenth amount (daswandh.)
This, he said, is the Guru's blessing on his family. He continued saying that as a mark of respect and thankfulness he would be performing ‘Akhand Path’ ceremony at his home soon and the ‘bhog’ would be set in a few days. He had come to personally invite them to join in this celebration so that they could receive the Guru's blessings. The son then left and returned to his home.
After listening to their son, the parents were very distressed and could see themselves losing the whole game. On the day of ‘bhog’ the parents visited their son and attended the congregation for the ceremony and ardaas. The father then stood up and told the congregation that his son, after accepting the Sikh faith had acquired certain qualities and had shown indifference and detachment to the family wealth and had elevated his spiritual condition after living in the protection of his Guru.
He said that his eyes had been opened and that he wanted to bestow his heartiest congratulations on their son on his unique achievement and to request him to do them a favour by letting them join this excellent religion. Amidst jaikaras, Gurumeher Singh’s Jewish father accepted the Sikh faith and started serving his new faith with his mind, body and soul and received the blessings of the Guru. He was named Gurusewak Singh and he served the panth henceforth.
Taken from the Excellence of Sikhism by Saroop Singh Alag
Edited by Daljit Singh and Guruka Singh