In service of Humanity - Bhai Kanhaiya Lal

There are no enemies nor strangers

Bhai Kanhaiya Lal

Bhai Kanhaiya Lal (1648-1718), left his service as an officer in the Mughal army, and came to serve the 9th Sikh Guru, Guru Tegh Bhadur ji 

After the martyrdom of the Guru he longed to meet the noble Guru's successor, [Guru Gobind Singh ji
, the 10th Sikh Guru. 

Arriving at Anandpur (Panjab) in 704 C.E. Bhai Kanhaiya found that the Guru and his followers under attack by the combined forces of the Rajput Hill Chieftains and the Mughal army.


The Rajputs and Muslims who together ruled over much of India, simply could not tolerate any other political or self defence entity.

The greatly outnumbered and outgunned Sikhs were fighting valiantly to defend themselves and the battlefield was littered with wounded and suffering soldiers from both sides.

Amongst the wounded wandered a solitary figure, the Sikh,  Bhai Kanhaiya trying to help those he could and giving them water from a mashk irrespective of whether they were Sikh, Hindu or Muslim.

The Nihang the Sikh warriors were very annoyed with Bhai Kanhaiya, they dragged and threw him in front of Guru Gobind Singh ji for suitable punishment for aiding the enemy.

The Guru asked Bhai Kanhaiya if the charges of treason were true? 
Bhai Kanhaiya replied, "I see no enemy, all I see is you, my beloved Guru. Have you not taught us, that to destroy enmity, we see the divine in each being? That is why I assist and serve water to the wounded irrespective of who they are.


The Guru proclaimed to the Sikhs "Bhai Kanhaiya is a true Sikh. He has understood and imbibed the meaning of the universal brotherhood of Sikhism. His service towards others without discrimination is highly praiseworthy. He is an inspiration to all of humanity and I bless him that in time he establish a great movement to selflessly serve humanity. I ordain that none will come in Bhai Kanhaiya's way to perform his noble duty."

The Guru blessed Bhai Kanhaiya and handed over to him a large medicine chest and requested Bhai Kanhaiya not only to serve the wounded with water but to apply these medicines to heal their wounds.

Many Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus who received the selfless love and service of Bhai Kanhaiyalal and survived, were drawn to his noble cause. Upon leaving the service of their Masters they either joined his mission or started selfless service on their own. 

The Sewapanthi also known as the Addanshahi order of Sikhs which started by Bhai Kanhaiya a hundred and fifty years before the Red Cross
was founded in 1864  by another great being Henry Dunant in Europe. 

The Sewapanthi order continues to render noble service to people irrespective of religion, caste or gender across numerous centres across North India. Proving once again, 'When the Guru blesses, it is certain to succeed'.

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The Mosque built by, The Guru.

"Guru ki Maseet" (Guru's Mosque)

Shri. Guru Hargobind ji. 6th Sikh Guru

We inevitably find what we seek.
If we seek violence, hatred, and indifference we find them. If we seek out good souls, love, compassion, brotherhood, we find those too.
Below the surface of all religions lies a humanity, where individuals long to belong to one another.

Where do we go when we seek the divine? A spiritual teacher, the Muslims call such a great soul, 'Murshid' and the Hindus and Sikhs call 'Guru'. Unlike us ordinary mortals, they have only come to give. Though they will accept any offering for sharing with other disciples and for the common good, they never demand.


Guru Hargobind ji the sixth Sikh Guru and the Sikh disciples themselves provide numerous examples of universal brotherhood, love and devotion. 

One such instance is the 'Gur ki Maseet' (Guru's Mosque). 
In 1630 the greatly outnumbered Sikhs led by Guru Hargobind ji defeated in battle, Abdullah Khan, the tyrannical ruler of Jalandhar. The battle was for righteousness and justice not power and wealth in any name or pretext.
The Muslim residents approached the Guru with a problem, they had no place to pray.

To a Guru all people are the same, saving the oppressed, spreading love and amity by their every word and action. In probably the only known such example in history, the Sikh Guru built a mosque for the Muslims.  

Located at Sri. Hargobindpur, in Panjab's Gurdaspur district, midway between Jalandhar and Amritsar. The mosque is picturesquely situated on a hill overlooking a curve on the banks of the mighty Beas river.

Even now 387 years ago those values and that spirit the Guru espoused are vibrantly alive in the hearts and minds of many, as can be seen from the return of the mosque to the Muslim community.

