Bhai Mardana in his last days

Bhai Mardana, as you know, if you have read Sikh history and/or The Singing Guru, was Guru Nanak’s minstrel and companion on his journeys.

In Into the Great Heart he is old and unable to go the gurdwara in Kartarpur. Bhai Buddha visits him often and gives him news from the dera.

“Bhai Mardana jee! Aziza!” Buddha calls, skipping into the courtyard of Bhai Mardana’s house, carrying his rabab, bow and arrows, the puppy following him stumbling over the threshold.

Bhai Mardana, face wrinkled, eyes sunken into their sockets, a few front teeth missing, sits up on his cot under the guava tree in the courtyard and smiles broadly.

“My friend! And who is this?” He asks, extending his arms to the puppy. Buddha picks her up and hands her to him. When she begins to lick his face, Bhai Mardana laughs in happy, childlike delight.

“Bhai Lakhmi rescued two puppies from the street and Mata Sulakhni doesn’t want to keep any, but Bhai Lakhmi kept one for Dharam and this one is for Aziza.”

“What’s her name?” Bhai Mardana asks.
“We haven’t named her yet.”
“Motia. Yes, let’s call her Motia!” Mardana says, excitedly.
His wife, Fatima, comes into the courtyard carrying a basket of fleece. Seeing the puppy, she exclaims, “Moti has come back to you as a female!”

“Yes, she does sort of look like him!” Mardana says.

“Moti died the day after you came back from your travels and both of you were so sad at yet another separation that he reincarnated to come back to love you some more!” Fatima says.

 “Kabir kookar ram ko, Motia mera naam, galay hamaree jayvaree, jah khinchai tah jaon,” Mardana recites, then explains Kabir’s verse to Buddha: “Kabir says, I am my Beloved’s dog, Motia. I wear his collar and follow him wherever he takes me.”

“How are you doing, Mardana jee?” Buddha asks, bouncing a ball up and down.

“I say to God, I will go where you take me. I will stay where you make me stay. I will live if you make me live, and die when you kill me,” Mardana answers.

Buddha stops playing with his ball, bows his head and touches Mardana’s feet. “I will pray this prayer, too, Mardana jee. Thank you.”

Excerpts from the book, INTO THE GREAT HEART, Published by Jaico.  Order a copy for yourself, http://bit.ly/KamlaKKapur