Guardian of human rights
In the 239 years of leadership provided by the Sikh Gurus in human form, many powerful lessons have been left for the Sikhs and for other peoples of the world to learn from. Beginning in 1469, with the birth of their founder, Guru Nanak until the demise of the tenth master Guru Gobind Singh’s in 1708, the history of the Sikh Gurus is packed full of numerous events, incidents, occurrences, celebrations, confrontations, unions, etc some of which give a clear message and direction to the interested reader. These events in history are an example for the followers of the Gurus to learn from; to gain spiritual guidance and insight from; and to mould ones life to the path of dharma or righteousness.
The Sikh religion appears to be somewhat unusual in the way that it was created. Most other world religions have had a short span of birth of perhaps 40 to 70 years. But Sikhi took a much longer period in its creation phase. Ten human leaders were needed to nurture it into a fully fledged world religion. Guru Nanak laid down the foundations of this faith and each subsequent Guru added to and reinforced the work done by his predecessors. In this way the light of Nanak was carried by 9 other souls until the Guruship was handed over to the Guru Granth Sahib in 1708 by the last human master.
The central message of Guru Nanak is that of one God – Ek Onkar. The one God is the creator, sustainer and destroyer of all; all are equal before Him. The second message is one of equality of all human beings; to see God in all and hence to respect every person in the same way irrespective of their gender, race, caste, social status, nationality, ethnicity, class, ability, level of talent, etc. The third message is to live the life of a householder (gristi) – to accept the responsibility of family and community life; to meditate on God while carrying out ones duty to ones family and to society; to serve and support the community; and to offer security to all within society.
In this regard, the ninth Nanak, Guru Tegh Bahadar provides a very valuable lesson for the Sikhs and for the other peoples of the world relating to the security and protection of others within a society. It is very common for communities to protect their own members. The evidence for this, litter the history of mankind. In protecting their own, they sometime decimate others; when one becomes self-centred on ones “own people” or ones “own religion”, or ones “own community”; this can become the beginning of serious problems.
Guru Arjan, the fifth Nanak tells us:
| ਝਕ ਪਿਤਾ ਝਕਸ ਕੇ ਹਮ ਬਾਰਿਕ ਤੂ ਮੇਰਾ ਗਰ ਹਾਈ ॥ |
| Ėk piṯĝ ėkas kė ham bĝrik ṯū mėrĝ gur hĝī. |
| The One God is our father; we are the children of the One God. You are our Guru. |
There is only one God; he is the father of all; we are all His children. So it is important that we treat every other human being as an equal and as a brother or sister; a father or mother; a daughter or son depending on their age relative to ours. If we fail to do so, we have turned our face away from the Guru – we cannot be called Gurmukh – one who is with the Guru; who listens to the wise and we will be known as Manmukh or self-centred or ego-centric.
Conflicts between communities
Many wars have been fought between nations either to protect ones own nation or to conquer other nations. In most of these wars one nation would fight against its neighbour to gain dominance, national pride, territory, wealth or other material gain. Most wars are as a result of discrimination and victimisation on the part of the aggressor against its opposite party. When a group considers its neighbour lowly or inferior; the result may be a war.
History provides plenty of evidence of wars and conflicts between different nations, religious groups, races, ethnic groups, tribes, creeds, etc. During the two World Wars in the last century, Germany fought against France and its other neighbours to establish its superiority; recently we have seen the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Rwanda, Sudan, etc. Many hundreds of millions have died in wars in the last century.
Even today, we have many conflicts in the world. In the Middle-East, we conflict between different religious groups within Islam; also, we conflicts between Muslims and non-Muslims due to jihads; wars in other parts between different ethnic groups within the same race. Prior to this we had the Crusades of Christian Europe against non-Christians; wars between different groups of Christians; the Thrity Years War in Europe; Sino-Japanese Wars between China and Japan, etc. Many millions have died in these wars; but the world continues in its merry way. We read about these conflicts in our newspapers daily. No one takes any notices. We turn the page and continue to read the next item.
Just think of the misery that it brings to the familis who is involved in these conflicts! The pain; the loss; the hurt that these evil actions can cause.
Respect and sacrifice
Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Nanak took it upon himself to teach the world an important lesson in responsibility and in sacrifice. He showed the world how one should care for their neighbour. In 1675 when the Kashmiri Pandits came to ask him for his help to protect their community from annihilation by the Mughal Empire; they did not realise that they were witnessing a world first. Guru ji was a Sikh while the Kashmiri Pandits were high caste Hindus.
Sikhism contrast with Hinduism in several major aspects; for example, Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru opposed the wearing of the Janeuo – a sacred thread which must be worn by all high class Hindus; the Sikh Guru spoke against the Hindu ritual of Sati; meaningless fasting on special holy days; against pilgrimage to holy sites like the river Ganges, etc.
However, these differences did not have any relevance when it came to the Guru’s sense of responsibility. It was clear to the Guru that the Pandits’ livelihood was at stake; if they did not get any help, their community would suffer mass forced conversion to Islam. There were only two choices: either to offer to help them or to ignore their plight.
From 1665 when Guru ji became ninth master, Sikhism had flourished in northern India and the name of the Guru was known throughout most of India. The Guru had travelled to the East as far as present-day Bangladesh to spread the word of Nanak. So by 1675, the Guru was a well known figure in Northern India. The Guru chose to shock the nation and awaken the masses. He knew that the Mughal invaders could only be defeated by awakening the whole of the nation; they could only be defeated by a concerted effort by all the communities of India.
And so on 24 November 1675 at Chandni Chowk, Delhi, India, the Guru become a martyr to protect the honour of the Kashmiri Pandits and their right to freely practise their religion. The Guru’s precious life was given so that a clear message was sent to the Mughal leaders. The right of people to practise their religion freely was a right that would be protected at any cost. This action by the Guru shook the nation as it showed the commitment of their spiritual leaders to stand by their high principles against extreme odds. No intimidation by the Mughal leaders would bring disunity among the spiritual leaders of the nation.
The Guru gave his life so that it would awaken the nation to the need to unite against a common enemy. The sacrifice of the Guru was the beginning of the end of the Mughal Empire. The Guru by his action established a clear message for the Sikhs – to stand firm to protect the rights of the weak or needy at any cost.
See also
