Latest / Sikh Religion Gurus and Sacred Writings, Vol. 5 / 031 - Life of Guru Gobind Singh - Chapter XXXI

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031 - Life of Guru Gobind Singh - Chapter XXXI · Sikh Religion Gurus and Sacred Writings, Vol. 5

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  Speaker 1: Section thirty one of Seek Religion, Volume five by Max
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  Speaker 1: Arthur McAuliffe. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain
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  Speaker 1: Life of Guru Gobin Singh, chapter thirty one. The Guru,
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  Speaker 1: feeling that his end was approaching, desired to send sahib
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  Speaker 1: Kauer to her co wife Sundari, whom he had left
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  Speaker 1: in Dilley on his departure to the south of India.
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  Speaker 1: He knew that she could not endure the shock which
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  Speaker 1: his demise would cause her. She at first refused to
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  Speaker 1: leave Nander, saying that she had made about never to
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  Speaker 1: take her daily food without seeing the Guru, and how
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  Speaker 1: could she fulfill her vow if she were to part
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  Speaker 1: from him. The Guru then gave her six weapons which
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  Speaker 1: had belonged to his grandfather Guruhar Gobind, and told her
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  Speaker 1: to look at them whenever she desired to behold him.
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  Speaker 1: With these and other inducements, he at last persuaded her
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  Speaker 1: to depart. She was accompanied by Mani Singh and both
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  Speaker 1: were enjoined to comfort and console Sundari. The current Sekh
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  Speaker 1: account of the Guru's death is that he was stabbed
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  Speaker 1: by Ghul Khan, a grandson of Pinda Khan, in revenge
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  Speaker 1: for the death of the latter at the hands of
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  Speaker 1: Guru go Bend. More probable is the account given in
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  Speaker 1: one of the recessions of Bahadur Shah's history. The Guru
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  Speaker 1: was in the habit of constantly addressing assemblies of worldly persons,
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  Speaker 1: religious fanatics, and indeed all varieties of people. One day,
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  Speaker 1: an Afghan who frequently attended these meetings, was sitting listening
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  Speaker 1: to him when certain expressions which were disagreeable to the
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  Speaker 1: ears of the faithful fell from the Guru's tongue. The
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  Speaker 1: Afghan was enraged, and, regardless of the Guru's dignity and importance,
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  Speaker 1: stabbed him twice or thrice with a ponyard. The Emperor,
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  Speaker 1: on hearing of the outrage, despatched some of his most
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  Speaker 1: skillful surgeons to attend to the Guru's injuries, and so
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  Speaker 1: skillfully did they perform their duty that the Guru's wounds
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  Speaker 1: were nearly healed in a fortnight, after which the surgeons
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  Speaker 1: took their leave as being no longer required. In a
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  Speaker 1: short time, the Emperor again sent to inquire after the
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  Speaker 1: Guru's health and made him several offerings, which included two bows.
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  Speaker 1: A discussion arose whether the Guru could bend them. On this,
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  Speaker 1: he took up one, and on bending it burst open
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  Speaker 1: his imperfectly healed wounds, but began to flow copiously. The
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  Speaker 1: wound was bound up by the Guru's attendants, but this
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  Speaker 1: time it was past medicament. The Gur set apart five
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  Speaker 1: hundred rupees for the preparation and distribution of sacred fear
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  Speaker 1: d and one hundred rupees to purchase sandal wood and
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  Speaker 1: whatever else was necessary for his obsequies. His sekhs came
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  Speaker 1: to him and said that while he was alive, they
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  Speaker 1: had the benefit of his presence, but they required instruction
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  Speaker 1: which might remind them of him hereafter and guide them
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  Speaker 1: to salvation. The Guru replied, oh, dear and beloved Calsa,
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  Speaker 1: the immortal gods will can never be resisted. He who
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  Speaker 1: is born must assuredly die. Guru ur John has said,
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  Speaker 1: everything we behold shall perish. Night and day are merely
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  Speaker 1: expressions of time. It is the immortal God alone, whoever abideth.
