Why, Oh Why, O Lord

Do not be surprised at fortune’s twists and turns; that wheel has told a thousand tales before.
_{Khwaja Hafiz}

There was once a moneylender who was filled with an intense yearning to find a perfect master who could show him truth. At that time, Guru Nanak Sahib’s fame had reached every part of India and the moneylender longed to meet him, believing that the famous Guru might be able to initiate him into the secrets of spirituality.

In his journey from place to place, it happened that Guru Nanak came at last to the moneylender’s village. Settling down in the village, Guru Nanak blessed hundreds of people with initiation; included among them was the moneylender.

Close by the house of the moneylender there lived one of his oldest and closest friends, Ram Das, a man who also was a moneylender. Hearing many stories about Guru Nanak, Ram Das was eager to attend one of his discourses, and one morning the two friends started out together to sit at the feet of the great Light-bearer. On the way Ram Das saw a pretty prostitute and was so bewitched by her looks and manners that he decided to stay with her.

“Why give up the bliss of heaven and go headlong into hell-fire?” his friend said, in the hope of dissuading him.

But all his arguments were of no avail. Ram Das stayed where he was, and his friend went on alone to the satsang. The next day, the same thing happened, and it continued day after day, Ram Das staying with the prostitute, while his friend, becoming ever more devoted to Guru Nanak, went regularly to the satsang. Every day the moneylender tried to bring his friend to the right path, but nothing he could say would induce Ram Das to give up his dissolute conduct.

Now, after a month, the moneylender said to Ram Das, “Today is a day when the Satguru will distribute parshad. Give up your evil ways for once and come with me to the satsang. No matter how sinful a person may be, I am told that attending the discourse of a saint gets rid of all one’s fears and doubts, and when one has faith, the sins of many lives are washed away.

In the name of friendship, come with me. You will then realize how profitable the company of the Saint is and what bliss you can enjoy.”

Ram Das, however, would have none of it.

“You go to satsang every day and earn great merit. Instead, I do evil. Let us see what we reap today as the result of our actions. Meet me at my house at noon, and we will then compare notes.”

So, for the time being, the two friends parted company.

Ram Das went at once to the prostitute’s house, but she had gone out. He walked moodily back to his own house and began to wait for his friend. But his friend was late, for he had been so fascinated by the discourse and the discussion afterwards that he stayed much longer than usual.

While he was waiting, Ram Das began to pass the time by pushing his stick into the earth. The earth was soft and after he had dug at it for some time, his stick struck an earthen pot with its mouth covered by a lid. When Ram Das removed the lid, he saw a sovereign lying on the top, and he quickly pulled the pot out of the earth, hoping to find it filled with sovereigns. To his great disappointment, he found that the pot contained only one sovereign, the rest of it being filled with pieces of charcoal. His only consolation was that he got one sovereign without working for it.

Just then his friend arrived, limping along and apparently in considerable pain.

“What has happened to you?” asked Ram Das.

“Why, of all things, I stepped on a long thorn,” said his friend. “As luck would have it, it broke off under the skin and this has made it much more painful.”

Ram Das laughed heartily at this.

“O brother, you can now compare for yourself the fruits of going to satsang and my evil act. I have received a gift of a golden sovereign, but you have stepped on a thorn. Are you still going to sing the praises of satsang?”

These words, though uttered by someone who had no inkling of the joys of the discourses of a saint, nevertheless put doubts in the mind of the moneylender and made him ask himself how God ran His world: why the evil prospered while those who were trying to lead good lives suffered.

“Why, oh why, O Lord?” he asked. “Why is it that despite his evil actions my friend has been given a sovereign, whereas I, who am trying to love you with all my heart, have been given a painful injury? Is there any good, after all, in going to the Guru’s satsang? Should I keep on trying to lead the spiritual life? Or is it all a mirage – a palace in the air without substance, that may vanish any moment?”

After discussing the matter, he and Ram Das hit upon the idea of going to the Satguru and asking him if he could give them an explanation for this riddle.

When they told their story to Guru Nanak, he saw at once by means of his inner vision the past lives of the two men and the causes of their present experiences.

“Sit down, brothers,” he told them, “and I will explain these things to you.”

“In your last life, my friend,” the Guru said to Ram Das, “you gave a total of one sovereign in charity. Your karma for this act, in this life, was to receive a pot filled to the brim with sovereigns. But due to your actions, each day you did the evil deed one of the sovereigns turned into a piece of charcoal. This morning, by accident, you did not do an evil deed and as a result you got one sovereign. Otherwise, that also would have turned into a piece of charcoal.”

The Satguru then turned to the other moneylender.

“You, in your last life, were a despot and a tyrant, a monarch by whose orders many thousands of people were killed. You killed others in pointless battles. For these deeds, you should have paid in this life by being tortured and hanged. But because you attended satsang and met the master, the payment for your karmas has been very much reduced. How did you pay for all the murders you committed? By a pinprick instead of death by torture.”

Upon hearing the Guru’s words, the two friends fell at his feet and begged for forgiveness of their sins. In due time, both were purified and flooded with the inner light of God’s Word, and both attained union with the Lord.

See how satsang and the glory of the Guru are precious beyond measure, that punishment by hanging becomes a pinprick!
_{Tales of the Mystic East}