In 1947  all the Muslim residents abandoned the town to move to Pakistan, during the horrific partition caused by power hungry, cunning, and soulless men.

Soon thereafter the local Sikhs got together and used the mosque as a Gurdwara (congregation hall) at the same site. Here prayers were offered and hymns sung from the Guru Granth Sahib (the holy book containing the hymns of all the Sikh Gurus, various great Hindu, and Muslim saints (30 of them in number). It was protected and served by the valiant and noble Nihang Sikhs, as their solemn responsibility. 

The Sikhs always maintained that this place belonged to the Muslims and wanted to return it to them. They constantly nagged the government and the Punjab Waqf Board to get Muslims to start offering Namaz at the mosque and to take over its upkeep.

The Muslims were mostly poor labourers who could not build a mosque for themselves and since 1947 they had to travel 10 to 15 kms away for offering prayers.

Though the mosque was a splendid structure it was in disrepair, and who would replace the Sikh staff who all worked as volunteers?  The Punjab Waqf Board requested the Sikhs to continue to look after the mosque, while they found a solution.


Eventually it is the people that have to take responsibility.
By 1997 a group of Sikhs and Muslims had come together, roped in the Cultural Resource Conservation Initiative (CRCI), and UNESCO to set things right. The restoration work began in 2000 with sikh families donating some land adjoining the Mosque. The Nihang Sikhs and the local population volunteered for most of the spade work. 



By 2002 the restoration was complete and  Maulana Hamid Husain Qasmi, the Imam of the Jama Masjid in Amritsar, led the first prayers in the mosque.

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Sikhs taking care of and protecting the Mosque

This is but one example of how magnanimous the true Sikhs are in helping all humanity irrespective of belief, all attributable to the teachings of the Sikh Gurus.

The Gurus taught that it is the solemn duty of Sikhs to fight against injustice, save the oppressed, share with others and particularly the needy and to remember God (Naam) always.

Sikhs are reputed for their gregarious, passionate, noble, valiant, honest, steadfast, and intelligent nature. Time and again one can usually experience this in the interactions with them. 



 

             

'Guru Ki Maseet' during restoration

'Guru Ki Maseet' after major restoration

Muslim and Sikhs discussing historical texts  about the mosque's history

Muslims offering prayers in the Guru's Mosque while Sikh brethren & the media watch them

                                       

God belongs only to me.

Some colleagues and I were enjoying listening to 'Kirtan'  (holy hymns) as we drove to a meeting.

My colleague asked, "Who composed these beautiful hymns, and who were the minstrels?
I stated with a cocky pride that the hymns were those originally sung by my Guru, Nanak Dev ji, in praise of that one unifying energy and force we call God.
The first Sikh Guru, and humanity's youngest and probably most modern spiritual faith.

In fact the day was special because it marked Guru Nanak ji's 543rd birth anniversary.

The moment I uttered these words I felt rather foolish.
'My Guru, my God, my faith', how could I for even a fraction of a moment presume that all these belonged only to me ?  Me, an insignificant bit of living dust was now claiming ownership over God and Guru.

Was not God one? How dare I believe for a fraction of a moment that the Guru was not for the universe and only for a select few like me? How stupid and arrogant of me?  How weak and petty was my belief?

Luckily my companions did not comment, either because they were as ignorant as I or  graciously indulgent of my shortcomings. I am not alone, for I share this same myopic vision with countless other followers of various faiths.

Some time ago, the Supreme court in Malaysia passed a judgement that a non Muslim may not use the name 'Allah', as only Muslims are permitted to do so. The simple meaning of 'Allah' is God, now belongs only to Muslims as per the learned judges of the court.

The creator is one and we call Him by a million names, our perceptions may change but He remains unchanged. He belongs to no one rather we belong to him and maybe to each other.

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Religion is supposed to be a unifying force and make people and the world a better place. Somewhere along the way,  religions and faiths have mostly lost their unifying purpose,  unless to attack others. Religions have turned violent, ugly and mostly irrelevant for spiritual growth of humanity.

If one looks below the surface it is quite evident that the problem is not with religion, it is with leaders of religion.
Spiritual phenomenon are now political movements, and politics is nothing but a game of power. Politics is war by other means. Wars have no winners only losers, and the greatest loss is our reverting back from human to beast.


