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<p class="C1">&#65279KAP&#362R DEV, BH&#256&#298, a prominent <i>masand</i> of the time of Gur&#363 Arjan, once expressed his desire to see a model Sikh. The Gur&#363, says Bh&#257&#299 Man&#299 Si&#7749gh, <i>Sikh&#257&#7749 d&#299 Bhagat M&#257l&#257</i>, asked him to go and see Bh&#257&#299 Samman, who lived at Sh&#257hb&#257zpur. When Kap&#363r Dev reached Samman's house, he was unloading firewood he had purchased for the household. Then he started mending some worn-out mats, without paying any particular heed to the visitor. Finally, Kap&#363r Dev spoke : "I have been sent by the Gur&#363 especially to meet you, but you are engaged in these petty tasks." Samman calmly said that no work was ever low or petty, and that he would attend to him in the evening. In the evening, Samman and his son, M&#363san, sang God's praises far into the night. Next morning some dacoits suddenly appeared and drove away the village cattle. The villagers, M&#363san among them, chased the dacoits but Samman, unruffled, stayed back with the guest. Shortly afterwards they learnt that M&#363san had been mortally hit by a marauder's bullet. His body was brought home. Everyone sat wailing and lamenting the death of the young man, but Samman did not lose his composure. He brought out the wood purchased the day before, arranged his son's cremation amidst hymn-singing, and spread the mended mat for the mourners to sit on. Kap&#363r Dev, greatly puzzled, said, "You are a strange man. If you knew what was going to befall you, why did you not pray to the Gur&#363 to grant a longer lease of life to your son?" Samman replied, "The body is impermanent. Death, which is the certain end of the body, is not strange. What is notable and wonderful is that man lives. To lament the loss of the body is folly. It is material and must sooner or later perish. What is essential in man is neither born nor dies. Nothing is worth begging the Gur&#363 except <i>n&#257m</i> which assists man to unite with the Essence." Kap&#363r Dev, enlightened as well as impressed, bowed to Samman saying : "Hail the Gur&#363 ! And hail the Gur&#363's Sikhs who have been liberated from all attachment!"</p>
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BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Man&#299 Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299, <i>Sikh&#257&#7749 d&#299 Bhagat M&#257l&#257</i>. Amritsar, 1955<BR>
<li class="C1"> Santokh Si&#7749gh, Bh&#257&#299, <i>Sr&#299 Gur Prat&#257p S&#363raj Granth</i>. Amritsar, 1927-33<BR>
</ol><p class="CONT">T&#257ran Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR>
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