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!"
Guru
Ram Das continues, next.
Notes
*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
