Essential humanistic message of Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Sahib in Zafarnama

 


As we celebrate the Parkash Utsav of the Tenth and the last Guru of the Sikhs – Shri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Sahib – on January 6, 2025, it would be pertinent to know what the Guru said about ‘what it means to be a true person’.

The Zafarnama, an 'Epistle of Victory' consisting of 111 verses, was a spiritual victory letter sent by Guru Gobind Singh Ji Sahib in 1705 to the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb after the Battle of Chamkaur. Despite sufferings, Guru Ji had won a moral victory over Emperor Aurangzeb who had broken all his vows.

In some verses, Aurangzeb has been rebuked for his weaknesses as a human being and for excesses as a ruler. Many verses express Guru Ji’s unflinching faith in the God even after extreme personal loss of his father, mother, and all four of his sons to Aurangzeb’s cruelty and inhumanness.

Here is a non-poem on Zafarnama as I have understood it.

The real person
Is the one who -
Doesn’t double speak 
Be the one who -
Has same words on lips and in heart
Keeps promise
Helps and protects the weak

The real person commits
No sin
No incest
No adultery
No atheism
No hatred of other's faith
No bloodshed of innocents

 The real person
Is the righteous person
Who trusts God -
God  who  protects
God who merciful
God who grants compassion
God who shows path 
Of truth in devotees thought and actions

 When sin is everywhere
The Lord himself manifests
 As the Supreme Purusha
To destroy evil
To reinstate goodness
To destroy falsehood
To reinstate truth

~LALIT KISHORE

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