WHY SIKHS HAVE TEN GURUS PARTIII

WHY DO SIKHS HAVE TEN GURUS

WHY THERE WAS NO WOMAN GURU

GURU TEGH BAHADUR SAHIB (1621- 1675) 

Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib was the youngest child of Guru Har Gobind Sahib. When it was time for Guru Har Gobind Sahib to pass on the Guruship, He did not choose His son, Sri Tegh Bahadur Ji (Tyag Mal Ji at birth), He rather chose His grandson, Sri Har Rai Ji who was much younger than his uncle Tegh Bahadur Ji. Guru Har Gobind Sahib had maintained at the time that Sri Tegh Bahadur Ji was not ready for Guruship just yet. 

GURUSHIP
Shortly before Guru Har Krishan Sahib left this mortal world in Delhi, He had a severe attack of small-pox and was running a very high fever. The attack of small pox was the result of Him serving the sick in Delhi. He quickly told His Sikhs that His successor was His grandfather at Bakala, a small town near Amritsar. So, He asked some Sikhs to take the ceremonial articles and anoint the next Guru. It was April of 1664. The only living grandfather of Guru Har Krishan Sahib was Sri Tegh Bahadur Sahib, the youngest son of Guru Har Gobind Sahib who lived in Bakala. So, clearly, Guru Har Krishan Sahib had decided to pass on the Guruship to Sri Tegh Bahadur Sahib.

The Sikhs could not leave for Bakala right away as they had to perform the last rites with full respect for Guru Har Krishan Sahib. In the meantime the news of Guru Har Krishan Sahib leaving this mortal world reached Bakala where 22 aspirants began to lay their claim to Guruship. Each claimed to be the Ninth Guru. Such claims never bothered Sri Tegh Bahadur Sahib who was completely detached from worldly affairs. He lived a very secluded and peaceful life. Dhirmal, the elder brother of Guru Har Rai Sahib, the Seventh Guru, was the leading candidate. The biggest support in his favour was the fact that he possessed the original hand-written edition of Guru Granth Sahib. He also had some other valuables which belonged to his grandfather, Guru Har Gobind Sahib. Remember, Guru Har Gobind Sahib had bypassed Dhirmal Ji and had passed on the Guruship to Sri Har Rai Sahib. Clearly, Guru Har Gobind Sahib had not found Dhirmal Ji worthy of Guruship as he was highly engrossed in Maya and did not possess the high moral qualities for Guruship. So, before the Sikhs from Delhi reached Bakala to anoint Sri Tegh Bahadur Sahib for Guruship, there was a complete chaos in Bakala about Guruship. Many Sikhs from far and near who came to have a holy sight of the Guru in Bakala became highly disappointed as no one knew who the real Guru was.

The honour of discovering the real Guru was to go to Bhai Makhan Shah Lubana, an international trader, who was a highly devoted Sikh of the House of Guru Nanak Sahib. He made some good money from his most recent oversees trade and had decided to offer 500 gold coins to the then Guru of Guru Nanak Sahib’s House. On reaching Punjab, when he learnt that the next Guru was in Bakala, he arrived there but was highly surprised to find that here were not just one or two claimants, but 22 of them. So, he did not know whom to offer of the pledged gold coins. Finally he decided to offer 2 coins to each of the 22 claimants each of whom became very happy. This behaviour of each of the claimants made Makhan Shah Ji very certain that none of those 22 claimants was the real Guru because Makhan Shah Ji had full faith in Guru Nanak’s House and he was sure that the real Guru would have known that Makhan Shah had pledged not just 2, but 500 gold coins to offer. So, he was still looking for the real Guru. On further inquiry, he learnt that there was another saint named Tegh Bahadur who was living a secluded life. Makhan Shah decided to pay him respects too. As Makhan Shah offered 2 gold coins to Sri Tegh Bahadur Sahib, the latter reminded the former about his commitment of 500 coins. On hearing this, Makhan Shah Ji became wild with joy of finding the Real Guru.

