Guru Arjan

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Guru Arjan Dev

(1563 to 1606)
Arjandevjee.jpg
Full Name : Arjan Dev
Personal Details
Birth : Sunday May 2 1563
Guruship : Saturday 16 September 1581
Joti Jot : Monday June 16 1606)
Family
Parents : Guru Ram Das and Bibi Bhani
Brother/Sisters : Baba Prithi Chand ji, Baba Mahan Dev Ji
Spouse : Mata Ganga
Children : Sons - Guru Hargobind
Other Details
Bani in GGS: {{{Bani in GGS}}}
Other Info: Sukhmani Sahib, 2218 hymns, installed Adi Granth, Built the Golden Temple

Guru Arjan Dev Ji (Gurmukhi: ਗ੝ਰੂ ਅਰਜ੝ਨ ਦੇਵ) (Sunday May 2 1563 - Monday June 16 1606) was the fifth of the Ten Gurus of Sikhism and became Guru on 16 September 1581 following in the footsteps of Guru Ram Das ji. Before Guru Ji died, he nominated Guru Hargobind Ji, his son as the next Guru of the Sikhs.The following is a summary of the main highlights of Guru Ji's life:

  1. Made a huge contribution in the number of hymns & finalisation of the Guru Granth Sahib.
  2. Guru Ji contributed a total of 2218 hymns to the Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
  3. Author of Sukhmani Sahib Bani – Prayer for Peace
  4. Compiled and installed for the first time the holy Sikh Book, which at this stage is called Adi Granth, a major achievement.
  5. Built the Golden Temple
  6. Developed Amritsar as a Centre of Excellence.
  7. Enhanced the Structure of Sikh Society by introducing the Masund system
  8. First Sikh Guru to be martyred. See Martyrdom of Guru Arjan

Hymn by Guru Arjan Dev from the Sukhmani Sahib- SGGS from page 262[1]

  • Meditate, meditate, meditate peace is obtained, Worry and anguish is expelled from the body.
  • Remembering God, you’re not reborn. Remembering God, the fear of death is dispelled.
  • Remembering God, death is eliminated. Remembering God, your enemies are repelled.
  • Remembering God, no obstacles are met. Remembering God, night and day you’re fully awake.
  • Remembering God, fear cannot touch you. Remembering God, you don’t suffer with sorrow.
  • Remembrance of God, in the Company of Saints. All treasures, O Nanak, are by Lord’s Blessing. ||2||

Introduction

Baba Buddha places a tikka (a mark of distinction) on the forehead of Guru Arjan Dev, pronouncing him the fifth Guru. Guru Ram Das is seated on the right. From an old fresco in Gurdwara Ramsar Sahib in Amritsar.


Guru Arjan Dev Ji, the fifth Guru of the Sikhs, was the embodiment of Godly devotion, Selfless Service and Universal Love. He was the treasure of celestial knowledge and spiritual excellence. He substantially contributed towards the welfare of the society. He stood steadfastly for the principles he believed in, sacrificed his own life, and attained a unique and unparalleled martyrdom in the history of mankind.

Guru Arjan Dev Ji was born on April 15, 1563, in the house of Guru Ram Das, the fourth Guru. He was the youngest of the three sons of the Guru Ram Das Ji. The eldest son, Prithi Chand was very astute in social and worldly affairs. He managed all the affairs of the Guru’s household. He administered the running of the langar (communal kitchen), most diligently. He had realized, before installed as Guru, that it was the service, not the lineage, which had bestowed Guruship on the previous preceptors, Guru Angad and Guru Amar Das. This in view he indulged in the service most ardently. But his emotive intentions were quite perceptible to the father, Guru Ram Das Ji.

The second son, Mahadeve was captivated with reclusive tendencies. He wanted to lead the life of an ascetic. His attitude, full of fierce towards the congregants, was contrary to the modesty of the Guru’s teachings. Moreover, he himself displayed no inclination for the acceptance of the Guruship.

Guru Ram Das envisioned heavenly qualities in his youngest son Arjan. From the very childhood he found him imbued with the Name, and immersed in tranquillity. The Guruship was destined to be bestowed upon Guru Arjan; baby Arjan one day crawled up on the Divine throne of his maternal grandfather, Guru Amar Das the third Guru, and sat there comfortably. The Guru smiled and prophesied, “Maternal Grandson will ship the Name across.”

The elder brother, Prithi Chand, suspecting the consequence of the above prophecy, indulged in numerous means to disrupt the life of Guru Arjan but failed. Even though Guru Arjan was consecrated as the fifth Guru by his father himself, before he left for his heavenly abode, he showed no resentment to his elder brother and inundated him with reverence and honour.

