ID SONI
THE GREAT SAVIOUR: In a world of struggle and strife, a world of hunger and an unending wars, he appeared, the Prophet. He appeared like a Flame bringing to all the blessed message of the One God of Peace, the Akala Purukha, the Eternal Saviour of Humanity.
The greatness of the world is false and fleeting. Two greatness is given to a few. After reviewing the history of his times in India and west, we arrive at the conclusion that Guru Gobind Singh was the world’s greatest saint and scholar in the seventeenth century. He was a practical mystic. He became a saviour of India by breaking the forces of Mughal imperialism and building of the Khalsa. We gaze at his picture and say to ourselves, “Here is a figure of a supreme beauty!” For in him, humanity was blended with service and both were kindled with the light of faith in God, the great saviour of the nations.
The Guru was born in 1666 at Patna. Looking back through the vista of more than three centuries, can we picture to ourselves the Guru and the India of his days? India disunited: India oppressed: Akbar’s dream murdered by his successor: and Guru Gobind Singh the very picture of sadness! Iron has entered his soul. But he weaves it into a great vision, the vision of a free Khalsa. The word Khalsa means the pure. And the “pure” in heart become the servants of God and the prophets of freedom. When the Khalsa soul is purified, new missionaries and new martyrs will arise until the destiny of the Khalsa is fulfilled.
The Khalsa was meant by the Guru to be a symbol of true democracy. Members of the Khalsa dined together and worshipped together. The one great vow taken by every member of the Khalsa was services. Today many think of democracy in term of power rather than services. The Khalsa was a brotherhood of services. Power cannot solve the world’s problem, but the spirit of service can, the spirit of fellowship, the spirit of love and sacrifice.
To us Guru Gobind Singh is wider than any creed, and his temple in the heart within is purer than our sanctuaries. Meek was he and content with obscurity: he had no restless desire for earth’s honours, for distinction and eminence, so common, alas, in what the world calls “great men”.
In loneliness and meekness he spends his time on a mountain height, away from crowds, with no desire for popular applause. India, alas, was then a subject-nation, and Hindu homes were subject to oppression and suffering. To Shri Gobind Singh comes one day a voice on the mountain-heights: “Gobind! Gobind! How long will you dwell in solitude? Must you always walk in meekness and meditation? Are there not moments, hours, periods, when men, countries, nations must arise? Gobind ! Arise!” To Gobind comes the call similar to Krishna’s call to Arjun on the Kurukshetra: Uttishta! Paramtapa!” “Arjuna! Arise!”
Blessed is Gobind. To him comes the call: “Uttishta!” “Arise!” He responds to the call: “Thy servant standeth, a sacrifice to Thee, O Lord!” Shri Gobind Singh ji descends from the mountain height to the plain below. Guru Gobind Singh Ji arises to be the saviour of Hindustan, Gobind Singh Ji becomes a perfect sacrifice to the Sat Sri Akal, the true one, the Deathless one. Guru Gobind Singh Ji fulfills the destiny of his life.
He was humble and he had a love for the poor. When he was at the height of his glory, when even the Mughal King sought his friendship, the great Guru did not forget to serve the poor, mountain people. How humble and, therefore, how truly great!
At whose feet and in whose Sanga did the great Guru learn the lesson of humility? He met and served many dervishes and fakirs; but he who influenced the Guru’s life the most was his beloved father, Guru Tegh Bahadur. Did not great Guru Sri Gobind Singh Ji say to his father, when the Kashmiri Pandits came to him: “Who else is pure than you, my father?” Yes, on Guru Gobind Singh’s life was the blessings of his martyred father.
Guru Gobind Singh Ji was a scholar and a poet, but there have been greater scholars and poets. He was a leader; he carried on his fight with skill and courage, but not alone for his leadership do we remember him. Power and authority pass away. Resources and riches had he at his disposal when at the height of his glory; but not for his wealth is he truly great, much greater wealth has been possessed by others. For one thing and for one thing alone we count him great. His life was filled with the spirit of sacrifice, cleverness and tricks do not make his history, it is the sacrifial men who build history. Guru Gobind Singh Ji is great for his absolute self-surrender to God and his unmatched sacrifice. Every day we recite the prayer, “Nanak das sadaqurbani !” ” Nanak, Thy servant, is ever a sacrifice to thee!”
But what do we sacrifice every day ? Sri Guru Gobind singh Ji was a perfect sacrifice. We may not reach his height, but some sacrifice we can do every day. Small sacrifices let us offer every day, and Our lives will be enabled, sanctified, abundantly blessed!
A WARRIOR-SAINT: In Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s heart was the great Master, Guru Nanak Ji, the Beloved.
