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Startled out of
my morbid reverie I heard Yoda Singh ask the man in white “Why don’t you tell
the young ones here your special story?". The man in white
smiled, flashing an amazing set of even whiter teeth. “Where I begin? Long story... OK,
me this guy who care only for money. I look for diamonds in remote places. I have everything - money,
cars, friends, but inside I very lonely and sad. One time, me go He remove only a
small rock from my backyard. “This to remind me of this moment,"
he say and leave me. I very, very happy that time. But later I again get very, very sad. I wonder
how come he happy with dirt, but I not happy even with diamonds? Next time I see him, I ask him. So
he tell me his story. " The man in white
took a deep breath, it was obvious that talking was hard for him - he was definitely out of practice. (Perhaps I could arrange talking-lessons from my always-ahead-of-you-by-at-least-200-words sister). He waved his hand indicating Aunty Jee should tell Ratan Singh's story.
She began, “Ratan Singh, before he partook amrit, had
an unusual nickname. Everyone called him ‘Rock’ since childhood, because of his love for stones. Not surprisingly
Rock grew up to become a geologist. While hunting for geodes on one of his solo campouts to the Indian mountains, he fell
severely sick after eating some leftovers. He lay in his tent delirious with a perilously high fever, retching,
shivering, sweating and shaking; thinking that this might be his last night on Earth. Very late that
night, towards morning, he heard the sounds of hooves. A mysterious light approached. Rock thought perhaps the fairy
spirit of a sacred cow had come to carry him off to the netherworld (he was delirious remember). Then suddenly the apparition
came to a stop right outside his tent. With great difficulty, he lifted the tent edge nearest where he lay, and peeked
out frightfully. Lo and behold, a
magnificent sight awaited him! Astride
a blue horse sat a man emitting brilliant white light. A white turban with a kalgi adorned his head. The horseman looked
directly into Rocks eyes. His searing white hot gaze seemed to penetrate; piercing him as though he had been struck by an
arrow. His commanding voice reverberated in the sick mans ears, like echoes in a cave, when he spoke, ordering “Ratan Singh, wake up!" Rock fainted away
into a dead sleep. (Hey, this Rock guy
is ok, he knows a good opportunity for a nap when he sees one- “Ow!” sis will you knock off that pinching). Much later when he awoke again he discovered he had been completely healed.
Sitting up, he remembered the vision (how could he forget?), but shrugged it off thinking he had to have been hallucinating.
He stretched, stood up and stepped outside his tent. Looking down, he observed tracks appearing to be horse hoofs. Shaking
his head in disbelief he bent over to examine them more closely and then to his utter amazement he spied a small silver
arrow with the name “Ratan Singh" inscribed on it.
You can imagine the shock Rock felt upon
discovering that his vision had indeed been real. Soon after returning home, he realized the one in his
vision to be none other than the Great Guru Gobind Singh jee! Before long he had partaken amrit, receiving at that time
the very name of Ratan Singh." When he heard this
last part, our man in white became very excited and jumped up interrupting Aunty jee. He told us, “So when I hear this tale from Ratan Singh, I want to be like him – I want this amrit too.
I want to be happy and carefree. Ratan Singh tell me, “Do WaheGuru WaheGuru early morning, read Jap Ji at sunrise and Guru Gobind Singh
come to you too!” After
few months, I par take amrit and get the Naam diamond inside me. I go
deep inside to mine this Naam. With Guru Grace, I become separate from the outside body no problem. Three
months ago, I decide not enough Naam in Earth body, so I lay in my bed and decide to leave body forever. First I very
happy; so much to see! I go to other planets.” The secret-agent
kid (aka the conspiracy-theory kid in some classified social circles) jumped up and asked, “Did you go to the
moon?” The man in white
laughed, “Moon here,”
he said pointing to a little rock besides his foot, “I
go there”, he said pointing to the far away mountain. The secret-agent appeared quite disappointed (he was hoping that somebody would finally
verify his theory that the moon was nothing but a giant Soviet Satellite dish). The man in white
continued, “On one planet, I meet fairy folk made of golden light
who fly but look like human people…” “WOW!”
it was the DVD kid this time. “What are the people like on that planet? Who’s in charge? What are their DVDs like?” (I know, I know, this is getting
annoying) “How
big are their TVs? What about VCRs – do they have them?” (Ok, Ok, I got one nerve left and
this kid is doing bhangra on it) “What do they do
on weekends?” (You know, they say everything has a purpose, but seriously folks, what is the purpose of this kid?. I re-read the whole series and the only thing of interest this kid has done is “discover” that
DVD spelt backwards is DVD! ) “Do they have girls
there?” (Yeah, kid, there is an ice-princess waiting for you on Pluto right now. I should have made the Ridhi-Sidhi
girl <psycho music> convert this kid into a real DVD when I had the chance!) “If they play their
DVDs backwards, what do they see?” (OK, this is IT!!! One
more question out of that DVDish mouth, and I am going to get a comet to show up from nowhere and knock his spinning head
off!) “Ok, I’m done with my questions” (“bach-gya sala” whispered the Vaja Tor kid). The man in white went on, “These
people see me and talk to me in my own language! They ask where I come from. I tell them Earth. They look
into my mind to see where Earth is. They ask how human people get energy. I tell them I eat plants.
They very shocked. They can’t believe I make something die for eat. So I ask what they eat? They
tell, eat only Naam on this planet. I visit other places
where nobody can see me. They dark, heavy, only kill, eat, reproduce. After sometime, I feel tired of travel.
I ask Guru for light. I see big light far, far away. It like million suns.
I want to go to it. It very far. Space no problem for spirit, I
go from here to there,” he said pointing to the far away mountain,
“like this!” he
snapped his finger. “But getting to
this big light not possible. I try and try but no go. I stuck. I ask Guru for help.
I see a light break off from the big light and come to me. I feel happy
– maybe Guru come to get me. But not Guru, it Guru Sikh by name of
Pipa. Pipa very powerful. Pipa’s
light like our sun. Brilliant. I
feel naked. Light go through me. Pipa
scold me “You
leave body before Guru say you come?!!" I tell I look for Naam. “YOU FOOL!” Pipa boom, “Spirits
beg for human body. Best chance to reach True One in human body. Best place to sow naam in human body. Best place for Guru
seva in human body. And you leave precious human body to SIGHT-SEE?!! You go back now!" Then Pipa push me
back into my body. I wake up. Now I try sow Naam with every breath!
Enough talk, now
we sing!" Saying that, he
started singing, gurmukh dhoondh dhoodhaydi-aa har sajan laDhaa raam raajay || kanchan kaa-i-aa kot garh, vich har har siDhaa ||
To be continued...
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