GURUS
Guru Nanak Dev ji founded Sikhism in the sixteenth century. After his death in 1539, Guru Angad ji was appointed as his successor. Nine other Gurus succeeded Guru Nanak Dev ji. Before each Guru would die, he would appoint his successor. This tradition was carried forth until the tenth Guru, Guru Hargobind Singh ji, who then declared that there would be no more human Gurus, and that the Guru Granth Sahib ji would be the everlasting Guru from that day on.
The second Guru, Guru Angad ji not only maintained and upheld the previous traditions that were set forth by Guru Nanak Dev ji, but he also created and introduced the Gurmukhi script. The new script allowed the Gurus and their followers to understand the writings and teachings of the religions.
Before his death, Guru Angad ji announced that the next Guru would be Guru Amar Das ji. The third Sikh Guru organized and helped construct twenty-two centers that would be then used for religious learning for the Sikhs. Like the Gurus before him, Guru Amar Das ji criticized the practice of ‘sati’. ‘Sati’ was the practice where widows would be forced to kill themselves on the funeral pyres if their deceased husbands.
Next in line was Guru Ram Das ji, the fourth Guru for the Sikhs. Guru Ram Das ji is credited for finding the holy city of Amritsar, which is now the site of the Golden Temple. Later, Amritsar would become a flourishing trade center and would become the center for Sikh activity and worship. According to Amrik Dhaliwal, President of the Stockton Sikh Temple, even today, thousands of Sikhs from all over the world go on pilgrimages to the holy city of the Sikhs to see this historical landmark and pay their respects.
Although, Guru Ram Das ji was the one who founded the city of Amritsar, it was the fifth Guru, Guru Arjan Dev ji, who actually constructed the Golden Temple. In order to emphasize the universality of Sikhism and acceptance of other cultures, the Golden Temple has four entrances to the temple to represent access to all the communities. Guru Arjan Dev ji is also responsible with compiling the Adi Granth, the Sikh scripture that contains the writings and teachings of all the Gurus up until that time. Not only were the teachings of the Gurus included in the Adi Granth, but so were the philosophies of several Hindu and Muslim saints. After serving the Sikhs for such a long time, Guru Arjan Dev ji was brutally killed in 1606. Emperor Jehangir, the Muslim leader of India, killed the Guru for refusing to convert to Islam.
Born in 1595, the sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind ji took the place of Guru Arjan Dev ji in 1606. He built many religious shrines for the Sikhs. For example he constructed the Akal Takht, the center for temporal affairs in the Sikh religion. Guru Hargobind ji urged the Sikhs to become very well versed in using weapons in self defense and encouraged Sikhs to carry swords with them at all times and to protect the poor and destroy the tyrants. He himself wore two swords, Miri and Piri, which symbolized a balance of material and spiritual life in the world.
Taking over for Guru Hargobind ji, Guru Har Rai ji was the next successor. The seventh Guru continued to do what the Gurus ahead of him had done; spread the teachings of Sikhism. He also continued to organize the Sikhs into a major military force in order to put down the Mughul Empire.
As the youngest Guru in the history of Sikhism, Guru Har Krishan ji was only five years old when the ‘divine light’ was bestowed upon him. Throughout his short-lived life, he proved to the Sikhs and to the rest if the world that he was the living symbol of service, purity and truth. Guru Har Krishan gave up his life while trying to work and heal people during a smallpox outbreak in Delhi, India. Alas, at the tender age of eight, the Guru was also struck with the diseased and he died. It is now said that anyone who invokes Him with a pure heart has no difficulties whatsoever in his life.
The ninth Guru, Guru Tegh Bahadur ji became Guru in 1664. He was a very firm believer in the concept that people should be able to worship anything and anyone that they wanted to. The Guru gave up his life because he believed in freedom of worship. At this time, the emperor of India was a Mughul named Aurangzeb, who was set on killing and converting all the Hindus. Aurangzeb demanded that the Guru convert...The Guru relented, even after days of cruelty and torture. The emperor had had enough, and the devoted Guru was beheaded.
After the martyrdom of his father, Guru Gobind Singh ji became the tenth
and final living Guru of the Sikhs. The tenth Guru was the one that was
responsible for creating the ‘Khalsa’, the brotherhood of the Sikhs, on
Baisakhi, 1699. In 1708, before his death, Guru Gobind Singh ji appointed the
Guru Granth Sahib ji as the everlasting Guru from that point on. He was quoted
as saying, “ Let all bow before my successor, Guru Granth Sahib ji. The word
is the Guru now.”
