Prakash Divas Guru Teg Bahadur Ji

Tomorrow we will be celebrating the 400th Prakash Divas of Guru Teg Bahadur Ji! (Sorry I erroneously mistyped 500 before). 

Guru Ji was the son of Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji and Mata Nanaki born in 1621. He got married at a young age to Gujar Kaur (Mata Gujri Ji). He was asked to go to Bakala by Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji and did 20 years of meditation there with his wife. Once Guru Harkrishan named “Baba Bakale”, there were numerous imposters trying to take over as the next Guru. A trader named Makhan Shah Lobana was travelling on a ship when he got caught in a major storm. He did Ardas to his Guru for help, and amazingly he was saved. He promised to give 500 Mohars to Guru Ji, so once he returned he found out that Guru Harkrishan Sahib Ji was Jyoti Jyot and went to Bakale. He gave 2 gold coins to each person who claimed to be the Guru until there was no one left. Someone mentioned there was someone named Teg Bahadur living there. He placed two gold coins, and Guru Teg Bahadur Ji told him that he had promised 500! Makhan Shah realized that he had found the real Guru, who knew what was in his heart. He started yelling “Guru Ladho Re (I found the Guru)!” 

Meanwhile, Dhirmal, the brother of Guru Har Rai Ji, was still up to his mischievous ways. A masand named Seha and the fake Sodhis who claimed themselves to be Guru joined in with Dhirmal to steal from Guru Ji. The Masands had a plan to kill Guru Ji which Dhirmal also joined in on. Guru Ji was riding a horse when they started firing- the shots missed. Guru Ji then went home and the masands came with a group of 100 soldiers. They shot Guru Ji in the head- the bullet touched Guru JI’s forehead and scathes the skin then drops on the floor. They became scared, looted Guru Ji and left. The Sikhs went to Makhan Shah, who then vengefully tied up the masands and dhirmal, and grabbed all of the stolen wealth including the original copy of the Adh Granth. Guru Ji explained that this was wrong, that Makhan Shah had also come under the control of desires and anger. He asked Makhan Shah to return it all. Makhan Shah argued that that forgiveness is weakness and that they needed to be punished but Guru Ji explained that forgiveness is a blessing. Guru Ji forgave Dhirmal for trying to kill him! This is a huge lesson to each of us who have a hard time forgiving or letting go. Makhan Shah tried to hide the Saroop of Adh Granth and doesn’t return it. Meanwhile Dhirmal decides to leave town and feels the Guru’s greatness at returning everything but he is sad at the fact that he no longer has the Adh Granth saroop.

Guru Ji then decides to visit Amritsar with Makhan Shah. The Masands from the Mina line of Prithi Chand don’t let them into Harmandir Sahib due to corruption. Makhan Shah wants to punish them but Guru Ji says they will reap what they sow and that Guru Arjan Dev ji has already said the Masands will not survive. Makhan Shah then convinces the Masands to ask for forgiveness from Guru Ji, but Guru Ji knew they were not genuine and warns them that they will suffer for their actions. Makhan Shah wanted to go home and Guru Ji also decided to leave Bakale. As they were leaving on the river bank, Guru Ji saw the saroop of Adh Granth and asked where it came from. He explained that he had asked them to return it otherwise Dhirmal will suffer from the separation. No one wanted to take it back, so Guru Ji places it on a manji into the Beas river! Once crossing the river a Sikh says he is headed to Kartarpur. They tell him to pass on the message to Dhirmal to get the saroop from the river. Dhirmal is discouraged from going to the river by the Masands and 13 days pass before he goes. He is sad that the saroop cannot be found after searching. At the encouragement of the Sikh who gave the message, he does an Ardas with humility and suddenly the divers manage to find the saroop covered by sand in the river. They binding was wet but the rest was preserved and the water drops from the cover that stained the Angs can still be seen. This copy of the Adh Granth emained in Dhirmal’s family. 

