Palaces and courts are only dormitories

The king was asleep, when he is woken up by the sound of footsteps on the palace roof. “Who goes there?” he shouts. A voice replies, “Go to sleep, I am searching for my camel.”

“You are insane”, shouts the king, and goes searching for the intruder, but cannot find him. The next day, the king is holding court, when his ears catch the sound of an argument. A man wants to be let into the court, calling it his dormitory. The king recognizes the voice; it is the mystery voice of the night.

The guard is instructed to let in the stranger. The king asks him, “In the night, you were looking for a camel on my palace roof, and now you call my court a dormitory.” The stranger admits to being the same person.

The stranger says, “You say you love the people, yet you sit on the throne and practice cruelty. And then you search for God’s blessing? What is insane, my search for a camel or you seeking bliss after wars and butchery? And you sit on the golden throne, but I remember seeing another older man sitting on it a few years ago.” 

The king said that was his father. “And before him,” said the stranger, “I saw another old man here.” The king said that was his grandfather. “Both your father and grandfather had the same argument with me. 

They are in the graveyard, and you will follow them. Go to the graveyard and see your real home, where your forefathers are. All these magnificent buildings are only dormitories.”

Guru Granth Sahib tells us:

Like a king in his dreams, 

Then opens his eyes, sees that it was all in vain.

 Like a watchman, oversees the field of another, 

All fields belongs to Him, we get up and depart.