The Tale of the Sacrifice of Neki-Seu-Samman
Once, Lord Kabir made a surprise visit to his devotee Samman with two of his disciples (Kamaal and Sheikh Farid). There were in all three members in Samman’s family. Samman, Samman's wife Neki, and Samman's son Seu (Shiv). Devotee Samman was so poor that at times there was not even a grain of food at home. The entire family used to go to bed hungry. Today was a similar day. Devotee Samman asked his Gurudev Lord Kabir, “Lord, please tell me your plan - when would you like to have food?”
Lord Kabir said, “Brother! We are feeling hungry. Prepare food.” Samman went inside the house and said to his wife, Neki, “Our Gurudev God has come to our house. Quickly prepare food.”
Neki said, “There is not even a single grain of food at home.”
Samman said, “Borrow some from the neighbours.”
Neki replied, “I had gone and asked, but no one lent me any flour. Despite having the flour, they deliberately did not give it to me, and are saying, “Today, your Guru ji has come to your house. You used to say that our Guruji is God. If your Guru ji is God, why do you need to borrow? He alone will fill your house.” They started ridiculing me by saying such things.”
Samman said, 'Give me your rag (old cloth). I will pawn this and bring three ser (around 1 kg) flour.”
Neki said, “This rag is torn. Nobody keeps it in pawn.” Samman gets lost in thought, and cursing his misfortune, he says, “How unfortunate I am! Today, God has come to my house, and I cannot even feed him. O God! Why did you send such a sinful creature to the earth? I must have been so evil that I did not perform any meritorious deed in my previous life. What face should I show Satguru now?” Saying this, he went inside the storeroom and started crying bitterly.
Then his wife Neki said, “Have courage. Do not cry. God has come. He will be hurt. He will think that Samman is weeping because he is troubled by our arrival.” Samman stopped crying. Then Neki said, “Tonight both of you, father and son, go and steal three ser (approximately 1 kilogram) flour, only for the saints and devotees.”
Then the boy Seu said, “Mother, Guru ji says that it is a sin to steal. You also used to teach me, “Son! One should never steal. Those who steal are doomed.” What are you saying this today, Mother? Shall we sin, Mother? Our earnings of worship will be destroyed. Mother, we will suffer in the lives of eighty-four lakh species of living beings. Do not say this, Mother. Mother! Swear to me.”
Then Neki said, “Son! You are right. It is a sin to steal but son, we will not do it for ourselves but for the saints. The city in which we have lived, we will steal to protect it.” Neki said, “Son, the people of this city are jealous of us. We had told them that our Gurudev Lord Kabir (Complete God) has come to earth. He had revived a dead cow and its calf, whom Sikandar Lodhi had got severed. He resurrected a boy and a girl. He cured the burning pain of Emperor Sikandar Lodhi. Sikander Lodhi had assassinated Shri Swami Ramanand ji (Gurudev of Lord Kabir) with a sword; Lord Kabir resurrected him too. The people of this city are making fun of this. They say, “Your Guru Kabir is God; he will also fill your house with grain. Then why are you wandering from house to house for grain (flour)?”
Son! These are innocent creatures. If today Lord Kabir leaves without eating the food of this city, then even Kaal God will be so angry that he may destroy this city. O Son! To save this calamity, we have to steal flour. We will not eat. We will prepare food and feed it only to our Satguru and the devotees who have come. Saying this, Neki's eyes filled with tears, and she said, “Son! Do not refuse.”
Wiping the tears from his mother's eyes, Seu said, “Mother, do not cry. Your son will obey your orders. Mother, you are very good. Aren’t you?”
At midnight, both, the father (Samman) and son (Seu) went to steal. They drilled a hole in the wall of a Seth's (merchant’s) shop. Samman said, “Son, I shall go inside. If anyone comes, inform me quietly. I will hand over the flour to you, and you may run away with it.”
Seu said, “No, father, I will go inside. Even if I get caught, I will be forgiven as a child.”
Samman said, “Son! If you get caught and killed, how will your mother and I survive?