We visit places of worship, where we meet so called 'religious persons'. We are asked to surrender to God. What they really mean is hand over your existence to these men, these self appointed, self serving so called representatives of God.

We are told to behave in a particular manner and to indulge in a certain way as it makes the individual subservient to other men.
This is why man's greatest cruelties, inhuman acts, miseries have been inflicted on mankind in the name of religion.
God did not create the world, He is the world for He has never been separate. He is in the air, water, soil, trees, animals, the mountains and the valleys, in the rainbow.

God is everywhere and belongs to all beings and all things. A truly religious person is easy to identify,  they are compassionate, tolerant, follows no dogma,  Through the true religion of love, friendship, contentment, tolerance,  with one another and with our world we can 

Getting a hearing

A journalist heard about a very old Jewish man had been going to the Western-Wall to pray, twice a day, everyday, for a very long time.

So she went to check it out. She went to the Western Wall and there he was, walking slowly up to the holy site.

She watched him pray and after about 45 minutes, when he turned to leave, using a cane and moving very slowly, she approached him for an interview.

"Pardon me, sir, I'm a journalist . What's your name?"

"Morris Feinberg," he replied.

"Sir, how long have you been coming to the Western Wall and praying?"

"For about 60 years."

"60 years! That's amazing! What do you pray for?"

"I pray for peace between the Christians, Jews and the Muslims."

"I pray for all the wars and all the hatred to stop."

"I pray for all our children to grow up safely as responsible adults and to love their fellow man."

"I pray that politicians tell us the truth and put the interests of the people ahead of their own interests."

"How do you feel after doing this for 60 years?"

"Like I'm talking to a wall!"

Where is God & what does He do?

In the year of 1511 AD the people of Baghdad were blessed to receive a messiah in the form of Guru Nanak, who had journeyed from India to Iraq en-route to Saudi Arabia after traveling through Pakistan, Iran and Syria.

While in Baghdad he decided to stay at a graveyard outside the town of Baghdad. Accompanied by Mardana the minstrel, Guru Nanak held discussions with the local people. Singing hymns, Guru ji wanted man to discover and liberate himself by surrendering to and loving God.  Guru ji preached that  all names and paths would lead to the one true God if we loved Him.

Some Muslims hearing Guru Nanak sing God's praise felt his utterances were blasphemous and complained to Pir Dastagir Abdul Qadir Jilani (supposedly a relgious man).

Acting on the Pir's orders people rushed to stone Guru Nanak to death. The violent mob arrived just as Guru Nanak finished singing a hymn. Guru opened his eyes and greeted the people. The bloodthirsty mob were mesmerized by the sheer presence and energy radiating from Guru Nanak. They put down the stones and sat down to listen to Guru ji.

Present in the crowd was a Pir* called Bahlol who had come with his six year old son. He began to debate with Guru Nanak on matters of spirituality. He asked the Guru to prove what he preached about countless earths and universes. Guru Nanak smiled and placed his hand on the head of the six year old son of Bahlol. After a few minutes he asked the boy to speak. The lad confessed that he had seen many worlds and universes and what Guru ji said was true.

Bahlol and most people present there fell to their knees in submission and asked Guru ji to enlighten them, for they wanted to follow him and his preachings to find God.  Guru ji told them it was quite simple. He asked them to sincerely love the one true creator and all his creations and they would find God.

The turn of events infuriated the haughty  Pir Dastagir Jilani who reported the perceived blasphemy to the Caliph** of Baghdad. The Caliph recognizing that Guru ji was not an ordinary soul did not pass any judgement. Instead he ordered Pir Dastagir Jilani to question Guru Nanak in his presence. 

Pir Dastagir asked Guru ji three questions

1. If there is God then where can he be found?
2. If God is there then, what was there before he came?
3. If there is God then what work does he do?

Guru Nanak after meditating on God for a few minutes asked for some milk. Promptly a bowl of milk was provided. Guru ji looked at the bowl and said there was ghee in the milk and everyone knew it, but no one could see it. "Such is God he is omnipresent but cannot be seen, only known and experienced."

Secondly Guru Nanak then asked for some beads and this was arranged. He asked Pir Dastagir to count the beads and when he started from one, Guru ji asked him "can you tell me what was there before the number one?"

When Pir Dastagir had no answer Guru ji told him "God has always existed from the dawn of time,  everything began with God".