Guru Ji then established Chak Nanaki (named after his mother, later named Anandpur). He left to travelled to Assam up to Bangladesh spreading the word of Sikhi like Guru Nanak Dev Ji. In the meantime his son, Gobind Rai was born in 1666. He was not able to meet Gobind Rai until returning to Patna in 1670, and they all moved to Chak Nanaki. Guru Ji kept an army but did not engage in any battles. Guru Ji contributed 115 hymns to the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. 

Emperor Aurangzeb was jealous at the rising influence of the Sikhs. Guru Ji was first arrested in 1722 with Bhai Mati Das, Sati Das and Dyal Das. Raja Ram Singh got Guru Ji released. Guru Ji was arrested in 1732 again and taken to Sirhand with Bhai Mati Das, Dyal Das and Sati Das, and imprisoned at Basi Pathan Prison for 4 months and 8 days. Emperor Aurangzeb was destroying Hindu temples, firing Hindus, and imposing taxes. He started in Kashmir, cutting off peoples Janeos (sacred thread of Brahmins) and forcibly converting them. The Brahmin Pandits led by Pandit Kirpa Ram, were threatened that if they didn’t convert to Islam they would be executed, and their daughters were raped. Aurangzeb knew that if he could convert the priestly class of Hindus, everyone else would have to convert as well. The pandits desperately came to Guru Teg Bahadur Ji for protection. Guru Ji’s son, Gobind Rai, at the age of 9 told him that there would be no one better to make this sacrifice than his own father. Guru Ji told the pandits to pass on to Aurangzeb that if he could be converted to Islam, they all would as well. Gobind Rai was made Guru, and Guru Teg Bahadur set out to Delhi with Bhai Sati Das, Bhai Mati Das, and Bhai Dyal Das. 

While travelling, Guru Ji gave a ring and a shawl to a shepherd to buy sweets. In the resulting interaction the shepherd is caught and accused of stealing these expensive materials and returns with the police, who capture Guru Ji. This was all a situation designed by Guru Ji. Aurangzeb sent 12, 000 horsemen with a General as he is scared the Rajputs will protect Guru ji since he is doing this for the Hindus. They were arrested and Guru Ji was transported on an iron cage on the back of an elephant to Chandni Chaunk in Delhi (cite of present day Gurdwara Sis Ganj). The Qazi gets Aurangzeb to put Guru Ji in a haunted mansion. If he is killed, the followers will convert in fear, and if he shows miracles, that will also go in his favor. Once inside, the demon served him and became liberated. Guru Ji threw a sugarcane/ganna outside the window and the Sikh who ate it gained many powers. The Sikh told Guru Ji that he could destroy the Mughals, then Guru Ji took away his powers. He showed him that this is all from the Creator, just because Guru Ji is staying quiet does not mean that the Sikh should show off the powers to the very Guru who granted them. He said this all was the only way for the downfall of the Mughals since Guru Nanak Dev Ji had proclaimed from the time of Babar that his generations to come would rule and that word could not be taken back unless this happened. The Qazi then told Aurangzeb to leave Guru Ji in prison. Meanwhile Guru Ji was leaving prison to go eat at a devotees home. There were Muslims who saw him out and about, but the guards also insisted he was in the jail the whole time. Aurangzeb put tighter security. They brought in halal meat which is against Sikhi, for Guru Ji to eat. When the cover was lifted, many piglets came out and started chasing the guards (this is against Muslim religion). This went back to Aurangzeb and he asked why Guru Ji is showing a miracle now when he refused before. Guru Ji said this was not a miracle, but rather the Mughals were reaping what they sowed and getting back what they were trying to do to him. Guru Ji was then leaving to bathe in the Jamuna in the mornings. A Mulana saw this and again the security was tightened as they realized this was due to Guru Ji’s powers. Guru Ji was given no food or water, he had hot sand poured on his body, an iron pillar was heated and placed on Guru Ji’s body, and finally the Qazi announced his Sikhs would be tortured in front of him. Bhai Dyal Das sat in a pot of boiling water as he read Sukhmani Sahib, Bhai Mati Das Ji was sawed in half, and Bhai Sati Das, wrapped in cotton and set on fire as he read the Mool Mantar. Bhai Mati Das Ji wanted to finish his Japji sahib paath so the prayer kept coming out, even as his tongue and body was sawn in half. Guru Ji was in deep meditation and refused to convert to Islam. Bhai Jaita Ji disguised himself as a sweeper and collected their remains, putting them into the river Jamuna that night. 

