Creation of the KHALSA

1469 – the seeds for the flowering of a faith

The seeds of the Sikh faith were sown by its founder, Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Born in Punjab in 1469, he envisaged an exalted human being, liberated from all negativity, superstition and pettiness and empowered to be an active agent for good. The true ailment of the human spirit was haumai or egocentredness, cured by learning to establish a connection with our Divine Source. Witnessing so much human grief, Guru Nanak’s heart overflowed with compassion, humility and love. He taught through practical example and lyrical teachings which moved the heart and mind and were accessible to ordinary people of diverse backgrounds. These sacred hymns were the foundation of a revealed sacred text, revered by Sikhs as a perpetual Guru. Sikh means learner or disciple, and the Guru is the divine teacher with the capacity to kindle our latent spark and transform humans into angels who walk the earth.

The Divine light of Guru Nanak was transferred to a further nine consecutive human Gurus living through starkly changing times. Their universal principles for humanity inspired the affection and support of many people. Benign Mughal rule became openly hostile when the fifth Guru was brutally tortured by the authorities and breathed his last. The concept of sant-sipahi or saint-soldier then came to the fore, building on Guru Nanak’s vision of balancing the wisdom and compassion of a saint with the grit and courage of a solider.

The sant-sipahi ideal took extraordinary dimensions, as the ninth Guru gave the supreme sacrifice of his own life to stand up for the religious freedom of those of another faith, when Hindus faced forcible conversion to Islam. It was his son, blessed as the tenth Guru, who put this capacity for love and sacrifice to the test amongst the Sikhs on a historic day in 1699. The qualities which had been distilled in the crucible of 230 years of successive Guruships were about to take shape the Khalsa, a new order of human beings. The first Nanak had envisaged a picture; the tenth Nanak was about to put a frame around it and unveil a masterpiece.

1699 – the extraordinary test of faith

Anandpur Sahib, the City of Bliss, signified the ever-positive spirit of the Gurus in the face of challenge and was the sacred site for the transformation of a people on Vaisakhi day in 1699. Vaisakhi was an age old Punjabi festival, a joyful thanksgiving for the harvest and celebration of Spring time renewal. On this day, the Guru summoned to the city a 24,000-strong gathering of Sikhs from far and wide. In a dramatic moment the Guru put before them a challenge which left everyone shocked and speechless: ‘Who out of you is willing to sacrifice their head?’, reminiscent of Guru Nanak’s call: ‘if you wish to play the game of love, come to me with your head on your palm’. In the midst of the bewilderment and trepidation, five men, one by one, volunteered. Everyone was certain that each proceeded to meet death by the Guru’s kirpan, but in time all five were radiant in the image of the Guru, who hailed them as the Five Beloved Ones.

Amrit – the elixir of immortality

Each of the Five had proved they could make the ultimate sacrifice exemplified by the Gurus. In dying unto themselves, they opened a pathway to connect with the Immortal. The Guru proceeded to bless them with Amrit, the elixir of Immortality. Watching over as he recited five prayers, the Guru stirred water in an iron bowl (bata) with a double edged khanda. To this patasay (puffs of sugar) were added by Mata Sahib Dewan, a Sikh woman who became legendary as the ‘mother of the Khalsa’ with the Guru as the father. Each element was to instil and express a quality: water for purity and humility; iron for resilience; sugar for kindness and compassion; the powerful recitation of prayers for spiritual energy and blessings, also conferred by the power of touch, sight and sound. It was given to each of the Five to sip five times from their cupped hands; five times it was sprinkled on their hair and in their eyes, infusing a new dimension to their thoughts, vision and speech.

Through the initiation, or Amrit Sanchar, they committed themselves to a unique identity and way of life as a spiritual practitioner in the battles of worldly life. In this union to the Immortal, the five Ks became treasured gifts and lifelong reminders of their pledge. The Guru honoured them as the Khalsa, or ‘pure ones’ who belonged directly to God and Guru. What followed was even more extraordinary moment; the Guru bowed before the new entity of the Khalsa and beseeched them for the blessing of Amrit.

Khalsas creation: A culmination and spiritual rebirth

In their lifetimes, the ten Gurus were a beacon to uphold the divine gift of values precious to humanity, through times of intense struggle, suffering, apprehension and cruelty. They reminded us that ultimately, the real battles are within the self – the struggle to liberate oneself from the power of ego and its accompanying vices of lust, anger, greed, possessiveness and haughty pride and taste the bliss which lies in this freedom and in discovering the Divine within.

The creation of the Khalsa on Vaisakhi day marked the culmination of an intense human longing to be emancipated, and find true contentment and consolation by connecting with our Divine Source. The Guru threw down the gauntlet, and ordinary people rose to the challenge to stand and be counted. The legacy has allowed Sikhs to survive against all odds and protect others through periods of persecution and genocide; it led to a Sikh Raj, empowering Punjabis of all faiths to rule themselves for the first time in history instead of suffering invasions and being subjects of external empires; even the British, recognised and affirmed the power of Amrit amongst Sikhs in the Indian army, the largest voluntary army mobilised during the world wars, which won some of the toughest and most decisive battles in history.

For Sikhs today, there is a special significance to the order in which the Five Beloved Ones volunteered, their names encapsulating the qualities of Daya (compassion), Dharam (rightful living), Himmat (confidence and motivation), Mohkam (detachment) and Sahib (mastery); the foundation for any religion must be compassion and through it, the ordinary person is eventually exalted. In the 308 years since the first Amrit Sanchaar, Sikhs have been blessed with the names Singh (for males) and Kaur (for females), both signifying royalty. It reminds us all to recognise the precious human dignity which is everyone’s birthright.