Guru
Ram Das 
Fourth Guru of the Sikhs
Guru
Ram Das
Guru*
Ram Das is known as the Chauthi Patshahi or the Fourth Guru. Born in
Lahore into a Sodhi Khatri family residing in Mohalla Chuna Mandi, by
all accounts, the date of his birth was the second day of the dark half
of the month Karthik, September 24, 1534.
His parents, Hari Das and Daya Vati, were known for their honest and
pious living. Ram Das was popularly addressed as Jetha, being the first-born
of his parents.
In the words of Macauliffe, "He was of fair complexion, a handsome
figure, pleasing and smiling face and not disposed to weep or cry in
the manner of ordinary children."
From the beginning his outlook was other worldly, and he felt the happiest
when he happened to be in the company of holy people.
The village Basarke, now in the district of Amar Das, which was the
native place of the third Guru, Guru Amar Das, was also the place to
which Jetha's mother Daya Vati belonged.
Like other children he too had immense fascination for his Nanake, the
house of his maternal grandparents, and was a frequent visitor to it.
During his stay at Basarke, it was his usual practice to go round the
countryside hawking boiled grains. With his charming looks and winsome
manners he soon won admiration from the men and women of Basarke and
the villages nearby. Guru Amar Das felt so much impressed with him that
he decided to marry his second daughter, Bibi Bhani, to him.
Almost all writers, old and new, narrate this interesting story. One
day, the Guru's wife, seeing Bibi Bhani playing about, remarked to her
husband that as Bhani has grown up, they ought to search for a husband
for her. The Guru agreed and ordered the search for a husband for her.
Bibi Bhani's mother saw a boy outside her door hawking some articles
of food. On carefully observing him, she said, "Find a youth like
him." Hearing this, the Guru exclaimed, "He is his own parallel,
for God has made none other like him."
Saying this Guru called the youth and inquired from him about his whereabouts.
After that he sent him with marriage presents to his father, Hari Das,
in Lahore and had the betrothal ceremony performed (1545).
Bibi Bhani served Jetha not merely as his dear wife, but also as a rare
saint. The couple lived happily and in due course three sons were born
to them. In order of seniority they were Prithi Chand (1547 A.D.), Mahadev
(1551) and Arjan Dev (1553).
No precise information is available as to the exact time when Bhai Jetha
assumed his permanent residence along with his family at Goindwal, but
in all probability it was done soon after Guru Amar Das, having been
selected as the third Guru, had set up his headquarters there. Goindwal
had been founded several years before in the time of Guru Angad Dev,
and soon after its foundation Amar Das with the whole of his family
had shifted his residence from his native place Basarke. After that,
whenever Jetha and Bhani felt like meeting them, they naturally had
to come to Goindwal.
Mirza Hakim, the ruler of Kabul, attacked Punjab in 1565, in a bid to
dislodge his half-brother Mughal Emperor Akbar from power. To meet the
challenge Akbar left Agra for Punjab in November 1565 and reached Lahore
in February 1566. Mirza Hakim lost heart and retreated to Kabul. Akbar
decided not to pursue him and stayed on at Lahore for more than a year.
He left for Agra in March 1567.
When the Emperor was encamped at Lahore, a small group representing
hostile Brahmins and Khatris proceeded to Lahore and lodged a serious
complaint against Guru Amar Das. The substance of the complaint follows:
"Your majesty is the protector of our customs and the redresser
of our wrongs. Every man's religion is dear to him. Guru Amar Das of
Goindwal has abandoned the religious and social customs of the Hindus,
and abolished the distinction of the four castes. Such heterodoxy has
never been heard of in the four ages. There is now no twilight prayer,
no gayatri, no offering of water to ancestors, no pilgrimages, no obsequies,
and no worship of idols or of the divine salagram. The Guru has abandoned
all these, and established the repetition of Wha Guru instead of Ram;
and no one now acts according to the Vedas or the Smritis. The Guru
reverences not Yogis, Jatis, or Brahmans. He worships no gods or goddesses,
and he orders his Sikhs to refrain from doing so forevermore. He seats
all his followers in a line and causes them to eat together from his
kitchen, irrespective of caste; whether they are jats, strolling minstrels,
Muslims, Brahmans, Khatris, shopkeepers, sweepers, barbers, washermen,
fishermen or carpenters. We pray you restrain him now; else it will
be difficult hereafter. May your religion and empire increase and extend
over the world!"
*The
word "Guru" is a Sanskrit word meaning teacher, honored person,
religious person or saint. Sikhism though has a very specific definition
of the word Guru. It means the descent of divine guidance to mankind
provided through ten Enlightened Masters. This honor of being called
a Sikh Guru applies only to the ten Gurus who founded the religion starting
with Guru Nanak in 1469 and ending with Guru Gobind Singh in 1708; thereafter
it refers to the Sikh Holy Scriptures the Guru Granth Sahib. The divine
spirit was passed from one Guru to the next, as "the light of a
lamp which lights another does not abate." -
"They distinguish and separate one Guru from the other. And rare
is the one who knows that they, indeed, were one. They who realized
this in their hearts, attained Realization of God." Guru
Gobind Singh 