Seu, while requesting, enters the shop through the hole. Then Samman says, “Son! Only bring three ser (1 kg) flour, not more. As soon as Boy Seu, after tying about three ser (1 kg) flour in his worn-out sheet, was about to return, he stepped on the scales in the dark. There was a loud sound which caused the shopkeeper to wake up. He shouted, “Thief, thief”, and catching Seu, ties him with a rope. Prior to this, Seu throws that flour tied in the sheet out of that hole and says, “Father! The merchant has caught me. Please take the flour and feed Satguru and the devotees. Do not worry about me.”
When Samman came back home with the flour, Neki, on not finding Seu with him, asked, “Where is the boy?” Samman said, “The merchant caught him and tied him to a pillar.”
Neki said, “Go back. Behead Seu and bring his head home, otherwise after identifying the boy, they will bring him to our house. Then on seeing Satguru, the people of the city will say that he is the one who gets the theft done. They may trouble Satguru Dev. We sinners, instead of offering food to our Lord, might get him imprisoned.” Saying this, the mother is asking her husband to behead her son, that too for Gurudev ji.
Samman took a kard (long knife) in his hand and went to the shop, and said, “Son Seu! Put your head out once. I have to tell you some important things. We will not be able to meet tomorrow. They might get you killed.”
Then Seu said to that merchant, “Seth ji, my father is standing outside. He wants to tell me something important. Please loosen my rope so much so that my head can go out of the hole.”
The merchant accepted his request and loosened the rope so that his head easily got out.
Seu said, “Father, behead me. If you will not behead me, you are not my father. After recognizing me, the merchant will reach our home. He has access to the king. He will get our Gurudev killed. Father! what face will we show?” Samman instantly beheaded his son with the knife and took his severed head home. On seeing that the boy has been murdered, the merchant dragged his dead body to a nearby kiln (for baking bricks) and put it in its chamber.
Neki told Samman to go back and bring the boy's body which would be lying outside. By the time Samman reached the shop, the merchant had closed the hole in the wall of that shop. Following the marks of the dragged corpse, Samman traced the corpse and brought it home. After bringing it home, he put it inside the storeroom, and covered it with old clothes. He kept the head in one part of a cupboard and shut its door. After some time, the sun rose. Neki took a bath. She cooked food for the Satguru and the devotees. She prayed to Satguru Lord Kabir to have food. Neki respectfully served food in three earthen bowls in front of Lord Kabir and both the devotees (Kamaal and Sheikh Farid). Lord Kabir said, “Put it in six bowls. The three of you may also join us and have this blessed food prepared with love. When even after repeated prayers, Lord Kabir did not agree, then the blessed food was served in six bowls. The five sat down for the food.
Then Lord Kabir said:-
Aao Seu jeem lo, yeh prasaad prem |
Sheesh katat hain choron ke, saadhon ke nitya kshem ||
Lord Kabir (Allahu Akbar = Al-Khijr) said, “Seu, come and have food. Thieves are beheaded, not saints (devotees). They are protected. They are forgiven.” As soon as Lord Kabir said this, Seu's head got attached to his body. There was not even a scar of the cut on the neck. He sat down in the row and started eating. Say- “Glory be to Lord Kabir!” (Kaviramitauja) (Words of the Vedas: - Kavir = KavirDev = Supreme God Kabir, Amit + Auja = whose power is boundless.)
Samman and Neki saw that there was no scar on Seu’s neck. They thought, “How did the boy come back to life?” When they went inside and saw, there was no dead body or head. There were only splatters of blood which was the evidence to dispel the doubts of this sinful mind. Sat Sahib (Eternal God).
Lord Kabir (Kaviragni) has performed many such divine acts, from which it is self-evident that He alone is the Supreme God. It has been stated in Samved Sankhya no. 822 and Rigved Mandal 10 Sukt 162 Mantra 2 that KavirDev increases the life of his worshipper, companion who worships according to the rules. Even if he has died, Lord Kabir releases him from Dharmraj and gives him a hundred years of life.
|| Glory be to Supreme God Kabir Bandi Chhor (Al Khijr)! ||