The following incident did not bring the best out of me but I am just posting it here for your entertainment. If I had been doing more Paath back then, this incident would have never occurred.
In 2006, we had the big fortune of going to Yaatra of Gurdwara Nanakmata Sahib. Nanakmata was apparently known as Gorakhmata, before Siri Guru Nanak Dev jee Maharaj had a religious discourse with the Yogis of Aayee Panth (Gorakhnath's matt) and after the Yogis submitted to Guru Sahib, this place started to be known as Nanakmata. It served as a Gurdwara Sahib for about 100 years before it was captured by the Yogis again during the time of Siri Guru Hargobind Sahib jee. Siri Guru jee personally went to this place and again subdued the Yogis and renamed this place as Nanakmata.
The Yogis on both occasions used spiritual powers (Ridhi Sidhi) on Guru Sahib but none worked. Guru Sahib is all powerful. It was a wonderful experience. I don't remember the details of this visit vividly but one incident that occurred on our way to Nanakmata Sahib, has stood out in my memory. We went to Nanakmata Sahib from Punjab via Saharanpur and Hardwar. Hardwar and Rishikesh are religious centres of Hindus and both are only 20 minutes apart and are on the bank of the great river Ganga.
The water of Ganga was very clean in Rishikesh and the flow too was quite fast. We spent about hour or so over there. Singhs joked a lot with each other. They were saying that the Singhs have not come to have Darshan of Ganga but give Darshan to Ganga.
As Singhs were joking and talking, I casually walked towards the woods on the bank of Ganga. As I went deeper into the woods, I saw a Hindu Sadhu (ascetic) sitting there. He was sitting in Dhyaan. When he heard me coming, he opened his eyes. We exchanged greetings. He said Sat Sri Akal to me and I replied back saying Sat Sri Akal. After some casual talk, totally unplanned, I asked him a strange question:
"How long have you been doing this?"
"What?"
"Bhagti or whatever you are doing?"
He was taken aback and also came into defensive mode. He replied, "It has been about 25 years." There was some air of pride when he said so.
I must have been in a different mood that day. I asked him, "Koi Prapati huyee?" (any success).
"Nahi Abhi nahi", he replied with a dampened spirit.
"Prapati hogi bhee nahi, chaahe aap sau (100) saal baithe rahiye" (you will not have any attainment, even if you sit for 100 more years), I said strongly and as I said, I regretted saying so within. What was the need for me to have Panga with him but now the arrow had left the bow and there was no coming back. I decided to hold ground now. It was a matter of prestige now.
He got upset and asked me angrily, "Kyon nahi hogi Prapati?"
I said, "Kyon ke, Aap ke paas Satguru nahi hai. Aap Saniyaasi hain aur aap abhi tak Kesh kaat-te hain". (Because you don't have Satguru and even though you have renounced the world, you still cut your hair).
He didn't comment on the Satguru issue but shot back saying that there was nothing wrong in cutting hair.
I replied back saying, "33 crore Devtas, 84 Sidhas, all Avtaars, Vishnu Brahma and Mahesh, all kept hair. A holy person cannot cut hair. You probably believe in Siri Krishna. Isn't one of his name Keshav. Keshav means one with beautiful Kesh (hair). How can you believe in Keshav Siri Krishna and then cut hair?"
He was now visibly upset and got up angrily. He said to me, "What do you know about Keshav and Shri Krishna? Keshav does not mean one with long and beautiful hair but it means one who resides in water."
I am not an expert in Hindi words but I knew that Keshav does not mean one who resides in water. I shot back briskly, "No Keshav means one with beautiful hair and one who resides in water is called Narayan – Nar (water) plus Aayan (house). Narayan is another name for Krishna or actually Vishnu because he resides in ocean."
Now the Sadhu was taken aback. He did not expect a person dressed in Khalsa attire (Blue Chola) to correct him. He was now very upset. I was enjoying the debate. He changed the subject and asked me, "Tumhe Sanskrit Aatee hai?" (do you know Sanskrit).
Now it was my turn to be taken aback. I said "Kuchh kuchh" (somewhat).
He started uttering some Saloks and then asked me to reply back.
I did not know what to say because I did not understand what he was saying. I did not want to look dumbfounded. So I quickly started uttering Sahaskrit Saloks from Siri Guru Granth Sahib jee, and asked him to respond back. He did not know what to say and was trying to make out what I was saying. He could understand some part of what I was saying but not everything.
He said, "Yeh Sanskrit nahi hai". (This is not Sanskrit)
I laughingly said, "Lagta hai tumhe Sanskrit nahi aatee". (looks like you don't know Sanskrit). Actually he was correct in saying that Salok Sahaskriti are not pure Sanskrit but are similar to Sanskrit. I knew he was right but jokingly said to him that he did not know Sanskrit.
I said that I am Guru Sahib's Singh and know Sanskrit, Farsi and all languages. I did not want to lose to this Pandit. By now he was looking for an honourable escape. I was standing my ground and had many Saloks from Sahaskriti memorized and I was ready to explode with them.
Then he told me that it was their Brahmanical tradition that they can hold debates only in Sanskrit. He said that since I did not know Shudh Sanskrit, he could not continue the debate with me. He told me that he cannot debate with uneducated country folks who don't know Sanskrit. I told him that his move was an excellent move to save himself from defeat since he could not win a principled debate. As he was leaving, I advised him to come to the refuge of Siri Guru Nanak Dev jee and take Amrit. He got more upset and walked away murmuring something inaudible in his mouth, as I came back to where Singhs were.
This incident prompted me to brush up my Sanskrit skills. I had learned some Sanskrit in my childhood but had forgotten most of it. Then I spend some months to brush up my Sanskrit skills, just in case, another Pandit like that Sadhu came to debate with me. So many years passed and I did not encounter another Pandit and I also gave up my Sanskrit study. Without practice, I am pretty much back to where I started.
Kulbir Singh
ਸਤਿਗੁਰਬਚਨਕਮਾਵਣੇਸਚਾਏਹੁਵੀਚਾਰੁ॥
