J.S. Neki

It was a Baisakhi when Guru Nanak visited Katas, a pilgrim centre associated with Shiva and visited by sadhus on such an auspicious day. As the Guru arrived there, the heads of various religious sects and sadhus thronged to meet him and have discussion with him on spiritual matters.

The Guru was aware of the declining moral character of certain sadhus, whose minds were still riveted to worldly gains and personal reputation despite the saffron clothes worn by them.
Head of the sadhus: We hear that you hold renouncing the home as of little value.
Guru Nanak: If anyone has intense love for God, he need not leave his home. Such love would impell him to do good to God’s creation. How can he do that by running away from it?
Head of sadhus: Without real detachment, who would renounce comforts of the home and suffer the hardships of renunciation?
Guru Nanak: One may get an impulse for detachment due to some domestic problem, or after hearing a touching sermon eulogising renunciation. Yet even after formally renouncing the world, he goes back to the householder’s door to beg.
Head of sadhus: But he is a believer, isn’t he? And he peruses the holy texts. Doesn’t he benefit from that study?
Guru Nanak: Maybe he does. But doesn’t he neglect his duties towards his family? One might read scriptures, but that does not necessarily yield peace of mind.
Head of sadhus: Doesn’t reading the scriptures enhance one’s wisdom?
Guru Nanak: Not without taking the path that the scriptures prescribe. Not without detaching one’s mind from instinctive desires, nor without focusing the mind on God’s name and remembering Him uninterruptedly. Saffron clothes alone don’t make a sadhu. Many sadhus stitch a pocket to their saffron robes. What for? Their minds are still in the grip of maya — far away from God.
Head of sadhus: But how can one attain spiritual progress while still being a householder?
Guru Nanak: Many wrong beliefs abound around us. Can rubbing ashes on the body, or keeping mum all the time, or trying difficult physical postures lead to spiritual progress? Can lying with naked back on thorns or nails yield nirvana? Such practices are useless if the mind continues to follow egoistic desires.
Head of sadhus: Why do you despise begging by sadhus? Without that how will they survive?
Guru Nanak: If one believes that a householder can give him anything that his God cannot, then he should be ashamed of himself for such a sordid belief. A real sadhu begs only from God who gives without asking. Most sadhus go to beg from beggars, the householders who themselves beg from the God.
Head of sadhus: But isn’t it hard to connect with God while still being in the world?
Guru Nanak: One may be in the world, but still not be of the world. Such a person is a real sadhu. We get no benefit by washing our bodies with water at pilgrim centres. We need to wash the sticky dirt of worldly desires from our minds. That would make the task of finding God easier. I wish you all the very best in this task.
The Guru then took leave of the sadhus of Katas and moved on to Rohtas.

J.S. Neki, a psychiatrist of international repute, was director of PGIMER, Chandigarh. He also received the Sahitya Akademi Award for his contribution to Punjabi verse. Currently he is Professor of Eminence in Religious Studies at Punjabi University, Patiala.