Guru Arjan Dev Ji was a born apostle of peace. Although he ascended the throne of Guru Nanak at a young age of 18, he was far more advanced in wisdom and angelic quality. The letters he wrote to his father from Lahore, not then even a teen-aged boy, stand testimony to the fact (Majh M.5 G.G.S. Page 96). (He was sent there to attend a wedding. Due to the cunning manipulations of his elder brother, Prithi Chand, he was detained there unjustifiably for a long time).

The Basics of the new religion had been defined by Baba Nanak, and the groundwork was carried out by three of his successors. Guru Arjan Dev Ji set upon a mission of putting it on a solid footing. As ordained by his predecessors, Guru Nanak through Guru Ram Das Ji, he took the task of the completion of the place where his father had constructed a clay tank of Nectar. In the true spirit of “I am neither Hindu, nor Muslim...” Guru Arjan Dev Ji invited Mian Mir, a Muslim Saint from Lahore to lay the cornerstone of the foundation of the Harmandar, the present Golden Temple. The doors on all four sides of the building signified its acceptance of all the four castes and every Religion. Contrary to the requests of the congregation, the seat of the edifice was kept much below the surrounding area; as the water flows downward so would the seekers of God’s blessings. Along with God’s House came the existence of the City of Amritsar with all its reverence, amenities, and gaiety.

The preparation of the Holy Book is the most valuable achievement of Guru Arjan Dev Ji. With three things in his mind he initiated the compilation of the Holy Book, the present Guru Granth Sahib. The Hymns revealed through the first four Gurus were getting amalgamated and distorted by a few impostors. He wanted to preserve the original treasure. In the second place he wanted to bestow the Panth with an ever-lasting guiding light, a physical and spiritual phenomenon.

And most of all he wanted to establish the credibility of the Sikh Religion as a casteless and secular society. Side by side the Hymns of Sikh Gurus, he blended the Holy Book with the celestial utterances of Sheikh Farid and Bhagat Kabir, Bhagat Ravi Das, Dhanna Namdev, Ramannand, Jai Dev, Trilochan, Beni, Pipa, Surdas, etc. All of whom belong to different Beliefs, Sects, and Castes, both high and low.

The poetic revelations of Guru Arjan are of the greatest aesthetic calibre. More than half of the Guru Granth Sahib is constituted of his own holy renderings. The Granth Sahib is not only a collection of the revelations but also it throws considerable light on the contemporary political and social life; the physical being and spiritual awareness are fused into one. Among his other equally important accomplishments we can add the creation of new cities at Kartarpur, Tarn Taran with its magnanimous Tank of Salvation, and the construction of Baoli at Lahore.

Guru Ram Das introduced the institution of Masands (representative of the Gurus at various places). Guru Arjan Dev Ji added to it the principle of Tenth of individual income payable for the Guru’s Langar (Common Kitchen) and for other acts of benevolence of the poor. In Guru Angad's days the professional bards, Satta and Balwand by name, who sang the hymns at the Guru’s Darbar had started to believe that their excellence as musicians and singers was responsible for their Guru's popularity. With his love for music and expertise in the Ragas, Guru Arjan Dev Ji introduced the tradition of singing by the congregants themselves to avoid such egoism.

During his incumbency the Punjab was very badly effected with a famine. By dint of his influence he gained Mughal Emperor Akbar’s consent to eliminate land revenue, to some extent, for that year. But Jeth Sudhi 4 Smt. 1663 corresponding to May 30, 1606 A.D. is the most momentous date in the Sikh chronology. Mughal Emperor Akbar had already been convinced of the piety of the Sikh Gurus. During one of his campaigns he had come to Goindwal and partook of the Langar; sitting on the floor he ate coarse meal, and paid his obeisance to Guru Amar Das. A Muslim Pir, the Saint, Mian Mir of Lahore had great affinity with the Guru’s domain. The Pir was immensely revered by Akbar. Consequently, the charges levelled against Guru Arjan in the Akbar’s Court by a few impostors (Prithi Chand and his son Meharban) and some jealous Hindu Priests (Brahmins), were totally disregarded. The complainants were virtually thrown out of the King’s court.

Immediately after the death of Akbar, the Muslim clergy captured the thought of Prince Saleem and helped him to regain the throne as Emperor Jahangir. He was assisted with the understanding that he would reinstate the Shariyat (Orthodox Muslim Law) in the country. Akbar’s grandson, Khusro was a pious man and was as liberal as his grandfather. Akbar had designated him next in line to head the kingdom. But the domination of Muslim clergy made him to run for his life. While passing through Punjab he visited Guru Arjan Dev Ji at Tarn Taran and sought his blessings.

