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Sain Dass used to visit Amritsar to see the Guru on the

occasion of Baisakhi (the festival of reaping the wheat harvest in the month of April) and Diwali (the festival of lamps in the month of November) every year. He visited the Guru's family on other than these two occasion as well. Whenever Hargobind visited his in-law’s house, everybody felt overjoyed. Time was passing peacefully though many unfortunate things had also happened. The nuling family and the local and provincial administrators successfully created many difficulties for Guru Arjan Dev. The prejudice of the fundamentalists among the Muslims surfaced when they tried to harass the fifth Guru. The Guru had, as per the wishes of his followers, rejected the matrimonial offer of Chandu’s daughter. It was he who was in the forefrontin harassing the Guru. There was a time when the Mughal Emperor, Akbarthe great, listened to the holy Gurbani and had paid his obeisance. He had come to Goindwal, stayed there and commended the work being done by the Gurus for improving the social conditions of the people. He had met the Guru at Goindwal. It has been mentioned in the books of history (Khalsa-Tuarikh, p. 452) that on a recommendation by the fifth Guru he had sanctioned exemption of the land revenue to the farmers of the area.

The people of Dalla were more than anxious to know about the Guru’s welfare. One day the news reached that Sulabhi Khan was being sent to create new difficulties for the Guru. The other day another news was making the rounds that Sulabhi Khan was coming to level new allegations against the Guru. The devotees were naturally perturbed but then they had the reassuring thought that the Guru was above all earthly problems. They thought that the wind was blowing as per his own instructions and desires. The situation was developing to test the Guru's patience and stamina. The devotees were

sure that the Guru would be able to survive all attacks and allegations. Then the news came that Sulabhi Khan had been waylaid and killed. Sulabhi Khan had fallen into a brick Kiln and was burnt alive. This type of news nobody was ready. It was reported that the Guru had been sent for by the provincial rulers Lahore and the whereabouts of the Guru were not known. It was also reported that he had given instructions to install Hargobind on the spiritual seat vacated by him. Itwas rumoured that the Guru had anticipated what was in store for him and had told his wife about the impending course of events. The Guru's enemies were a source of anxiety. To have first hand information a large number of people from Dalla rushed to Amritsar but things were no different there. Here, too, everybody was worried about the Guru's whereabouts. All the important personalities among Sikhs had gone to Lahore, the provincial capital. Bhai Sain Dass, along with his father-inlaw Narayan Dass, also rushed to Lahore. By this time one of the Muslim sympathisers of the Guru, the famous Mian Mir had brought an inside information that hot sand had been poured on the Guru's body, he had been made to sit in boiling water and mercilessly tortured. Mian Mir also told that all these atrocities on the part of the rulers were in vain as the Guru had steadfastly refused to make any alteration or addition or deletion in the Holy Granth Sahib . He had also brought the news that the Guru had suffered every form of torture with stoic patience and he had made no effort to save his life. All the time he had remained in tune with the Almighty. Mian Mir said, “I had tried to seek his permission to use influence to save him or condemn those responsible for intolerable atrocities, but the Guru had specifically asked him not to do any such thing and considered everything as inevitable and bore all the tortures with a smile on his face. While this news was making the rounds of the town, a very unfortunate fact came to light. The news was confirmed that the Guru had breathed his last by the side of the Lahore fort on the bank of river Ravi. The people made a bee-line to that place. Bhai Sain Dass and Narayan Dass also reached there. The river was in its full fury and the Guru's body was lying on the bank. His body

was full of burns and blisters, but his face was calm, peaceful and in a posture of meditation. In spite of disfigurement the body did not look dead. Rather it looked as if the Guru was lost in meditation. The devotees were sad but calm and full of deep emotions of sorrow. There was complete silence all around. . streams of tears were flowing from all eyes. There was no eye which was not wet. In a short period a large number of people gathered there. A devotee who was with the Guru till the end told that the Guru had specifically instructed that instead of cremating his dead body it should be offered to the flowing waters of Ravi. The followers and devotees changed the Guru's clothes and while chanting the holy words commensurate with the grave occasion immersed the body into the flowing waters. This place was later converted into a religious shrine. called Dehra Sahib’ (The abode). This shrine still exists.