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  Speaker 1: All other beings, however holy and exalted, must depart when
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  Speaker 1: the last moment allotted them arriveth. For none can escape
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  Speaker 1: the primordial law of corporeal dissolution. All this world, composed
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  Speaker 1: of the five elements, is death's prey. When the materials perish,
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  Speaker 1: how can the fabric remain. God, the creator and cherisher
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  Speaker 1: of all, is alone, immortal, Bama, Vishnu, Sheb and the
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  Speaker 1: other gods of the Hindus perished at their appointed time.
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  Speaker 1: Of what account is man? Wherefore, O, my friends, it
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  Speaker 1: is not good to be unduly enamored of this fragile body.
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  Speaker 1: Know that the light of the imperishable God, whose attributes
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  Speaker 1: are permanence, consciousness, and happiness, shineth ever in you. Wherefore,
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  Speaker 1: always abide in cheerfulness and never give way to mourning.
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  Speaker 1: God is ever the same. He is neither young nor old.
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  Speaker 1: He is not born, neither doth he die. He feeleth
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  Speaker 1: not pain or poverty. Know that the true Guru abideth
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  Speaker 1: as he. Creatures who are steeped in bodily pride are
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  Speaker 1: very unhappy and not in days subject to love and hate.
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  Speaker 1: Ever entangled and involved in the deadly sins, they perish
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  Speaker 1: by mutual enmity and at last find their abode in hell.
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  Speaker 1: Yet for the love of such creatures, the Guru assume
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  Speaker 1: birth to deliver them. He hath instructed them in the
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  Speaker 1: True Name, And very fortunate are they who have perceived
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  Speaker 1: and treasured his instruction. By it, they are enabled to
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  Speaker 1: save themselves and others from the perils of the world's ocean.
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  Speaker 1: As when after rain falleth and there is abundance, so
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  Speaker 1: the Guru, seeing human beings suffering and yearning for happiness,
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  Speaker 1: came to bestow it on them and remove their sorrows
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  Speaker 1: by his teaching. And as the rain remaineth where it fallth,
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  Speaker 1: so the Guru's instruction ever abideth with his disciples. The
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  Speaker 1: Sikhs who love the True Guru are in turn beloved
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  Speaker 1: by him. O Calsa, remember the True name. The gur
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  Speaker 1: hath arrayed you in arms to procure you the sovereignty
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  Speaker 1: of the earth. Those who have died in battle have
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  Speaker 1: gone to an abode of bliss. I have attached you
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  Speaker 1: to the skirt of the immortal God and entrusted you
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  Speaker 1: to him. Read the Grand Sahib or listen to it,
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  Speaker 1: so shall your minds receive consolation, and you shall undoubtedly
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  Speaker 1: obtain an abode in the Guruz heaven. They who remember
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  Speaker 1: the True Name render their lives profitable, and when they
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  Speaker 1: depart enter the mansions of eternal happiness. When the Sikhs
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  Speaker 1: came again to take their last farewell of the Guru,
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  Speaker 1: they inquired who was to succeed him. He replied, I
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  Speaker 1: have entrusted you to the immortal God, ever remain under
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  Speaker 1: his protection, and trust to none besides. Wherever there are
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  Speaker 1: five Sikhs assembled who abide by the Guru's teachings, note
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  Speaker 1: that I am in the midst of them. He who
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  Speaker 1: serveth them shall obtain the reward thereof the fulfillment of
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  Speaker 1: all his heart's desires. Read the history of your gurus
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  Speaker 1: from the time of Guru Naanak. Henceforth, the Guru shall
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  Speaker 1: be the Calsa and the Calsa the Guru. I have
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  Speaker 1: infused my mental and bodily spirit into the Grand Sahib
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  Speaker 1: and the Calsa. After this, the Guru bathed and changed
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  Speaker 1: his dress. He then read the Japji and repeated an
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  Speaker 1: artists or supplication. While doing so, he gave instructions that
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  Speaker 1: no clothes should be bestowed as alms in his name.
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  Speaker 1: He then put on a muslin waistband, slung his bow
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  Speaker 1: over his shoulder, and took his musket in his hand.