Then Guru ji requested the Caliph that to be able to respond the next question he would like the Caliph to come down to the witness box and permit Guru Nanak to stand near the throne. When the Caliph obliged, Guru ji said, "This is what God does, he makes a king into a beggar and a beggar into a king. All things are obtained by the grace of God and not by the efforts and grace of man".

The Caliph accepted the folly of his advisors in not recognizing Guru Nanak as a man of God and his lofty message, begged his forgiveness. He proclaimed to the citizens that Guru Nanak was a pir.

Guru Nanak shunned the Caliph's offer to stay at the palace and continued to reside in the humble hut outside the city for a further four months. The residents in the area thirsted for spiritual wisdom and fresh water.  Guru ji directed the residents nearby to dig a well in the south east area vicinity of where he was staying. Lo and behold! the well yielded plenty of sweet water, a rare occurrence in an area where most of the water found was brackish. 

Before his departure Guru Nanak was presented a robe as a token of respect on which verses in Arabic are inscribed. This robe can be seen in the Gurdwara at Dera Baba Nanak, in Pakistan.

A shrine was built at the place in Baghdad where Guru ji stayed, spiritually guiding the citizens of Baghdad and adjoining territories  As per the caretaker there exists a manuscript detailing in detail the account of Guru Nanak's visit to Baghdad. Unfortunately it was stolen in 1926.

The shrine known to locals as the tomb of Bahlol Dana bears two inscriptions carved on plaques made of sandstone.

Behold! How a wish has been fulfilled by Holy and High Providence. That the building of Baba Nanak has been newly built with the help of seven autat (great valis).

That the happy murad of God (Baba Nanak) has started a fountain of grace issuing new water in the land. 917 Hijri (1511AD)

*     Pir   - Saint
**   Caliph - Administrative and spiritual head of a territory.

Being SPIRITUAL is different from being RELIGIOUS

We have often heard the phrase 'Religious fanatic' but it is doubtful if we have ever heard of a 'Spiritual fanatic'.

I too like many other people had made the mistake of thinking of religion and spirituality as one and the same thing.

We claim we are Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Christians etc, simply because we are born to parents who made the same claim, like their parents before them. Most of us are mere zombies mindlessly following practices and rituals. Do we really follow the teachings of Christ, or Buddha, the Guru or Prophet?

 Their comes a time when we begin to seek answer to such questions? If we are lucky we find someone who provides us some answers. If we are blessed and extremely fortunate we need not be told, for our answers will be born out of our own experiences.

We discover spirituality in many ways and this is one incident that helped me to become a less religious but more spiritual person.

I had to attend to business in Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) and decided to fly from Delhi to Benares and then drive on to Allahabad.

Located on the banks of the holy river Ganga, Benares is supposed to be the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.

 As I sat down in my aircraft seat and buckled myself in, I noticed two South Indian gentlemen, dressed in their traditional clothing of Lungi and shirt but they were barefooted.

It is rare, even for us Indians to see barefooted passengers on an aircraft. This however was not the only eye opener.

As is my habit I always greet my co-passengers and converse with them. If I am lucky I am able to engage them in a fruitful discussion. This is a tremendous opportunity to learn about random matters and opinions which I am rarely exposed to during my other social interactions. I was intrigued with my fellow travellers and we started to converse.

Residents of Malaysia, my co-passengers were Dr Arjunan Balasubramaniam and Swanand . They remarked that they were on their yearly pilgrimage to various holy Hindu shrines in India. I learnt a little later that Arjunan is amongst Malaysia's leading attorneys and Swanand manages his own shipping company.

They planned to visit the Kashi Vishwanath temple at Benares dedicated to Lord Shiva and then bathe in the holy Ganga adjoining the temple.

I with my curious but immature mind remarked to Arjunan that it was quite obvious that he worshipped Lord Shiva, and Arjunan must be very religious to undertake this pilgrimage every year.

Arjunan responded, "I worship the One True lord and all his manifestations, including Lord Shiva.". He further added, "On the contrary I am not religious at all, but I am deeply spiritual."

I was puzzled. This was a revelation for me and I began to think, I always used the words religion and spirituality interchangeably believing them to mean the same thing. This interaction planted the seeds of a friendship. We decided to hang out together in Benares.

We arrived at Benares and I was appalled at what I saw. Here was one of India's most religious places, mentioned since ancient times. Hindu teachings have referred to Benares for more than twenty thousand years. The great city had been turned into an ugly mess with no discipline and garbage strewn everywhere, except at the temple premises.

