Guru Gobind Singh<\/figcaption><\/figure>When beauty in the world dies, we all die a bit with it. \u00a0Sometimes, we orchestrate it ourselves.<\/p>\nOne spiritual tradition in India has been very special and beautiful, but its beauty and profundity was probably missed by many. \u00a0Even those who carried it.<\/p>\n
On March 30, 1699 \u2013 the 10th Sikh Guru \u2013 Guru Gobind Singh called a congregation of his disciples at Anandpur Sahib. \u00a0The congregation gathered on a hill and a tent was pitched. \u00a0He turned to the congregation with an open sword and asked for a disciple who was ready to give his head for his Guru. \u00a0On the third call, a disciple named Daya Ram stepped forward.<\/p>\n
For Daya Ram, his Guru at that point represented two things \u2013 his Devotion and his Death. \u00a0Only when his Devotion to his Guru was stronger than his fear of death could he take his first step. \u00a0There was no real reason for the death, but that Guru needed it. \u00a0A devotion that transcends all fear of death \u2013 reasoned or unreasoned \u2013 then it has reached a place from where liberation is a certainty.<\/p>\n
The \u201cdeath scenario\u201d has been used by other Masters as well to take their disciples to liberation, but Guru Gobind Singh used it amazingly.<\/p>\n
That day, all the five disciples who stepped forward, attained their highest liberation. \u00a0The religious say they tasted Amrit. \u00a0Water was of little consequence, what happened inside the tent transformed spiritual landscape in India in many ways.<\/p>\n
From this event, came forth a set of devotees who were very rare. \u00a0They were innocent as a child, honest and wise as Sages and fearless and ruthless in war as the greatest warriors. \u00a0These warriors rarely fought for their own motives. \u00a0Their sword came up as a sacrifice or donation \u2013 almost as a contribution to a spiritual fire. \u00a0Despite knowing the personal gain from a fight for a needy or weak was none, the Saint-cum-Warrior was driven to fight to his last.<\/p>\n
Such beings and humans are not normal. \u00a0They, like the other Bhakti Yogis (Meera, Chaitanya etc) need to live in way that rebels and revolts with the normal societal norms. \u00a0Devotees, hopeless and remarkable, have been called crazy by all societies. \u00a0For, the society just cannot understand as to why would someone be naive enough to not think of personal gain and be \u201cfoolish\u201d enough to give up his life for someone else, just because it is the \u201cright thing to do\u201d.<\/p>\n
Such craziness which adorns the highest devotion is a rare gift to any society. \u00a0India got it in the form of \u201cKhalsa\u201d. \u00a0But alas, we never realized the profundity of this gift.<\/p>\n
Constantly trying to abuse, make fun of and, indeed, take undue advantage of such beautiful \u201cnaivette\u201d that was born out of the highest devotion, we forced the \u201cstrange devotees\u201d to rethink their engagement to the society. \u00a0In an attempt to \u201calign\u201d themselves with a society that couldn\u2019t care for the beauty \u2013 the devotee warriors lost their \u201ccraziness\u201d.<\/p>\n
In midst of such \u201ccrazy devotees\u201d, the self-serving society should have aligned itself to their devotion. \u00a0Unfortunately, for all of us, the opposite happened. \u00a0Such would have been the severity of the abuse of this devotional gift.<\/p>\n
It takes a rare Master to inspire devotees for centuries to transcend their fear of death, not for personal survival (which many do), but for upholding Dharma<\/a> and righteousness. \u00a0 Such magic is not created easily. \u00a0It is a loss that every Indian should be ashamed of, because we all had a possibility to transform ourselves, but we lost it.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When beauty in the world dies, we all die a bit with it. \u00a0Sometimes, we orchestrate it ourselves. One spiritual tradition in India has been very special and beautiful, but its beauty and profundity was probably missed by many. \u00a0Even those who carried it. On March 30, 1699 \u2013 the 10th Sikh Guru \u2013 Guru […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1517,"featured_media":15966,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,69],"tags":[1476,1932],"class_list":["post-15957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-india","category-spirituality","tag-guru_gobind_singh","tag-khalsa-panth"],"yoast_head":"\n
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