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| Choice of a Successor
The mind of Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion, had achieved an even balance of devotion, knowledge and renunciation. He attached great importance to chanting the name of the lord and to inner purification.
One day he called his son and said that, while attending to other business, he had inadvertently left out the daily sweeping of the floor of the hall where people came for chanting) and prayer. "Will you please go and do the cleaning before the people arrive?"
The young man, who had just come out of the bath, didn't want to do the cleaning work, as it would soil his fine dress. Besides, he was averse to doing a menial job. He replied, “Father, after my bath I would like to go and pray. Please ask Angad to clean up the hall."
Nanak then asked his disciple Angad to do the job. Not with standing his recent ablutions and change of dress. Angad went to the hall and painstakingly and maliciously cleaned it. After doing the work to his satisfaction and to his master's approval, he went to bathe again.
The next day Guru Nanak was to announce his choice of a successor. The common tradition
| 22 Path to Righteousness Jain Education International
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