Therefore, was all Humility and Humanity in Guru Gobind Singh Ji’s heart. There was in it no ache of self, no pain of separateness. He gave all his self away. He received in his heart the Master Nanak and into it flowed the whole universe. “The wise man does not lay up treasures,” said the great Rishi of China, Lao Tse. In the hallowed heart of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the only treasure was Guru Nanak Ji and the great Guru’s Vision of the universal, the one in all, the one in all classes and communities, in all races and religions.
His action flowed from his heart. It was an angel-heart. It was a reflection of the Mother Heart of the universe. So he stood by the weak and downtrodden, the poor and forlorn. Listen to what he says to all who would hear:
Do they look down on you ?
Do they say you are ; low birth ?
I shall clothe you in fair garment of joy!
I shall invoke the Fire of Heaven.
To mingle with your blood !
Are you not mine own,
The chosen children of my Master ?
One day, Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji asked a cup of water. A noble-man’s son offered him water in a shinning cup. He was a young man: he was handsome: his hands were clean. But Guru Ji returned the cup, and the young man looked wonderingly into Guru Ji’s eyes.
Then said the great Guru, “O young man ! It is true, your cup is a shining one and your looks are handsome and your hands are clean. But they have not laboured in the service of the saints and needy one. Such hands cannot be pure. Make your hands pure first ! And they will be purified through humility. Cast aside all caste pride. Be pure ! Be a servant of the poor ones ! And I shall drink of the water in your cup.”
He was a hero and a patriot of the purest ray serene. To lowly acts of service he bent his hands to labour and to earn his daily bread. In that last period of his life, of which we seldom can think without tears in our eyes, he realised the dignity of manual labour. He realised that labour was worship. He realised, too, that they are truly blessed of whom God accepts the Yagna of suffering and isolation, of agony and tears.
With the last benediction of his earth life, he left to his disciples the Book Beloved, the Guru Granth Sahib, saying: “Today, the Wani, the Word, is your Master, your Guru .” Yes, the living spirit of the Guru’s speak, today, in the words of this ‘Ever- Living Book’ this inspired Testament of the saints. we say to ourselves,” Is not this ‘Book’ a revelation of the Akala Purukha to us all who are lost in maya of life?”
I believe that if the living word , the Bani of the Gurus and the Gurus and the Saints, the seers and the sages of India and Humanity , of all climes and races , could reinspire the Sikh faith , it would indeed become a living faith and its message would thrill India again , from end to end. This may not be until we are filled with child – like spirit of the Sikh village – folk and their great Teachers, the Sikh – Gurus, the saint and Bhaktas of India.
Like Guru Nanak , Guru Gobind Singh drew together all the castes into one brotherhood; and the rich and the poor combined to form one fraternity, one mighty union of service and sacrifice, a living witness to one God. Guru Gobind Singh ji’s dream, in building the Khalsa, was this divine dream of building a new race of Humanity nourished by love.
Simple rules of life did Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji give to Khalsa whom, indeed, he loved with the love of his Mother Heart.
Someof these rules were:- Eat little, sleep little, talk little, love compassion, And serve the poor! Forget not this, thy home my child! Is not a palace, But a forest, a Tapobana! So live as an anchorite at heart!
Guru Gobind Singh ji dedicated his life to the service of poor. He stood up, in courage unsurpassed in the history of our nation, to challenge a power which many thought was omnipotent. Wounded was he, again and again, in his fight for India’s freedom, the fight for the poor and forlorn. But he rose again and he fought again. The fear of fear fell from him: for the flame of His Presence touched his heart, and he declared, “His grace hath made me fearless!”
What magic was there in his word, his mere presence, his face divine? He transferred meek men into fearless lion-hearted warriors of the light. The very Himalayas were a part or his soul! Sikh history is a wonderful record of sufferings endured for faith and freedom. His disciples were trained in a school of hardship: they believed that life must not be hoarded but poured out as a sacrifice.
Guru Gobind Singh ji hath written his name in sacrifice. It is a name which shines as a star in heaven. In moments meditation we often said to ourselves, By what small things we die! Goliath died by a stone, Krishna by a little arrow of a huntsman, Christ by a kiss! Guru Gobind Singh ji was stabbed by an ungrateful man whom the great Guru forgave.
“Happy, indeed, are the few, the chosen few, who gave their all in service and sacrifice and who, in giving their all, found the One Supreme in whom East and West are one!” such men have appeared but at rare intervals in history, men, who could almost command the very force of nature and stir the very stones to life. Such a great soul was Guru Gobind Singh ji-A GREAT WARRIOR-SAINT. We are not orphans on the earth. This master-man lives.
(The writer is President, Home of Aged & Infirm, Ambphalla, Jammu).