The House of Baba Nanak had gained enormous popularity under the guiding light of Guru Arjan Dev Ji. Both Hindu and Muslim populace flocked to the Guru’s house in equal intensity to pay their homage. To the dismay of Orthodox Muslims, Guru Arjan Dev Ji’s popularity increased to their sore point. It was heightened by the malicious manipulations of Chandu Shah, Hindu Revenue Official at the Provincial Court of the Emperor at Lahore. He had once offered his daughter in marriage to Guru Arjan Dev Ji’s only son, Hargobind, that offer was not accepted.

Sheikh Ahmad Sarhindi was very much revered by Muslims. He presented himself to be the Prophet of the second millennium; the first millennium belonging to Prophet Muhammad. He asserted that his status was higher than the Sikh Gurus. This was emphatically rejected by Guru Arjan Dev Ji. Sheikh Ahmad had great influence on Jehangir. Citing the Guru’s blessings bestowed upon Prince Khusro he instigated the Emperor against Guru Arjan Dev Ji. Jehangir wrote in his biography, “ A Hindu named Arjan lived at Goindwal...simple minded Hindus and ignorant and foolish Muslims have been persuaded to adopt his ways... this business (shop) has been flourishing for three generations. For long time it had been in my mind to put a stop to this affair or to bring him into the fold of Islam...”


Khusro was ‘captured and blinded in punishment’. Thereafter ‘Jehangir summoned Guru Arjan Dev Ji to Lahore’. With preconceived ideas, Jehangir showed dissatisfaction with the Guru’s explanation of Khusro’s shelter. He labelled the Guru as a party to rebellion and ‘wanted to punish him with death’. But on the recommendation of Pir Mian Mir he commuted it by a fine of two lakh rupees’ plus ‘an order to erase a few verses’ from the Granth Sahib. Guru Arjan Dev Ji refused to accept. The Sikhs of Lahore wanted to pay off the fine but the Guru desisted them.


The Guru was imprisoned and excessively tortured. His body was exposed in the scorching heat of May-June sun. He was made to sit on the red-hot sand, and boiling hot water was poured on his naked body. Pir Mian Mir approached him and offered to demolish the whole city of Lahore with his ecclesiastic power in punishment but the Guru refrained him to take such an action; as, he believed in, “thine doings seem sweet unto me, Nanak craves for the wealth of God’s name.” (Rag Asa M.5 P.394).


And on this day of May 30, 1606, he enveloped his blistering body in the cool waves of the River Ravi and journeyed to his heavenly abode. Bhai Gurdas, a contemporary of Guru Arjan Dev Ji and the pioneering scribe of Guru Granth Sahib, summed up:

“Like a rain-bird, thirsting only for a drop of rain and no other water, Guru Arjan Dev Ji abandoned all worldly opportunities offered to him and desired but an abiding repose in the love and will of God. So deeply was he absorbed in the undisturbed and unbroken vision of the Lord, that his enlightened and elevated spirit conquered all sorrow and pain and his soul rested peacefully in the eternal embrace of God’s love. I am a sacrifice unto Guru Arjan Dev Ji, the Perfect one.”


“The Lord of man and beast is working in all; His presence is scattered everywhere; There is none else to be seen. One talks, another listens; God is in both. He is the Unity and Himself the Diversity.” (Sukhmani XX11.1)


“In the company of saints man learns how to turn enemies into friends, As he becomes completely free from evil, And bears malice to none. In the company of the good, there is no swerving from the path, No looking down upon anybody as evil. Man sees all round him the Lord of Supreme Joy, And freeing himself from the feverish sense of self, Abandons all pride. Such is the efficacy of fellowship with a holy man, whose greatness is known only to the Lord: The servant of the ideal is akin to his Master.” (Sukhmani V11.3)


“He is a prince among men Who has effaced his pride in the company of the good, He who deems himself as of the lowly, Shall be esteemed as the highest of the high. He who lowers his mind to the dust of all men’s feet, Sees the Name of God enshrined in every heart.” (Sukhmani 111.6)

Above based on article by: Pritpal Singh Bindra, Author & Columnist Winner: Akali Phoola Singh Book Award ‘98

See Also

External links

eBooks:

Audio



Preceded by:
Guru Ram Das
(October 9 1534 - 16 September 1581)
Guru Arjan Followed by:
Guru Hargobind
(19 June 1595 - 03 March 1644)


These are the Ten Gurus of Sikhism

Guru Nanak | Guru Angad Dev | Guru Amar Das | Guru Ram Das | Guru Arjan | Guru Hargobind | Guru Har Rai | Guru Har Krishan | Guru Teg Bahadur | Guru Gobind Singh