LIFE OF GURU GOBIND SINGH 6i
are the most holy Brahmans, so that they may perform sacrifice and burnt offerings with the object of ensuring the appearance of the goddess.' The Sikhs informed the Guru of this conversation. He said to the pandit, * Your statement that the goddess becometh not manifest in the Kal age is not supported by proof. If she appeared in the past ages, why should she not also in this ? And if she appear not in this age, then it is unlikely that she appeared in any former age. At the same time, I require not her blessings or curses. I am son of the Immortal, who is the King of gods and men, who controlleth millions of worlds, who is omnipotent, who cherisheth me ; and I have no need to adore gods or goddesses.' ^ The pandit again represented that if the Sikhs made Durga manifest, they should be successful in all their battles as Durga herself had l^een in all her contests^ with the demons who had made war on the benign deities. The Guru being thus impor- tuned, determined to demonstrate the hypocrisy of the Brahmans. He invited them all to a great feast. Every form of viands, including meat, was provided for the guests. When they were assembled, he made it known that he would give five gold muhars to each Brahman who ate meat, while to each of those who ate food cooked with clarified butter he would give five rupees. To eat meat is really forbidden to all Brahmans; yet several of them did so, induced by the promised reward. According to one account fourteen, and according to another twenty-one Brahmans refused the meat offered them. The Guru went to the Brahmans who had eaten it, and rebuked them, saying, * You are setting a bad example to your people. You are not Brahmans but ghouls. It is to deceive men you wear the tilaks on your foreheads and pretend you are high priests
of religion, but in reality you are merely Chandals, the lowest class of pariahs/ The Guru, however, gave them the promised reward.
On that occasion the Guru quoted the following words of Kabir : —
Kabir, where there is divine knowledge there is virtue ; and where there is falsehood there is sin ;
Where there is covetousness there is death ; where there is forgiveness there is God Himself.
The Guru also quoted the following slok of Guru Amar Das : —
As far as possible rely not on the covetous : At the last moment they will plant thee where nobody will lend thee a hand.
The Brahmans who abstained from meat pressed the pandit's suggestion on the Guru, ' If thou by worship and austerities can behold Durga, who is the living burning light of this age, she will grant thee any boon thou mayest desire.' The Guru inquired, ' Can you render Durga manifest ? What you propose is not according to my rehgion.' The Brahmans repHed that there was a Brahman called Kesho at Banaras who had power to render the goddess manifest, but he would demand large remuneration. The Guru again asked how a man filled with greed, such as they represented Kesho to be, could possess such spiritual power as to cause Durga to appear. The Brahmans, unable to answer this question, took their departure.
The Guru utiHzed the assemblage at the Hindu festival of the Holi to organize on the following day a mimic warfare, which he called mahalla, ^ for the exercise of his troops. The object of the Guru has in recent times been obtained by the camps of exercise yearly estabhshed by the Indian Government.^
^ A place for halla or contest.
LIFE OF GURU GOBIND SINGH 63
Kesho, who was exceedingly avaricious, heard that the Guru was very open-handed, and accordingly went to him. He said he was on his way to behold the goddess of Jawalamukhi, but had halted to see the Guru whose greatness was universally recog- nized. He told the Guru that he had power to render the goddess manifest, but the ceremonies and burnt offerings which would have to be performed as a preliminary would be very expensive. Kesho was supported by the other Brahmans, who again pressed the Guru to have the necessary ceremonies and burnt offerings performed. The Guru in order to demonstrate Kesho' s insincerity outwardly accepted his offer. The Brahman on ascertaining the Guru's wealth was highly pleased and promised all assistance. He made out a list of materials for a hom or burnt offering, which would cost a large sum of money. The Guru provided what was required, and asked where the hom was to be performed. The Brah- man replied that it must be performed in a lonely spot. The Guru pointed to the beautiful hill of Naina Devi as a place where all ceremonies could be performed privately and without interruption. The Brahman was much pleased, praised the Guru's judgement and liberality, and said that the god- dess would certainly appear at the place indicated. The Guru then ordered the ground to be cleared, after which the Brahman proceeded to perform the ceremonies necessary for the goddess's manifesta- tion.
