No.2 Protect your Amrit Vela (early morning)

Once Bhai Amardas Ji had found his Sat Guru (True Guru) he became a very dedicated Sikh and spent all his time doing Seva. Every day Bhai Ji used to wash Guru Ji's clothes, fetch dry wood from the jungle so that langar could be made, help prepare and serve langar.

Every morning he would wake up at midnight to fetch water from the river so that Guru Angad Dev Ji could have a bath with fresh water every day. Whilst doing this he would walk backwards from Khadur to the river so that he did not turn his back to Guru Ji.


Bhai Ji had a strange bed that was made of lots stones and one day a young Sikh person asked him why he had such a bed. Bhai Amardas Ji explained that he does not want to sleep on a soft bed as  he might go into a deep sleep and not wake up to do his seva. He said that when sleeping on stones he could only sleep lightly and for a little while. This, along with Bhai Ji's love and devotion for Guru Ji was why he was never late during his 12 years of service. 


Whilst we can never copy what the Sikh Guru's did we should learn from their teaching and follow their ways to the best of our ability. Where as we cannot sleep on a bed made out of stones we should:

• Get up at Amrit Vela (early in the morning)
  
• Do Esh-naan (have a bath)
  
• Do our Nitnem (paat or prayer)
  

We should also go to the Gurdwara in the morning to:

• Do Darshan of Guru Ji
  
• Listen to Guru Ji's Bani 
  
• Do Seva
  
• Have Langar
  

Once there was an emperor who loved to sleep. Every day his servants would cover his soft bed with fresh roses and in the evening the emperor would sleep all night and wake up very late in the morning. The emperor had lost his way and had forgotten about the importance of Amrit Vela (getting up early in the morning and remembering Vaheguru).


One day, a servant came to clean the emperor bedroom and noticed the freshly laid roses on the bed.  She became very curious a wondered what it would be like to sleep on such a wonderful bed.


The servant always had aches and pains as her bed was very hard and made out of dry hay. She looked around and could not see anyone and quickly lay down on the bed. The bed felt very soft and she could smell the fragrance of the fresh roses. She felt so comfortable and soon fell asleep.


When the emperor returned he saw the servant sleeping on his bed. He became very angry and started shouting at her. He pulled her off the bed and ordered his soldiers to teach the servant a lesson by beating her.


Normally when someone is being beaten they scream and beg for forgiveness but this servant just kept on laughing.
The emperor noticed this and ordered his soldiers to stop. The emperor then asked "Why are you laughing when my soldiers are beating you, have you gone mad?”


The servant laughed out aloud and said "I was wondering what it was like to sleep on such a comfortable bed.

I soon relased that it was very soft and smelt so fresh roses and soon I fell asleep. Becuase I fell asleep on your bed you have punished me with a severe beating."

"I was laughing because I was thinking that I got a beating for sleeping for just one hour. What will happen to you for sleeping in this bed all the time? What beating will God give you for sleeping in that bed for many hours everyday?”


At that moment the emperor ordered his soldiers to let the servant go. He started thinking about what happened and realised that he had just been taught a very important lesson. He felt enlightened and realised that he had wasted much of his life just sleeping and had forgotten about God. From that day on he started to get up at Amrit Vela and would meditate on Gods name.

A useful facts:

AMRIT VELA, literally means the "ambrosial period". It is regarded by many dedicated Sikhs as the time anywhere from about 2-00 am. to 6 am.

Homework Questions

1. What does Guru Mean?
2. What does Sat Guru mean?
3. What does Amrit Vela mean?
4. What does Esh-Naan mean?
5. List three types of Seva that Bhai Amardas Ji used to do.
6. Who was Bhai Amardas Ji's Guru?
7. What was Bhai Ji's bed made of and why?
8. Why did Bhai ji walk backwards when going to the river?
9. For how may years did Bhai Amardas Ji do seva?
10. Was Bhai Ji every late when doing his seva?
11. What things can we do during Amrit Vela?
12. Guru Gobind Singh Ji asked his Sikhs to do Nitnem. What does Nitnem mean?
13. How many Bani's should we recite as part of our Nitnem and when do we recite them?

Source: Bhai Guriqbal Sakhi on Sikh Channel