Mysric Mantra: Guru of compassion

Bhai Lehna was a devotee of Vaishno Devi. For years he had been leading groups of pilgrims to Vaishno Devi. After a night of singing, dancing and eulogising the goddess, the decision was taken to make a visit to Vaishno Devi soon. Next morning Bhai Lehna went to a lake to bathe. There he found another man bathing and singing a hymn. Bhai Lehna was touched by the spiritual content of what was being sung as also by its aesthetic excellence. As that man finished his recitation, Bhai Lehna stopped him and asked him whose composition he had been singing. The man replied, “That of Guru Nanak!” “Where can one meet Guru Nanak?” asked Bhai Lehna. “At Kartarpur, on the bank of river Ravi,” the man replied. Bhai Lehna had experienced a rupturous thrill while listening to the hymn.

He asked the man to tell him more. The man replied, “Guru Nanak is known to have had direct communion with God and so on and so forth. Bhai Lehna thanked the man and planned that on his way to Vaishno Devi he would make a detour to Kartarpur and meet Guru Nanak. As per his plan, he took a detour to Kartarpur, leaving the party on the outskirts of the town. Soon he saw a man approaching. When the man came close, Bhai Lehna asked him if he could lead him to Guru Nanak’s residence. That man was Guru Nanak himself who said, “Follow me gentleman”. Reaching the Guru’s house, Bhai Lehna tied his horse to a pole, went inside and with reverentially downcast eyes fell at the Guru’s feet. Tears of love welled up in his eyes. As Bhai Lehna lifted his head and looked at the face of the Guru, he was startled: “He was the same person who led me hither who walked in front of me while I rode my horse.”

He begged pardon for the disrespect he had shown him. The Guru consoled him. Bhai Lehna chose never to leave the Guru and bade his party farewell, but asked them to “meet my Guru who is the mountain of compassio ” on their return from Vaishno Devi.