Tempo:
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
54
CHAP. Ill
1606-45.
mated each of his successors.^
His philo-
knew or thought of philosophy as a science, he fell into
sophical
Har Rai succeeds
Guru,
a
1645.
So far as Har Gobind
the prevailing views of the period: God, he said, is one, and the world is an illusion, an appearance without a reality; or he would adopt the more Pantheistic notion, and' regard the universe as composing the one Being. But such reflections did not occupy his mind or engage his heart, and the rebuke of a Brahman that if the world was the same as God, he, the Guru, was one with the ass grazing hard by, provoked a laugh only from the tolerant Har Gobind.^ That he thought conscience and understanding our only divine guides, may probably be inferred from his reply to one who declared the marriage of a brother with a sister to be forbidden by the Almighty. Had God prohibited it, said he, it would be impossible for man to accomplish it."^ His contempt for idolatry, and his occasional wide departure from the mild and conciliatory ways of Nanak, may be judged from the following anecdote: One of his foll^ji^ers smote the nose off an image; the several neighbouring chiefs complained to the Guru, who summoned the Sikh to his presence; the culprit denied the act, but said ironically, that if the god bore witness against him, he would die willingly. 'Oh, fool !' said the Rajas, 'how should the god speak?' '.It is plain', answered the Sikh, 'who is the fool; if the god cannot save his own head, how will he avail you?' * Gurdit, the eldest son of Har Gobind, had acquired a high reputation, but he died before his father, leaving two sons, one of whom succeeded to the apostleship."^ 1 Cf. the Dahistan, 2 Cf. the Dabistan,
281. 277, 279, 280. The Dabistan, ii. 280. [Cicero seems to have almost as high an opinion of the functions of conscience. It points out to us, he says, without Divine assistance, the difference between virtue and vice. (Nature of the Gods, Francklin's translation, p. 213.) J.D.C.] The Dabistan, ii. 276. For some allusions to Gurdit or Gurditta, see the Dabistan, ii. 281, 282. His memory is yet fondly preserved, and many anecdotes are current of his personal strength and dexterity. His tomb is at Kiratpur, on the Sutlej, and it has now become a place of pilgrimage. In connexion with his death, a story is told, which at least serves to mark the aversion of the Sikh teachers to claim the obedience of the multitude by an assumption of miraculous powers. Gurditta had raised a slaughtered cow to life, on the prayer, some say, of a poor man the owner, and his father was displeased that he should so endeavour to glorify himself. Gurditta said that as ii. ii.
3
—
•»
«'>
a life was required by God, and as he had withheld one, he would yield his own; whereupon he lay down and gave up his
A
spirit. similar story is told of Atal Rai, the youngest son of Har Gobind, who had raised the child of a sorrowing widow
54
CHAP. Ill
1606-45.
mated each of his successors.^
His philo-
knew or thought of philosophy as a science, he fell into
sophical
Har Rai succeeds
Guru,
a
1645.
So far as Har Gobind
the prevailing views of the period: God, he said, is one, and the world is an illusion, an appearance without a reality; or he would adopt the more Pantheistic notion, and' regard the universe as composing the one Being. But such reflections did not occupy his mind or engage his heart, and the rebuke of a Brahman that if the world was the same as God, he, the Guru, was one with the ass grazing hard by, provoked a laugh only from the tolerant Har Gobind.^ That he thought conscience and understanding our only divine guides, may probably be inferred from his reply to one who declared the marriage of a brother with a sister to be forbidden by the Almighty. Had God prohibited it, said he, it would be impossible for man to accomplish it."^ His contempt for idolatry, and his occasional wide departure from the mild and conciliatory ways of Nanak, may be judged from the following anecdote: One of his foll^ji^ers smote the nose off an image; the several neighbouring chiefs complained to the Guru, who summoned the Sikh to his presence; the culprit denied the act, but said ironically, that if the god bore witness against him, he would die willingly. 'Oh, fool !' said the Rajas, 'how should the god speak?' '.It is plain', answered the Sikh, 'who is the fool; if the god cannot save his own head, how will he avail you?' * Gurdit, the eldest son of Har Gobind, had acquired a high reputation, but he died before his father, leaving two sons, one of whom succeeded to the apostleship."^ 1 Cf. the Dahistan, 2 Cf. the Dabistan,
281. 277, 279, 280. The Dabistan, ii. 280. [Cicero seems to have almost as high an opinion of the functions of conscience. It points out to us, he says, without Divine assistance, the difference between virtue and vice. (Nature of the Gods, Francklin's translation, p. 213.) J.D.C.] The Dabistan, ii. 276. For some allusions to Gurdit or Gurditta, see the Dabistan, ii. 281, 282. His memory is yet fondly preserved, and many anecdotes are current of his personal strength and dexterity. His tomb is at Kiratpur, on the Sutlej, and it has now become a place of pilgrimage. In connexion with his death, a story is told, which at least serves to mark the aversion of the Sikh teachers to claim the obedience of the multitude by an assumption of miraculous powers. Gurditta had raised a slaughtered cow to life, on the prayer, some say, of a poor man the owner, and his father was displeased that he should so endeavour to glorify himself. Gurditta said that as ii. ii.
3
—
•»
«'>
a life was required by God, and as he had withheld one, he would yield his own; whereupon he lay down and gave up his
A
spirit. similar story is told of Atal Rai, the youngest son of Har Gobind, who had raised the child of a sorrowing widow
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