Onset:
Imagine being transposed to Guru Gobind Singh’s era. The Guru and the Khalsa are encamped at Nanded; Banda Singh has begun his embryonic journey on the Sikh path and the Guru’s formidable reputation has been further augmented by the news he sacrificed his progeny for his beliefs. Consider approaching the Guru and inquiring what he is feeling at the moment after performing such herculean sacrifices.
The lush black beard would part in a pearly white smile and the smooth forehead would crease with mirth. The resplendent plume would shake as its Master replies that he need not fear any deviation on the part of his offspring. They have proven true to his convictions and upheld the principles of Guru Nanak. They have sacrificed themselves in the Army of Guru Nanak, the Khalsa.
Continuation:
The Khalsa, the Army of Guru Nanak, is based on two providential cornerstones:
-Man is to liberate himself from his base animal self.
-Man is not to tolerate any tyrannical imposition by religion, society or state.
These two foundational principles since their inception have fuelled the Sikh desire for dominance, sovereignty as well as confrontation with otherworldly religions and theocracies. The true essence of divinity can only be achieved in this life through a warrior-discipline, the core of which is derived from the Guru Granth and the Khalsa code of conduct. When firmly established in a Sikh’s mind, these principles evince the continuity of Guru Nanak’s Army and its originality: a force of meritocracy and self-direction on Earth; a force which entrenches resistance to the atrophied and decadent ways of the world.
The Few The Proud:
The Guru Granth emphatically articulates,
ਚੰਦਨ ਕਾ ਫਲੁ ਚੰਦਨ ਵਾਸੁ ॥
ਮਾਣਸ ਕਾ ਫਲੁ ਘਟ ਮਹਿ ਸਾਸੁ ॥
ਸਾਸਿ ਗਇਐ ਕਾਇਆ ਢਲਿ ਪਾਇ ॥
ਤਾ ਕੈ ਪਾਛੈ ਕੋਇ ਨ ਖਾਇ ॥੩॥
“The legacy of the sandalwood is in its scent. The legacy of the mortal is achievable while they breathe. When the breathing ceases then the (mortal’s) value dissipates. After the breathing departs no value remains.”
-Guru Granth, 1256.
To simplify the above, the mortal’s value is innately associated with their living-breathing life. What we do with our lives produces a consecutive legacy. This legacy is the key to immortality insofar as it inspires and influences successive generations after we are long gone. Once we die we cannot reacquire our life. There is neither any glorious return or promised ressurection in some futuristic paradise which will allow us second chances to make good on our failures in round one. After the breathing departs no value remains. If we squander our only opportunity in the here and now then there is only erasure and oblivion in the hereafter.
But at the same time the Guru Granth also forewarns that realistically speaking only a few individuals awaken to and accept this reality.
ਕੂਪੁ ਭਰਿਓ ਜੈਸੇ ਦਾਦਿਰਾ ਕਛੁ ਦੇਸੁ ਬਿਦੇਸੁ ਨ ਬੂਝ ॥
ਐਸੇ ਮੇਰਾ ਮਨੁ ਬਿਖਿਆ ਬਿਮੋਹਿਆ ਕਛੁ ਆਰਾ ਪਾਰੁ ਨ ਸੂਝ ॥੧॥
“The frogs in the deep wells know next to nothing of countries and lands; similarly my mind, seeped in vice, knows nothing of this world and the hereafter.”
-Guru Granth, 342.
These few and proud are recruited and formed through the discipline accompanying the initiation of the dual-edged blade whose ideological edifices were established by Guru Nanak. The myopia of a frog is supplanted with the expansive vision of an intellectually astute human being who wars against themselves and the degenerate world at large.
Sacrifice:
What then empowers the Sikh to stake their life in the war of life and liberty? What impels them to bequeath this world a laudable legacy?
ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਜੀਵੈ ਮਰੈ ਪਰਵਾਣੁ ॥ ਆਰਜਾ ਨ ਛੀਜੈ ਸਬਦੁ ਪਛਾਣੁ ॥
“The Gurmukh lives to make their death fruitful. Their life is not wasted because they recognize the validity of (their Guru’s) divine words (and the wisdom within).”
-Guru Granth, 125.
How, put simply, can one live to make their death fruitful i.e. cement their legacy? The way:
ਪ੍ਰਭ ਮਿਲਣੈ ਕੀ ਏਹ ਨੀਸਾਣੀ ॥ ਮਨਿ ਇਕੋ ਸਚਾ ਹੁਕਮੁ ਪਛਾਣੀ ॥ ਸਹਜਿ ਸੰਤੋਖਿ ਸਦਾ ਤ੍ਰਿਪਤਾਸੇ ਅਨਦੁ ਖਸਮ ਕੈ ਭਾਣੈ ਜੀਉ ॥੩॥
“Here is how to recognize those who are emulations of their Maker: their minds acknowledge the one true reality. They remain content and at peace, availing themselves of whatever event comes along, and remain accepting of their Master’s will.”
-Guru Granth, 106.
The path to immortality demands a sacrifice of one’s innate egotism. Once this seemingly insurmountable foe is vanquished then the way forward is revealed. One sheds the burden of their expectations of ease from life and shoulders the responsibilities of self-autonomy and virtue. This sacrifice of one’s own internal victim renders them a target for the promulgators of worldly unholiness,
ਨਾਨਕ ਦੁਨੀਆ ਕੈਸੀ ਹੋਈ ॥ ਸਾਲਕੁ ਮਿਤੁ ਨ ਰਹਿਓ ਕੋਈ ॥ ਭਾਈ ਬੰਧੀ ਹੇਤੁ ਚੁਕਾਇਆ ॥ ਦੁਨੀਆ ਕਾਰਣਿ ਦੀਨੁ ਗਵਾਇਆ ॥੫॥
“Nanak, witness what this world has become. No mentor or friend remains steadfast forever and even brother slays brother. For the sake of appeasing such a world we forfeit our faith and righteousness.”
-Guru Granth, 1410.
Yet the now liberated individual does not refrain from defending themselves when need be as the pleasures of their newfound liberty ordain death to be a grander alternative than living under imposition from another.
ਜਉ ਲਉ ਪੋਟ ਉਠਾਈ ਚਲਿਅਉ ਤਉ ਲਉ ਡਾਨ ਭਰੇ ॥ ਪੋਟ ਡਾਰਿ ਗੁਰੁ ਪੂਰਾ ਮਿਲਿਆ ਤਉ ਨਾਨਕ ਨਿਰਭਏ ॥੪॥੧॥੧੫੯॥
“They who carry the burden (of imposition) continue to suffer and erode under their load. But if they hurl it away after acknowledging the true divine wisdom then Nanak says they become truly fearless.”
-Guru Granth, 214.
The ability to shed all internal burdens and resist all external burdens renders one truly fearless and this is the state of perfection which all Sikh martyrs enjoyed and what impelled them to resist the fanatical Hindu-Islamist combine seeking to dismantle the House of Nanak. This pursuit of perfection made them the virtuous and upstanding Khalsa of yore who we have come to lionize for their acceptance of death.
Query:
The question for us today is that will we shed our burdens and resist the imposition being heaped on us by a fast unravelling society? Or will we succumb and refrain from stiffening our spines?
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