The Sikhs became scared and wanted to leave the prison. Three left with the help of Guru Ji and passed on a message to Gobind Rai that this death was necessary to bring the Mughal empire down. He told the family to leave Lakhnow and go to Anandpur. Aurangzeb thinks the guards are being bribed and puts Guru Ji in a cage. The Sikh then arrives with a message back from Gobind Rai, expressing his love and asking Guru Ji to send a letter back conveying what was on his mind. He then left for Anandpur. Guru Ji tells the Sikh to rest and meditate and he would hear it tomorrow. In the middle of the night Guru Ji goes missing, the guards search and cannot find him. They are scared of the emperor and thus meditate on Guru Ji’s name and he returns by morning. The Sikh delivered the message from Gobind Rai and explained that Mata Nanaki and Mata Gujri were sad and worried. Guru Ji got a pen and paper and wrote a salok for the sangat to explain that they should meditate on God:

“Gun Gobind Gayo Nahe Janam Akarath Keen, Kahu Nanak Har Bhaj Mana Jih Bidh Jal Ko Meen” (A person who does not sing the praises of the Almighty has wasted his life. Oh Nanak, sing the praises of the Lord with such love as is shown by the fish towards the water,Ang 1426, Salok M:9). 

Then he wrote a salok for Mata Nanaki and Mata Gujri Ji explaining not to be caught in worries because everyone has to leave when their time comes:

 “Ram Gayo Ravan Gayo Ka Ko Bahu Parvar..” (The king Ram Chandar left this world and so did King Ravan who had a huge extended family. Oh Nanak, no one can remain here forever. This world is like a dream. A man should only worry when something that has never happened before occurs. Oh Nanak, no one stays here forever. Everyone who is born will surely die one day. Oh Nanak, just meditate on the Lord’s name and forget about all the worldly entanglements, Ang 1429). 

Guru Ji wrote a Dohra for Gobind Rai to test him: 

“Bal Shukiyo Bandan Pare Kashoo Na Hot Opayee…” (I am powerless and in chains. There seems no way out for me. Oh Nanak, only Waheguru alone is my support now. He will help me just as he helped the elephant. All my friends have left me. No one has stayed with me till the end. Oh Nanak only God is my support in this calamity. The Guru, God and his saints are the only stable ones in this world. Oh Nanak, only a few people ever make an effort to understand Gurbani. God’s name is the highest of the high and nothing can be compared with it. I have grasped and kept it in my heart and my difficulties have just disappeared. I have been blessed with your vision, Ang 1429).

He then asked the Sikh to bring a reply. Gobind Rai replied “Bal Hoa Bandan Shute Sab Kish Hot Opayee, Nanak Sab Kish Tumray Hath Main Tum He Hot Sahai” (All my powers have been restored. My chains have been broken and now I am able to do whatever I desire. Oh Nanak, everything is in your hands and you yourself have the capability of taking care of yourself. Note this is the only composition of Guru Gobind Singh that is included in the Guru Granth Sahib Ji, on Ang 1429 after the above Dohra by Guur Teg Bahadur Ji, and in between the lines “All my friends have left me.” Old saroops of Guru Granth Sahib Ji including the one written by Baba Deep Singh Ji all have Mehla 10 written in them but this is now missing in printed copies. There is an article from Sikhnet on this in references). This meant that he is strong through the willpower of his father and he can now lead the Sikhs. Gobind Rai sent a different Sikh, knowing that he would need a brave Sikh to bring back Guru Ji’s head. Once the message reached, Guru Ji sent him back with a coconut and 5 paisas to inaugurate Gobind Rai as Guru and wrote another Salok “Only Guru, God and his saints will remain forever. Oh Nanak, there are very few people in this world that ponder on the teachings of the Guru.” (These above quotes are all from Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Academy translated from Sri Gur Partap Suraj Granth). 

