Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji – A Beacon of Indian Civilization
Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to deliver an address from the ramparts of the Red Fort at night time. A commemorative stamp and coin were released alongside the special Shabad kirtan that was organized for the occasion, and Prime Minister Modi reminded millions of Indians about the greatness of one man who was given a tribute – the ninth Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur ji.
The occasion of course was
perhaps befitting – the four hundredth Prakash Purab of the Ninth Sikh Guru,Guru Tegh Bahadur ji, being celebrated at such a grand scale. With the place of
his shaheedi, Gurdwara Sis Ganj, and his crematorium, Gurdwara Rakab Ganj,
being within short distance of the Red Fort, the triangle of Dharma that arose in
the night created an incomparable divine positivity.
Amidst all this, it is perhaps
also important to step back and briefly examine the greatness of the ninth Sikh
Guru, the times he came in and how he was much more than just the man who
sacrificed his life to combat Aurangzeb’s cruel regime.
Guru Tegh Bahadur ji – A Leader of Difficult Times
 |
| 19th century portrait of Guru Tegh Bahadur ji (courtesy Royal Collection Trust, UK) |
Guru Tegh Bahadur ji's life and his
duty towards the sangat was peppered with many challenges. The sangat was headed
through a particularly delicate situation. There was an atmosphere of turmoil and
fanaticism in India, thanks to the domination of the Mughal tyrant Aurangzeb.
This was compounded by the eighth Guru Harkishan ji’s untimely departure. Even
within his lifetime, Guru Tegh Bahadur ji had to face constant abuse and
challenges from within and outside. Even as he faced challenges to his
authority by impostors and rival claimants, the establishment had essentially
started to stifle the community to the extent that Guru ji was not even allowed
inside the Harmandir Sahib in his lifetime in Amritsar. He even faced threats
to his life multiple times in this period; however, none of this prevented Guru
Tegh Bahadur ji from performing his duties. Be it establishing the manjis for
Sikh panth or doing kar seva in places like Malwa in Punjab to reduce the
sufferings due to drought, there were multiple occasions when Guru Tegh Bahadur
ji delivered leadership to the community, and helped rally them towards a
cause. In many ways, he is also a great example for today’s leadership pundits about
the qualities of a leader. Showing the right direction even in the weakest
times, motivating people to do the right thing, and never shying away from
speaking out against the unfair – these are the qualities one seeks in a leader
in the tough times, and which were definitely on display.
Guru Tegh Bahadur ji’s
contributions to the Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji are well identified. Even as he
was trained in Shastra vidya, it was increasingly evident that Guru Tegh
Bahadur ji was deeply spiritual and also a poet and writer incomparable.
What is less discussed today
however is the deep continuity of India’s Sanatan civilization and its deep darshan
that flow across his text as well. As Dr. Jagbir Singh, the Chancellor, Central
University of Punjab, Bathinda, often remarked, the Gurbani is a deep contemplation,
a dialogue going on about the observations of the deep philosophical connect. He
has often quoted the examples of Guru Tegh Bahadur ji’s writings, and on
reading some of them and comparing them otherwise one sees an unbroken
civilizational connect emerging from the same.
For instance, Guru Tegh Bahadur
ji had written, using Nanak as the author name:
ਦੀਨ ਦਇਆਲ ਸਦਾ ਦੁਖ ਭੰਜਨ ਤਾ ਸਿਉ ਰੁਚਿ ਨ ਬਢਾਈ॥
ਨਾਨਕ ਕਹਤ ਜਗਤ ਸਭ ਸਿਖਿਆ ਜੀਉ ਸੁਪਨਾ ਰੈਨਾਈ ॥੨॥੧॥
दीन दइआल सदा दुख भंजन तासिउ रूचि न बढाई ॥
नानक कहत जगत सभ मिथिआ जिउ सुपना रैनाई ॥२॥१॥[1]
God is Merciful to the meek,
forever the Destroyer of fear, and yet you do not develop any loving
relationship with Him.
Says Nanak, the whole world
is totally false; it is like a dream in the night. ||2||1||
A deep thought, and one wonders
where it comes from? It is well known that Guru Tegh Bahadur ji was a scholar
par excellence. Sanskrit, Persian, Braj were well understood by him among other
languages, and he had read deeply the scholarly works across different faiths.
This serves as a great comparable to something written by Adi Shankaracharya
ब्रह्म सत्यं जगन्मिथ्या जीवो ब्रह्मैव नापरः ।
अनेन वेद्यं सच्छास्त्रमिति वेदान्तडिण्डिमः ॥ २०॥
i.e., Brahman is the only
truth, the world is unreal, and there is ultimately no difference
between Brahman and individual self.
Again, one must look at what the Mandukya
Upanishad says, to realize the deep civilizational continuity.
सर्वं ह्येतद् ब्रह्मायमात्मा ब्रह्म सोऽयमात्मा चतुष्पात्
॥ २॥
All this is verily Brahman.
This Atman is Brahman. This Atman has four quarters
This is just a short example of how
the continuity has maintained in terms of civilizational dialogue between the
various eminent thinkers and philosophers over centuries and millenia. This is
a tradition that is deeply ingrained in Indian philosophy – one of learning from
others and thinking aloud on the same subject, injecting freshness and
relevance on several occasions.
As the four hundredth year comes
to a close, it would perhaps be a fitting tribute to examine this
civilizational continuity and realize the commonalities instead of seeking differences.
Comments