Guru Shri Harkrishan Martyrdom Day

Guru Shri Harkrishan, the bold and kind Guru as researched by Shiv below is more relevant in the times of Pandemics creating a heavoc globally. 

Shiv has been too busy in his business recently started. His mom Harvinder has been pushing him to come with a video to highlight ensuing Martyrdom of 8tg Guru Sri Harkrishan ji. This weekend, he has come out with a fantastic peice of a Video which has gone viral. 

https://shabadkirtan.blogspot.com/2020/03/shri-harkrishan.html

This is an ongoing attempt to heal through music ... Music and Oneness abounds despite the Covid-19 pandemic. While I am busy during the week starting a new venture, I am spending some time recording some simple tracks while we are quarantined in California. This album will be my humble attempt to make love proximate, even as we are all physically distant due to the concerns of spreading of the virus. I believe this album will provide strength, peace and joy at a time when grief, fear and uncertainty has gripped the world. The making of the album will be public and I encourage musicians, singers, and novices to contribute if they want to this project ... or just listen, play and/or sing along for fun!

I might not make videos for each track for this album but you can find the audio here: https://soundcloud.com/shivshivshiv/sets/love-in-the-age-of-social

Shri Harkrishan 

This shabad is about Guru Harkrishan, the eighth Guru. The lyrics were written mostly by Guru Gobind Singh:

Pritham Bhagauti Simar Kai Gur Nanak Layi Dhiyaye

Phir Angad Gur Te Amardas Raamdaas-ai Hoyi Sahaye

Arjan Hargobind Nu Simro Shri Har Rai

Shri Harkrishan Dhiyayiyeh Jis Dithai Sab Dukh Jaye

Tegh Bahadur Simariyeh Ghar Nau Nidh Avai Dhaye

Sab Thaayi Hoye Sahaye

Shri Harkrishan Dhiyayiyeh Jis Dithai Sab Dukh Jaye

I remember Shri Harkrishan envisioning whom all pain vanishes

Interesting that Guru Gobind uses the "Shri" suffix, which is used to respect the elders, the gurus and the avatars of God, as in Shri Raam and Shri Krishna. It is clear how respected Guru Harkrishan was a short time after his departure.

When Guru Har Rai, the 7th Guru in the lineage of Guru Nanak, passed away on 20 October 1661, he chose Shri Harkrishan, the younger of his two sons to be the next Guru. At this time Shri Harkrishan was merely 5 years old. While he was young in years, he was mature in wisdom. Bhai Santokh Singh writes, "The early morning sun looks small in size, but its light is everywhere. So was Guru Harkrishan' s fame, without limit."

Shri Harkrishan was very popular in northwest India -- so much so that the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb wanted to meet him. Aurangzeb was notorious and would have not been able to access to Shri Harkrishan were it not for Mirza Raja Jai Singh, a Rajput king from Amer, Rajasthan who held the followers of Guru Nanak in very high esteem. He convinced Shri Harkrishan to visit Aurangzeb in Delhi and he was invited to live as a guest in the bungalow in 1663.

During Shri Harkrishan's visit there was an ongoing epidemic of cholera and smallpox and seven year old Shri Harkrishan boldly decided to serve the community. While the rulers of his time were hiding in palaces, Guru Harkrishan went from community to community, house to house, and connected with them. He used his resources to help the community with aid and highly sought clean water from the well at Raja Jai Singh's bungalow. The Hindus called him "Bal Guru" and the muslims called him "Bala Peer" ... the child guru. He served the community of Delhi no matter what their religion or social status was. It is said that anyone he met was overwhelmed with reverence, and a calming sense of peace. It became well known that whoever met Shri Harkrishan was relieved of suffering. He served the community until he himself succumbed to small pox infection.

Where he was cremated now stands Gurudwara Bala Sahib; I have a fond memory of walking to Bala Sahib with my grandfather when I was very young. In place of Raja Jai Singh's bungalow where Shri Harkrishan lived now stands the Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, one of the most prominent Sikh house of worship. It was first built as a small shrine by Sikh General Sardar Baghel Singh in 1783 during the reign of Mughal Emperor, Shah Alam II.

Millions of people visit Bangla Sahib every year and thousands get free food every day. The water from the well of the well is considered holy. The bed where he used to sleep is found within the premises of the Gurdwara. When I recently visited Delhi, I drank some water from the well and had langar sitting next to a local laborer who told me that he often eats here. Even when most of Delhi is closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the homeless are being fed outside Bangla Sahib.

Guru Harkrishan's boldness and his kindness at such a young age remains exemplary in the history of humankind. He lost his life early, but he won the hearts of people forever, gained the respect of generations to come, and continues to inspire us with his courage and generosity. It is no surprise that his legacy lives on.

In response to my friend Rama Concerns

Yes we are!

Sheltered at home.

Enjoying the time to help Shiv develop his Bio company day and night.

We are focusing on buying the Assets, MOU signed, contract may be finalized by this week end.

Development of Oncology drug and FDA approval if lucky will take 18-24 months. 

I am shocked to see Shiv has full cycle exp. Harvinder and my exp in running corporate sector is very handy for him.

