Guru Angad Dev - Devotion and Service To Guru Angad Dev

Devotion and Service To Guru Angad Dev

One day, Bhai Lehna heard the recitation of a hymn of Guru Nanak Dev from Bhai Jodha a neighbour who was a follower of the Guru. His mind was captured by the tune and while on his annual pilgrimage to Jawalamukhi Temple he asked his group if they would mind going to see the Guru. Everyone thought this most inappropriate and refused. Not one to shirk his responsibilities, he was after all the guide and leader of the group, he couldn't abandon them with thieves along the way. But man of honor and dharma that he was, the poems and prayers (kirtan) of Nanak still held onto his every thought. So one night without telling anyone he mounted his horse and proceeded to the village now known as Kartarpur (God's city) to visit with Guru Nanak Ji. Upon receiving directions to the Guru, Bhai Lehna found a number of people working on a field, Bhai Lehna did not recognise the Guru, as he looked just like the ordinary field workers, and asked Guru Nanak Ji if he could take him to the Guru, Guru Ji agreed and took the saddle strings of the horse while Bhai Lehna sat upon the horse comfortably, after somewhile Guru Ji reached his home and told Bhai Lehna to sit down whilst he went to get the Guru, when Guru Ji returned this time after freshening up Bhai Lehna, realised instantly what a huge mistake he had made. He had several thoughts going through his head about what a huge sin he had committed by making the Guru pull him and his horse home whilst he sat upon the horse comfortably. His face at once dropped and Guru Ji smiled, he asked what is your name, Bhai Ji replied 'Bhai Lehna'. Guru Ji then replied: 'don't worry when someone comes to take something they would come as you have' (as Lehna means to take something) 'if you give me the strings of your mind as you did with the horse saddles and let me direct you, you will be amazed... '

Bhai Lehna displayed deep and loyal service to Guru Nanak. Several stories display how Lehna was chosen over the Guru's sons as his successor. One of these stories is about a jug which fell into mud. Nanak's sons would not pick it up; Sri Chand, the older, refused on the grounds that the filth would pollute him, and Lakshmi Chand, the younger, objected because the task was too menial for the son of a Guru. Lehna, however, picked it out of the mud, washed it clean, and presented it to Guru Nanak full of water. A different version of this story counts this as a key part of Guru Nanak deciding upon Lehna for his successor. The Guru's wife, Mataji, said to Nanak "My Lord, keep my sons in mind," meaning that she wished them to be the ones considered for succession to the guruship. Guru ordered them to come, and he threw a bowl into a tank of muddy water. The Guru ordered them to retrieve it for him, and both of them refused to do it. Guru Nanak then asked Lehna to retrieve it, and Lehna promptly complied. In one instance, the Guru orders a wall of his house, which had fallen down, to be repaired. His sons refused to fix it immediately because of the storm that had knocked it down, and the lateness e morning. Guru Nanak said that he needed no masons while he had his Sikhs, and ordered them to repair it. Lehna started to repair the wall, but Nanak claimed that it was crooked when he was finished, and ordered him to knock it down and build it again. Lehna complied, and Nanak still claimed the wall was not straight. The Guru ordered him to attempt it a third time. At this, the Guru's sons called Lehna a fool for putting up with such unreasonable orders. Lehna simply replied that a servant's hands should be busy doing his master's work. Yet another anecdote exists where Guru Nanak asks his Sikhs and his sons to carry three bundles of grass for his cows and buffaloes, and, as with the other examples, his sons and his followers failed to show loyalty. Lehna, however, immediately asked to be tasked with carrying the bundles, which were wet and muddy. When Lehna and the Guru arrived at the Guru's house, the Guru's wife complained at Nanak's terrible treatment of a guest, noting how his clothes were covered from head to foot with mud. Guru Nanak then replied to her, "This is not mud; it is the saffron of God's court, which marketh the elect." Upon another inspection, the Guru's wife saw that Lehna's clothes had, indeed, changed into saffron. To this day, Sikhs consider the three bundles as important symbols of spiritual affairs, temporal affairs, and the Guruship. In one of the most significant stories, Guru Nanak travels through the forest with his disciples. The Guru made gold and silver coins appear in front of the group, and all but two followers ran to pick them up: Lehna and Bhai Buddha. Guru Nanak led them both to a funeral pyre, and ordered them to eat the corpse that was hidden under a shroud. Bhai Buddha Ji started thinking, but Lehna obeyed. When he lifted the shroud, he found the Guru Nanak himself underneath it. In a different version of this story, Lehna is met with Parshad (sacred food) instead of Guru Nanak. Lehna offers the Parshad to the Guru, satisfied to eat of the leavings. Guru Nanak, after this test, reveals the Japji to Lehna, proclaims Lehna is of his own image, and promises that Lehna shall be the next Guru.

Guru Nanak Ji had touched him and renamed him Angad (part of the body) or the second Nanak on 7 September 1539. Before becoming the new Guru he had spent six or seven years in the service of Guru Nanak Ji at Kartarpur.

After the death of Guru Nanak Ji on 22 September 1539, Guru Angad Ji left Kartarpur for the village of Khadur Sahib (near Goindwal Sahib). He carried forward the principles of Guru Nanak Ji both in letter and spirit. Yogis and Saints of different sects visited him and held detailed discussions about Sikhi with him.