This incident had hurt the innermost feelings of the sikhs. It was no ordinary incident. It was an example of the highest cruelty. Falsehood had tried to muffle the truth but truth had refused to admit defeat. It was victory of good over evil. The Guru had sacrificed his life but refused to compromise with the evil forces. The Guru feared none nor did he frighten anyone. He underwent all the tortures but remained steadfast. Bhai Gurdas, the great Sikh scholar, and a contemporary of the Guru, has sung his praise. “He is not dead, he could not be killed. His soul merged with the Supreme Being. In the period of trial he remained steadfast. He was one with God, he merged with God. We must not forget his message. The Guru has created an example of non-violence and tolerance. He had made the greatest sacrifice imaginable.”

The Guru suffered for the sake of his followers. He sacrificed his life to give a new life to his followers. He suffered fearlessly to make his fellowmen fearless. This incident transformed the sikhs. They were reciters of Gurbani earlier and now they . _became warriors. He turned the saints into soldiers. Sacrifices of great souls injected new life, new strength and new outlook into their followers. That is how the peace-loving people rose to fight against injustice and tyranny. This was the first wrong step taken by the Mughals. It was the first attempt which started

the decay of the Mughal Rule. The sacrifices of the innocent, the martyrdom of the saints, the killings of the pious are bound to bear fruit. Such sacrifices bread a sense ofrebellion and give birth to revolutions. The martyrdom of the Guru madeitclearto his followers that many more such sacrifices would be asked for. It showed the way the Sikhs were bound to travel. Guru Arjan Dev’s sacrifice started a chain reaction and after that history was never the same. The later history of the Sikhs was written with the blood of the innocent Sikhs. The Guru's sacrifice created a model, a standard and an example to be followed cheerfully. After this incident the Sikhs, one after the other cashed the cheques of their lives at the bank of freedom. This incident made the Sikhs fearless and for them Death became a bride whom they were to wed. This incident toughened the Sikhs. Whenthe going became rough, the torch kept burning. No pressure could bend the Sikhs, no torture could break them, no authority was there which they did not challenge, defy and resist. This sacrifice of the Guru transformed the sparrows into falcons. The Sikhs underwent a complete change. Some historians have created a wrong impression that the Sikhs became revengeful. Such historians seem to be unaware of the Sikhs psyche. The Sikhs have never _ been revengeful. They were not revengeful then. They were and they are of the opinion that the policy of revenge is the policy of the weak. A brave and truthful person does not seek revenge rather he seeks an opportunity to make a still better, higher and noblersacrifice. Similarly, the Sikhs decided to make supreme sacrifices for defending the truth and for fighting against injustice and exploitation. The sense of sacrifice has been all along the greatest quality of the Sikhs. This incident polished and brightened this quality further and created opportunities for the Sikhs to prove their mettle. The Sikhs | had learnt from Gurbani that this body is perishable whereas the soul is immortal. Now onwards they cared for the soul and played with the body.

A large number of people had gathered in Amritsar. The news of the Guru’s martyrdom had spread like a wildfire throughout the country. All those persons who had ever met

the Guru, whether they were Muslims or Hindus, felt shocked at the turn of events. The nature of the tragedy was such that every body who had a heart in his body was moved. The rulers were condemned alongwith all those who had been instrumental in the death of the Guru. The recitation of Gurbani continued uninterrupted. After a few days of the fifth Guru’s martyrdom, a large number of people assembled at the appointed place and as per the wishes of the Guru, Hargobind was installed as the sixth Guru. Guru Hargobind removed his cap and put on a turban with a plume and wore two swords, one symbolic of the spiritual power and the other of temporal power. It was Guru Hargobind who presented a synthesis of the spiritual and temporal powers. The Guru had already established the synthesis of religious and social life. Now a new synthesis of saint and the soldier was established. The Guru kept the seats of spiritual power and temporal or political power, separate. The Guru founded the Akal Takhat in front of . the Darbar Sahib at Amnitsar and started holdinghiscourtthere. The Darbar Sahib remained the seat of spiritual power but the Akal] Takhat was made the seat of political power from where the sixth Guru started running the affairs of his religion as if he was running a separate empire. He collected a large number of horses, weapons and arms and gave military training to his followers. He made special efforts toinculcate among the Sikhs the feelings of bravery, valour and fearlessness. He also gave them training in the use of arms and in a very short period raised a competent force to defend their religion.

