Once Guru Nanak was on a visit to Banaras with his disciples.
As the night approached, he reached a village and decided to spend the night there. The people of the village treated them with a lot of respect and served them very well. The guru blessed them by saying, “May you all scatter” and then he proceeded with his journey.
The next night, he stayed at another village, where he was very poorly received. The people did not serve them anything and they also abused the guru and his disciples. While leaving the place, the guru told them, “May you remain where you are.”
One of his disciples got perplexed at this and asked, “Master, you have given them strange blessings. Those who served you very well, you want them to scatter. While the others who treated you ill, you want them to stay put at their homes.”
The guru replied, “If those who serve others get scattered, then by their example they will make others also good and they will spread their virtues wherever they go. On the other hand, if people who are inhospitable to others remain at one place, they will not corrupt others with their bad manners. So they will keep all the bad things confined to one place only.”