So, how does one capture the life and legacy of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib, the Sovereign of the sovereigns? How do I even attempt to praise the “Splendor of Immortal Compassion” (jumlā faiz-i-nūr) who inaugurated the Guru Khalsa Panth (Sikh Collective) and asked them to submit to the Guru Granth Sahib? I am incapable of the venture as Bhai Vir Singh dreamt him, Professor Puran Singh spirited him, Bhai Randhir Singh visualized him, Jathedar Jarnail Singh intoxicated him, or Bibi Balbir Kaur¹ invoked him.

The life of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib (1666-1798), The Sovereign, cannot be grasped through the study of chronological events, popular philosophical insights, standards of art or aesthetics, or contemporary psychology. It would be a grave mistake to do so, for the directions His life took are beyond intellectual and mystical expansion. 

The work of Bhai Nand Lal ‘Goya’ (1633-1713) constantly dances around the joy of seeing The Sovereign at certain levels of mind and heart. By developing the capacity to see the journey of The Sovereign in his being, he was able to see The Sovereign finally. It is love-born: “Road to love is too long to go on foot / Turn head into feet to walk on the road to your lover.”²

Goya’s word choice indicates The Sovereign’s formlessness and inspiration. These words transcend time and space to touch The Sovereign’s splendor; they are repeated with creative impulses, describing the aesthetic beauty of the Guru—the multiple dimensions of perfection in multiple dimensions; they capture the one pervasive and creative Force (1Force, the 1) reverberating through the Guru’s existence. These words are not borne simply of a poet’s knowledge but from the grace of the Guru working through Goya’s thoughts and feelings. Goya went to Anandpur—City of Bliss—to meet The Sovereign: “One glance from the Guru was enough. The bee went deep and slept in the rare fragrance of the white lotus. Bhai Nand Lal never left the presence after.”³ The Sovereign opened His ambrosial lips and recited: “‘Delighted Nand Lal,’ now Nand Lal ji has the power to endure and has become Goya (the one who expresses, in Persian), to have dialogue.”⁴

Goya presents us the divine vibrations in Zindginama, Joti Bigas, and Ganjnama—originally all written in Persian. He helps us develop a common fervor of various spiritual dimensions through these words—words that worship themselves as they become the bani (utterances), and the Sikhs have revered them for generations. These words form the vision: The Sovereign’s bani, the Khalsa (the archetype), Guru Granth Sahib (scripture, charter, and manifesto), journeys of martyrdom (multi-generational, torture, and imprisonments), worldly engagements, and divine intensity.

Here are a few readings and reflections from Goya’s renderings and Harinder Singh Mehboob’s hypothesizing that salute The Sovereign. Goya is doubt-free, logical, and truthful. He witnesses history as it unfolds and surpasses mere philosophical and psychological tendencies. His words today are as fresh and inspired as they were then, transcending time and space, and the labor of love of no other scribe or poet could feel more appropriate any moment the Guru is remembered or any event the Guru is invoked.

Guru Gobind Singh Sahib is the Tenth Guru Nanak Sahib. It is well established in the Guru Granth Sahib that all Gurus had the same divine light-wisdom (jot) and divine method-values (jugat). Bhai Gurdas (scribe, theologian, linguist, mediator, and archer) elucidated that the first six Gurus were the same great beings with the same infinite wisdom accessed by personally connecting with the highest awareness. The author of Dabistan-i-Mazahib narrates the contemporary accounts of the Sikh faith, citing that the Sikhs of Guru Harirai Sahib addressed the Guru as the Seventh Embodiment (mahal) and the Seventh Nanak.

Goya presented the aforesaid Sikh doctrine of “all Gurus are Nanaks” as logical, philosophical, and historical. In Joti Bigas, I sense the graceful nearness to The Sovereign, and an in-depth, unparalleled, artful aesthetics. Goya takes refuge in meta-experiential wisdom beyond singular, indescribable, and outward dimensions.

