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Guru
Nanak received a Hukam (commandment) from God instructing him to
spread a message of truth based on devotion to One God, honesty,
and compassion. The soul of Guru Nanak passed on to nine successors,
who elaborated on the first Guru's teachings to give form to this
new religion. The final form was given by the tenth and last Guru,
Gobind Singh, who started the Sikh initiation ceremony: initiated
Sikhs formed a community of saint-soldiers known as Khalsa, the
Pure Ones. Guru Gobind Singh also made it clear that, after him,
the Guru-eternal for Sikhs would be their holy scripture, Guru Granth
Sahib.
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GURU
NANAK DEV JI
Born
in 1469 to a Hindu family near the city of Lahore (now a part of
Pakistan), Guru Nanak was the founder of Sikhism. The young Nanak
enjoyed the company of holy men and engaged them in long discussions
about the nature of God. Around the year 1500, Nanak had a revelation
from God; and shortly thereafter, he uttered the words:
There
is No Hindu, There is No Muslim
This
pronouncement was substantial as it referred to the day and age
in which Guru Nanak lived: Hindus and Muslims of India constantly
and bitterly fought each other over the issue of religion. The Guru
meant to emphasize that, ultimately, in the eyes of God, it is not
religion that determines a person's merits, but one's actions.
The
Guru witnessed the Mughal invasion of India, and saw the horrors
inflicted upon the common people by the invaders. Though a pacifist,
Guru Nanak did not hesitate to speak up against injustice:
The
kings are ravenous beasts, their ministers are dogs.
The
Age is a Knife, and the Kings are Butchers
In this dark night of evil, the moon of righteousness is nowhere
visible.
Guru
Nanak laid forth three basic principles by which every human being
should abide:
1. Remember the name of God at all times.
2. Earn an honest living as a householder.
3. Share a portion of your earnings with the less fortunate.
Besides
rejecting the Hindu caste system, idolatry, and ritualism, Guru
Nanak preached universal equality. In consistence with his message
of equality, Guru Nanak scorned those who considered women to be
evil and inferior to men by asking:
Why
should we call her inferior, when it is she who gives birth to great
persons?
Guru
Nanak has been documented to have traveled across India and the
Middle East to spread his message. Once, at Mecca, the Guru was
resting with his feet pointing toward the holy shrine. When a Muslim
priest angrily reprimanded the Guru for showing disrespect to God,
the Guru replied, "Kindly point my feet toward the place where
God does not exist." Among the many philosophical foundations
laid by Guru Nanak , his characterization of God, as illustrated
by his visit to Mecca, is most recognizable. It forms the opening
lines of the 1430 page Sikh holy scripture, Guru Granth Sahib. The
translation is as follows:
There
is but One God, The Supreme Truth; The Ultimate Reality, The Creator,
Without fear, Without enemies, Timeless is His image, Without Birth,
Self Created, By His grace revealed.
Like
all the Gurus after him, Guru Nanak preached by example. During
a time of great social disarray and religious decay, his message
served as a fresh, uncorrupted approach toward spirituality and
God. The message of the Guru took almost 240 years to unfold, and
so, in accordance with the Will of God, the soul of Guru Nanak merged
into the souls of his nine successors.
2.
GURU ANGAD
Besides maintaining and upholding
the traditions laid forth by Guru Nanak, the second Guru created
the Gurmukhi script, a medium through which the writings and teachings
of the Sikh gurus could be readily understood by their followers.
By disassociating the Sikh tradition from Sanskrit influence, a
script and language largely unknown to the masses, the Guru emphasized
the universality and widespread accessibility of Sikh religious
thought. Moreover, it solidified the idea that Sikhism started as
a distinct and revealed religion.
3. GURU AMAR DAS
The third Sikh Guru reinforced
the teachings of the previous Gurus by organizing the construction
of twenty-two centers of religious learning for the Sikhs. Like
his predecessors, he sharply criticized the practice of sati,
where widows immolated themselves on the funeral pyres of their
dead husbands. The Guru also required that anyone wishing to meet
him would have to first partake in the common kitchen, called Langar,
as a sign of equality. The Emperor Akbar, Muslim ruler of India,
himself followed this tradition before meeting with the Guru.
4.
GURU RAM DAS
Founder of the city of Amritsar,
site of the Golden Temple, Guru Ram Das worked to ensure the city's
growth by encouraging commercial and trade ventures in the town.
Soon, with the city flourishing as a trade center and place of pilgrimage,
the Sikhs had a distinct religious center of their own.
5.
GURU ARJAN
The fifth Guru started the construction
of the Golden Temple. To emphasize the universality of Sikhism,
the foundation stone of the shrine was laid by a Muslim saint, named
Mian Mir. Also, the temple featured four entrances to represent
access to all communities. Guru Arjan compiled the Adi Granth,
the Sikh scripture containing the writings of all the Gurus up until
that time (the writings of the eighth Guru were added by Guru Gobind
Singh). As another sign of the universality of Sikh philosophy,
the Guru added the writings of several Muslim and Hindu saints,
whose ideas corresponded to Sikh beliefs. With the passage of time,
the Guru attracted a substantial following; and therefore, the Sikh
community assumed a socio-political character. In 1606, Emperor
Jehangir, the Muslim ruler of India, summoned the Guru to his court
on the charge of blessing a rebellious relative of the Emperor's.
