Patriotism and Devotion to the Guru

We know many stories about how deep patriotism and devotion to one's guru can penetrate the human soul. Let us learn three more such tales.

Story 1.

During the Russo-Japanese War, when Japanese troops were pouring into Korea in waves, a Japanese laborer petitioned to be sent along with the soldiers.

Japan's law was that if there wasn't an absolute shortage of men, they would not send to war the only son who was the sole means of support for poor, elderly parents. The recruiting captain, upon inquiring about this laborer, learned that the young man was fatherless; he had no accumulated wealth or landed property; he lived hand to mouth, and his aged mother no longer had the strength to earn her own living. Following established rules, the captain therefore turned the young man away and did not enlist him in the regiment.

But it was the mother herself who, understanding her son's enthusiasm and longing, had sent him off to war, saying, "If you lose your life on the sacred battlefield for our country, then let me too die of starvation at home—what great harm is there in that?"

When the son returned home disheartened, the old woman listened to everything and said, "That for my worthless life you cannot sacrifice yourself for the country and the Emperor—what a shameful thing this is! I will not stand as a thorn in the path of your glory and duty. Go to your righteous work with my blessing." Saying this, the old woman drove a knife into her own belly and killed herself.

The son too, after completing his mother's funeral rites, went to war. When even coolies and laborers have such profound love for their country, who has the power to halt that nation's progress!

Story 2.

When Emperor Aurangzeb ordered the beheading of Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur in Delhi, the command was that no funeral rites whatsoever should be allowed for the corpse—it would lie where it was cut, on that vast royal road, to rot and decompose!

His son, Guru Gobind Singh, who would later become the Sikhs' spiritual leader, was then a sixteen-year-old boy. He set out from Punjab toward Delhi to recover his father's body. Along the way, he met a poor Sikh cart-driver and his son. At their earnest entreaty, the Guru entrusted them with the responsibility of recovering his father's corpse.

They absolutely refused to let Guru Gobind, the Sikhs' only hope, enter dangerous Delhi. Leaving Gobind Singh outside, they entered Delhi and saw that in the deep night, the guards had moved some distance away because of the putrid smell of the corpse; all of them were sleeping peacefully. A cloth-covered body lay at the crossroads.

Father and son silently approached the Guru's corpse, and as they prepared to lift the body, they decided that one of them absolutely must die voluntarily; unless another dead body was left covered with cloth in that place, when the guards woke and saw that someone had removed the Guru's corpse, then from fear of the Emperor's wrath, people would come running from all directions and the bearer of the Guru's body would certainly be caught. This would cause countless innocent people to lose their lives.

To save people from such probable atrocities by the religiously bigoted, fanatical Emperor, the son of the two wanted to die. The father said, "You have a strong body and are more capable of bearing the Guru's corpse; in the future, under the new Guru, you will also be able to fight much longer for religion than I can. So it is essential that you live." Saying this, the cart-driver silently drove a knife into his own chest and killed himself, whereupon his son covered his father's bloodied body with cloth and, arranging the sheet over it just as before, strapped the Guru's body to his own and departed.

Thus have people sacrificed their lives age after age for devotion to their guru and religious faith.

Story 3.

During the revolt, when mutinous sepoys began entering Delhi from Meerut in waves, English officials were fleeing on horseback with their families through another gate of the city. Half a mile down the road, Lieutenant Willoughby thought, "What are we doing! The rebels will get Delhi's magazine, and with the power of its cannons, ammunition, and gunpowder, they will wage fierce war against the government. They have been trained in warfare by us. The English will ultimately win, but with the advantage of getting Delhi's magazine, at least ten thousand English soldiers will die at their hands, no doubt about it. Such an opportunity to serve one's country with one's own hands will never come again!"

As soon as this thought occurred to him, he said, "Friends! You go ahead with my wife and son! I made a mistake—I must finish one task and will return quickly." Lieutenant Willoughby spurred his horse breathlessly back toward the magazine. A little later, with a tremendous explosion, Delhi's magazine blew up along with the English hero's body.

Heroism is the first step to immortality.