He went on the roof of the house and began to shout in a loud voice that he had found the real Guru. On hearing his announcement, a large number of people gathered at Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib’s house where Makhan Shah Ji explained his reasoning for the announcement. All the 22 claimants felt highly ashamed and began to flee fearing the wrath of the people. Dhirmal also prepared to leave the Village but not before he had looted all the valuables and cash belonging to Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib to which Guru Sahib offered no resistance at all.. Dhirmal’s Masand, Sheehan, even fired at Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib with the intent to kill Him, but he missed Guru Sahib. When Makhan Shah came to know about it, he chased the fleeing Dhirmal with his men and recovered all the valuables and the holy Guru Granth Sahib from his possession, and took everything to Guru Sahib. However, Guru Sahib returned everything along with Guru Granth Sahib to Dhirmal.

NOTE: One thing must be made clear here that when Guru Sahib reminded Makhan Shah Ji of his commitment of 500 gold coins, it was not because Guru Sahib needed the money or He had any attachment to Maya; it was simply to clarify that Guru Har Krishan Sahib had passes on the torch of Guru Nanak’s Light to Sri Tegh Bahadur Sahib. Had Guru Sahib had any attachment to Maya, He would not have returned all the valuables to Dhirmal.

A few days later, the Sikh Sangat from Delhi reached Bakala and performed the ceremony to anoint Guru Sahib. Soon after the ceremony, Guru Sahib paid a visit to Sri Darbar Sahib, Amritsar where He was not welcome by the caretakers of Harmandir Sahib who feared that Guru Sahib would take the control of Harmandir Sahib from them whereby they would lose a big source of income. Guru Sahib then went to Kiratpur where the last three Guru Sahiban had lived for a long time. The following year, Guru Sahib purchased a piece of land from the Hindu Raja, Deep Chand of Kehloor and founded the present town of Anandpur Sahib.

TRAVELS

Aurangzeb had his formal coronation ceremony in July 1658 and became the emperor of India. In March 1659 he promulgated an order that no new Hindu temple would be allowed to be built, but the existing temples would be allowed to stay. Later he announced that even the old temples could not be repaired which meant that eventually all Hindu temples would cease to exist. Some of the famous temples were demolished against his own policy. This was particularly true in eastern states of Assam, Bengal, Orissa and Bihar. There used to be an octroi tax on every person - Hindu or Muslim. Aurangzeb eliminated the tax on Muslims but Hindus continued to pay. A few years later Aurangzeb ordered the forcible conversion of Hindus into Islam. Due to this forcible conversion and other highly discriminatory policies of the Emperor, the Hindus in the Country began to feel demoralized and unsafe. It was very important to provide moral support to them. So, in early 1666 Guru Sahib left Anandpur for Assam and started His travels along the River Ganga (Ganges) visiting famous Hindu centres and providing moral support to the suffering people.. There were many dedicated followers of Guru Nanak Sahib in every city visited by Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib. So, Guru Sahib was given a warm welcome wherever He went, and people came in droves to have His holy sight. They felt a great comfort by Guru Sahib’s visit and their morale got a big boost. Guru Sahib spent quite some time in north-eastern India and returned to Anandpur Sahib in early 1670. Guru Sahib maintained Anandpur Sahib as His main centre and spent the next few years enlightening people in Punjab.

MARTYRDOM

Even though Aurangzeb had ordered conversion of Hindus to Islam all over the Country, his major thrust was on Kashmir where the Pundits were highly knowledgeable about Hinduism and had a great influence on the Hindu masses. A contemporary of Guru Nanak Sahib, Pundit Braham Dass was a highly knowledgeable about Hindu granths and was so conceited of his knowledge that he was known to carry two mule-loads of books with him all the time wherever he went. No one could ever beat Braham Dass in any debate. When Guru Nanak Sahib visited Kashmir, Braham Dass came to see Guru Sahib to impress Him too with His knowledge. But not only Braham Dass badly failed in his mission, he also had to bow to Guru Sahib for His deep Divine Knowledge. Braham Dass had no defence against Guru Sahib’s question and explanations. He was fully convinced by Guru Sahib’s logic and he dumped his books to become a devout Sikh.