Guru Ji was given options of conversion, displaying miracles, or death and chose death. Aurangzeb asked him to explain his name if he was so brave, so Guru Ji told them to find the sharpest sword, wrap it in paper and tie a thin thread. He said even the bravest warrior who struck his neck wouldn’t be able to cut even the paper itself. Guru Ji told the Sikh messenger that the head would fall in his lap and he needed to take it to Anandpur. After Japji Sahib paath, Guru Ji bent his head but before the sword touched, his head separated from his body and a huge dust storm started. The head fell on Bhai Jaita Ji’s lap as planned, and he left for Anandpur. At this time the crowd was asked if there were any Sikhs of the Guru. They were so scared having seen the tortures that no one came forth. Aurangzeb was scared that the paper was intact and no one could find the head. In some places it says that the paper was unfolded and said “Sis Diya Par Sirr Na Diya” (meaning he gave his head but not his principles). As the body was guarded heavily Bhai Lakhi Shah loaded up bull carts, released the bulls and put Guru Ji’s body into a cart. He set his whole house on fire to cremate Guru Ji’s body safely. This taught the Sikhs the body could be tortured, but the soul was one with God. Guru Ji sacrificed their life for the Hindus to be able to practice their religion and emphasized the need for Sikhs to stand for human rights. Pandit Kirpa Ram (who was the Brahmin who asked Guru Ji for help) went on to become the Sanskrit teacher of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, got baptized, and was martyred in the battle of Chamkaur. Dhirmal was imprisoned by Aurganzeb after the martyrdom of Guru Ji and died there in 1677. 

May we all celebrate the life of Guru Ji tomorrow! 

Happy Vaisakhi 2021!

Apologies for the late posting, it's been a busy workday. Wishing all the sangat a Happy Vaisakhi! 

On Vaisakhi 1699 Guru Gobind Singh Ji called hundreds of thousands of Sikhs to gather at Anandpur Sahib. The crowd was completely silent, fully taking in the words of Guru Ji. After spiritual discourse, Guru Ji addressed the crowd, and then took out his sword and asked for a sacrifice, a head. Suddenly the sangat was scared...Can you imagine what it must have felt like standing amongst the crowd at that time? Bhai Daya Ram Ji bravely approached. Guru Ji went in a tent and came back with his sword, dripping with blood. He asked for another head. Next was Bhai Dharam Das, then Sahib Chand, Himmat Chand, and finally Mokham Chand. Some of the sangat started to disperse in fear, when suddenly Guru Ji came out with all five and performed the Amrit ceremony. These Singhs became our Panj Pyare, the embodiment of the Guru. Then Guru Ji got the 5 to baptize him. The mother of the Khalsa is Mata Sahib Kaur Ji and she added patasay to the Amrit. In baptizing the Sikhs, Guru Ji gave the Khalsa the distinct identity of today- kesh, kanga, kirpan, kachera, and kara. This united the Khalsa and because the panj were from different castes and now equal, it also showed that there would be equality and no caste distinction. The identity was important in that no Sikh would be allowed to hide- their identity would stand out as Sikh and therefore they would be responsible for their actions. This would allow others to get help from Sikhs. The Khalsa was important in uniting the Sikhs as saint-soldiers, as warriors in standing up against the oppression and injustices that were being faced. Sikh women were given the middle name Kaur (princess) and males were given the middle name Singh (lion).

As some of the world has passed another Vaisakhi in isolation, I think we will appreciate so much more when we will be able to get together again. I'm looking forward to travelling around for Nagar Kirtans to different parts of Canada and the States when that becomes possible again. I really missed being able to celebrate with my family today, being able to go to the Gurdwara to matha tek, and listen to or play kirtan on my vaja. I guess that is what was written for this year and there must be some learning from this too- our Guru Ji is with us always. It is a time for us to remember who we are and where we come from. 

picture reference: https://www.sikhpa.com/campaigns/sikhvaisakhi/ 

 

Pictures from Anandpur: 

What Is Home?