One day the Guru went out shooting and killed several forest birds. On his return Kesho told him the goddess would never appear to any one who took life. The Guru replied that animals were continually sacrificed to the Brahman's goddess at Jawala- mukhi. He then ordered his servant to let go the birds. When the strings with which they had been fastened to the Guru's saddle were undone, it is said, the birds flew away. Kesho was astonished and
expressed himself happy at having been brought in contact with such a holy man as the Guru.
The Guru had many strange presents made him. One day a gardener presented himself. He had come all the way from Patna with a 3^oung mango- tree as an offering. The gardener narrated how he had planted a garden, and vowed in the hope of success to give the first tree it produced to the Guru. He now brought the tree, and asked the Guru where he would have it planted. The Guru said he would shoot an arrow, and where it fell the tree might be planted. The Guru's arrow fell far distant, and there the young tree was duly planted.
After nine months' worship and invocation of the goddess the pandit told the Guru that she would soon appear. There would be many indications of such a result. A disastrous earthquake would occur, there would be unusual hghtnings, and several other formidable portents would appear in the heavens. The Guru pressed the Brahman to fix a date for the goddess's appearance. The Brahman fixed the first day of the Nauratar — a festival in honour of Durga held in the month of Assu and Chet — for the pheno- menon. The first day of Chet passed, and she did not appear. The Brahman then said she would appear on the fifth of the Nauratar. The fifth day passed, and she did not appear. The Brahman then said that some holy person must be offered as a sacrifice to her, and she would afterwards un- doubtedly disclose herself. The Guru rephed, ' Who so worthy to be offered as a sacrifice as thou ? Thou sayest there are none so holy as Brahmans.' The pandit on hearing this began to suspect that the Guru meant to sacrifice him to the goddess, and, if this occurred, what a sad recompense it would be for all his labours ! He then said, ' If thou give me permission, I will go and fetch a human sacri- fice. The Guru replied, ' No ; the sacrifice is here.' On this the pandit's courage oozed forth from the
LIFE OF GURU GOBIND SINGH 65
partitions of his brain. He immediately left the Guru's presence on the pretext of performing an office of nature, and never paused in his flight until he had arrived at a safe retreat.
After Kesho had thus absconded, the Guru ordered that the materials which had been collected for the ceremony should be thrown into the hom-pit. Upon this a great flame shot up towards the heavens. When this was seen from afar, all the spectators felt certain that the Guru himself had caused Durga to appear. The Guru drew his sword and set out for Anandpur. When the people asked if the goddess had appeared to him, he raised his sword aloft, inasmuch as to say that by God's assistance his sword would per- form the deeds which the Brahmans attributed to Durga. The people then erroneously believed that the goddess had given him the sword.^
The Baisakhi festival was now approaching. The Guru gave a great feast to which he invited all who were assembled in Anandpur, but omitted the Brahman Kesho. He, however, sent for him when all the guests had partaken of the feast. Kesho angrily refused the invitation, and said he would not eat the leavings of a low-caste rabble. Diwan Nand Chand, on behalf of the Guru, recalled to Kesho' s memory the fact that he had like a coward deserted him. * Fine service thou didst perform for him, and thine anger and disappoint- ment are the result ! ' Kesho on further reflection went to the Guru, but at the same time refused to eat the remains of the feast. The Guru composed the fol- lowing on this occasion : —
Whatever God wrote in thy destiny thou hast obtained ; O Brahman, banish thy regret :
It is not my fault that it escaped my memory ; think not of anger.
I shall send thee clothes and bedding to-day ; be thoroughly assured of this.
^ Gyan Singh's Paw/^ Parkdsh, Chapter 25.
Kesho replied — All Khatris are made by the Brahmans. The Guru — Look on my Sikhs here with a glance of favour .1
Here the Guru began to laud his Sikhs and acknow- ledge the powerful assistance he had received from them : —
My victories in battle have been through their favour ; through their favour I have already made gifts ;
Through their favour all my troubles have been removed ; through their favour again my house is replenished ;
Through their favour I have acquired knowledge ; through their kindness all my enemies have been killed ;
Through their favour I am exalted ; otherwise there are millions of ordinary men like myself .^
To serve them pleaseth my heart ; no other service is dear to my soul.
To bestow gifts on them is well ; to make gifts to others is not profitable for my Sikhs.