Pundit Kirpa Ram was a descendent of Pundit Braham Dass and was a devotee of the House of Guru Nanak. When Aurangzeb’s atrocities crossed all limits, the Kashmiri Pundits panicked and came to Kirpa Ram for some solution to the grave problem facing them. Kirpa Ram knew about the generosity of Guru Nanak’s House and how the Gurus had always helped the needy and the weak as their Dharma. He quickly decided to go to Anandpur to seek the help of the protector of righteousness - Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib. A small contingent of the Kashmiri Pundits arrived in Anandpur Sahib under the leadership of Pundit Kirpa Ram in early 1675.

After listening to the plight of the Kashmiri Pundits due to the forcible conversion of Hindus into Islam on the orders of Aurangzeb, Guru Sahib pondered for a while to find an effective solution to the problem. It did not take Him long to decide that He needed to give His sacrifice to defend the religious freedom of the Hindus. He told the Pundits that they go back and tell Aurangzeb that if he was able to convert (Guru) Tegh Bahadur (Sahib) to Islam, all Hindus will convert. So, Aurangzeb needed only to focus on the conversion of the Ninth Guru and did not have to persecute any individual Hindu. The Pundits thanked Guru Sahib and left happily. They delivered Guru Sahib’s message to Aurangzeb who became very happy because not only it would be easier to deal with one person but it would also provide him an opportunity to weaken the morale of the Sikhs whom he always thought to be a big threat to his power.

After the Pundits had left, Guru Sahib began to prepare His son, Gobind Rai Ji, for the responsibilities of Guruship and the Sikhs to accept His martyrdom. A few weeks later Guru Sahib left Anandpur for Delhi to be sacrificed. A few dozen Sikhs accompanied Him. Guru Sahib made regular stops delivering the Divine Message to people on His way. Aurangzeb sent his soldiers to Anandpur to take Guru Sahib in custody and bring Him to Delhi. However, Guru Sahib had already left Anandpur on Hius way to Delhi. Guru Sahib reached Agra where he stayed for a few days. Thinking that Guru Sahib left Anandpur to escape arrest, Aurangzeb had announced a big cash reward of 1000 rupees to the person who could help the government to arrest Guru Sahib. There was a poor old Muslim, Hasan Ali by name living in Agra who needed some cash badly. He prayed in private that if Guru Sahib must offer His arrest, it be through him. Guru Sahib was staying in an orchard in Agra. He accepted Hasan Ali’s prayer and arranged so that His arrest was caused by him (Hasan Ali). So, Guru Sahib was arrested by Aurangzeb’s men in Agra in Oct. 1675 and Hasan Ali was rewarded as per the announcement.

Guru Sahib was asked to embrace Islam to which He would never agree, but He pleaded strongly with the Emperor to stop forcible conversions. On refusing to embrace Islam, Guru Sahib was tortured for many days and three Sikhs – Bhai Mati Dass Ji, Bhai Sati Dass Ji, and Bhai Dayala Ji – were martyred in very inhumane way in front of Guru Sahib with a view to strike terror in Guru Sahib’s mind to force Him to embrace Islam. When Guru Sahib firmly refused to embrace Islam, He was beheaded on Nov. 11, 1675 in Chandni Chowk, Delhi.

NOTE: Read Guru Sahib’s martyrdom in detail in the “Articles” section of this website.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF GURU TEGH BAHADUR SAHIB Before discussing the unique contributions of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib for the betterment of humanity and for giving practical shape to the Teachings of Guru Nanak Sahib, let us be clear about Guruship. According to Guru Granth Sahib, Guruship is NOT the right of any individual. The real or perfect Guru must possess noble qualities like complete detachment from Maya, truthfulness, selflessness, kindness, forgiveness, equality for all human beings, no enmity with anyone, no favouritism based on relationship of any kind, unlimited patience and above all unwavering faith in God, and the like. Remember that when Guru Hargobind Sahib passed on the Guruship, He did so to His grandson, Sri Har Rai Ji and not to Sri Tegh Bahadur Ji saying that the latter was not ready yet for Guruship. Sri Tegh Bahadur Sahib spent thirty long years to practise self-control and worship Waheguru to be one with Him. Guru is a special agent of God who is designated as such by God Himself, and is a manifestation of God. There are hundreds of holy Shabads in Guru Granth Sahib in which the qualities of the Guru are mentioned. Now let us discuss some of the qualities and unique contributions of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib.

Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib was exemplary in benevolence, patience and contentment. Not only He forgave Dhirmal Ji for firing at Him with the intent to kill, but also returned all the booty he had taken from Guru Sahib’s residence as also the invaluable and irreplaceable hand-written copy of Guru Granth Sahib to him. Also remember how He arranged for Hasan Ali, a Muslim whom He (Guru Sahib) had never met to get the reward money for His arrest.

• He spent most of His time during Guruship to help the needy, provide moral support to the suffering masses, and deliver the Divine Message to people.

• Even though He was a great warrior (His name Tegh Bahadur literally means valiant of sword and was given to Him by His father Guru Har Gobind Sahib when at the young age of 13, Sri Tegh Bahadur Ji had displayed great valour in the battle of Kartarpur), He never used any physical force to fight aggression or oppression.

• His greatest contribution was his unique sacrifice when He laid down His life fighting for the religious freedom of Hindus despite the fact that Guru Sahib did not approve most of their beliefs and rituals. There is no parallel example in the world history. Because of His unique and supreme sacrifice, He is known as the protector of India’s honour.

GURU GOBIND SINGH JI (1666-1708)

Before Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib left for Delhi to lay down His life fighting against oppression, He had made it clear to everybody that His son Sri Gobind Rai Ji would be His successor to Guruship. At that time Sri Gobind Rai Ji was barely eight years. After the martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib, Gobind Rai Ji was formally enthroned to Guruship. Just like after the martyrdom of Guru Arjun Sahib many Sikhs had been demoralized, some Sikhs also got demoralized at the martyrdom of the Ninth Guru because they thought that Mughal Empire was much too strong for them to fight against. So, to restore their morale, it was highly imperative to demonstrate that the Sikhs had the strength to fight aggression and oppression and they should not be intimidated by the visible strength of the ruling Mughals. To do so, the young Guru Gobind Rai tried to unite all the 22 Hindu Hill Rajahs who were constantly fighting among themselves providing the Mughals with the golden opportunity to use the “divide and the rule” policy. Second, Guru Sahib planned to increase His own military might so that no one could dare to intimidate the Sikhs. To achieve this objective, Guru Sahib asked His Sikhs to present Him the best horses and most modern weapons. He also inspired the Sikhs to be as best in the battle field as possible. Guru Sahib Himself was the best archer of His time and also the best at using the sword. He built a highly strategic fort in Anandpur Sahib, and spent a lot of time training and inspiring the Sikhs. The underlying idea of all this was the Principle of “Live and let Live”. Guru Sahib wanted freedom and respect for all.

Even though a lot of effort was invested in preparing the Sikhs for self-defence, the religious aspect of the Sikhs for spiritual growth remained on the top of the total agenda. Every day Gurbani was recited for hours in the early mornings for large congregations and Guru Sahib would deliver His Divine Message every day. Sikhism had spread even n the far off corners of the Indian subcontinent and devotees were bee-lining all day from places as far away as Assam in eastern India and Afghanistan in the west. There were so many visitors that in addition to the meals which were prepared by the Sikhs at the Gurdwara, a large number of individual Sikhs were also serving free meals to the devotees on regular basis.  Because of His growing military might many Hill Rajas and even the Mughals felt threatened by Guru Sahib even though they knew well that Guru Sahib was not a power hungry saint and would never attack anyone. Many battles were forced on Guru Sahib and He was victorious in most of them. A few noteworthy points of His character in these battles are as follows:

He never attacked anyone first. He simply fought in self-defence in all these battles. His armies never attacked an unarmed soldier and never chased the fleeing enemy. Even though all people say that everything is fair in love and war, Guru Sahib followed the Principle “only fair is fair even in war”!!

