The Best Musician on Earth

Waheguru ji ka Khalsa
Waheguru ji ki Fateh

pyareoo ,
some of you undoubtedly have read this jewel before,
others this may be your first time...
but somethings never wear out and are ever fresh...
for me this is one of those timeless classics
so i share it with you once more

------------ --------- --The Best Musician on
Earth------- --------- --------- ---

Taan Sain was the best musician in Emperor Akbar's court. Each evening he
would sing for the Emperor who was a lover of the arts, and who would
greatly appreciate the musician. He would shower many gifts and praises
onto the musician.

One evening, after a particularly beautiful performance by the musician, the

Emperor called Taan Sain to his palace and said, "Today you overwhelmed me.

While I was listening to you sing, a thought occurred to me and that
thought was that you are the best musician on this Earth. But as soon as
that thought had trespassed my mind, I thought about the great teacher who
must have taught you, must also be great. That's the reason I asked for
you. Pray tell me, who is your teacher and how can he or she come to this
court to perform for the Kingdom."

Taan Sain smiled and said, "Sire, my teacher is full of wonders. But I know
him enough to tell you that he will not come to this court."

The Emperor said, "Of course we will do his seva quite handsomely.. ."

Taan Sain, "With due respect, Sire, no amount of seva will bring my teacher
to your court."

This greatly intrigued the Emperor, "Surely there is a way that I could
listen to your teacher sing. If he will not come here, perhaps we can go to
him."

Taan Sain again smiled, "Sire, my teacher is carefree and he might not like
us going to him."

Emperor, "But surely, my good man, there must be a way."

Taan Sain thought a while and said, "Well, there is one way. My teacher
usually sings in the early mornings by the Ganga River. If the Raja
insists, then we must be discreet and hide nearby and listen to him at that
time."

The Emperor was a spiritual man and he did wake up at early hours of the
morning anyway, so he arranged for them to be taken to a place where Taan
Sain's teacher bathed and sang.

Both the Emperor and Taan Sain reached the river bank at 1 am and hid in
nearby bushes. As was the daily routine of Taan Sain's teacher, he came to
the river at 1.30 am, bathed and sat on the riverbank and sang.

His song was so great that it completely mesmerized the Emperor. The
Emperor could not speak or move, and just sat like a stone idol for the
entire time the teacher sang. Even after the teacher had left, the Emperor
had to be nudged from his vismad smadhi by Taan Sain.

The Emperor half dreamily walked back to the carriage that had brought them
to the riverbank. The Emperor remained in vismad for the whole ride back and
indeed, the whole day.

After that evening's performance, the Emperor summoned Taan Sain to his
palace again and said, "Taan Sain, your teacher is wonder itself. I am
very, very curious at one thing. I love your singing but if you wouldn't
mind, I would request you answer one question."

Taan Sain, "Sire, please ask this servant any question."

The Emperor, "With much due respect, I thought that you were the best on
this Earth, but your teacher far surpresses you. I do not wish to offend
you in any way, but please tell me how is this possible that your teacher's
talent is eons deeper than yours?"

Taan Sain laughed and said, "Rajan, I perform for you, he performs for God."

------------ --------- --------- --------- ---

Taan Sain performed for worldly people. His teacher performed for Waheguru.

Taan Sain's song was like a rose. His teacher's song was like a bed of
freshly blossomed and fragrance-laden roses dancing in the wind.

At the hour that our overwhelmingly loving guru calls "Amrit Vela" we
perform for Waheguru. No one else.

There is no doubt that when we do seva and sing keertan at the gurudwara, we
do it sincerely and with faith. But there is always a hint of humai (ego)
hidden in our actions. When we do good keertan, we wait for someone to say,

"Wah, Wah." When we write a good speech, we expect someone to come and
praise it.

But at the time that our overwhelming- ras-filled guru calls "Amrit Vela",
there is no one there except guru. Then we please the guru and the guru
only. The guru then has the chance to splash us with the guru's overflowing
maddening prem, love, ras and jot.

The time that our very own father, mother and overwhelmingly
unconditionally- loving guru calls "Amrit Vela" is the beginning of sikhi. It
is the beginning of our path to the guru's warm and sukh-sagar bosom.

Bhai Randhir Singh jee on Amrit Vela:

"The gursikh that does naam simran at amrit vela,
is *assured* of satguru's kalaa (rang, love, intoxication, kripa etc)"

Baba Nand Singh jee:
(Upon finding out that someone will be writing his (Baba jee's) biography)

Laughing, "gursikho, imagine an almond. It has the outer shell, the brown
part we all see. Then it has a white inner part that is not seen. My life
is like that almond. The biographer will be writing about that brown outer
part - what I did, what I said - but gursikho, my *real* life, the inner
white, is from 1 am till 6 am. Nobody can possibly even imagine that life,
let alone write about it. Only I know that real life."

Baba Attar Singh jee

"A sikh should drop 10 other tasks to eat on time,
a sikh should drop 100 other tasks to do nitnem on time
and a sikh should drop 1,000 other tasks to do simran on time."

A Gursikh

"I wait desperately for amrit vela all day."

As you can see, amrit vela is *most* important aspect of sikhi. Indeed,
many an aware gursikh will tell you,

"Sikhi without amrit vela naam simran *is* not possible".

waheguru waheguru waheguru waheguru waheguru.... .....