The Guru carried the conviction – more than four hundred years ago, when religious intolerance and persecution were common all over the world and especially in India – that every individual must have the freedom to worship the faith of his or her choice.

Guru Tegh Bahadur’s Life and His Message

Guru Tegh Bahadur was the ninth of the ten gurus who founded and established the Sikh religion. He was born in 1621 C.E. in Amritsar, India. As a leader of the Sikhs, he set out on a number of journeys to spread the message of hope and peace among the masses who were suffering across the land. Wherever he stopped he would get wells dug for the people and community kitchens set up. He preached about honest work and charity and gave away all the offerings that he received from devotees. He's also remembered for his poetry, much of which is included in the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh Scriptures.

He taught liberation from worldly attachment, fear and dependence. He preached that strength should be gained through truth, contemplation upon God, sacrifice and spiritual wisdom. Guru Tegh Bahadur was firm in his conviction that spiritual progress is a combination of individual effort and collective harmony among people from all strata of society. He envisioned the creation of a just social and economic order, and peaceful co-existence among all human beings.

His vision was all-pervasive as he guided seekers on the right path. In one of his hymns he exhorts devotees, "Listen man, grasp firmly this truth: the whole universe is a dream shattering in an instant; man labours to build a wall of sand, crumbling soon after; as is this wall, so are the pleasures of the world in which thou art entangled. Wake up before it is too late, turn to devotion to the Creator." In short he practiced what he preached "His soul ever stays in health who trusts in God and makes an honest living to share with others and injures no one, nor harbors ill-will against another".

His Sacrifice:

Guru Tegh Bahadur lived at a time when even personal laws were oppressive and the right to worship as per one's choice was denied, culminating in an atmosphere of fear and severe backlash.

Guru Tegh Bahadur became the spiritual head of the Sikhs just at the time when the Mughal Emperor of India, Aurangzeb, was imposing Islam on the people. He had no tolerance for other religions and proceeded on a brutal campaign of repression. Aurangzeb closed down Hindu schools, demolished temples or turned them into mosques, charged non-Muslims heavy taxes and Emperor persecuted those who would not conform to Islamic law. He forbade Hindus from celebrating their festivals, ordered that only Muslims could be landlords of crown lands, dismissed all Hindu clerks and ordered governors to put a stop to the teachings and practicing of idolatrous forms of worship.

Denied the freedom to follow their faith, the Hindus of Kashmir approached Guru Tegh Bahadur for help and guidance. The Hindu Brahmin Pandits of Kashmir were among the most highly learned and orthodox of the Hindu leadership. Aurangzeb felt if they could be converted, the rest of the country would easily follow. Given this ultimatum, a large delegation of 500 Kashmiri Pandits met the Guru and explained their dire predicament and requested him to intercede on their behalf.

When an anguished Guru Tegh Bahadur sought a way to help the suffering multitude, his son Guru Gobind Singh, as a nine-year-old, spoke words of encouragement, which energized him to pursue the path of wisdom. He told the Pandits to inform Aurangzeb that the Brahmins would gladly accept and embrace Islam if Guru Tegh Bahadur can be convinced to do so and made preparations to go to Delhi and sacrifice his life.

As soon as Aurangzeb heard the news he ordered the immediate arrest of the Guru. He ordered Guru Tegh Bahadur to be forced to convert to Islam through torture or be killed.
Guru Tegh Bahadur refused to embrace Islam, saying "For me, there is only one religion - of God - and whosoever belongs to it, be he a Hindu or a Muslim, him I own and he owns me. I neither convert others by force, nor submit to force, to change my faith."

Guru Tegh Bahadur was subjected to many cruelties; he was kept in an iron cage and starved for many days. The Guru faced a further test to his righteousness when three of his followers were tortured in his presence. Yet he remained steadfast and bore these cruelties without flinching or showing any anger or distress. He preferred the torture of the flesh to sacrificing the ideals of virtue. Finally on November 11, 1675 Guru Tegh Bahadur was publicly beheaded as he prayed.

The bodies of those so executed were usually quartered and exposed to public view, but Tegh Bahadur's followers managed to steal the body under cover of darkness, cremate the limbs in Delhi, and bring the severed head to Tegh Bahadur's son Gobind Rai, 250 miles away in Anandpur. He performed the last rites for his father.

His Legacy:

The site of Guru Tegh Bahadur’s execution was later turned into an important Gurdwara (Sikh House of Worship) Sisganj in Delhi, India. Millions of people of all social and religious backgrounds pay homage to the Guru at this shrine. He is honored as a man who died for religious freedom for all peoples, not just Sikhs. The shrine holds the symbolism of war against injustice, a determination to stand up to atrocity, though it may mean sacrifice of the self.