• Whenever the enemy forces fled the battle field because they were losing, Guru Sahib dressed the wounded enemy soldiers and disposed of the corpses with full respect according to their religious beliefs.

• He always admired the brave enemy soldiers who fought ferociously against Him. When Hari Chand, a brave Hill Rajah, was killed by an arrow of Guru Sahib in the very first battle He fought at Bhangani near Paonta Sahib, He erected a memorial for Hari Chand in his honour. Who else would do something like thist!!

• All wounded soldiers were served water without any discrimination by the Sikh volunteers.

• Even though Guru Sahib won many battles, He never claimed even a cm of the enemy land or property.Because of these wins, the Sikhs became so confident of their skills and strength that they were not hesitant to fight an army many times bigger than their own strength. It became a popular cliché that a single Sikh could fight with an army of 125,000. The elder sons of Guru Sahib – Baba Ajit Singh Ji and Baba Jujhar Singh Ji - were great warriors at the very young ages of 16 and 13 respectively.

By 1698 Guru Sahib had brought the Sikhs to the level which was envisioned for a perfect Sikh by Guru Nanak Sahib. They had attained a high moral character as preached by all Guru Sahiban. They were not to be intimidated by any power and they would not intimidate others. They had attained the spiritual level where they would not discriminate between people based on religion, gender of caste. They had matured in administrative (political) arena too and were capable of ruling the masses with fatherly care providing full justice for everyone. They had their own holy book in the form of Guru Granth Sahib. Observing this Guru Sahib decided to let the Sikhs become independent rulers. He had only to demonstrate to the world and the Sikhs as well that they had attained the level of the perfect Sikh for which Guru Nanak Sahib had laid the foundation.

To demonstrate the above values acquired by the Sikhs, Guru Sahib chose the Vaisakhi day of 1699 when He was going to test the Sikhs for their faith in their Guru and their other moral values. On that day He arranged for a very strange and tough test for the Sikhs which they passed with flying colours. Guru Sahib had asked for five heads in response to which five Sikhs offered their heads without much hesitation. They were called the Five Beloved Ones with the following names in the order in which they offered their heads to be severed: Bhai Daya Singh, Bhai Dharam Singh, Bhai Himmat Singh, Bhai Mohkam Singh, and Bhai Sahib Singh. The last three belonged to the lower castes by Brahmanical standards. They were administered “Khanday Di Pahul” or the so called “Amrit” from the same bowl which was not permitted by the upper class Hindus. Even though all Guru Sahiban had preached strongly against caste system and no discrimination of any kind was allowed in Guru Sahiban’s Courts, Guru Gobind Singh Ji put the final nail in the coffin of the caste system. (It is highly unfortunate that some Sikhs still exercise discrimination in some form). Thousands of other Sikhs also took Amrit on that day. Guru Sahib ordered all Sikhs to use “Singh” as their last name, and He changed His own name from Gobind Rai to Gobind Singh.

NOTE: To read the events and the proceedings of that day in detail, please refer to the articles “Vaisakhi of 1699” and “Amrit” in the “Articles” section of the Website. 

The Sikhs had become very powerful militarily and highly independent in their affairs by now even though they were never a threat to anybody. The next five-six years passed relatively peacefully, but the Hill Rajahs and the Mughals became very jealous of the Sikhs and would not accept their growing power. Their combined armies attacked Anandpur Sahib a few times but were badly unsuccessful. Noting no chance of their success, they besieged the Town and cut off all the supplies. When the Sikhs still did not surrender, the combined armies took oaths in front of Guru Sahib and assured Him that they would never attack the Sikhs again who could live freely in any part of the Country provided they vacated the town of Anandpur so that they could save their faces. Guru Sahib did not believe in their promises, but the starving Sikhs were able to persuade Guru Sahib to accept the plea of the enemy forces. However, soon after Guru Sahib had left the Fort on a cold night in mid-December 1705, the unprincipled enemy forces attacked the Sikhs making the mockery of all their oaths and promises. The Sikhs fought with their usual valour, but their number was much smaller than the enemy forces and they had also become physically weak due to long-term starvation. They tried to cross the flooded Sirsa River when a large number of Sikhs, invaluable books, other valuable items and weapons were carried away by the angry river. Only about forty Sikhs were able to get across. Guru Sahib’s two younger princes – Baba Zorawar Singh Ji and baba Fateh Singh Ji - and His mother, Mata Goori Ji, got separated from Him. The combined enemy forces numbering hundreds of thousands chased the Sikhs. There was a fierce battle at Chamkaur in which the two older princes – Baba Ajit Singh Ji and Baba Jujhar Singh Ji- attained martyrdom after killing scores of the enemy soldiers. Only Guru Sahib and two other Sikhs – Bhai Daya Singh and Bhai Maan Singh were able to leave the battle field safely.

