One special day which we celebrate as “Guru Tegh Bahadur Jayanti”, is celebrated in the memory of the 9th Sikh guru. This year we celebrated the 400th birth anniversary of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib. His birthday was celebrated in Gurudwara “Guru Ke Mehal”, Amritsar which is also his birth place. A Nagar Kirtan was also held on April 23 starting from Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji’s birth place at Guru Ka Mehal in Amritsar and arriving at Baba Bakala to mark the launch of the event. It was followed by Akhand Path & Gurupurab celebrations. A series of events were organized at Gurudwara “Guru Ke Mehal” which were being telecasted live through various platforms.
Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib was the youngest son of our 6th Guru Shri Guru Har Gobind Sahib. He founded Anand Pur Sahib. He preached that people of different races , religions or sex are equal in the eyes of God. He is remembered for giving his life for the freedom of religion. He fought against the forced conversion to Islam. Guruji was approached by Kashmiri Pandits complaining that they were being forcefully converted to brace Islam by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Today when I see the “Khalsa aid” Sikh warriors help people relentlessly during the covid-19 crisis ,I’m reminded of the Delhi Sikhs who played a daring and well planned role after Aurangzeb ordered the execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib. These Khalsa aid volunteers can be seen providing free oxygen concentrators, free food, free ambulance service for all needy covid-19 patients. They are also cremating the bodies of people whose last rights cannot be performed by their kins. We can see these volunteers burring the Christians and Muslims and cremating the Hindus and Sikhs. This is what exactly Guru Tegh Bahadur preached that selfless service for people of all religion as in the eyes of God. Similarly “ Langar Aid” is a dedicated initiative to provide emergency food & water supplies to disaster & war zones. The motive is to serve mankind & see humanity as the only religion.
Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib was considered as a principled and a fearless warrior. He wrote 116 shabads , 15 ragas and 782 compositions. He also wrote a wide range of topics such as God , human relationships , the human condition , the body and mind , emotions , service , death and dignity . He showed the path of divinity to his disciples by teaching them to overcome greed, desire , ego and pain. He was executed in the city of Delhi on the orders of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb after he refused to embrace Islam. His son Guru Gobind Singh, the last Guru of the Sikhs, transformed the community into a martial race to counter the might of the Mughals.
I personally believe that if I can even practice one tenth of what he taught, my life would be purposeful. I too want to work with organizations who serve mankind without any personal interest. May the almighty give me the strength like Guru Teg Bahadur who sacrificed himself for the welfare of others.