He taught the ethos of self-sacrifice for the common good of mankind and this is enshrined in his spiritual legacy. Never in history has the religious leader of one religion sacrificed his life to save the freedom of another religion.

"One untouched by avarice, attachment, egotism and pursuit of evil passions, And one risen above joy and sorrow — know such a one to be God's own image." Thus sang Guru Tegh Bahadur. Guru sacrificed his life for upholding the principle of freedom of conscience. In today’s world, scarred by religious fanaticism and intolerance Guru Teg Bahadur is truly a hero to be revered and emulated.

Mystic Saint Kabir in one of his verses says, "The true hero is one who in defense of the helpless may be hacked limb to limb, but flees not the field," and there can be no greater testimonial to the Guru’s unflinching courage which earned him the praise as "one who covered dharma (religion) and protected it."

Quotations and sayings of Guru Tegh Bahadur ji

Guru Tegh Bahadur’s thoughts on life.

1 ) Message: All our doubts in life are eliminated by being in love with God

Cast off all your doubts; prays Nanak, O mortal, focus your consciousness on His Feet.


2) God is the only Giver

He has given you your body, wealth, property, peace and beautiful mansions.
Says Nanak, O mind listen: why don't you remember the Lord in meditation?


3) Abandon ego when you serve others

Those who make pilgrimages to sacred shrines, observe ritualistic fasts and make
donations to charity while still keeping pride in their minds - O Nanak, their actions are useless, like an elephant, who takes a bath, and then rolls in the dust.

4) Eternal Peace and the sanctuary of God

If you yearn for eternal peace, then seek the Sanctuary of the Lord.
Says Nanak, listen mind: this human body is precious and difficult to obtain.

O mind, contemplate that you are continuously in the Sanctuary of God.

5) There is no difference between God and the person who loves God

That person, who meditates in remembrance on the Lord in his heart, is liberated -
Knows this well.
There is no difference between that person and the Lord:
O Nanak, accept this as the Truth.
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Abandon egotism, and stay close to saintly persons in devotion; you shall be liberated in an instant.
O servant Nanak, without meditating and vibrating on the Lord God, there is no
peace, even in dreams.


6) God is Merciful and destroyer of fear

God is Merciful to the meek, forever the Destroyer of fear, and yet you do not develop any loving relationship with Him.

7) God is the dispeller of pain

The Name of the Lord is the Dispeller of sorrow - realize this.
__________________

Without the Name of the Lord, you shall only find pain.
Without devotional worship, doubt is not dispelled; the Guru has revealed this secret.



8) God is present in you and yet you look for Him elsewhere

The Immaculate Lord is within your heart, and yet you search for Him in the
wilderness.

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9) Awaken your mind

Wake up, O mind! Wake up! Why are you sleeping unaware?
That body, which you were born with, shall not go along with you in the end.

Like a dog's tail, which will never straighten out, the mind will not change, no matter
how many things are tried.

10) God is the only permanent thing in reality. Everything is transient. So seek God’s Shelter.

Person gripped in anger and feeling of possessiveness and greed is unable to see the true reality or God’s presence.

Thinking that body is permanent but in actuality it is like a dream. (one day it will be gone)

Whatever we see will disappear one day as does a cloud’s shadow.

Nanak, Accept this world to be a myth and stay within God’s shelter.
O mind, embrace true contemplation.


11 )Life is precious; Do not waste it; Remain one with God to be free.

O saintly being, always sing God’s praises
The human life is the most prescious gift; Do not loose it or waste it.

Do not forget God, who is the Purest of the pure and Friend of the poor
Always remain in God’s shelter.

Abandon ego and attachment to false things in life.
That is the way to liberation or freedom and or to become a Gurmukh, the liberated one.

You shall not obtain this human body again; make the effort - try to achieve liberation!

Says Nanak, sing praise of the Lord of compassion, and cross over the world ocean and achieve liberation and freedom.

12 )Human body is precious and do not pursue worthless goals in life. Turn your attention to God’s presence around you and inside yourself.

This human body is very precious and valuable; some waste it pursuing worthless things in life.

God is present within and without and yet we do not feel love and connection with God.

Nanak, Consider that person liberated and free, who feels presence of God in his/ her heart and in whose heart God lives.

13 )In life one faces happiness and sadness but one must remain attached to God who is the dispeller of any suffering.

O Saintly being!
One attains true peace and serenity in God’s shelter

The person who is free from the grips of happiness and suffering, consider him/her to be truly realized and wise one.

- Written and edited by Dr. Rajwant Singh and Amrit Kaur.

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