The younger Princes were handed over to the Muslim Nawab, Wazir Khan, of Sirhand by Guru Sahib’s disloyal Brahman chef, Gangu (Gunga Ram who had served Guru Sahib for 22 years. He did the mean act simply for his greed to steal gold coins belonging to Mata Goojri Ji and to get a big reward for handing over the Princes to the Muslim rulers. The Princes – Baba Zorawar Singh aged 8 and Baba Fateh Singh aged 6 years- were brick-walled alive for boldly refusing to embrace Islam even though the Nawab had tried all sorts of mean tricks for three days to convert the Princes.

Guru Sahib had to fight another battle with Wazir Khan before He reached Talwandi Sabo, a small village near Bathinda where He spent about 10 months and enshrined Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib’s holy compositions in Guru Granth Sahib. He then left Talwandi Sabo to reach Nanded in Maharashtra where He converted an ascetic, Madho Dass, into a devout Sikh. Madho Dass was originally from the state of Jammu and he possessed some supernatural powers. Guru Sahib enlightened him to use his energy to fight against oppression and injustices under the Mughal rule. Guru Sahib administered “Amrit” to Madho Dass and changed his name to Gurbakhsh Singh. But, he has been popularly known as Baba Banda Singh Bahadur. At Guru Sahib’s advice Banda Singh Bahadur left Nanded for Punjab in Sept 1708 and was given a great welcome by the Sikhs on his arrival in Punjab. Soon he organized a big army of volunteer Sikhs and punished the guilty. The Nawab of Sirhand was defeated badly by Banda Singh and the town of Sirhand was completely destroyed. Banda Singh was able to control most of Punjab and ruled there until 1714. He released his own coin in the name of Guru Nanak Sahib and Guru Gobind Singh Sahib. He was captured by the Mughal forces in early 1715 and was martyred in Delhi in June 1715. Guru Gobind Singh Ji left this mortal world in Oct 1708. Before He became one with Waheguru, Guru Sahib passed on the Guruship to Guru Granth Sahib discontinuing the practice of Living Guru.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF GURU GOBIND SINGH JI

Guru Gobind Singh Ji, also addressed as “Dasmesh Ji and Kalghidhar” made some highly important and unique contributions for the betterment of humanity and for the cause of Sikhism. Whatever He preached, He followed that it in His personal life. His full life has been a life of demonstration. If He preached that freedom from oppression and justice were fundamental rights of every human being, He proved that by sacrificing His father, His mother and His four sons for the cause. Whatever offerings were brought to Him, He spent them right away on the needy, the downtrodden and the people suffering in some ways. He was a great admirer of intellectuals because it is these people who inspire others for a noble change. He never forced anybody to change their religion to embrace Sikhism even though He had many Muslims devotees. Peer Buddhu Shah (Badaruddin) who was a respected Muslim holy-man among the Muslims, was himself a great devotee of Guru Sahib, but Guru Sahib never asked him to embrace Sikhism. There are many more examples like that. Some of His other contributions are as follows:

Guru Sahib gave the Sikhs a different identity by requiring them to grow hair and take Khunday Di Pahul or “Amrit”. Each of the Sikh was required to have “Singh” and “Kaur” as middle names for males and females respectively thereby ending their identities based on castes.

