Tomorrow [bandhi Chor Or Diwali]

[Amrit Kaur Khalsa]

Did the Gurus not become one with God?

Does that not make them the same?

We bow down to SGGSJ - the word of Guru, which makes SGGSJ the Guru - does that mean that the word of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and the rest of the Gurus is not the same as the word of God?

I am completely confused.

[tableji]

we are all god,

sabh gobind hai, gobind bin nahee ko-e

that is to say that our soul is of god, not this body.

as long as we exist on this plane, we are bound by life and death, by hunger, by thirst, we need to go the toilet, we get injured, bleed, we can die. (physical death).

the gurus were all subject to the same conditions!

[SardarDholi]

what every happened to sikhi being about "universal unity"....rather than an us and them thing.

[Guest SatwantBeantKehar]

The festival of Divali is an important event for most of the South Asian community. For Hindus it represents the day when the mythological god King Rama came back to his capital after 12 years of exile. Rama’s subjects were so happy to see him that they lit divas (lamps) and set of firecrackers in honour of the event. Even today Hindus celebrate this event with great happiness and joy. On this day they worship fire and the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi. Sikhs on the other hand have their own Divali. Or do they?

For as long as I can remember, I’ve celebrated “Divali” with friends and family. All the books I had read about Sikhism that mentioned Divali said that Sikhs celebrate Divali for their own reasons. It seemed only logical that that was the case, since every Sikh I knew celebrated Divali.

So why do Sikhs celebrate Divali? When we look into most history books, we can gather that the reason that Divali is celebrated is as follows:

After the torture and death of Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji, by the order of Jahangir (the emperor of India at the time), the Mogul administration started to become uneasy due to the sudden popularity of Sikhism. Chandu, an advisor of Jahangir, was the one who had suggested the torture of Sri Guru Arjun Dev Ji. He suddenly felt threatened at the popularity of the Sikhs and decided to advise the king to get rid of the next Guru of the Sikhs as well. Jahangir decided that this was a good idea and summoned Guru Hargobind Ji to his court where he had Guru Ji imprisoned in Gwalior fort where 52 innocent Hindu Princes were imprisoned as well. During imprisonment, the Guru noticed that all the princes were depressed and forlorn with their treatment in the jail and were in very unhealthy conditions. The Guru helped the princes regain their health and taught them spiritually. When the Guru was granted freedom, he refused to leave until he had gained the release of the 52 Hindu kings too. The emperor then said that all those princes that could hold on the Guru’s clothes would be liberated as well. Guru Ji had a special cloak made which had 52 strings sewed on it and each prince held on to a string. Thus all prisoners were freed. It was in this respect that Guru Hargobind became known as “Bandi Chor” or the Releaser of Prisoners. When Guru Ji reached Amritsar, it was Divali day and Sikhs celebrated the homecoming of the Guru by lighting diyas. To this day Sikhs celebrate Divali and in honour of Guru Hargobind Ji and his return.

So, it’s really quite simple. Sikhs do have their own Diwali … right? Maybe not.

A book written by Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer, contradicts the common idea of Sikhs having their own Divali.

Dilgeer says that there are many elements that lead towards the celebration of Divali by the Sikhs, the biggest of them being the reign of Maharajah Ranjit Singh. Before Ranjit Singh came into power, no Sikh actually celebrated Divali. In fact Guru Hargobind Sahib, after his release from Gwalior Fort prison, reached Amritsar on December 28, 1620 and not on Diwali day. It is true that, the Sikhs of Amritsar lighted earthen lamps on that day. But December 28, 1620 was not Diwali Day. No Sikh ever celebrated Diwali till the first decade of the nineteenth century. Ranjit Singh was a very fair ruler and a compassionate person who believed in equality of all people regardless of religion. This was his pride, but it also became his death. The Hindu ministers abused Ranjit Singh’s love for a secular state and used it to add brahmanical influence to the Sikh faith in order to destabilize it. In the end it was also them, who gave away Ranjit Singh’s empire to the British. It was only under the impact and influence of his Hindu advisors and ministers like Khushal Chand and Dhian Singh Dogra that Ranjit Singh began celebrating Diwali. The Brahmins convinced Ranjit Singh that when Guru Hargobind Sahib reached Amritsar after his release from Gwalior, it was Diwali day and the Sikhs lighted earthen lamps to celebrate it. Ranjit Singh, although being a great person, was illiterate and he did not know Sikh history and philosophy. Celebrating Divali then started to catch on. The Hindu Mahants (Managers) of Darbar Dahib also helped feed the fire by lighting candles at Darbar Sahib during Divali. Sant Singh, the main priest, was more of a Hindu than a Sikh and his influence was also great. A statue of mythological Hindu god, Ganesh, could be seen at the gate in front of his residence. These elements were successful in fooling the Sikhs to celebrate Diwali at Darbar Sahib. Thus the Sikh Divali came to be.

Now, one might ask, why did the Sikhs gather at Harmandir Sahib on Divali before Ranjit Singh’s time. For example, when Bhai Mani Singh celebrated Divali at Harmandir Sahib. The answer to this is really quite simple. During this time, the Sikhs were being hunted and they were being forced to live in jungles and hills. At that time there was only the Indian calendar and the two main festivals that attracted a crowd were Vaisakhi and Divali. At these times the Sikhs could gather and organize themselves without getting noticed as much as usual.

So, does this mean that Sikhs should stop the celebration of Divali? Well, the reality is that we don’t celebrate Divali — we celebrate Bandi Chor Divas. Whether it be with lights, shabads or remembrance, we should indeed do what we can to appreciate the sacrifices our Guru’s were always making for others.