Gobind Singh sacrificed tun, mun & dhan (body, mind, wealth) for Sanatana Dharma

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Guru Gobind Singh Ji

Guru Govind Rai (Singh) in Line Of Shri Rama And Shri Krishna by V.

Wadher

 

Punjab, rightly claimed as the traditional sword-arm of Bharatvarsha,

has valiantly borne the first brunt of all the pre-European

aggressors upon her. And one of the most luminous stars which rose in

that northwestern horizon and shed its luster over the entire length

and breadth of the country is undoubtedly Guru Govind Singh (born at

Patna on Maargashtra Shukla Saptami -the 7th Day of bright half of

Maargashira, i.e. 24 December 1666) the tenth and the final Guru in

the holy tradition initiated by the great saint Guru Nanak. In fact,

his life of pain and fortitude is a saga without many parallels in

the world.

 

Rightly, Guru Govind Singh inherited the legacy of the fearless

martyrdom of his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur. Guru Tegh Bahadur, with a

view to instilling courage and confidence among the Kashmiri Hindus

to withstand Aurangzeb's fanatical tyranny and threats to Islamize

them, challenged the Moghal emperor to convert him first. And the

great Guru preferred to have his head roll down in Chandni Chowk of

Delhi rather than sacrifice his faith. Govind was just a boy of nine

years at that time. On coming to know of his father's terrible end he

exclaimed: " He saved with his blood the honor of Hindu Dharma. Oh,

what a remarkable act in this Kaliyuga! He preferred to give up his

life, but not his faith! "

 

It is with such a fiery note of idealism that the young Govind Rai

embarked upon his life-mission even from his infancy. As a child he

had drunk deep at the fount of Ramayana, Mahabharata, and the

Puranas. He was inspired with the heroic examples of Sri Rama, Sri

Krishna, Bheema and Arjuna. He felt convinced that he too like those

great forbears was born to vanquish the wicked and to protect Dharma.

He began preparing himself in a thorough fashion to play that

historic role.

 

Though engaged with a very busy life, Guru Govind was a great patron

of literature. The Guru himself wrote in all genres of poetry, though

his forte was martial poetry. His great passion was to get the entire

Hindu mythology translated into Braj Bhasa, the lingua franca of

those times. Where necessary he also made innovations. His 'Ramavtar`

and 'Krishnavtar` are examples. He assimilated the spiritual truths

enshrined in the Vedas, Upanishads and the Bhagavad Geeta. He became

adept in the Persian, Arabic, and Punjabi languages, just as in

Sanskrit and Hindi, and was a peerless poet as well.

 

As an archer he was unequalled in the whole of Hindusthan. No wonder,

equipped as he was with such a rare combination of brahmateja and

kshaatrateja, he wrote in his auto-biographical poem Bichitra Natak

that he was commanded by God to take birth to uphold the true path of

Dharma.

 

The clues to what Guru Govind Singh achieved are to be found in his

autobiographical poem Bichitra Natak (the Resplendent Drama). The

most interesting formulation in the Bichitra Natak is that the Guru

Panth is an extension of the great Raghu dynasty to which Rama

belonged. According to Guru Govind Singh, Guru Nanak is a direct

descendant of Kush, the elder son of Rama, and Guru Govind Singh

himself is a direct descendant of Lava, the younger son of Rama.

 

On what basis was the Guru to fight the Mughals? If he were just a

rebel, he could not arouse Punjab. Besides, he was a Guru who had no

business to fight the king. But if the kingdoms of Lahore and Kasur

(it is believed that Kasur was founded by Kush and Lahore by Lava)

were in fact the legacy of the Gurus themselves, then to fight for

regaining the throne of Punjab would become the legitimate right of

Guru Govind Singh. Even in his person the Guru had started wearing a

bow and a quiver of arrows which were the two distinguishing marks of

Lord Rama.

 

According to ancient Punjabi tradition, Lava and Kush were born in

Punjab. Ram Tirath, a place some miles away from Amritsar, is known

to have been the hermitage of Valmiki where Sita took refuge when

Rama banished her. The sage is known to have brought up Lava and

Kush.