• He infused a new spirit among His followers some of whom had been demoralized by the cruel treatment of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib and His Sikhs who were eventually martyred at the orders of Aurangzeb. During the period of Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the Sikhs became completely fearless yet law abiding citizens with high moral values. The Mughal high officials had become so ruthless and immoral that they would forcibly take away whatever they liked including women from the Hindus. The Sikhs punished all such criminals to put a stop to all such evil practices. It was because of the training and the inspiration provided by Guru Sahib that Baba Banda Singh Bahadur was able to defeat very powerful Nawab of Sirhand and to establish an independent rule within 2-3 years.

• As discussed earlier Guru Sahib not just taught but also set practical personal examples for His Sikhs how to be fair and generous even in a battle.

• Guru Sahib never hesitated to make any sacrifice for the cause of humanity. In the battle of Chamkaur, He prepared both His sons aged 17 and 14 to fight against thousands of the enemy forces even though their martyrdom was inevitable.

• Guru Sahib had infused such a spirit among the Sikhs that even the very young Princes, Zorawar Singh Ji and Fateh Singh Ji, were not intimidated by the Mughal Nawab of Sirhand even though he played a very hard ball to convince them to embrace Islam.

• In terms of personal sacrifices, we cannot find any other example in the world history where a religious head had sacrificed his both parents and all the sons like Guru Gobind Singh Ji fighting for the freedom of masses.

• Guru Sahib loved people so much that if someone needed help even at midnight, He rushed to help them right away. There are many such stories associated with Guru Sahib.

• He discontinued the practice of the living Guru and passed on the Guruship to Guru Granth Sahib.

My head always bows to Him with deep reverence for what He did for the whole humanity.

After reading these three articles, it becomes perfectly clear why the Sikhs have Ten Gurus. All the sacrifices and the practical examples set by each Guru Sahib could not have been achieved in a single life span. So, that is why we needed ten Guru Sahiban. However, it must be clear that all the other nine Guru Sahiban were the spiritual incarnations of Guru Nanak Sahib which means that all of them delivered the same Divine Message as Guru Nanak Sahib and there was absolutely no deviation from the Principles preached by Guru Nanak Sahib.

WHY THERE WAS NO WOMAN AMONG THE TEN GURUS

Some people ask this question from time to time, but I wonder why they even ask this question when they know full well that it is not a fair question. Could a woman have travelled on foot to deliver the Divine Message to about half the population of Asia where she would have faced physical assaults at every step? Could she have fought against the mighty armies of the Mughals, and could she have fought against the powerful and fanatic religious leaders of the time? Also, what better could she have done for humanity that our ten Guru Sahiban could not do? But, even if she could do all that, the masses would not have followed a woman guru. At the time of Guru Sahiban, the Hindu dominated Society treated women like slaves and did not consider them more worthy than the shoe they were wearing. According respect to women was a distant cry, they were never even trusted. Muslims did not allow women even to enter a mosque and women were always kept in a veil covering their faces completely. So, how could Muslims pay any heed to the teachings of a woman? Actually, they were Guru Sahiban who strived very hard to get respect and recognition for women. Guru Amar Dass Ji, the Third Guru Sahib, honoured women by appointing them preachers, but they were not sent to distant or unknown places where their safety could be in jeopardy.

Even the most advanced countries like America and Canada did not give women the right to vote until 1946. Before that, Canada did not consider women even persons. Equality for women is comparatively a recent movement but even that is limited more to lip service than reality. In the U.S. no woman has yet served as President. In Canada, there was only one woman who served as the Prime Minister and that too only for a few months as a replacement. She was not elected in the following election which was held only a few months later. Even today, thousands of women are being raped everyday all over the globe, and India is probably the leading country in this sad saga. Imagine the plight of women in those days! So, when we know all the difficulties faced by women, why are we being hypocrite to ask a question like this?

Besides, as we discussed earlier in this Article, Guruship is NOT the right of any individual. The Guru is sent by God and only that holy individual can serve as the Real Guru who has been honoured and given responsibility by Him for the purpose.

Waheguru is infallible and whatever He does is perfect. It is the prime duty of all Sikhs to obey His Will. If Waheguru chose not to have a woman Guru because the time was not ripe yet for a woman Guru, we must honour His Will