The tenth Nanak of the Sikhs, Guru Gobind Singh Ji (16661708), has left a legacy of unexcelled philosophy recorded in eloquent language and demonstrated in the Guru’s own actions and commitment. His compositions and the biographical accounts of his life reveal that in Guru Gobind’s philosophy, life is a responsibility, and living is a discipline of maintaining the separate identity and demonstrating superior conduct. For assuring the Sikhs’ separate identity, Gobind asked his followers to take amrit and keep the five Ks and use Singh and Kaur in their names as marks of equality of the entire human race; for instilling ethical responsibility and inspiring superior conduct, he asked his followers to be saint soldiers by conquering the five evil passions, befriending people of all castes and faiths, taking up the cause of the oppressed, and, after all other means have failed, resorting to arms in order to restore human dignity and freedom.
Guru Gobind Singh Ji descended on the world scene imbued with the sense of a mission, and he left the world only after creating a people who will continue his mission. He stated that he had been ordained by God to spread his. Nam and to uplift the downtrodden. With the divine power of amrit, he created the Khalsa in his own image and clearly stated that he has merged his own being with that of the Khalsa: Consequently, he made if incumbent upon the Khalsa to know his mission and to know the means of fulfilling it. Informed by the hindsight that showed that the martyrdoms of Guru Arjan and Guru Teg Bahadur and thousands of devoted Sikhs did little to change the Moghul Policies of discrimination and forcible conversions, Guru Ji was well aware that the Sikhs a community committed to high ideals can survive only by becoming saintsoldiers. Therefore, they must take training in bearing arms, and they must use arms to rid the world of evil and oppression, whenever all other alternatives fail. To instill confidence in the Khalsa, Guru Ji said that one man, with the will of God on his side, can defeat thousands upon thousands of men. However, to keep his soldiers from the abuse of power he urged them to have the qualities of a saint first. They must love and respect the entire human race. In addition, they must do good to their highest potential. Enthusiastically taking all chances of doing good remained the subject of Guru Gobind’s own prayers: Furthermore, Guru Ji was committed to the democratic ideal of letting the authority have a free flow between the leader and the followers. To demonstrate this belief, he blessed the Panj Pyare with amrit and then requested them to bless him with the same.
Having identified himself with the Khalsa, Guru Gobind made sure that the Khalsa realize the importance of learning. He exemplified his love for learning through his mastery of several languages and through a thorough knowledge of the extant works of their cultures. In addition, he kept as many as fifty-two scholars at his court, and he dictated from memory the entire text of the Adi Granth to Bhai Mani Singh, adding to it the bani of Guru Teg Bahadur and a couplet of his own. A popular legend hols that while engaged in composing and dictating at Damdama Sahib, he kept throwing the used pens into a pond, and, upon being asked about the reason of doing so, he gave a prophetic reply stating that one day the place will become a seat of higher learning. This was his unique way of suggesting that Sikhism must encourage scholars by sponsoring institutions of higher learning. Today, Damdama Sahib is the site of Gurkashi College which turns out hundreds of scholars each year.
Another tenet of Guru Ji’s philosophy is his abiding faith in the supremacy of God in all endeavors and successes of human beings. Gobind identified himself as the servant of God: he gave credit for all his victories to the grace of God: and he gave credit for his special endeavors and powers to his followers: Although radiant with self-confidence, he remained humble to the point of admonishing his Sikhs from worshipping him by saying that those who may do so will be damned, because the only power to be worshipped is God, and for the manifestation of God the Sikhs must turn to Guru Granth Sahib the compilation of the Word. Recitation of the bani remained a necessary part of Guru Gobind’s own routine, even in the thick of battles.
By making Nam Simran a part of his daily routine, by inspiring moral and disciplined living, and by imbuing his Sikhs with a sense of mission, Guru Gobind showed a new way that made saints and soldiers change places the epitome of such changes are the transformation of the ascetic Madho Das into Banda Singh Bahadur and the transformation of the ferocious Saiyad Khan from a Moghul soldier of terror into an ascetic and devoted follower of the Guru. In the overall view of the Sikh cultural history, the philosophy of the tenth Nanak is like a concluding chapter to the philosophy of the first Nanak. While guru Nanak made an open denial of the established religions: “and Guru Arjan took the denial to the next stage by asserting: Guru Gobind Singh Ji took the ultimate step of giving a visible identity, solid affirmation, and a noble mission to the new faith. This identity, this affirmation, and this mission have continued to inspire the Sikhs to view themselves as friends to all but enemies and strangers to None.”
Article extracted from this publication >> January 13, 1989