There is a level of peace that we are all starving for. We wander through our lives trying strategies to seek out something we absolutely must have, what we absolutely need to survive, and not knowing how to get it. The smallest taste of it reminds us that we actually do know this feeling intimately well. It isn’t distant, it is known to us, like returning to your mom’s arms. It fulfills a need that we waited lifetimes to get, and nothing else can fulfill so we remain hungry. Gurbani tells us “Bin Nave Jag Kamla Fire” because we do wander, as if we have lost our minds without Naam. Guru Ji teaches us that our whole life purpose is in reaching that state permanently, to merge into it, return to it, realize it. The mind may not realize it right now, but this is what it so desperately is searching for, a feeling of home that no other home can fulfill. I sometimes find myself saying “I wish I was home” even when I am home...there is another home that I seek. 

My thirst for home has grown exponentially stronger over time. Just like we have a burning desire in our hearts for someone we love, thus is the intensity of the yearning to be fully at peace. Our mool is our home, Waheguru, and we are created out of this universal energy. In this life, in our mother’s uterus, we were fully connected. We were immersed in God and learned how to play this game of life. We were tested, and taught how to return again to our mool. We were taught that it would be there, just hard for us to recognize because of the game of maya, because of our doubt. We learned how to return home again in this lifetime. Yet when we aren’t successful, we return again to play this game, and again and again: “The Gurmukhs worship the Lord, and find His celestial home. Without meeting the Guru, they die, and come and go in reincarnation (Rahao).” We all wander homesick daily, only some of us don’t know it yet. 

My homesickness is not for a physical place. Things of comfort are not my home, blankets and beautiful palaces could not replace this emptiness and desperation for home. There is a heartfelt shabad on this topic that says, “If I had a palace made of pearls, inlaid with jewels, scented with musk, saffron and sandalwood, a sheer delight to behold- seeing this I might go astray and forget You, and Your Name would not enter into my mind” and in the Rahao line of this shabad we are reminded that without our Guru there is no place at all. I used to think homesickness was for people, that maybe my home would be a person. I thought maybe calling someone mine will give me a home- wherever he was, I would be home. This is a continuation of thinking that maybe sangat is home… but how can people be our homes if they leave? If we place ourselves in our home and they have disappeared, it will never exist again. That familiar feeling would be snatched forever, how is it so that it could be so temporary? The home we find within other people and the reason why Sangat is a form of our Guru, is because Waheguru is encompassing in all. In order to find that home that is the “one light in two bodies” it is necessary for us to not just replace people into a role of home as a physical or mental home, a temporary comfort, but to remove all doubt and barriers of maya to really realize God. Furthermore, some people in the sangat are already home and help us find our home, and others walk with us while we find our home. I guess home can be seen and found in other people because this is the sargun form of God, but we must be careful not to attach ourselves to the painting instead of the Creator.  

Marble

Although I am having a difficult time finding an appropriate word in English I think rest will suffice. Going home offers some sort of deep state of rest. This is the state in which Guru Arjan Dev Ji and many other Sikhs have been able to endure physical torture but still found God’s will to be sweet. For most of us living go-go-go lives, we don’t really know rest. We vacation and rest our bodies and stop working, but still we do not actually rest. We feel unrefreshed and unrejuvenated. We do it out of necessity sometimes, a short-term sacrifice for long term dream of being able to give back to society and do some amazing sewa for the Sikh kaum. I’ve done it all- skipped meals, gotten short sleeps, and cut out talking to anyone because I had to get through. I know what it feels like to do what you gotta do. I was overwhelmed and didn’t know another way. While we run constantly, it's like running on a hamster wheel. We aren’t moving our actual life journey that was written for us. In the background, our minds are starving for home. Being immersed in Naam is an actual deep sleep-like state, where your body relaxes- jaw loosens, shoulders drop, lungs expand, and the nervous system tunes into rest and digest (parasympathetics). While people do simran and enter into Sunn, they learn to disconnect from the body and enter a peaceful state of mind that is impossible to describe. Through small periods of this state, the mind learns how to go home permanently.