 

Govind Singh wrote that in his past life, he was a Rishi who

performed great penances at Hemkunt. He has given a graphic

description of a place in the Himalayas ensconced by twelve mountain

peaks. It was here that he was ordained by the Param Purukh to take

another birth for the specific purpose of uprooting adharma. This

story went well with the kind of life he led and the things he

achieved. He was born to Guru Tegh Bahadur because the latter too was

propitiating God to bless him with a great son. The whole stance of

this story is the same as of Dasaratha who also performed penances in

his earlier birth and was blessed by the Lord that He himself would

be born to him.

 

In the tradition of Lord Rama, Guru Govind Singh performed a year-

long Chandi Yagna at Naina Devi (the shrine of the Goddess of

beautiful eyes) overlooking Anandpur Sahib before launching upon his

mission. Lord Rama had done the same before marching into Lanka. The

Goddess, pleased with his austerities, had blessed Rama with victory.

Lord Krishna had taken Arjuna to the temple of the Goddess for

seeking her blessings before the battle with the Kauravas.

 

RULING DEITY

 

According to tradition, Chandi is the ruling deity of the Jalander

Peeth, the triangle pervaded by the Goddess of which Jalander, Kulu

and Vaishno Devi form the three angles. In Punjab when the Shaktas

(the worshippers of Shakti) ruled the roost, the Mother was known to

be residing in every nook and corner of the triangle, alternatively

known as the Trigarth Peeth. The important shrines of the Goddess in

this region bear testimony to this point. There are Ambala (Ambalaya -

the home of the Goddess), Chandigarh (the fortress of the Goddess),

Kalka (abode of Kali), Naina Devi (in the Shivaliks), Asa Devi (in

the Dhaulaladhars), Hidimba (in the Kulu hills), Vajreshwari (the

Mother of Thunderbolt) at Kangra, Jwala Devi (the Mother of the

Flaming Mouth) at Jwala Mukhi, Chintpuri in Hosiarpur and finally

Vaishno Devi (the Vaishnavi Mother) in the Jammu Hills.

 

No catastrophe to his personal self or to his family members, however

tragic, could shake his rocklike resolve to pursue his chosen

mission. When his two elderly sons, Ajit and Jujhar whom he had sent

to lead the battle laid down their lives before his very eyes, thus

did the Guru offer prayers to God: " O Lord, I have surrendered to

Thee what belonged to Thee. " Later, when his two younger sons Jorawar

and Phatte were bricked alive by the Mughals for refusing to succumb

to Islam, and the heartrending news reached the Guru, he simply

lifted his hands in prayer and uttered the words: " These two, Thy

trust, I have rendered unto Thee. " The Guru's mother, Gujri Devi,

from whom the two boys had been snatched away, broke her heart and

died.

 

The tone of the historic epistle which the Guru wrote some time later

to Aurangzeb is evidence of the majestic equanimity and the supremely

high moral posture he maintained even in the wake of such dire

calamities. " I know you believe neither in God nor in your Prophet,

nor do you know the worth of an oath on Koran. Did your God ask you

to tyrannize over others? Fie on your sovereignty and on your regard

for God and religion! Fear God, Who is the Master of earth and heaven

and Whose vengeance is terrible. What if you have killed my four

sons? By putting out a few sparks, you cannot quench the blazing

fire. My protection is God than Whom there is no one higher. "

 

The Guru bore all the cruel blows of fate with an invincible will and

fortitude and pressed forward in rousing and organising his

countrymen in the cause of Swadeshi and Swadharma. He moved from the

north to the southern parts of the country contacting and trying to

string together the various patriotic forces. Finally, in the south

he found a great warrior turned into a yogi, Maadhav Daas by name,

and charged him with the task of proceeding to Punjab to lead the

struggle there. Maadhav Daas, known in history as Banda Bairaagi,

abided by the Guru's command and carried out the war of liberation

with such remarkable ability and was crowned with such rare success -

finally falling a martyr to the cause in the true tradition of the

Gurus- that even to this day he stands as a glowing testimony to the

magic touch of Guru Govind Singh.

