BANVĀLĪ, BHĀĪ, and his brother Paras Rām, Brāhmaṇs by birth, were devotees of Gurū Hargobind. They were professional physicians and, as says Bhāī Manī Siṅgh, Sikhāṅ dī Bhagat Mālā, they treated Sikhs and holy men free of charge, and went travelling preaching the word of the Gurū. Once they asked the Gurū why attendance at holy congregation (sādh saṅgat) was given primacy when only śabda (the Holy Word) was efficacious enough to save all. Gurū Hargobind answered : "It is in saṅgat alone that seekers meet gurmukhs, i. e. the enlightened ones, and receive from them prescriptions for a holy life. "