Shock gave way to anger, then sadness and despair as I travelled through the city to the temple of Kashi Vishwanath, the temple of 'The King of the Universe'. The temple itself was magnificent and clean but the surrounding areas was indescribably bad. Food was strewn everywhere, dogs, cattle, monkeys abounded in their feasting of the food so wasted and discarded on the roads and by-lanes by 'devotees'.

We washed up and entered the temple and paid our obeisance. The vibrations from within the temple were overpowering and soothing to the soul. My anger and despair was transformed into hope as I bowed and surrendered to Him, and said a silent prayer.

For fleeting moments I felt calm before I was rudely shoved by people standing behind me, waiting for their turn to transact whatever they had come for.

I emerged from the temple recharged, and back to the reality of this beautiful world made ugly by our neglect and abuse.

We debated what to do next. We decided to take a bath at the bathing ghat near the temple. I took one look at the state of the river Ganga. Mother Ganga, which is considered to be the holiest of holy rivers. She has the power to wash away the sins of all those who bathe and pray in the river. I could not but help feel that the Holy Ganga was herself being overpowered by the sinners and the pollution we humans had created.

There was so much debris floating near the banks that devotees had to push the rubbish away to find a clear patch in the water in which to bathe. I balked at bathing or even touching the Ganga’ s water because I was not yet willing to believe. However Arjunan and Swanand calmly disrobed and after clothing themselves in 'dhotis' waded into the river and offered their prayers while taking a dip in the holy Ganga.

The terrible state of the Ganga is an example of human selfishness and apathy. We seek salvation but we cannot even provide the basic courtesy so required to take the first step in this direction. I swore that I would do something about this situation and decided to devote some part of my life to preserving the environment and our cultural values.

I sought to continue our discussion on spirituality and religion and the meaning of life, but the pressure of the appointment in Allahabad meant I had to leave with my doubts unanswered. Reluctantly I bid adieu to my new found friends and drove off to Allahabad.

Many questions nagged me until nearly three years later I met Sant Baba Ishwar Singh ji of Dheradun. I sought his guidance on religion and spirituality. I have summarised what I learnt and wish to share it with you.

• There is, but one God.
• He is known by many names. The names being given by people as they have learnt of Him and how they have experienced His greatness.
• He is not like a human being but is energy manifest in this universe.
• There are countless religions, but all religions are merely roads to reach Him.
• To merge and be one with Him should be our aim.
• However we forget the destination and our stuck on our various roads. We fight for religion but not truth, each religion claiming that "my God is better than your God", and "my road is better than your road" etc.
•  Organised religions are ever growing and powerful institutions serving to fulfil mainly social and political needs. Performing rituals for birth and death, marriages and separations, acquisitions and losses, etc. Religion has come to be associated with power, greed arrogance and falsehoods. 
• Religion has become materialistic and at best offering superficial solace to the masses, often failing to touch the soul or the consciousness.
• Organised religion as practiced nowadays is a hijacked and distorted version of the teachings of Gurus, Prophets, Messiahs, and Saviours.
• Religion which was meant to bring people closer to one another and to God had actually caused great divisions between men and distanced humanity from God

On spirituality and spiritual beings he said;

•       Spirituality means love, compassion, tolerance, friendship and contentment with what we have and with the universe in which we exist.

•      Spiritual beings do not follow a particular religion save that of truth. They do not believe in dogma and rituals, they will spread joy and peace wherever they go, for the Lord travels with them.

•      All people, creatures and nature are precious to the spiritual being.

•      A spiritual person never gets provoked into anger.

•      Spiritual people do good things and help others without expecting anything in return, for they know it is not their own doing, they are merely doing God's bidding.

If something is burning we can pour water to cool it off, or we can find and eliminate the cause of the burning. 

Religion is like water thrown on an inextinguishable fire and more often than not organised religion is like adding fuel to the fire. Spirituality on the other hand removes the burning caused by fire of hate, greed, false ego etc.

I was until not long ago a bad guy, but the good thing is I knew I was bad and I needed to change. I consciously tried to change my nature, but always relapsed because our sub-conscious is much more powerful than the conscious mind

With the blessing of Babaji my spiritual teacher and guide, I have changed considerably for the better, because my core has changed

I no longer struggle to be something I am not. I hope and pray that you too are as lucky as I have been.