CONTENTS
Forever Fateh! Always Victory!
My Love, My Life, My Everything
Imagine how depressed you'd feel if you'd lost everything you loved:
if your father had been martyred while you were still a 9 year old child,
if your four beautiful sons all under the age of 20 had been sacrificed,
if your precious mother had left this world soon afterwards,
if your loyal devotees deserted you when you needed them most,
if you had no permanent home but were forced to live on the run from a fanatical enemy?
This was the nightmarish situation Guru Gobind Singh jee was in... but did he weep? Did he give up the fight? Did he give up his beliefs and convert to the enemy's way of life? Was he driven to drink, did he put down his sword and cut his hair so that he could have an easy life?
No, this was Guru Gobind Singh jee - the King of this world and the next. This was the master poet with the pen who wrote verses to inspire coming generations of Sikhs. This was the most powerful, muscular warrior, the master of all weapons. This was the beloved saint of Waheguru, sent into the world to protect the saints and the innocent, and to uproot the false holy men. No matter what the situation, His inner state could be described in the words of Guru Granth Sahib jee:
'All my wishes have been fulfilled, I lack nothing. God's victory resounds through the world and all my woes have passed.' (Suhi, M. 5 : Guru Granth Sahib jee)
So what did the King of Kings do when faced with such a crisis? He wrote ZafarNama - the letter of VICTORY! Guru jee seemed to have lost everything, yet wrote a letter of VICTORY! He sent it to the Moghul Emperor Aurangzeb and told the Emperor of half the globe that although he was handsome, and a great soldier - he definitely wasn't a man of God as he liked to claim. He was a tyrant who murdered innocent children (refering to the cold-blooded martyrdom of the Master's younger sons).
When we went to Agra we visted the red fort - Aurangzeb's headquarters. It was amazing to see the luxury that he lived in. However, the best bit was when we saw his throne. It was in an open outdoor court overlooking the Taj Mahal in the distance. His throne would have sat upon a 15 foot square black stone slab slightly raised from the ground. I could imagine him sitting there cross-legged looking down at his people. However, there was a giant crack all the way through the great stone and I couldn't help thinking that it was Guru Gobind Singh's mighty golden arrow that had caused it!
For it was Guru Gobind Singh jee who when told of the murder of his younger sons, dug up a weed from the ground with his gold-tipped arrow and said the Moghul Empire has been uprooted!
Guru Gobind Singh jee always had an attitude of victory. Not his own victory so he could show off how great he was but Waheguru jee's victory. Guru Gobind Singh jee said 'all battles have been won by the Grace of Waheguru'.
The Hindu's say 'Jai Mata Dee' (victory of the Mata (Mother) - Mata is a supreme goddess who manifests herself as many other goddesses). Guru Gobind Singh jee doesn't salute Mata - Guru Gobind Singh jee salutes the One Supreme Waheguru who created Mata and everything else by saying:
We always say Raj Karega Khalsa - The Khalsa will rule. One meaning of this is when you become Khalsa then by doing simran you will conquer your mind and body: This is the true victory! So do simran, claim victory for Waheguru jee in the kingdom of your mind and body. When there are millions of individuals like this then the Khalsa will truly have ruled worldwide.
If you want to love Waheguru jee then you have to love Guru Gobind Singh jee. If you want to love Guru Gobind Singh jee then you love to obey Guru jee's instructions, you love Guru jee's Holy word, you love Guru jee's sacred places, you love the Khalsa because they love Guru jee, you love serving the Sangat. And you love these things more than anything else. You love Gurmat (Guru jee's wisdom) more than manmat(your mind's wisdom) - you base you life on Gurmat and not manmat. The first Gurmat Guru Gobind Singh jee tells us is to take Amrit - the same thing that was taught by Guru Nanak Dev jee 200 years earlier : 'If you want to play the game of love, then place your head on your palm and bring it to me on my path'.
When you get to the stage where you have passed all Guru jee's tests and proved yourself cent for cent, then there are no more rules - you don't see your life as rules imposed on you - you are a lover (Bhagat) of Waheguru jee. Waheguru jee gives you free access to everything, the Bhagat is very precious to Waheguru jee, the world lives to Waheguru jee's rules(Hukam) but the Bhagat is given full acccess to Waheguru jee's storehouse. However, the Bhagat loves Waheguru jee so much that the only thing asked for is the greatest gift of doing Nam simran day and night.
Doing simran by Guru jee's grace it feels like I'm walking in a procession of festivity behind Guru Gobind Singh jee riding his horse, the colourful Hindu gods and goddesses are showering petals all around and the Khalsa is raising their flashing Khanda (mighty swords) into the sunny skies. Everyone has red shining faces, love is flowing all around, Waheguru Waheguru is beating in everyone's heart - going up and up to the sky. Everyone is intoxicated on Nam. We can walk with our heads held high and our chests out, cause Guru Gobind Singh jee has called us to walk behind him and his hand is above our head.
Today I'm a brand new person. I can feel Guru Gobind Singh jee riding infront of the procession again with the Nam intoxicated Khalsa. And all this happened by Guru jees grace. I've told my mind to do simran and to say what I mean. i.e if I say Waheguru then I should mean Wahe-Guru WONDERFUL-GURU and the most Wonderful Guru I can think of is God and then Guru Gobind Singh jee riding majestically, royally, beautifully on his mighty steed while the fanfare and kirtan plays like a nagar- Kirtan. Then the next wonderful thing is when I see the blue sky it's Guru jee's blue beautiful turban, the bright flashing sun is the glint of light flashing off Guru jee's Chakr around the turban. The breeze in my face is Guru jee blowing out the fire of desire inside the world. The blue seas are wide and vast battle-dress of Guru jee. All the flowers and creatures sing His praises, if all the trees turn to pens, the oceans into ink and the continents into paper and they wrote praises as fast as the wind blew age after age, even then the oceans would run dry the trees would become blunt the creatures would become tired, but Guru jee's praises are countless, infinite, never ending - the wonder carries on and on and on Wonderful Guru Waheguru, Guru Guru Gobind Singh jee!
