THE GROWTH OF RESPONSIBILITY IN SIKHISM

GURU TEG BAHADUR 1621-1675
COOLNESS OF JUDGMENT

There was another lesson of practical importance that awaited the Sikhs in the time of Guru Tegh Bahadur, if we truly read the life of this great man, we will see that the governing principle of his life was strict impartiality.

He had seen much of the world in his travels, and had acquired a steady vision of life. Even under the greatest afflictions his mind was imperturbable. Whether he received a bullet from the Massand (Agent of Dhirmal, the treacherous rival of the Guru) of Dhirmal, or was turned away from the temple of Amritsar, he never allowed anger to disturb the coolness of this mind. Even when his people were successful against Dhirmal, he remembered what was due to his enemy, and did not take rest until he had restored his whole property including the original copy of the Holy Granth, to him, in prison or on prosperity, his mind never lost its balance. His ideal of manhood is expressed in the following words of his own:

"That man may be reckoned as the wisest of men, who given no cause of fear to others and is himself without fear."

He bravely met martyrdom, and his example strengthened others like Mati Dass, to suffer the like fate with the same equanimity. The Sikhs under him got their judgments purged of all impurities, so that even in the clash of arms and the boom of guns they could distinctly hear the tiny voice of Conscience.