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While in prison, before his execution
at Lahore, Guru Arjun had sent a message
to his son, Guru Hargobind, then aged
only eleven, that he should henceforth
maintain an army. At the very time of
his installation as Guru, he insisted
that he should wear two swords, one
representing his spiritual leadership
and the other his temporal and political
leadership. Soon after it, he constructed
in front of the Amritsar temple, another
building called the Akal Takht (God's
throne) as the seat of temporal power.
This place continues to the present
day as the centre of every sociopolitical
deliberation and power of the community.
There, like the two swords he wore,
he raised aloft two flags representing
the two aspects of his activities. He
told his followers, "My rosary
shall be my swordbelt and on my turban
I shall wear the emblem of royalty."
The Sikhs were already engaged in the
trade of horses and the Guru advised
every Sikh to keep a sword and maintain
a horse, wherever possible. He started
recruiting a regular army. He had a
personal bodyguard of 57 horsemen and
kept 700 horses, 60 gunmen and 500 infantry
men. Thus a state within a state, started
and developed by the earlier Gurus,
was consolidated by him. When this news
reached the Emperor, he demanded from
the Guru the fine imposed on his father.
The Guru was imprisoned in the Gwalior
fort along with other political prisoners
of high status. Later he was released.
 There
is an important incident which brings
out the religious policy of the Gurus.
One Ram Das, a Maharashtra saint, met
Guru Hargobind. He questioned him as
to how he reconciled his being a successor
to the spiritual seat of Guru Nanak
with his living as a soldier, maintaining
an army and calling himself a true Emperor.
The Guru replied that Guru Nanak had
given up mammon (greed for money). He
had not renounced the world, and that
the sword was for the double purpose
of protecting the poor and destroying
the tyrant. These words of the Guru
most clearly bring out the religious
and spiritual philosophy of Sikh mysticism,
its originality and its break with the
past. Persons brought up in the tradition
of old beliefs and ideas of dichotomy
between the religious and the temporal
life find it difficult to understand
and grasp the significance of the Guru's
system. The problem of comprehension
that confronted saint Ram Das was the
same as arose with the Nath Yogis in
their dialogue with Guru Nanak. It arises
even now with some of our present-day
academicians. But, for the Sikh mystic,
participation in life is spiritually
essential. Consequently, the defence
of moral life, reaction and responses
to challenges from the environment form
an integral part of the Gurus' mystic
system. The reply of Guru Hargobind
is an unambiguous clarification of the
system of Guru Nanak as understood by
the Gurus themselves. This also explains
the various empirical steps taken by
the first five Gurus in order to develop
their religious system and organise
the Sikhs in the way they did. Saint
Ram Das's meeting with the Guru had
a great historical consequence, for
he was so impressed by the Guru's thesis
that he later trained Shivaji, the great
Maratha leader, in the same manner.
Guru Hargobind sponsored the cause
of the downtrodden Hindus and provided
leadership to the oppressed people of
Punjab. In this struggle, he fought
six battles with the Mughals in the
plains of the Punjab. People came to
him and joined his forces because they
felt that no one else had the power
to stand against the Emperor. In one
of these battles he defeated 7,000 Mughal
soldiers. Finally, he settled at Kiratpur.
His reputation as a military leader
spread and ambassadors of the hill Rajas
waited upon him.
The organisation of the Sikhs into
a separate socio-religious group with
political implications had started from
the time of the very first Guru. This
close and integral combination of the
temporal and the spiritual life was
a thesis which was foreign to the Indian
tradition. No wonder that some of the
people around the Sixth Guru, including
his own followers, could not understand
the spiritual character of these military
developments. This explains two points.
First, that the transformation of the
community into a spirituo- political
organisation could only be gradual,
because the Gurus had to carry the people
with them. Unfortunately, they had all
been conditioned by the old traditions.
The full understanding and acceptance
of the new thesis could only be slow.
The Gurus, naturally, had to wait till
their followers fully realised the implications
of the new doctrine and owned its responsibilities.
Secondly, it also confirms the view
that the object was to organise a mission
and a movement in the empirical world
and not merely to deliver a message
and embody it in a scripture or a mythical
tale. The scriptural thesis had to be
lived among the people and not in the
seclusion of a monastery for the training
of a few. The aim was to uplift everyone
irrespective of caste and creed and
to show that each one, howsoever placed,
could tread the spiritual path. This
choice was open to everyone and the
Guru was there to organise and lead
the movement. Hence, the progress could
only be gradual both in the education
of the people and in the pace of the
movement. The latter could not outstrip
the former. The task was stupendous.
For, it had to take place in the face
of the understandable opposition of
one of the greatest empires of all times.
One incident is very significant
of the socio-political climate in the
Guru's camp. During a hunt being carried
out by the Imperial party in a jungle,
the Sikhs also entered the same area
in pursuit of game. The Sikhs got hold
of a falcon, which was claimed by the
official party. A clash took place and
the Imperial forces were beaten off.
But, what is important is the approval
of the Sikhs who stressed, "you
are talking of the return of the baz
(falcon), we are after your tag (crown)."
It clearly shows the independence of
political status claimed by the Guru
and his Sikhs.
The number and areas of sub-centres
of preachings were extended. The Guru
himself controlled both the religious
centres and the temporal centre at Amritsar.
The Guru, thereby, only brought out
visibly and symbolically what, in view
of the steps that had already been taken
by the earlier Gurus, was inherent in
the integrated spiritual thesis of Guru
Nanak. In fact secure and clear foundations
had already been laid by him. While
the Gurus, and those engaged in these
developments, were fully aware of their
responsibility to maintain the original
spiritual purity of the religion and
the entire movement, to some outsiders,
including historians conditioned and
committed to different doctrines and
systems of religion and polity, the
Sixth Guru s work has seemed to show
a departure from the original growth.
But, a departure, as we have seen, it
was not.
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encyclopedia of Sikhism. " |