Nanak is the same, and Angad is the same,
supreme and noble Amardas is the same.
Ramdas is the same, Arjan is the same,
excellent and beautiful Harigobind is the same.
Creator Guru Harirai is the same to whom
both sides of everything are evident.
Advent of eminent Harik(r)ishan is the same,
from whom fulfills the needy’s wishes.
Guru Teghbahadar is the same,
from whose light is the advent of Gobind Singh.
Guru Gobind Singh is the same, Guru Nanak is the same;
His words are pearls and diamonds.⁵

In Ganjnama, I am awed by the emphasis on each Guru possessing the grand beauty of all ten Gurus. The Fifth Sultanate of Guru Nanak Sahib is illuminating the first four torches with the Light of Truth.⁶ Guru Harigobind Sahib is the elegance that produces the pleasing beauty of the five torches.⁷‍

Ganjnama is not merely a written testimony but an epical narration of the Ten Gurus graced by The Sovereign. Goya was a fellow traveler of my Sovereign and much more. He sees the first Nine Gurus through the eyes of the Tenth. Doctrinally, the Ten Gurus reveal themselves as the same Guru Nanak—Divine Light. Poetically, the Ten Gurus unfold themselves as the ten images of the Tenth Guru. If I feel the grace, vision, presence, life, and lifestyle of the Tenth Guru, then a new consciousness will be born. That high consciousness will allow me to witness the complete beauty of the Tenth Guru, and only then will I be able to do justice to the trans-wisdom ideals of the Tenth Sovereign.

Guru Gobind Singh Sahib is beyond the Aryan and Semitic prophets. Guru Nanak Sahib came to shower divine blessings amidst mystical silence when the religions of the time had transformed into fascination, magic, figures, exclusivity, and customs. It was in this historical moment that Guru Gobind Singh Sahib flowed with the Creator’s Voice, which the world heard through Guru Nanak Sahib. And that voice forever surrounded humanity's hearts by establishing the third alternative lifestyle of the Khalsa Panth. Undoubtedly, Goya captured this meta-experiential perspective of The Sovereign, which is beyond prophets, incarnates, gods, and goddesses in Joti Bigas:

All protectors and prophets,
all saints and abstinents,
bow heads in humility on the dust of His door,
have fallen with honor at His feet⁸ …

What are Arjuna, Bhima, Rustam or Saam?
What are Asfand Yaar or Rama and Lakshmana?
Thousands of Maheshas and Ganeshas,
bow heads in humility on His feet.⁹

The aforementioned mythological, historical, or spiritual leaders were not incomplete, but compared to The Sovereign’s splendor and grace, they remained only regional singularities. Guru Gobind Singh Sahib’s prophet-genius, revelation, and philosophy, depicted in Joti Bigas and Ganjnama, had at least three creative dimensions: It broke the subpar world-discipline—perpetual idol-destroyer—to bring to life the unique glory of the superior world-discipline; it was a guarantor for those lost but still searching for faith; and it was a sponsor that included all wanderers looking for the Beloved in the divine grace.¹⁰ 

Guru Granth Sahib (lovingly Gurbani) is inseparable from the personality of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib. Ganjnama and Joti Bigas predate the Guruship of Guru Granth Sahib. Consequently, Goya does not refer to Gurbani using the “Guru” title but still considers Gurbani superior to other religious texts and revelations. He makes Gurbani integral to The Sovereign’s identity:

He is more sacred than all sacred words.
He is more elevated than the four Vedas and six Hindu philosophies.¹¹

In other words, he shows the grandeur of Gurbani in The Sovereign’s consciousness, which is higher than the Vedas and Shastras. The Khalsa Panth, born from this Gurbani, is a different path than those derived from Aryan and Semitic cultures. And this Panth’s greatest asset is the aesthetics in sync with the Tenth Guru’s personality, guaranteeing beauty for the whole of humanity: “His words are full of fragrance for the Arabs and the Iranians. The east and the west are illuminated with  His Light.”¹²

Before The Sovereign departed this Earth, the auspicious Gurbani was established as the Guru perpetually for the Khalsa Panth in 1708. No scriptural tradition has been elevated to the same level of perfection; it includes the vision of 1Force of the ecumenical traditions in Semitic and Aryan civilizations. The infinite wisdom became the revered Guru Granth Sahib.  

