March 14 marks the Gurgaddi when Guru Har Rai Sahib became Guru of the Sikhs, Nanak VIII, as per the Nanakashai Calendar.
Please enjoy the slide show - a photographic essay -- from the Sikh Foundation.
Guru Har Rai (1630 – 1631 A.D.) – A Photo Essay
To see the photo essay:
Scroll down to the bottom of this window. Place your cursor on the black area to the right of the main image or portrait of Guru Har Rai Sahib ji below, and then click. Each time you click, the image will change. You will be able to see the entire slide show.
Guru Hargobind’s fourteen year old grandson Har Rai, born on 30th January, 1630 A.D. at Kiratpur, succeeded his grandfather Guru Hargobind to the Gurugaddi after he passed away in 1644. Neither of his two sons, Surajmal and Tegh Bahadur, was willing to take up the responsibility of leading and guiding the community of Sikhs. Tegh Bahadur, though a recluse when his father Guru Hargobind died, later was nominated the Sikhs’Ninth Guru.
Guru Har Rai continued the practice of Miri and Piri and maintained a splendid court and a company of 200 mounted soldiers as his personal guard, yet he felt the proportion of Miri in Sikhism was gradually mounting with a result that in the life of an average Sikh the ‘spiritual’ was seen usually sub serving the ‘material’. He did not, hence, have much preference for warfare and chose rather the solitude of hills where, while meditating within, he was able to explore and collect his energies for applying them to consolidate the spiritual part of Sikhism. He believed that in the Sikh tradition warfare was an eventuality and spiritualism its essence.
He sought to revive Guru Nanak’s way though his canvas was not that wide. He believed like the first Guru that personal touch and contact was the most effective instrument for inspiring the Sikhs. He, hence, undertook tours, though only of shorter durations and distances, which, perhaps, the later sovereign form of Sikh Guruship conditioned. He stayed at Nahan, now in Himachal Pradesh, for some twelve years and wielded great spiritual influence around. He once blessed there a Jat boy, poor and hungry, who later came to found the known Phulkian family after his own name Phul. This family later ruled the states of Patiala, Nabha, and Jind. A bairagi monk Bhagat Gir met here Guru Har Rai and was so impressed that he took to Sikhism. Renamed as Bhagat Bhagwan he was commissioned to carry to the eastern part Guru Nanak’s Message. Wherever Guru Har Rai went hundreds of people heard him and got converted to Sikhism. At Kiratpur, Bhai Sangaita, a man of great caliber came in his touch. He not only joined Sikhism but also undertook the mission of spreading the message of Guru Nanak in Bari Doab. His other associate Bhai Gonda carried the mission to Lahore and converted their people to Nanak’s path.
Sainthood with no place for vengeance and ill-will was the legacy of Guru Har Rai too. He had in his possession a life saving medicine, which the Mughal emperor Shahjahan need for saving the life of his eldest and the most beloved son Dara Shikoh who was struggling in between life and death. Shahjahan’s messenger, sent to Guru Har Rai, went back not with the medicine alone but also with the holy blessings to the emperors ailing son. Dara Shikoh speedily recovered but whether by Guru’s medicine or his blessing was not known. Guru Har Rai only strengthened the tradition of Sikh Gurus which believed in returning good for evil.
Despite his aversion for warfare and violence, he would not hesitate to confront with any power or pay whatever cost for his adherence to truth and his Panth. Misled to believe that Guru Har Rai was a rebel, and that Sikh scriptures propagated things against Islam, the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, after he had succeeded his father, summoned Guru Har Rai to his court, though the letter he sent to him was very polite, something such as a dagger wrapped in velvet. Guru Har Rai nominated his eldest son Ram Rai to visit the Mughal emperor. He was instructed not to appease the Mughal emperor by his words, or to interpret Adi-granth, or any of its parts, to mean different from what it actually meant. Charmed by Mughal power and the glamour of the Mughal court Ram Rai acted differently. He appeased the emperor and disobeyed his father. He interpreted Adi-granth to emperor’s liking. After Guru Har Rai had heard all about it he reacted that “Guruship was tigress’ milk and could not be contained in a pot other than that of gold”. He announced that Ram Rai would never appear before him and nominated his second son Har Kishan, though just five, as his successor.
Guru Har Rai often recited a couplet of Baba Farid, which suggested that the great Sikh Guru considered compassion as the highest virtue of all things divine in man. Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=31306
“Hearts are jewels,
Distress them not,
Those who distress no heart
Seek the beloved God,”
Whether real or imagined, an incident of his life has been widely covered in Sikh literature and in medieval Sikh paintings. While strolling in a garden he dragged with his loose cloak a few stem-containing flowers. No sooner he saw the flowers falling to ground his eyes welled up with tears. It pained him that he instrumented them injury, an act that was never in his nature.
In Guru Har Rai Sikhism seemed to seek the apex of emotionality and the softer aspects of human life.
Excerpt from “The Sikh Heritage” by Dr. Daljit
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ਜੇ ਕੋ ਮੂੰ ਉਪਦੇਸੁ ਕਰਤੁ ਹੈ ਤਾ ਵਣਿ ਤ੍ਰਿਣਿ ਰਤੜਾ ਨਾਰਾਇਣਾ ॥ jae ko moon oupadhaes karath hai thaa van thrin ratharraa naaraaeinaa || If someone is going to teach me something, let that be that the Lord is pervading the forests and fields.