To bestow upon them will bear fruit in the next world and will bring honour even in this : to bestow on others is altogether useless.
All the wealth of my house with my soul and body is for them.
The Brahman became angry and his heart began to fry and burn like dry grass.
He wept at the custom which had been established for the future.
Some writers are of opinion that the Guru, during the time the chroniclers state he was occupied in wor- shipping Durga, was in reality translating Sanskrit works in the seclusion and tranquillity of the moun- tain glades. These events occurred in Sambat 1755,
^ This was said ironically. The Guru did not require Kesho's assistance for his Sikhs.
LIFE OF GURU GOBIND SINGH 67
A. D. 1698/ and it was on the fourteenth day of June of that year the Guru according to his own state- ment completed his translation of the Ram Avatar from Sanskrit into Hindi. He adds that it was completed at the base of the lofty Naina Devi on the margin of the Satluj waters.
Chapter IX
We have now arrived at a very critical stage of our biography of the Guru, and it is necessary to set forth with clearness and certainty what the Guru really thought of idolatry or the worship of inanimate objects.
On this subject the best evidence obtainable is the Guru's own acknowledged compositions. In the Akal Ustat he writes as follows : —
Some worshipping stones put them on their heads, some suspend Hngams from their necks ;
Some see God in the south, some bow their heads to the west ; 2
Some fools worship idols, others busy themselves with worshipping the dead.
The whole world entangled in false ceremonies hath not found God's secret.
Again in the same composition the Guru addressing an idolater wrote as follows : —
0 great beast, thou recognizest not Him whose glory filleth the three worlds.
Instead of the Supreme God thou worshippest things the touch of which shall cause thee to lose heaven.
By way of doing good acts thou committest sin at which even the greatest sins are abashed —
F 2
Fall at the feet of the Supreme Being, O fool ; He is not in a stone.
In the Vichitar Natak are found the following among other similar verses : —
I am not a worshipper of stones,
Nor am I satisfied with any religious garb.
In the thirty-three Sawaiyas the Guru expresses himself as follows : —
Some fasten an idol firmly to their breasts, some say that Shiv is God ;
Some say that God is in the temple of the Hindus ; others believe that He is in the mosque of the Musalmans ;
Some say that Ram is God ; some say Krishan ; some in their hearts accept the incarnations as God ;
But I have forgotten all vain religion and know in my heart that the Creator is the only God.
Why worship a stone ? God is not in a stone.
Worship Him as God by the worship of whom all thy sins shall be erased,
And by taking whose name thou shalt be freed from all thy mental and bodily entanglements.
Make the meditation of God ever thy rule of action ; no advantage can be obtained by the practice of false religion.
Again the Guru writes as follows in his celebrated letter to the Emperor Aurangzeb : —
I am the destroyer of the turbulent hillmen, Since they are idolaters and I am a breaker of idols.
In further evidence of the Guru's sentiments on the subject of idolatry, we have a composition, either written or sanctioned by himself, which is found in his collected works, on which to base our conclusion.
There was a king called Sumat Sain married to a lady called Samarmati. They had four sons and an only
LIFE OF GURU GOBIND SINGH 69
daughter called Rankhambh Kala. The children were put under the tuition of a Brahman. One day the princess went earlier than usual to the Brahman's house and found him worshipping and prostrating himself before a salagram and a lingam.^ She smiled on seeing her tutor thus engaged, and asked him the reason of his extraordinary conduct.
The Brahman
This salagram, O lady, is a god whom great kings adore. What dost thou who art ignorant know about it ? Thou deemest this salagram which is god to be a stone.
