As a little child my mother told me the story of the founding of Panja Saheb: Guru Nanak once came into wilderness with his disciple. It was hot. The disciple thirsted for water. But water was nowhere except on top of a hill where a dervish lived. The dervish would not give water to the follower of an unbeliever. He turned back the disciple once, twice, thrice. At this the Guru asked the disciple to pick up a rock and a spring burst forth from under it. The well of the dervish went dry. Furious, the dervish hurled a boulder to crush the Guru and his disciple. The disciple was panicky. But the Guru said, ‘Praise be to the Almighty, the Formless One!’ and stopped the boulder with the palm of his hand.
I was enjoying the tale but when it came to the Guru holding back the boulder with his hand, it gave me a rude shock. It was not possible. ‘How could a man hold back a boulder with the palm of his hand?’ I asked.