Guru Gobind Singh Sahib is the inaugurator of the Khalsa Panth. The elusive moment, scenario, narrative, and duty of the Khalsa’s inauguration are not to be cherished without fathoming Guru Nanak Sahib’s advent. The nation of the braves of the Divine (Qaum-i-Mardan-i-Khuda) was established on this Earth as the Khalsa Panth, where Guru Gobind Singh Sahib’s moral and ethical beauty was revealed:

Their Panth is the Nation of the humble ones,
and both the worlds have their devotees.
Nation of the humble ones, Nation of the brave ones of the Divine,
all is perishable except That 1 Who is everlasting forever.¹³

In Zindginama (couplets 86–118), the imagery of the Khalsa Panth contains several glimpses of an Ideal Person who transcends this world, like Nietzsche’s Superman. The Sovereign’s Ideal Person—the Khalsa—is touched by the elegance whose flight is beyond every measured perspective’s limit, whose strength and development establishes its own principles, and whose experience is beyond popular or faddish spirituality. A Khalsa’s morality and ethics, education, and spiritual experience are colored by “Garments of Divinity” (libas-i-bandgī) and are connected with “Assets of Life” (daulat-i-jāvīd). The Khalsa Panth has elements of meta-intangibility, meta-wisdom, and meta-beauty. The Sovereign is in every vein of the Khalsa Panth, who are equated with the Naji (saved or freed ones in Islam):

Every brave one is sacred;
beautiful, pleasantly-mannered, and kind-natured.
Nothing but the remembrance of the Truth is acceptable;
no codes of conduct except the words of devotion.¹⁴

In the lap of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib, martyrs of the Khalsa commonwealth are asleep, for they are on a journey from affliction to grace. The transformation from oppression to dignity is a natural process, and by offering a friendly hand to humanity, The Sovereign has brought the Divine refuge:

Guru Gobind Singh is pure and hatred-free,
Guru Gobind Singh is the mirror of the Truth.
Guru Gobind Singh reflects on the Truth, the Truth,
Guru Gobind Singh is the emperor and the prophet.¹⁵

On Vaisakhi day, the servant-leadership was institutionalized as the Khanda (double-edged sword) prepared the sovereigns en masse for initiation via amrit (immortal elixir). Amrit reminds the initiate to become like the Immortal by confronting death and Khanda of a lifestyle beyond duality. No prophet or king deemed their mentor to be the equal of the protégé in either the Aryan or Semitic tradition. The Khalsa Panth was given the Guruship in 1699 for all time to come, the revered Guru Khalsa Panth.

Guru Gobind Singh Sahib is The Sovereign of the sovereigns. The Sovereign’s art and rules of war are not subservient to the use of armed force: “Though to conquer both the worlds, He does not need swords and spears. But when the skill of His sword shines, then with its lightning, the hearts of enemies burn.”¹⁶ The battles of The Sovereign unveil the elegance and the justice needed to establish the Divine Sultanate. Higher standards of war are to be discovered in the campaigns for justice and rights: “Guru Gobind Singh is the victorious with the sword. Guru Gobind Singh is the way for the life and the heart.”¹⁷ The narrowness or grandness of creation and ideas is dependent on how justice is perceived. When it becomes “just us,” it is not justice! And the cost of death is dependent on the interpretation of this justice: it is not worth living as slaves, regardless of the comforts. Thus, winning the battle of ideas was more important to the Guru than the mortal life. 

Jadunath Sarkar and Rabindranath Tagore,¹⁸ as well as Mohandas Gandhi, cannot appreciate The Sovereign not continuing the old knowledge of religions, the old understanding of the violence of war, the old image of history, and popular stories of magic. These old ways were destroyed, and a new flow of original justice was born with only one goal: freedom, breaking the shackles of religious and political domination here and now. The Sovereign is the embodiment of revolutionary morality and ethics, justice, and praise: “He is the shine on the forehead of true dialogue. He is the brightness of face of impartial justice.”¹⁹

All temporal and celestial beings revel in remembrance of The Sovereign, and His creed is more fortunate than any other belief; an epic comparison to the other earthly authorities shows there is no other like him: Kaisers (Roman emperors), Khakans (Mongol, Chinese, and Turkish emperors), Kisras, Kaoos, Foors, Kioomers, and Jamsheds (Iranian kings), Pharaohs (Egyptian monarchs) Faghfoors (Chinese kings), Tzars (Russian emperors), Khans of Khotan (Silk road kingdom), Daras of Turan (Central Asian kingdom), Emperors of Yemen, Sultans of Hind, the rulers of the South, Raos (South Asian Rajput rulers), all Eastern and Western chiefs and rulers.²⁰ Figuratively, the aforementioned served the sacred command of The Sovereign in that His wisdom and His dominion are second to none. 