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Guru Hargobind Sahib, before his departure for heavenly abode, nominated his grand son, Har Rai Ji at the tender age of 14, as his successor (Seventh Nanak), on 3rd March, 1644. Guru Har Rai Sahib was the son of Baba Gurdita Ji and Mata Nihal Kaur Ji(also known as Mata Ananti Ji). Guru Har Rai Sahib married to Mata Kishan Kaur Ji(Sulakhni Ji) daughter of Sri Daya Ram Ji of Anoopshahr (Bulandshahr) in Utter Pradesh on Har Sudi 3, Samvat 1697. Guru Har Rai Sahib had two sons: Sri Ram Rai Ji and Sri Har Krishan Sahib Ji (Guru).
Guru Har Rai Sahib was a man of peace but he never disbanded or discharged the armed Sikh Warriors (Saint Soldiers), who earlier were maintained by his grandfather (Guru Hargobind Sahib). He otherwise further boosted the military spirit of the Sikhs. But he never himself indulged in any direct political and armed controversy with the contemporary Mughal Empire. Once on the request of Dara Shikoh (the eldest son of emperor Shahjahan). Guru Sahib helped him to escape safely from the bloody hands of Aurangzebs armed forces during the war of succession. Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=31306
Once Guru Sahib was coming back from the tour of Malwa and Doaba regions, Mohamad Yarbeg Khan, (son of Mukhlis Khan, who was killed by Guru Hargobind Sahib in a battle) attacked the kafla of Guru Sahib with the force of one thousand armed men. The unwarranted attack was repulsed by a few hundred Saint Soliders of Guru Sahib with great courge and bravery. The enemy suffered a heavy loss of life and fled the scene. This self-defense measure, (a befitting reply to the unwarranted armed attack of the privileged muslims), was an example for those who professed the theory of so called non-violence or "Ahimsa Parmo Dharma". Guru Sahib often awarded various Sikh warriors with gallantry awards.
Guru Sahib also established an Aurvedic herbal medicine hospital and a research centre at Kiratpur Sahib. There, he maintained a zoo also. Once Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of Shah Jahan fell seriously ill by some unknown disease. The best physicians available in the country and abroad were consulted, but there was no improvement. At last the emperor made a humble request to Guru Sahib for the treatment of his son. Guru Sahib accepting the request, handed over some rare and suitable medicines to the messenger of the emperor. The life of Dara Shikoh was saved from the cruel jaws of death. The emperor, whole heartily thanked and wanted to grant some "Jagir", but Guru Sahib never accepted. Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=31306
Guru Har Rai Sahib also visited Lahore, Sialkot, Pathankot, Samba, Ramgarh and many places of Jammu and Kashmir region. He established 360 Sikh missionary seats (ManJis). He also tried to improve the old corrupt Masand system and appointed pious and committed personalities like Suthre Shah, Sahiba, Sangtia, Mian Sahib, Bhagat Bhagwan, Bahagat Mal and Jeet Mal Bhagat (also known as Bairagi), as the heads of ManJis.
Guru Har Rai Sahib faced some serious difficulties during the period of his guruship. The corrupt massands, Dhir Mals and Minas always tried to preclude the advancement of Sikh religion. After the death of Shah Jahan, the attitude of the state headed by Aurangzeb towards the non-muslims, turned hostile.
The emperor Aurangzeb made an excuse for the help rendered to prince Dara Shakoh by Guru Sahib during the war of succession and framed false charges against Guru Sahib and was summoned to Delhi. Ram Rai Ji appeard on behalf of Guru Sahib in the court. He tried to clarify some mis-understandings regarding Guru Ghar and Sikh faith, created by Dhirmals and Minas. Yet another trap, which he could not escape, was to clarify the meaning of the verse "The Ashes of the Mohammadan fall into the potter's clot, It is molded into pots and bricks, and they cry out as they burn".
Ram Rai, in order to please the emperor and gain more sympathy replied that the text had been needlessly corrupted by some ignorant person and inserted the word Musleman instead of word Beiman (dishonest).(The actual meaning of the verse is that the human soul is not bound to the physical structure or the body of a person. The physical material of the bodies of both Hindus and Muselmans face the same fate and it is a universal truth. The soul leaves the body immediately after the death and it does not remain in the grave waiting for doom\'s day. And the earth consumes the body-material in due course of time) It is a rational and scientific view of Sikhism.
When Guru Har Rai Sahib was informed about this incident, he immediately excommunicated Ram Rai Ji from the Sikh Panth and never met him, through the later pleaded repeatedly for forgiveness. Thus Guru Sahib established a strict property for the Sikhs against any alteration of original
Knowing that the end was near, Guru Har Rai Sahib installed his younger son Har Krishan as the Eighth Nanak and passed away on Kartik Vadi 9 (5 Kartik), Bikrami Samvat 1718, (6th October, 1661) at Kiratpur Sahib.
All the Sikh Stories are nice, but still now i did not understand about the detail of Sikh history, because there are different ideas of the sikhism why?
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This is only a partial answer. Big chunks of Sikh history have been obliterated over the centuries making it impossible to document many many things. Each time through destruction through conquest and war. After the death of Guru Gobind Singh, Moghuls made it a point to systematically destroy remnants of Sikh identity. Documents lost and in the chaos no one able to preserve things. During the raj documents changed or shipped away. During the partition more destruction. During Bluestar the destruction of Akal Takht and much of its library shipped to no one knows where by the Indian Army. It is remarkable that anything is left. That is only part of the problem of reconstructing the why's and wherefore's of how various schools of thought developed. Some of it was political. Some of it reflects times when different personalities broke away from the center created by our gurus. In our Sanatan Sikhism section we are beginning a collection of information on diverse traditions within Sikhism. Take a look there. But that does not even scratch the surface of the answer.
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The next set of pictures are from Max Arthur Macauliffe's The Sikh Religion: Its Gurus, Sacred Writings, and Authors. Volume 4, looking at the early years of Guru Har Rai.
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