Bhai Vir Singh Ji’s soul due to contemplation was a soul filled with the nectar Lord’s Name. The great saintly being whose sangat enabled him and fired his devotion to the Guru’s feet has not been mentioned much within his writings. He addressed him and honored him as Daataji.
Inspired by him he went to the Golden Temple everyday where for hours he meditated and gazed upon the Guru’s abode. In due course of time, the soul cleansed itself, immersed in the joy and bliss of Naam. Six to seven months passed in blissful joy drinking the nectar of the Lord’s Name. A time came however when this bliss began to ebb. Instead of feeling the ecstasy in your consciousness, certain dryness began to creep in.
One day Bhai Sahib went to his Daataji. He implored him saying "Maharaji, with the Guru’s grace; the last few months have passed joyously imbibing the nectar from contemplation of the Name. But one cannot understand why the inclination of the mind towards meditation has began to subside and the essence of the Name too has begun to feel bland”.
Daataji smiled and asked Bhai Vir Singh Ji, “Where do you sit to meditate in the morning?” He replied, “Daata Ji on your behest earlier I used to go to the Golden Temple. Even now, I sit there and meditate. But I have not understood the reason for my problem.”
Daata Ji spoke in a very serious tone saying, “Vir Singh, the Golden Temple (Sri Harmandir Sahib) is a very pure pious place. What right does a worldly person like you have to sit there in the Harmandir Sahib hours on end? If you wish to toil and meditate on the ‘Naam’ then do so in some quite solitary places like a park or garden. Contemplate the Lord’s Name there.” Bhai Sahib heeded his honest advice. The next day thou found a quite corner in Ram Baagh (a park) to sit and meditate and went to the park at the same time as you used to go to the Golden Temple to meditate.
With the grace of the Satguru, on the first day itself, the knot on the flow of bliss and joy from the meditation on the Name broke and began to course through your consciousness with doubled vigor. The consciousness bloomed, inundated with bliss and joy. The time passed in joyous contemplation. After about six months, he came to feel that the original joy and bliss that he experienced was again ebbing away. Day by day, the consciousness was moving towards certain blandness. He began feeling depressed and dejected.
Then one day again you went to seek Daataji out and you again prayed at his feet saying. “For the last six months I have experienced great bliss and joy, but now all of a sudden I am again experiencing a lack in bliss from ‘Naam’ contemplation. The consciousness is devoid of the nectar of the Name.” Again, Daata Ji addressed Bhai Sahib and asked him, “Vir Singh where do you sit and meditate”? Bhai Sahib answered, "Ji, in the park called Ram Bagh".
Daataji smiled. In a pensive voice he replied, “You have been bought up in a Sikh house hold. You reside in the city of Guru Ramdev Ji, Amritsar. You have received the Sikh way of life from the feet of Guru Nanak DevJi. You have received many a gift and blessing from the Guru’s home. Then tell me, is the place for gursikhs contemplation the Sri Harimandir Sahib or the Ram Bagh? From tomorrow, you are not to go to Ram Bagh but to the doors of Guru Ramdas ji’s abode where you are to pray at his feet and then start your task. The Guru Patshah will definitely have mercy on you.”
The next day, just as the Guru devoted soul, Daataji, directed. Bhai Sahib, at the appointed hour, early in the morning presented himself at the Guru’s feet at Harmandir Sahib. After having prayed and petitioned before the Guru for inspiration and guidance. He found a solitary place to sit and meditate on the Guru Shabad. This time, as soon as he sat in meditation, by the Grace of the Guru, he experienced fourfold increase in the bliss of the nectar of the ‘Naam’. The soul began to experience indescribable ecstasy. The mind senses and the body became still. For hours on an end, he partook of the nectar of the Name, as the consciousness withdrew inward, to unite at the Lord’s feet.
Bhai Vir Singh Ji further writes:
“The Guru Patshah showered untold grace upon me. The bliss of the divine Name continued to grow. One day when I was coming out of the Harmandir Sahib, I met Daata Ji in the outer par karma (path around the golden temple). He was delighted to see me he lovingly blessed me, and asked me to sit down beside him in the parikarma itself. He then asked, “Vir Singh I hope you do not experience a lack in your joy and bliss in contemplation any more? I replied, “The Guru has been very kind”. He then said, “On my insistence you come here to the Harimandir Sahib. I then asked you to leave this place and go to Ram bagh to meditate. Again, I directed you back here from Ram bagh to meditate. Then again, I directed you back here to help remove the lack of joy that you felt in meditation. However, you never asked me why I first sent you to the Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) then I myself stopped you from going there, directed you to Ram Bagh, and then again sent you back to Darbar Sahib from Ram bagh to toil on contemplation of the Name. What is the reason?”
Bhai Veer Singh Ji replied, “Daataji I am a beggar why should a beggar ask the giver. If the Daata (Giver) says that, the nectar of the Name will be yours if you go to the Darbar Sahib. The beggar will run to the Darbar Sahib to partake of the nectar-filled bliss. If the Daata says that the bliss you seek, will now be available to you at Ram bag and not at the Harimandir Sahib, Why should the beggar ask questions. The beggar will run to Ram Bagh. If Daataji says that, this nectar will be yours at the Darbar of Guru Ram DasJi The beggar will again run back to the Darbar Sahib to receive this holy gift. The beggar is interested only in the gift. Where is the need for me to ask you questions”?
Hearing this answer Daataji was very pleased. He then asked Bhai sahib, “Do you know why you experienced a deficiency in your joy during meditation while you sat in the Darbar Sahib? Why you again began experiencing it when you went to Ram Bagh and why this bliss and joy began to ebb again while at Ram bagh”?
Bhai Veer Singh replied, “Kindly tell me the reason and show me the light for I am ignorant." Daataji then said, "Veer Singh when many a day had passed as you sat at Harmandir Sahib enjoying the bliss of the divine Name. One-day two elderly men were sitting beside you talking about worldly matters. Looking at them, you experienced a dislike for them feeling that their whole life had passed them by; their hair had turned grey yet even while sitting in the Harmandir Sahib they are chatting. While thinking in this manner, a subtle pride entered your mind that I am young but still I come here to toil and contemplate on the Lord’s Name and I am also experiencing the joy and bliss from this contemplation. Your dislike of those elderly men and this subtle pride in your own achievements caused you to lose the bliss and joy you felt in meditation.
You experienced the same lack of joy and bliss while you sat meditating in Ram Bagh. The reason for this deficiency again was your subtle ego. As you experienced the bliss of the Name in Ram bagh, your subtle ego again arose on the thought that people from everywhere come to flock the Harminder Sahib.
The joy in meditation can be experienced while sitting anywhere, while sitting at home, in some garden, or at the Harmandir Sahib. Alas! This very tiny bit of subtle pride was instrumental in putting a stop to your joy in contemplation. From being full to the brim with nectar you became empty and tasteless.” Daataji said, “On the Guru’s path, in Sikhism, the highest spiritual state is that of bliss and joy in contemplation of the divine Name. This bliss cannot be experienced through one’s force of will, efforts, intellect, or cleverness. This blissful joy is experienced by the grace of the Guru. The Guru’s grace radiates only on a pure egoless heart. Whenever one feels a lack of bliss and joy during meditation, the main reason is usually one’s subtle ego. So, one must remain alert at all times and pray at the Guru’s feet to save us from its harmful effects. One has to destroy every kind of subtle pride and ego in order to experience everlasting bliss in the Lord’s Name.
