It was a usual Baisakhi day on April 13, 1699. Lakhs of people had gathered at Sri Anand Pur Sahib to pay their obeisance to their great guru, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, the tenth guru of the sikhs. The guru had, however, a different vision for his sikhs on that day. Within a few hours, a new nation took its birth, a new religion came into existence in a dramatic manner. The guru came with a naked sword, brandishing in the air, and demanded five heads, one after the other. The five devoted sikhs came forward and offered their heads. These five chosen ones were then baptised to become the first five members of the new nation, named by guru as KHALSA PANTH. To the great surprise of all, the guru himself became the sixth member of Khalsa being baptised by the first chosen five. The Khalsa was born but the birth of Khalsa was not spontaneous. Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji was closely watching the important events that ultimately materialised his ideas for the foundation of Khalsa Panth. These events are briefly discussed below.

Humans have always been anxious to know who created this entire universe, who controls it and who created all the living beings. The ancient man thought that some super power is there above us who controls all his creation. That super power in ancient Hindu scriptures, Upanishads, was named as Om or Braham. Later, the concept of soul originated probably on the basis of some evidence provided by some persons who remembered their past lives. In Upanishads, soul is described as indestructible and with the death of a person, the body, the physical being, is either cremated or buried but the soul, the ethereal self, takes another birth. The concept of God then changed and was considered as supreme soul governing all the souls in the living beings. God was named as Parmatma, the supreme soul and all the souls in humans as a part of that supreme soul. Later, it was theorised by ancient scholars that the souls take birth in human form according to their deeds or karma in their past lives. A human, after his or her death, may take birth again in human incarnation or may take birth in any of the 840,000 creations on the basis of his or her good or bad deeds. It was also theorised that a human’s soul merges with the supreme soul of God if he purifies his soul through good deeds in his human life and does not commit any sin.

Marriage is a religious ceremony in which a man and a woman become life partners as husband and wife to establish a family and to indulge in worldly affairs. Marriages are consummated by different ceremonies in different religions. According to the ancient Hindu practices, marriage ceremonies involve having seven rounds called pheraas or laavaa around yagya fire amid chanting of mantras from ancient religious books. In Sikhism, the marriage ceremonies are consummated by having four laavaa around sacred Sri Guru Granth Saheb Ji amid reciting of four laavaa from Sri Guru Granth Saheb (pages 773 – 774) written by fourth sikh guru, Sri Guru Ram Dass Ji. Sikh gurus have described a devotee as wife and God as divine husband in a number of shabads in Guru Granth Saheb Ji. In fact, the whole mankind is stated as wife and God its universal husband. The union of soul with the supreme soul, God, is ultimate aim of life of a sikh. Guru Nanak Dev Ji did not believe in renunciation of the worldly life and retreating to the forests to achieve union of soul with God. Neither had he believed in leading a life of celibacy to achieve union with God. Guru Gtanth Saheb teaches us that union with God cannot be achieved by wearing yellow robes or by dressing like sadhus but the union with God can be achieved in a family life by following teachings of the guru. The four laavaas recited at the time of consummation of sikh marriage prepare the would - be bride and the groom to lead a married life according to the teachings of Guru Granth Saheb.

More than 500 years have gone by when Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji started his holy mission to transform world social structure in a way that human society rids itself of all social evils. He preached his followers, the Sikhs, to lead truthful and pious lives and do good to others. He then preached to his Sikhs to inspire others, their near and dear ones and their friends to lead truthful and pious lives and doing good to others so that a wave is created and whole of the nation is transformed into a pious society. This was in fact a message for all times to come and a message not only for India but for whole of the world. This was thus the message for eternity.

Sikh jiwan (living) is based on three fundamental principals. These are Naam Japna (recitation of name of God), Kirt karni (hard work for honest living) and wand chhakna (sharing of earnings with others).

Naam Japna (recitation of name of God)#

Continuous recitation of the name of God has been a well known practice in ancient Hindu saints. It has been mentioned in ancient Hindu scriptures that the ancient saints used to get divine powers by continuous recitation of name of God especially the name of Lord Siva. In Sikhism, the recitation of the name of God, The Naam, has a different connotation. It is not done to achieve divine powers. Recitation of Naam is done to inculcate the attributes of God in our mind. It is therefore important to know the broad meaning of Naam. Lines from a few hymns from Guru Granth Sahib Ji will illustrate the definition of Naam.

INTRODUCTION#

Guru Essence of Guru Nanak’s Jap Ji Saheb BY Sujan Singh Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of Sikh religion, was born at Nankana Sahib (formerly Rai Bhoe Ki Talwandi), now in Pakistan, on the full moon night of October- November 1469 A.D. Modern historians now cite the actual date of birth of Guru Ji as April 15, 1469 A.D. Guru Nanak Dev was born at a time when conditions of society in India had deteriorated to the lowest level. Guru Ji has described the extent of degradation in many of his shabads enshrined in holy Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the holy granth (book) of Sikh religion. Guru Ji said that the king (Ibrahim Lodhi) was the epitome of greed; his prime minister was the sinner and his finance minister was the embodiment of lies. The ladies of the harem were king’s counsellors. The illiterate public was the mute witness to the king’s misdeeds and turned their blind eyes and deaf ears to whatever the king and his courtiers were doing. At another place, Guru Ji said that the judges did not deliver their justice unless their palms were greased with some money. After the defeat of Ibrahim Lodhi by Babar, Guru Ji described Indians as flocks of sheep, which were not protected by their Lodhi masters from Babar’s atrocities. The causes of degradation of Indian society were the prevailing caste system at that time and exploitation of common people by Brahmins through the maze of religious rituals. One of the important aspects of Guru Ji’s mission was to bring reformation in the society by getting rid of these rituals. At the age of nine years, Guru Ji inflicted the first blow on these rituals when he refused to wear the sacred thread from his family Brahmin.