So far so good. At 45, Shiv jumping into his own is challenging. 

We need wishes and prayers as always.

US is highest tested state so we are keeping calm and hoping that this slows down. We are also at low risk area. In our county(district) 120 confirmed and one death, a Kannada man traveling from London was the victim unfortunately.

I would strongly advise to keep strict distances and preferably locked at home. Tell your daughters families and your families too. 

Continue Keeping in touch electronically.

This time will pass, this reminds me our home sheltering back in 1984 but with a difference.

Shaheed Bhagat Singh - Mar 23 Shaheedi

Bhagat Singh

The sudden spread of Coronavirus has dampened the moood of people all over the world. I am reproducing ‘Chardi Kala’ story time boost up our morales by narrating the story Sheed Bhagat Singh:
The day of his martyrdom (Shaheedi Diwas, 23 March, 1931) as well as his birth (28 September, 1907) are commemorated every year with fervour across the country, especially northern India.

Birth of a revolutionary
Bhagat Singh was born in a well-off Sandhu Jatt family in Banga village of Lyallpur district in Punjab (now Faisalabad district in Pakistan). The family, which originally hailed from Khatkar Kalan village in Nawanshahr, was greatly influenced by Swami Dayanand Saraswati’s Arya Samaj, a Hindu reformist movement that rejects idol worship and doesn’t believe in any discrimination based on caste.

His grandfather Arjun Singh was among the few people who were given the sacred thread by Swami Dayanand himself. As a result, Bhagat Singh, unlike other Sikh children who went to a Khalsa school, went to the Dayanand Anglo Vedic (DAV) high school in Lahore. He went on to study at the National College in Lahore.

At the age of 16, Bhagat Singh won an essay competition organised by the Punjab Hindi Sahitya Sammelan. His essay ‘The Problem of Punjab’s Language and Script’ won the award. Later, in jail (1930), he wrote his famous essay ‘Why I am an atheist’ .

His revolutionary thoughts put him at odds with his father, and when the latter started pressurising him into marriage, Bhagat Singh ran away to Cawnpore (now Kanpur) at the age of 17.

Socialism
Following the ideas of Italian revolutionaries Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Naujawan Bharat Sabha was established in 1926, and Bhagat Singh became its general secretary.

Bhagat Singh and his peers were convinced that a revolutionary party must have a socialist agenda, and in 1928, they managed to change the name of the Hindustan Republican Association to the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association.

Although he considered Gandhi to be great, Bhagat Singh, like most other revolutionaries, was disillusioned by his non-violent ideology. The flashpoint for their separation from the Gandhi-led struggle was the Mahatma’s roll-back of the non-cooperation movement after the Chauri Chaura incident in 1922.

Murder of Saunders and the Central Assembly bomb
In 1928, at a protest demonstration, Lahore’s superintendent of police James Scott ordered a lathi charge where Lala Lajpat Rai was grievously injured. He later succumbed to his injuries.

To avenge his death, Bhagat Singh, along with Jai Gopal, Rajguru and Chandrashekhar Azad, planned to murder Scott, but mistakenly shot his assistant, John Saunders. The following day, the revolutionaries put up posters taking responsibility for the act.

Even after this, Bhagat Singh managed to stay underground and contribute to the revolutionary movement. Then, on 8 April, 1929, he and Batukeshwar Dutt threw a bomb in the Central Assembly Hall in Delhi, which wasn’t intended to kill anyone. He was arrested and was imprisoned for the bomb case.

His revolutionary tendencies were on display even at the Central Jail, when he led a hunger strike that shook the administration. The government, as a result, advanced the trial of Saunders murder case (later known as the Lahore conspiracy case), shifted him to the Central Jail in Lahore, and deferred his imprisonment for the bombing case.

After a long series of trials, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev was sentenced to death on 7 October 1930 for murdering Saunders.

On 23 March 1931, 11 hours before the scheduled time, the trio was executed at the Lahore Central Jail.

Status as ‘martyr’
Although he is commonly referred to as ‘Shaheed’ Bhagat Singh, as per official records, he isn’t a martyr. In a response to an RTI in 2013, the union home ministry said it had no records to show Bhagat Singh’s ‘martyrdom’. This led then-PM Dr Manmohan Singh to say that irrespective of official records, "Bhagat Singh was a martyr in the supreme national cause of independence".

In response to a demand to publish an official list of martyrs, the Punjab government admitted in May 2018 that it couldn’t confer such a title upon Bhagat Singh and his comrades because Article 18 of the Constitution does not permit the state to confer any title.

In January 2018, P.J. Kurien, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha at the time, had asked the government to remove all references to Bhagat Singh being a "revolutionary terrorist", as mentioned in the book ‘India’s Struggle for Independence’ authored by the late historian Bipan Chandra and three co-authors, which was a part of the Delhi University’s history curriculum.

Shivpreet 45

With Waheguru's enormous blessings, we complete the rendering of Sri Guru Granth Sahib after enjoying the same during last few months and syncing with the occasion of Shivpreet's Birthday today.

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