WAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA WAHEGURU JI KI FATEH

Sru Guru Amar Das Ji founded a new Sikh center at Goindwal. He dug a Baoli, an open well with steps reaching down to the water level. Everyone, a Hindu, a Muslim, a so-called low caste, poor or rich, was welcome to take water from that Baoli. This made all people live like one big brotherhood. The institutions of sangat and pangat had already become popular with the people. Sangat is a congregation of holy people sitting together as equals and singing praises of the lord; pangat means sitting together as equals and eating free food contributed voluntarily by the community. In addition to the popularization of these two institutions, Baoli was another step taken by the Guru to convey the message of the Sikh faith: All people are equal. No one is high or low because of one's caste or wealth.

People came to the Guru even from far off villages to listen to his teachings and enjoy the recitation of Gurbani. Everyone could join the congregation without any kind of discrimination. All would sit together in a pangat, a row, to eat food, cooked and served free by volunteers (sewadars).

These practices removed the inferiority complex of the poor and the so-called low caste persons. They started feeling equal to the other people. The sitting together, eating together, and living together as equals brought a social revolution in the region.

This was not to the liking of some of the high castes. Their leader known as Tapa, became jealous of the Guru and his teachings. His ego of being a high caste person, hence a superior human being, was hit by the social change introduced by the Guru. He started telling people, "Anyone who joins pangat and eats while sitting with low caste people will be polluted. He will lose his status as a high caste and will be considered a low grade soul. After his death, he will be sent to hell." The Guru, however, ignored all this and continued his mission of making all people feel equal. When the agents of Tapa started harassing and physically handling visitors to the Gurdwara, Guru Amar Das decided to expose the true nature of this jealous man.

The Guru announced that any person who ate food in the langar, would be given a silver coin. Many high caste followers of Tapa left him and joined pangat to eat Langar sitting along with the poor and the so-called low castes. When the Guru raised the award to a gold coin, Tapa himself broke down. He got tempted to eat in langar for obtaining a valuable coin. However, he could not dare to sit in the same row with the persons whom he had been telling not to go there. Eating langar by Tapa would have meant going against his own beliefs that those who touch or sit with the low castes go to hell.

Tapa thought of a scheme to overcome his dilemma. He explained everything to his son, who was only a small boy. According to the plan, instead of guiding him through the main door, Tapa would drop his son over the back wall of the Gurdwara compound. The boy would join the pangat, eat Langar and claim a gold coin. He would pretend ignorance if somebody recognized him and questioned him about breaking the faith of his father.

Tapa took his son to the back of the Gurdwara, lifted him in his hands and dropped him over the wall of the compound. Instead of landing on his feet, the boy fell down in the yard and broke his leg. The floor of the compound was much deeper than assumed by Tapa. Having been severely injured, the boy started crying aloud.

Hearing the cries of a child, some people came running to the spot to take care of the boy. When they asked the boy about his injury, he revealed the whole plan of his greedy father. He described how Tapa dropped him over the wall and wanted him to get a gold coin by eating Langar. Everybody, who had gathered there, felt sorry for the unfortunate child. They laughed at Tapa and his plan to conceal his greedy nature.

The sad outcome of the jealousy of Tapa taught a great lesson to the people. The Guru recorded it in Gurbani for future guidance to the people.

Having been badly exposed, Tapa could not face people with his head high. The incident was a moral death for him. Later, he suffered a miserable death, leaving a black spot of jealousy on his name.

WAHEGURU JI KA KHALSA WAHEGURU JI KI FATEH