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True Bargain
As Guru Nanak was growing older, his father, Mehta Kalu thought about teaching his son about business. He called Bhai Bala and told him to go with Guru Nanak to the town of Chuharkana
(cUhVkwxw) to buy some goods. He gave Bala 20 rupees and said, “Go and make a good deal, buy some goods that we can bring back here and resell for a higher price. It should be a deal that will be profitable in the future.” Guru Nanak and Bala started to leave Talwandi
(qlvMfI). They had only walked a few miles from their village when they saw a group of saints sitting near some trees. The saints were not wearing a lot of clothes and did not have any food with them.
Guru Nanak and Bala went and sat with the saints. The Guru spoke with Santrayn
(sMqryx) who was the leader of the saints. Guru Nanak asked, “You are not wearing any warm clothes. It is very cold outside, are you not cold?” Santrayn answered, “We do not live in this world, we do not work, so we have no money to buy warm clothes.” Guru Nanak looked at Bala and said, “My father asked us to make a good deal, one that will be very profitable in the future. There is no better bargain than feeding the saints of God. We should spend the money to serve these saints." Bala tried to stop Guru Nanak, he said, “Your father is going to get mad if you spend all of his money here.” Guru Nanak responded, “Why would he be mad? The best way we could spend this money is by giving it to these hungry saints of God.” Guru Ji took the money from Bala and gave it to the leader of the saints. The saint said, “Son, we do not carry any money with us. However, if you wish, you can buy us food and clothes and we will accept those from you.” Guru Nanak and Bala went to the nearby village of Chuharkana and bought food and clothes for the saints. They brought the food and clothes back and gave them to the saints.
The leader of the saints accepted the food and clothes and then he told Guru Nanak to leave and go back home.
Guru Nanak and Bala left the saints and started to walk back to their homes in the village of Talwandi. Today there is a temple built at the place where Guru Nanak fed these saints. That temple is called Gurdwara Sucha Sowda Saheb
(gurduAwrw s`cw sodw).
Bhai Bala went back to the village, while Guru Nanak stayed behind by an old, dried up tree.
Bala went to his house in the village. Mehta Kalu found out that Bala was back and started to wonder where his son was. When Guru Nanak never came home, Mehta Kalu called Bala to his house and asked, "Where is Nanak? And where is the merchandise that you bought?"
Bala told Mehta Kalu everything that happened, "We were on our way to the town when we met a group of saints. They had no food to eat, so Nanak suggested we spend the money to feed the saints. I tried to tell him that your father would not like this idea, but he said that it is the best thing we could do with this money. So he used all the money to buy food and clothes for the saints."
When Mehta Kalu heard this, he became very angry and asked Bala where Guru Nanak was. Bala told Mehta Kalu that Guru Nanak was sitting by an old tree just outside of the village. Mehta Kalu told Bala to take him to where Guru Nanak was hiding.
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