 

“O Sheikh, you wander in the four directions, blown by the four winds; bring your mind back to the home of the One Lord.”

Unsettled

I’ve learned the depths of empathy and compassion through my life and got used to seeing things from different points of view. There is always a story. We can be compassionate towards those who spend their lives in maya, who are lost, because we remind ourselves that they have wasted away their purpose in this life and will have to live through this again, they must reap what they sow. We cannot define people by their story in this life, because it is the story of many lifetimes, of the mind travelling as it learns. Why do we strip people of their humanity and define them by one moment? Guru Nanak Dev Ji gave people like Sajjan Thug and Kauda Rakshish new lives. The times that our judgement comes into play is when our ego rises up from inside us. We judge because we feel vulnerable, attacked, insulted.   

It is difficult to share our stories, to have hard and real conversations. Yet when we do, I have noticed much resistance. I think people feel uncomfortable hearing our stories because it unsettles their own. Imagine a suitcase that is overfilled, and you have barely just fit everything in, and you have to sit on it to get it to close. Some people’s lives have this box inside that they have barely kept everything in, and your story threatens that box opening, it threatens the way that they live day in and day out. My very existence through my story may threaten someone’s current way of living. Being with people when they are real is hard because it can open up feelings of discomfort within yourself. Someone else’s realizations about life can challenge your worldview, how you operate and think and move through the world. It can make people gain faith or lose it entirely. In some way, speaking our truth can liberate us and isolate us all at once if no one else wants to hear it. Many people have had to walk that path, but I think it’s better to be real and have a relationship with God than be fake and have everyone. We like to protect other people from the pain of our stories, but they need to be said. The stories of our families need to be told, the stories of Sikhs migrating in 47 and the stories of our shaheeds, the stories of Sikhs before us, all these truths need to be told. Some people don’t stick around to hear it. Others can only listen to a story by calling you “another.” By seeing people as “others” we separate them out. It is a way of convincing ourselves to retain our worldview in the face of something that challenges it. It is a way of saying this happened to you, because of factors that are unique to you, and this could never possibly happen to me. It preserves the self as we know it and prevents us from truly absorbing other people’s stories and the reality of the world, that any one of us can be living on the streets, any one of us can be addicted, any one of us can be murdered or sexually assaulted, any one of us can be anywhere, in any position because there is actually no “other” in the first place. This is what Sikhi teaches us- the other doesn't exist. 

I hear stories day in and day out. They make me squirm in my seat sometimes or my heart pound and my stomach churn. No matter what, it is absolutely essential to be a witness to someone’s story, and a privilege to do so. Broken hearts that are unseen die, they might die physically or they might die away of the life they could have had, living in a shell of what they were. Listening, I am challenged in the fairness and justice of the world. I am challenged in my perceptions of right and wrong, in my ideas of even how things exist and how things are. It is hard to understand the poison that makes violence possible, that turns love into indifference, and pulls away smiles into misery, one drop of which violates the purest of waters, yet it exists in all of us. It is ego, it is maya. As the discomfort has changed into growth after hearing stories, and I find myself transformed, I have leaned into seeking out stories. I seek them out in biographies, audiobooks, documentaries, and articles. I want depth to life, not a rigid set of rules that doesn’t change. The only way we can hold space for these stories is really if we allow that part of ourselves to get unsettled, to do so. To address what is going on inside, because without that we will not be able to be present for anything, not for our loved ones, not for anyone. 

Think about the most transformative stories. Whose story did you hear and how did it change you? 

Happy Sikh Heritage Month!

Wishing everyone a Happy Sikh Heritage Month. Vaisakhi is coming up shortly. Unfortunately as the third wave restrictions hit us across the country, we don't have much opportunity to celebrate. I guess this means that we have to find new ways to celebrate Sikh Heritage month, either virtually or in our hearts.