A young boy, Joga from Peshawar, had come to meet Guru Gobind Singh. The Guru asked him, “Who are you?” The boy replied, “I am Joga.” “Kehde joga,” the Guru asked again. In Punjabi the word “joga” means “worthy of” or simply “for whom the person is”. The boy, mesmerised by the powerful yet serene appearance of the Guru, replied, “Guru joga (I am worthy of the Guru).” Overwhelmed by the response, the Guru replied, “Tu mere joga, main tere joga (if you are for the Guru, then the Guru is for you).”
Guru Gobind Singh, born in 1666 in the city of Patna, the creator of the Khalsa, a protector not only of Joga, later known as Bhai Joga Singh, but was a saviour of the entire community and humanity. Born to a martyr father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, who had sacrificed his life for dharma, Guru Gobind Singh, a father of four martyr sons, was a great warrior, poet and saint.
Guru Gobind Singh, the Sachcha Patshah, was a firm believer in one Supreme Being. He asserts the unity of all creation. The Guru, addressing the Supreme Being, says, “Thou appearest in all forms and beholdest everything. Thou art like an ocean rippling with countless waves unbroken and mysterious. Thou art quintessence of all things yet unformed of the elements. Thou makest all things flourish, and then scatterest away; to Thee I bow again and again. Thou art almighty creator, whose hand is in all concerns of the world. To Thee I bow again and again. Thou art multifarious and yet One (anek hain phir ek hain).” In all his writings, Guru Gobind Singh emphasises on inclusiveness and universalism.
The creator, the Akal-Purakh, pervades everywhere and does not discriminate. His creation in the form of water, air, trees, plants, rain and sunlight sees no distictions and who are we to make these categories. Condemning the manmade inequalities, Guru Gobind Singh, created the pure community of the Khalsa — a perfect combination of saint-soldier. The Khalsa is enjoined upon to adopt the attributes of the almighty who is “ever calm”, “without anxiety”, “without desire”, “like the sky above the earth”, calm and deep. The creator is without any distinctions, so is the Khalsa.
Guru Gobind Singh strongly condemned the practices of rituals, superstitions, use of horoscopes and ceremonies. Instead he preached a life devoted to the Supreme Being, based on love, devotion, right conduct, sacrifice, bravery and kindness. The Khalsa are enjoined to help the helpless and fight the evil. Guru Gobind Singh, in order to re-establish dharma and to save the downtrodden, defends the use of the “sword”. When all other means have failed, it is righteous to draw the sword, says the Guru. The Khalsa is “Akal ki Fauj”, God’s own army, created to fulfil the divine mission of the Gurus — dharam chalavan, sant ubaran, dusht sabhan ko mul uparan — to uphold dharma, protect the saintly and uproot the wicked. Guru Gobind Singh’s life, philosophy, Khande-di-pahul ceremony, “Degh-Tegh-Fateh” was like a breath of fresh air for the disheartened people.