‍Rahitnama and Tankhahnama—both written in Panjabi—guide the Sikhs in how to live. Guru Gobind Singh Sahib: “Listen, Sikh, Brother Nand Lal; you, listen to my sweet utterance: Recognize the Guru’s Sikh as virtuous form when they lovingly and consciously serve the Guru foremost.”²¹ And how to deal with the dominating forces of the world, liberty or death? “One who bows head to the seal of Turk-tyrant and surrenders the iron-sword to their feet, Gobind Singh says, listen Lal ji, dies endlessly.”²² When a lifestyle lived with an attitude of defiance becomes the norm, The Sovereign proclaimed: “The Khalsa will rule; no rebels will be left. All will unite amid frustration; the ones in refuge will be free.”²³ This remains the promise of The Sovereign perpetually.

Poets will continue to write about the Tenth, as will historians. None will compare to Bhai Nand Lal Goya. To him: “Guru Gobind Singh is competent in all affairs. Guru Gobind Singh is the friend of the poor.”²⁴ 

My Sovereign is the Warrior Poet, Just Spiritualist, Revolutionary Prophet, Divine Human, Perfect Light, and much, much more. And so I ask the ‘Rider of the Blue Steed’:

“O Cup-bearer! O Sweet-heart!
Grace me a shot that colors my heart with intoxication,
glance from Your sacred eyes,
such that I may ease all these difficulties.”²⁵

Endnotes

¹  Karam Singh, Adarshak Singhnia, trans. Baldev Singh (Austin: n.p., n.d.), 3. “I too have partaken Guru’s Amrit. I shall consider myself blessed if I too could accept martyrdom along with my brothers and reach Guru Gobind Singh's court. Here my quest has not been quenched by serving my Veers … My child, this is what you wanted to point out. He, too, is Guru's blessing. If he can also serve the Panth, what greater deeds could be beyond this.” This was Balbir Kaur’s plea to the Jathedar (group leader) at a political rally to free Gurduaras (Sikh places of learning) from corrupt leaders who were British sycophants in the early twentieth century from “Daughters of the Khalsa.”

²  Ganda Singh, ed., Bhai Nand Lal Granthavli (Patiala: Punjabi University, 2000), 70. See Divan-i-Goya, Ghazal 61, couplet 3.

³  Puran Singh, Spirit of the Sikh, Part I (Patiala: Punjabi University, 2000), 41. See Heart Lighting Heart.

⁴  Bhai Vir Singh, Kalgidhar Chamatkar, Part I (New Delhi: Bhai Vir Singh Sahit Sadan, 2011), 251.  See Bhai Nand Lal Nistara

⁵  Singh, Granthavli, 164-165. See Joti Bigas (Persian), couplets 23-28.

⁶  Singh, Granthavli, 148. See Ganjnama, stanza 74.

⁷  Singh, Granthavli, 149. See Ganjnama, stanza 80.

⁸  Singh, Granthavli, 177. See Joti Bigas (Persian), couplets 128-129.

⁹  Singh, Granthavli, 181. See Joti Bigas (Persian), couplets 160-161.

¹⁰  Harinder Singh ‘Mehboob,’ Sahije Racio Khalsa (Amritsar: Singh Brothers, 2000), 463.

¹¹  Singh, Granthavli, 165. See Joti Bigas (Persian), couplet 30.

¹²  Singh, Granthavli, 178. See Joti Bigas (Persian), couplet 136.

¹³  Singh, Granthavli, 88. See Zindginama, couplets 96-97. 

¹⁴  Singh, Granthavli, 87. See Zindginama, couplets 87-88.

¹⁵  Singh, Granthavli, 157. See Ganjnama, stanza 124-125.

¹⁶  Singh, Granthavli, 180. See Joti Bigas (Persian), 155-156.

¹⁷  Singh, Granthavli, 155. See Ganjnama, stanza 114.

¹⁸  Puran Singh, “The Sikhs and his new critics: our viewpoint,” The Modern Review, vol. 20, no. 5 (November 1916): 501-507.

¹⁹  Singh, Granthavli, 175. See Joti Bigas (Persian), couplet 115.

²⁰  Singh, Granthavli, 166. See Joti Bigas (Persian), couplets 35-42.

²¹  Singh, Granthavli, 188. See Rahitnama, couplet 33.

²²  Singh, Granthavli, 190. See Tankhahnama, couplet 15.

²³  Singh, Granthavli, 193. See Tankhahnama, couplet 62.

²⁴  Singh, Granthavli, 158. See Ganjnama, stanza 136.

²⁵  Singh, Granthavli, 28. See Divan-i-Goya, Ghazal 3, couplet 1.