Struggle to Stay Blessed

Here's one of my favourite stories that gives meaning to the life of an immigrant.

Guru Nanak Dev Ji used to travel a lot with his friend Mardana. Once, the two of them reached a village. Mardana started talking to some villagers, expecting they would offer them food and shelter.

"We do not know you, nor have we heard of your friend Baba Nanak. Why should we offer you food and bed? Just lay down on one side, eat what any beggar would and leave tomorrow!" he was told by the people in the village.

Even if they were not known faces, that reaction was very rude for the times. Anyhow, Baba Nanak and friend Mardana spent the night on their humble torn mats at the side of a street. Passers-by saw them but no-one offered any help. Next morning, like every other day Guru Nanak Dev got up before dawn, got ready and started singing his hymns.

Within a few minutes, people in the village started shouting at him. “Keep Quiet ! We are still sleeping! You don't have a family but we do!"

Guru Nanak Dev smiled, lowered his voice and sang his hymns to himself but Mardana was seething in rage!

In some time the two took their belongings and started walking out of  the village. They crossed a few people on their way out and could easily hear people whispering "Good riddance! “

As they reached the outskirts of the village, Baba Nanak paused, turned to face the village, raised his hands to bless and with his usual smile uttered the words -  "Vassey rawo" (Stay settled)

Mardana was astonished to hear his learned friend say that. "Why would
he bless such a group of rude and unfriendly people?" he thought. But he knew Baba Nanak well enough to question him and his forgiving nature so he just let it go.

Some time later the two of them got to another village. Even before Mardana could approach a resident of the village, one of them came over. With a polite smile he wished both of them and said “ You don’t seem to be from here. Can I help you in any way?"

Gunn Nanak blessed him and said "Dear friend, we are travellers. We don’t need anything but just to spread the Lord's name. We hope to learn from you and share our learnings with anyone who wishes to. We will stay here for a day, sing His hymns if that's not a problem and leave."

The man called over some other locals and introduced the two to them. Like the other village, people here had not heard of Guru Nanak either but all of them offered them whatever they could. Some requested them to come over and sleep on their humble beds while others invited them over for food. Guru Nanak Dev insisted that they could sleep anywhere by the street but the villagers would have none of it.

In the end both Guru Nanak Dev ji and Mardana went to sleep with two different villagers and gracefully accepted their hospitality.

In the morning, just before dawn, Baba Nanak got ready as usual and started singing hymns. Some villagers gathered around and joined him in his prayers. After spending some more time with them, the two of them gathered their belongings and started to leave. The villagers
requested them to stay there for longer but Guru Nanak Dev insisted on leaving.

The villagers wished them good luck, brought them some more food for their journey and some of them walked with them to see them off.

As they reached the outskirts Guru Nanak once again paused, turned to face the village and with his benign smile said "Ujadh jao" (May you be scattered)

On hearing this Mardana couldn’t believe his ears and was surprised beyond belief. He was visibly disturbed but trying to retain his composure said "Baba Nanak, why would you wish such a horrible thing on such lovely people? Whereas you were so forgiving of the other villagers who were so rude and unwelcoming?"
Baba Nanak smiled and said " Mardaaneya, the villagers who were rude and unhelpful deserve to stay where they are. If they go out and spread around the country, they will take with them their poor habits and unbecoming nature. That's why I blessed them to remain where they are and not let their habits spread.

On the other hand, the villagers here are so loving and caring. The world needs to know them and learn from them. That’s why I am blessing them to go in all directions and scatter their good qualities with them." 

Dear Daughter,
In March 2020, our family has been cooped up inside in self imposed isolation for the last few days. We are staying indoors most of the time and avoiding personal contact with all other people. You are at home - studying, playing and mixing it up while your mom and I work from home. 

This is not because we are bad people but it is because world today is dealing with the outbreak of a deadly virus (novel Corona virus) that spreads from person to person – just like bad habits.

All 7 billion and more of us humans are dealing with a lock down - either already in it or gearing up for it. Do read this part again and again to take in the sheer scale of it all!

In the story Guru Nanak Dev ji prayed for good people to scatter over the world and the unsavoury ones to stay at one place to control the spread of bad habits. In real world, good and bad, pure and evil, healthy and unhealthy do not present themselves as any different from the other. There is no way to tell a person carrying an evil virus from one who is either not carrying it or has defeated it in their immune system. Medical Science should be able to help, but it is still catching up.  That’s why we need to follow Baba Nanak’s advice and let the bad virus stay settled wherever it is until it has died down or conquered for good.

Unfortunately that means everyone of us, howsoever good and bad we may be, needs to stay indoors so the spread of virus can be controlled and healthy ones can stay healthy.

Trouble is, this is not a story from past or a doomsday prediction for future, but a sad, scary, sobering reality that is very much here and now. 


We are living and dealing with it. Although it has been just 4 days for us but it has been a reality for longer than that in other places around the world. Social distancing, self isolation, quarantine – more and more people are coming to terms with these concepts.

I do hope history tells you otherwise when you get to read this but at the moment it threatens to be a bigger calamity than anyone in an entire generation has seen. Just the sheer impact of living inside for a few weeks has  massive long lasting consequences for everyone. 

Lives, livelihood and lifestyle, economies, education and jobs, all activities that define us, the very fabric of human society -everything is being stretched and already showing signs of tearing apart. This is not even the worst case – there are people dying at an increasing rate everyday as the virus spreads outwards and inwards. Life as we know it is being tested and it is getting to be a struggle for survival and fast!

For now, we as a family remain as one in our house, quite settled (‘Vassey Hoey’) at the face of it but scattered (‘ujadhe hoey’)  internally by the bleak outlook it presents. We are trying to live life as normal as possible but reality is that there is no known end to this gloomy situation. Despite all this though, it could have been worse. It could still go worse. As a family, we still have quite a few blessings to count. Like getting to spend a lot of time with you 😄. Although even good things have a limit before we start tempting fate.

I'll write again soon to let you know how we fare in this battle.