 

KHALSA

 

The spirit of oneness and harmony which the Guru infused in society

has also made him a social reformer of the highest order. His vision

encompassed the whole of Bharat, and his love embraced within itself

the lowliest in the society. The Panch Pyaare, the five self-

sacrificing heros of the Khalsa whom he chose through a fiery ordeal

on Baisakhi in 1699 at Anandpur Sahib were those drawn from distant

parts of the country, from Bidar in Karnataka, Jagannaath Puri in

Orissa, Dwarka in Gujarat to Delhi and Lahore.

 

In baptising his followers into Khalsahood, the Guru once again

followed the example of Lord Rama. Rama had created warriors out of

the common people of the lower Vindhyas known as the Kishkinda where

Bali and Sugriva, the twin brothers, lorded over the aboriginal

clans. To make them invincible in battle, Rama had given them his

name and a uniform which gave them a martial identity. The Khalsa was

also created on the same pattern. The Guru gave them the Name to

mutter and a martial identity to fight Mughals to protect Hindu

Dharma.

 

Four things in the main need to be explained in this context. They

are the concepts of the Sant-Sepahi, the Khalsa uniform, the ultimate

authority of the Panch Pyare, and the aphorism " Raj Karega Khalsa. "

 

The first is the concept of Sant-Sepahi (saint soldier). In the Hindu

tradition, the first model Sant-Sepahi was created by Lord Rama in

the person of the monkey god Hanuman. He knew only two things-

remembering the Name of Rama all the time and keeping himself ready

for the greatest sacrifice at the bidding of his mentor.

 

The second is the creation of the Khalsa uniform in the image

of " Narsinh Avtar, " which is the half-man, half-lion incarnation of

Lord Vishnu. The Guru's Khalsa had to modify the image a little. They

had to keep their hair unshorn and make Singh as part of their proper

names. This made them look as ferocious and brave like lions.

 

The third concept is the ultimate authority now vested in the will of

the five beloved ones. Even the Guru had to bow before them. Lord

Rama had also vested the final authority in his chosen five while

sending out the " monkey " warriors to find out where Sita was. His

beloved five were Hanuman, Angad, Nala, Neel and Jambvant.

 

The fourth and last concept is the amulet of victory contained in the

aphorism " Raj Karega Khalsa. " Modern Psychologists tell us that

success comes to those who don't think of failures. Guru Govind Singh

understood the human psychology only too well. However, the slogan is

as good as the translation of " Satyameva Jayate " which means that the

truth alone prevails. The Khalsa clearly stands for the one who

stands for truth and never compromises with untruth. Guru Govind Rai

gave the war cry of " Sat Sri Akal. " It is probably the shortest

capsule of Vedanta and it means that the Timeless has two

manifestations viz Shiva and Shakti which reside in Him. When we read

it together with its first part which is " Jo Bole So Nihal, " then it

means that anyone who speaks of such a Timeless becomes eternally

blessed. He also does not fear death. Such thoughts, ideas and

statements could not have been formulated by the Guru without deep

roots in Hindu tradition.

 

Finally the Guru himself, while in the south at Nanded, fell a martyr

to the treacherous designs of the Moghals and embraced Mahaasamaadhi

(on 7 October 1708 in the true tradition of yogis.)

 

Rarely do we come across in the annals of human history a life of

such all-round greatness as that of Guru Govind Singh, who was a yogi

and a warrior--a martyr, a poet and a social reformer, a national

emancipator and a dharmic rejuvenator- all rolled into one supremely

majestic personality commanding the reverence of his countrymen and

even of his enemies.

 

No better appreciation could be there of the inspiring legacy left

behind to the entire nation by that Guru than what Swami Vivekananda

observed :

 

" Mark me, every one of you will have to be a Govind Singh, if you

want to do good to your country. You may see thousands of defects in

your countrymen, but mark their Hindu blood. They are the first gods

you will have to worship, even if they do everything to hurt you;

even if every one of them sends out a curse to you, you send out to

them words of love. If they drive you out, retire to die in silence

like that mighty lion, Govind Singh. Such a man is worthy of the name

Hindu; such an ideal ought to be before us always. "

 

" Akhil vishwame Khalsa panth gaje,

Jagai dharma hindu sakala bandha bhajai,

Nah chodu kahin doost asura nishani,

Firee sab jagatme dharma ki kahani! "

 

Guru Gobind Singh Ji

Guru Govind Rai (Singh)in Line Of Shri Rama And Shri Krishna by V.

Wadher