SADHNAA, one of the fifteen saints and süfis whose hymns are incorporated in the Guru Granth Sâhib, was a qasãi or butcher by profession who, by his piety and devotion, had gained spiritual eminence. He is believed to have been born at the village of Sehvãn, in Sindh. He was cremated at Sirhind, in the Punjab, where even today a tomb stands in his memory.
He is considered to be a contemporary of Nãm Dev, another medieval saint. Sadhnaã lived by selling meat, though, as it is asserted, he never butchered the animals himself. His only sabda (hymn) in the measure Bilãval, in the Guru Granth Sãhib, indicates his belief that all evil deeds of a man could be washed away by devoted meditation on the Name and so the deeds of a butcher:
What merit have you, Enlightener of the world, if our ill deeds are not effaced?
What avails it to enter the asylum of the lion, if a mere jackal will be allowed to devour one?
I am nothing, nor is anything mine Save my honour, O lord,! am your slave after all. (GG 858) the ammonite stone, symbolising god Vishnu of the Hindu Trinity. His spiritual quest led him to renounce the household. He left Sehvãn and roamed about the country preaching the love of God. None of his holy songs have survived except the solitary hymn preserved in the Guru Granth Sãhib, which keeps his memory alive.
Excerpts taken from Encyclopedia of Sikhism by Harbans Singh .
Published by Punjabi University, Patiala
Sikh Bhagats
Baba Sheikh Farid Ji
Bhagat Kabir Ji
Bhagat Ravidas Ji
Bhagat Beni Ji
Bhagat Namdev ji
Bhagat Sadhana ji
Bhagat Bhikhan Ji
Bhagat Parmanand ji
Bhagat Sain ji
Bhagat Dhanna Ji
Bhagat Pipa ji
Bhagat Surdas ji
Bhagat Jaidev ji
Bhagat Ramanand Ji
Bhagat Trilochan ji