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  Speaker 1: He opened the ground Sahib, and, placing five paise and
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  Speaker 1: a cookotn up before it, solemnly bowed to it as
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  Speaker 1: his successor. Then uttering wah Guji ka Calsa Wa guji
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  Speaker 1: qui Vata, he circumambulated the sacred by ume and said, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: beloved Calsa, let him who desireth to behold me behold
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  Speaker 1: the Guru Gram. Obey the Grand Sahib. It is the
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  Speaker 1: visible body of the Guru, and let him who desireth
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  Speaker 1: to meet me diligently search its hymns. The Guru went
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  Speaker 1: to an enclosure formed of tent walls where his beer
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  Speaker 1: had been erected in the end of the night, a
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  Speaker 1: watch before day, he lay on his bier and directed
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  Speaker 1: all his Sikhs except by San Took Singh, who was
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  Speaker 1: specially attached to him, to go to their homes. He
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  Speaker 1: then gave his last orders to his last attendant, keep
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  Speaker 1: my kitchen ever open and receive offerings for its maintenance.
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  Speaker 1: If anyone erect a shrine in my honor, his offspring
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  Speaker 1: shall perish. By san Tok Singh represented that the Sikhs
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  Speaker 1: were few at Nander, and how were offerings to be obtained.
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  Speaker 1: The Guru replied, O Bai san Touk Singh, have patience.
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  Speaker 1: Sings of mine of very great eminence shall come here
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  Speaker 1: and make copious offerings. Everything shall be obtained by the
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  Speaker 1: favor of Guru Nanak. He then, in grateful acknowledgment of
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  Speaker 1: the spiritual benefactions of the founder of his religion, uttered
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  Speaker 1: a Persian distich, the translation of which is Gobin Singh
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  Speaker 1: obtained from Guru Nanak hospitality, the sword, victory, and prompt assistance.
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  Speaker 1: The Guru then breathed his last. The Sikhs made preparations
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  Speaker 1: for his obsequies as he had instructed them. The Sahelah
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  Speaker 1: was solemnly chanted and sacred food distributed. While all were
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  Speaker 1: mourning the loss of the Guru, a hermit arrived and said,
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  Speaker 1: you suppose that the Guru is dead. I saw him
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  Speaker 1: this very morning riding his bay horse. When out bowed
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  Speaker 1: to him, he said, come, o hermit, let me behold THEE.
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  Speaker 1: Very happy am I that I have met thee at
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  Speaker 1: the last moment, And then asked him whither he was
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  Speaker 1: wending his way. He smiled and said he was going
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  Speaker 1: to the forest on a hunting excursion. He had his
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  Speaker 1: bow in his hand and his ears were fastened with
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  Speaker 1: a strap to his waist. The Sikhs who heard this
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  Speaker 1: statement arrived at the conclusion that it was all the
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  Speaker 1: Guru's play, that he dwelt in uninterrupted bliss, and that
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  Speaker 1: he showed himself wherever he was remembered. He had merely
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  Speaker 1: come into the world, they said, to make trial of
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  Speaker 1: their faith and remove the eels of existence. Wherefore, for
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  Speaker 1: such a Guru who had departed bodily to heaven there
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  Speaker 1: ought to be no mourning. The ashes of his beer
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  Speaker 1: were collected and a platform built over them. The Calsa,
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  Speaker 1: to whom the guru ship had been entrusted to, declared
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  Speaker 1: that all those who visited the spot should receive due
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  Speaker 1: spiritual reward. The Guru departed from the scene of his
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  Speaker 1: earthly triumphs and reverses on Thursday, the fifth day of
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  Speaker 1: the bright half of Kartik Sambat seventeen hundred and sixty
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  Speaker 1: five AD seventeen hundred and eight, having exercised spiritual and
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  Speaker 1: temporal sovereignty over the Sikhs for three and thirty years
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  Speaker 1: and resided in Nandar for fourteen months and ten days.
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  Speaker 1: The Sikh template Nander, called ab chal Nagar, is an
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  Speaker 1: imposing structure with a cupola and two minarets. The interior
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  Speaker 1: is surrounded by a wall of marshall implements emblematic of
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  Speaker 1: the militant side of the Guru's character. It was built
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  Speaker 1: by Maharaja Ranjit seen in eighteen hundred and thirty two
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  Speaker 1: in defiance of the gurus interdiction. Additions are being continually
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  Speaker 1: made to the edifice by the contributions of devout Sikhs.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter thirty one