It was during one of his Rehan Sabai (all night Kirtan) sojourns that Jasbir Singh came across an
incident that changed the course of his life. After being absorbed in Kirtan the whole night, emotionally
surcharged, eyes swelling with tears, he rose hesitatingly to walk home as dawn
broke over an orange cloudless sky. An elderly lady Nirmal Kaur, watching this
young man intently caught up with him and confronted him on the tears in his
eyes. Jasbir blurted out his inner thoughts “I want to know why I am on this
earth? Is it merely to live, marry, have children and then accumulate wealth
for them and pass away?” Nirmal Kaur looked into his blood shot eyes, held his
face in her two trembling hands and mocked him with a mysterious smile etched
on her serene face “The weaklings cry, are you one of those? If not, then are
you brave enough to sacrifice your luxuries for the gain of others?” Jasbir
stopped dead in his tracks; the constant gaze of the lady had a haunting
expression to his inconvenience. “I am Guru Gobind’s son, my father was a
‘lion’ and so am I” the man inside him was confronted and he could not resist
the provocation.
“Young lion” she laughed out, “if you are so
brave enough, then go and marry that soul that the world calls, cripple” she pointed out to a frail
silhouette ahead of him.
Looking ahead, he saw an extremely angelic beautiful
young girl walking with her arm thrown around a stocky woman who looked like
her mother. The words ‘cripple’
echoed in his ears as he intently looked towards the young girl’s countenance
which radiated with peace, poise and grace. He caught his breath as he realized
that she was leaning on the strong shoulders and walking with her mother’s
support. Sheepish that he was caught in the act of staring at her, Jasbir
looked away and from the corner of his eyes, saw Nirmal Kaur smiling with a
question on her face. The enlightened old lady never ever imagined that she had
just, chanced upon a discovery that would change millions of lives.
Feeling confused and desolate he wafted away to
sleep as soon as he hit bed. He woke up shortly since the wavering mind was not
letting go of the reins. The small incident shook him up and an inner war was
raging within him. On one hand, the taunts and ridicule of his small world kept
the fire of duality and hypocrisy raging inside him while his daily communion
with Guru Granth Sahib felt like
soothing his nerves in divine tranquilizing. Somehow the inner beauty that he
fathomed in the young lady’s eyes haunted him throughout the sluggish day.
Volcanic thoughts surging within him, Jasbir landed up at Nirmal Kaur’s house
and with folded hands said “I wanted to prove that I am Guru Gobind Singh’s
true son by laying down my life for his children yet never marrying myself; I
don’t know whether the path shown by you would lead me to salvation?” Nirmal
Kaur’s eyes brightened up “Jasbir this may be the key to that locked door.”
Jasbir
was totally confused and dazed. He walked back home to learn that Baru Sahib’s Baba Iqbal Singh ji
was in town. He did not even walk upstairs for his lunch and rushed to see
Babaji. It was as if the heavens had heard him and he could unburden himself
soon. He walked in breathless to the room where Babaji was just finishing his
lunch on a sofa. He waited for the old man to wash his hands for what seemed
like eternity. Babaji beckoned at him immediately with a feeling that they knew
each other so well. Jasbir walked up and sat down on the floor near the sofa.
Holding his feet with his hands, he whispered haltingly “Babaji I need to speak
to you alone”. Babaji smiled at him and said “They all are our own”. Jasbir
spilt out all that he had inside himself regarding the awkward test of a
marriage proposal. “Babaji, I always wished to remain unmarried or maybe marry
a widow or an orphan to help somebody but I never imagined that I will be
tested like this. I am confused” Jasbir blurted out. Babaji looked into his
eyes with immense love and affectionately told him “Beta, Jeevan Sewa da naam hai
(Son, life is the second name of Selfless service).
As
was usual Babaji had to leave for his next destination immediately. The young
man was lost in his own thoughts and trying to understand the one line message
he never realized that he had already reached home. Badly wanting to have some
time alone with himself, he skipped lunch by saying that he already had it. He
closed the door of his room and lied down on his bed to contemplate on the
recent exchange. A thousand thoughts were floating around him and he was trying
to pick up the thread where Babaji had left him with.
Jeevan – Sewa? It
all looked Greek to him. He had till that moment never ever thought so deeply
on these subjects and suddenly he realized that the inherent message was now
apparent in both. He felt strong inside himself due to the new awakening and
took the decision. A quick reckoning made him realize that Nirmal Kaur would be
at the evening session in the local Gurdwara. He felt light headed and readied
himself to face her with his decision.
Nirmal
Kaur had just washed her hands and bowed down to touch the glistening first
step at the entrance of the Gurdwara when she found the young man facing him
with a strange glow on his face. Immediately, the experienced woman’s eyes read
the radiating face, she startled him by asking him “So, you have been thinking
about this? And what do you have to say, Hmmm!” Looking upwards, Jasbir nodded, “I am ready” as if he understood
the complexity of the answer in totality. Nirmal Kaur never
realized that she had just stumbled upon a soul that could light up millions of
others in times to come.
All hell broke loose at his house when he
announced his decision. Flustered by the sudden onset of this complication, his
father dug out information from friends to check whether the young boy had
dared to break family traditions and honour by ‘falling in love’. He was
speechless and shell-shocked to learn that the girl in question, Harmeet Kaur (Simmi) was afflicted
with ‘muscular dystrophy’ a disease leading to progressive skeletal muscle
weakness ending up with death of muscle cells and tissues.
Overjoyed with his find that this would shake up
his boy and bring him to good senses, the father confronted Jasbir with this
piece of incriminating news. The young man was serene and soft, for a change,
saying “you are right Veerji (elder
brother), she has two siblings who too are afflicted with the same”. The father
was shattered, wide eyed he tried to sense the reasons for this inexplicable
demand of his non-conformist son. Was he testing his patience? Was he trying to
get even for something? No, he must be out of his mind for sure.
Close
relatives were called in to counsel and drill some sense into the young man.
Some tried cajoling him and some threatened him but young Jasbir was not in a
mood to listen. Soon the enthusiasm to change his mind waned away and cynicism
took place instead. Jasbir had to listen to taunts and revealing dictums about
what life had in store for him if he did not listen to his family. The boy
stood his ground and now, had turned into a man.
Exasperated,
the father decided to meet the girl’s family formally. The meeting was arranged
and Jasbir walked in with a simple Kurta-Pyjama
as his attire. Mocked by his cousins, to dress more appropriately, Jasbir
seemed possessed with some new conviction and ignored the wordly pulls. S. Mota Singh
the girl’s father greeted them at the doorsteps of a modest house in downtown
Fateh Nagar and looked beyond the shoulders of the inconspicuous young man to
have a first look at the maverick man who sought his physically challenged
daughter’s hands. Mota Singh’s eyes searching for the boy amongst the rest of
the group struck Nirmal Kaur who was there. She came forward and pointed out
Jasbir to him and said “this is your to be son-in-law”. The portly man was
shocked out of his skin when he realized that the boy with a flowing beard and
simple attire; he deemed to be some accompanying youngster, was the subject.
The glowing fair skinned countenance had some strange peaceful sensitivity to
it.
They
succumbed to the young man’s wish and history was written over next 16 years. Jasbir Singh and Harmeet Kaur (Simmi Behenji) started their conjugal divine life in 1994.
This story is still to be completed…………………..
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