The Guru was invited by the Delhi Court. He went for a hunting expedition on the way. He went to Agra too. At Agra, with aruse he was despatched to Gwalior and confined in the fort there. The fort was being used as a prison. In the fort the Guru saw a number of nobles, who had dared to challenge the authority of the Emperor and as a consequence were languishing there. The Guru was imprisoned along with them. The Guru did not taste even once the rations sent by the authorities. He used to distribute these rations among the inmates and ate what his two followers brought from the market from their daily earnings. The Guru started holding a regular

congregation in the fort itself. The new routine was liked by every body. The impact of the Guru's efforts was positive to such an extent that a senior officer of the prison became Guru’s follower and devotee. This transformation of the jail officer helped in lessening the hardships of the prisoners. It is an established rule that a pious man transforms the atmosphere of the people in which he is present.

One can imagine the condition of the Sikhs whose one Guru had been martyred and the other one imprisoned. How the Guru was taken to Gwalior and how he was trapped and imprisoned, all these details will require a separate volume. Thereaders will know about the whole episode briefly through the experience of Bhai Sain Dass.

Bhai Sain Dass was Guru Hargobind’s brother-in-law but after Hargobind’s installation as the sixth Guru, Bhai Sain Dass treated Hargobind as his Guru and paid all the obeisance due to the Guru. Bhai Sain Dass always held the Guru in the highest esteem. The sixth Guru continued the traditions of the first five _ Gurus and he had introduced the concept of the temporal power. This temporal power had no other meaning except the defence of the spiritual power. The sword was meant for safeguarding the scripture. The sword was to be used for defending the innocent against state terrorism. The aim was to defend the freecom of religion and the freedom of the country. The concept of temporal power did not affect the Sikh’s devotion to the scripture, or meditation or recitation and propagation of the gospel. The Guru himself was a great scholar of spiritual knowledge. Alongwith spiritual awakening the Guru was preparing his Sikhs to become a fighting force. There was no place for greed, ego, selfishness or arrogance in the Guru's philosophy. There were already five basicconcepts of religion. The Guru added the sixth concept of political power, the sword became the symbol of such power. It is to be understood that the concept of political or temporal power was subordinate to the spiritual power.

One day at the Akal Takht, the Guru expressed a desire to meet Bhai Sain Dass but he was to be found nowhere. Messengers were sent in all directions but they failed to trace

him. Then somebody brought the information that Bhai was sweeping the floor at Darbar Sahib. After a couple of days when the Guru sent for Bhai Sain Dass, he was found sitting in the precincts of the holy shrine at Darbar Sahib and reciting psalms for Gurbani. His wife was always by his side. One day he could not be located even in Darbar Sahib. Somebody reported that he had seen the Bhai at Ramsar and from there he had left for his village Sultanpur to enquire about and nurse a. Sikh who was lying in bed. In Sultanpur the Sikh who was the Guru's devotee, was lying on his death bed. There was nobody to look after him. When the Bhai got this information he proceeded to the village all alone to take charge. The patient died four days later. Before his death the Bhai had asked him, “Tell me if I can do anything for you?” The patient said, “You are very kind, I have a desire to see the face of the Guru. But! know it is almost impossible. You are Guru's close relative and if you take pains, even the impossible can become possible. I know that! am asking far too much but I cannot help it.” The Bhai had never demanded anything from the Guru. The patient's request left him thinking whether he should make a request to fulfil the last desire of the patient. He got up, changed his clothes. He was still thinking how to approach the Guru when he heard a knock at the door. When the Bhai unbolted the door, he was surprised to see that outside the door was the Guru smiling, on his horseback. The Bhai was overjoyed and fell at the Guru's feet. The Guru alighted from the horse, took Bhai into his arms, and entered the room. The Guru blessed the patient who then breathed his last. The Guru accompanied the Sikhs to the cremation ground to complete the last rites. Bhai Sain Dass urged the Guru to go back as it was too hot to walk along distance to the cremation ground but the Guru did not agree and insisted on going with the funeral procession. After the cremation the Guru returned to Amritsar along with Bhai Sain Dass.

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