The Princess
O great fool, thou recognizest not Him whose glory lilleth the three worlds. Thou worshippest this stone at whose touch man's future bliss is forfeited. Thou committest sin to attain thine own object — such sin as other sins would be aghast at. O beast, fall at the feet of the great God ; He is not a stone. He liveth in the water, in the dry land, in all things, and in all monarchs. He is in the sun, in the moon, in the sky. Wherever thou lookest, thou mayest fix thy gaze on Him. He is in fire, in wind, and be- neath the earth. In what place is He not ? He is con- tained in everything. Were all the continents to become paper and the seven seas ink ; were all the vegetables to be cut down and employed as pens ; were Saraswati, the goddess of eloquence, to dictate and all beings to write for sixty ages, they could not in any way describe God. Yet, O fool, thou supposest Him to be a stone. O man, thou findest not God's secret. Thou deceivest the world in every way, and fillest thy coffers with wealth as the reward of thy decep- tion. Thou art thyself called by the world a clever and wise pandit, but thou worshippest a stone and therefore thou appear est to me to have abdicated thy reason. While
^ The lingam sacred to Shiv is the symbol of procreation. It was worshipped in ancient times in Rome as it is now in India. The author saw a lingam in the temple of Venus in Pompeii, and was informed by his Italian guide that it was a stone on which barren women used to sit in the hope of offspring.
uttering ' Shiv, Shiv ' with thy mouth, thy heart is filled with greed. Thou practisest excessive hypocrisy before the world, and art not ashamed to beg from door to door. Thou remainest for nearly two hours holding thy nose as if thou wert practising Jog. Thou standest on one leg invoking Shiv. If any one pass by and give thee one paisa, thou pickest it up with thy teeth, and forgettest thy gods. Thou givest instruction to others, but meditatest not on God thyself. Thou ever preachest to people to despise money. Yet for that very money thou beggest at the doors of high and low, and art not ashamed to debase thyself before even the meanest of thy fellow creatures. Thou sayest that thou art holy, but thou art very unholy. Thou callest thyself contented, but thou art very discontented, and only leavest one door to go and beg at another. Thou makest a clay idol of Shiv, and having worshipped it throwest it into the river. When thou returnest home thou settest up another in its place. Thou tallest at its feet, and rubbest thy forehead on the ground for an hour. Think what it hath to give thee. Thou worshippest the symbol of pro- creation, and tallest before it beheving it to be Shiv. Thou callest a stone God, but it will not avail thee. Since the stone belongeth to the lowest order of creation, say what shall it give thee even if propitiated and pleased with thee ? Even if it at any time make thee like itself, thou shalt be no better than a stone. Great simpleton, be assured that, when thy life hath departed, it will be too late for thee to know anything of God. Thou hast passed thy childhood without prayer, but even in thy manhood thou hast not repeated God's name. Thou hast induced others to give charity, but never lifted thy hand to assist another. Thou hast bent thy head to stones, but never to God. O fool, entangled in thy domestic affairs, thy life thou hast passed in procrastination. Having read one or two Purans, O Brahman, thou art swollen with conceit. Thou hast not read the Puran through which all the sins of this life may be erased. It is for the sake of show thou practisest penance. Day and night thy mind is absorbed in lucre. Fools accept thy statements, but not I. Why practisest
LIFE OF GURU GOBIND SINGH 71
thou so much hypocrisy ? For what object adorest thou a stone ? Thou hast forfeited thy happiness here and hereafter. Thou givest false instruction and gladly accept- est all payment which thou claimest. It is enough that thou hast given evil instruction to my brothers ; instruct not me.
The Brahman Hear me, O princess, thou hast not considered Shiv's greatness. Ever worship the gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiv. Thou knowest not their greatness, and that is why thou talkest in that way. Know that they are the oldest of all the gods, and do thou recognize them as the lords of the world. I am, O princess, a fasting Brahman, and love all both high and low. I communicate instruction to all and induce even great misers to practise charity.
The Princess Thou communicatest spells in order to make disciples. Thou then takest money as offerings from them in whatever way thou canst, but thou teachest them not the truth, and marrest their happiness in this world and the next. Hear, O Brahman, thou plunderest in whatever way thou canst those to whom thou givest thine initiatory spell. The fools receive no divine knowledge from thee, but are fleeced for their pains. Thou tellest them that thy spell shall be advantageous to them, and that Shiv will grant them a boon. When the spells turn out unsuccessful, thou pre- tendest that they have omitted some necessary ceremony, and that is why they have not been successful. Thou next tellest them to give alms to Brahmans and perform the spell by which they might behold the god. Thou takest a fine from them when they ought to take it from thee for misleading them, and in return for their money thou givest them the same spell over again. Thou leadest them astray all along the line, and at last thou tellest them that they have omitted certain words, or that something interrupted the ceremonies to account for the non-appearance of the god and his failure to grant the desired blessing. On