Upon the Guru's refusal to embrace Islam to escape death, the fifth
prophet of the Sikh religion was subject to inhumane torture and
killed. Thus, the martyrdom tradition of Sikhism began with the
martyrdom of the Guru himself. From this point forward, Sikhism
began to form itself into a community of saint-soldiers.
6.
GURU HAR GOBIND
Responsible for establishing idea
of the inseparability of spiritual and temporal matters, the sixth
Guru maintained an army for the purpose of protecting the poor and
destroying tyrants. He constructed the Akal Takht, center of temporal
affairs in the Sikh religion, across from the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
By this time, the Sikh community was a full-fledged social, religious,
and political entity.
7.
GURU HAR RAI
The seventh Guru continued the mission
of organizing the Sikhs into a military force that would be equipped
and ready, both spiritually and physically, to counter the repressive
Mughal empire.
8.
GURU HAR KRISHAN
At only five years of age, the eighth
Sikh Guru was the youngest. He worked to alleviate the suffering
of the common man during a smallpox epidemic in Delhi, but succumbed
to the disease himself at the age of eight.
9.
GURU TEGH BAHADUR
The Mughal Emperor of India,
Aurangzeb, attempted to consolidate India into one Islamic nation.
In order to achieve this aim, he set out to virtually eliminate
Hinduism from India. When the eighth Guru heard of this from a desperate
group of Hindus, he challenged the Emperor that, in order to convert
all the Hindus, the Guru himself would have to embrace Islam. When
the Guru was imprisoned at the request of Aurangzeb in 1675, despite
being forced to watch the torture and execution of two disciples,
the Guru simply refused to concede to the Emperor's demand. Finally,
the Guru was ordered to get beheaded. Unparalleled in the history
of humankind, the martyrdom of Guru Teg Bahadur was an act of sacrifice
for another religious community. The Guru's martyrdom served to
awaken the collective conscience of the Sikh community, which was
about to undergo a final transformation in the years to follow.
10.GURU
GOBIND SINGH
Upon
the death of his father, Guru Gobind Singh felt compelled to organize
the Sikhs into a community of saint-soldiers. During the spring
of 1699, the Guru called his followers for a special gathering.
During the day, thousands of people assembled in front of a stage
and a tent, out of which emerged the Guru to address the massive
audience. With sword in hand, the Guru asked the congregation if
anyone would be willing to sacrifice their head for him. Naturally,
the audience was stunned by the Guru's request, and many followers
began to disperse out of sheer terror. Still, the Guru pressed for
one of his followers to give their life for him. Finally, one of
the assembled stood, with hands folded, and approached the Guru
in full submission. The lone disciple was led into the tent by the
Guru. After some time, the Guru emerged with a blood-stained sword
and asked for another head. Overcome with shock, the audience could
not believe what they were seeing; however, another devoted follower
stood and offered his head to the Guru. Eventually, with the same
outcome, three more devoted disciples offered their lives to the
Guru. After the fifth devotee was led into the tent, to the surprise
of the massive audience, the Guru emerged with the five followers
fully clothed in the uniform of the Khalsa, or Pure. The Guru's
demonstration symbolized a revitalization of the Sikh identity and
the definitive evolution of the Sikh community into a community
of saint-soldiers. After initiating the five "beloved ones"
into the new order of the Khalsa, the Guru knelt before them and
requested that they initiate him. In the annals of human history,
such a transformation into a distinct and solidified community,
culminating in the baptism of the prophet by his followers, remains
a unique and defining moment.
Guru
Gobind Singh and his Khalsa army were engaged in several battles
against the imperialist Mughal army during the Guru's life. Through
the course of those turbulent times, the Guru lost his four children
and his mother to the cause of righteousness; but nevertheless,
the Khalsa stood firm as a distinct and sovereign entity, able to
withstand the onslaught of a mighty enemy.
In
the face of persecution, the Guru wrote:
When
all peaceful means of resolution have failed, it is righteous to
draw the sword.
Before
his death at the hands of an assailant in 1708, the Guru added the
writings of Guru Tegh
Bahadur to the Sikh scriptures, thereby giving a final revision
to its form. The Guru also declared the lineage of living Gurus
finished, and requested his followers to seek spiritual guidance
from the Guru Granth Sahib.
In essence, the light of Nanak, the first Guru, was to be forever
enshrined within the pages of the Guru
Granth Sahib.
To
illustrate his point that the Guru Granth
Sahib was the final Guru of the Sikhs, and as a sign of
humility, Guru Gobind Singh did not include his writings, over 1400
pages worth of literature, in the Guru
Granth Sahib. A separate volume,
called Dasam Granth, features the writings of the tenth Sikh Guru.
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