Bed Time Stories 1 (Guru Gobind Singh Ji)

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'Bed Time Stories-1'is a collection of twenty anecdotes in dual language with suitable sketches from the life history of Guru Gobind Singh. He was born of 22nd December 1666 at Patna.

At age of five, he saw that the rules were not performing their duty of looking after their subjects. The honour and the property of other sects was being looted in broad day light. There was no one to whom they could complain. In those dark days, he perceived that the poor should be able to defend themselves against oppression and tyranny. To make them fit, he began to train the children of his own age the art of battle at the river Ganges.

He learnt to recite the 'Granth Sahib' by heart in less than six months on arriving at Anandpur. In 1705 AD, at Damdama Sahib he dictated the scriptures, from memory to Bhai Mani Singh to write it down in its present firm. The Guru made his Sikhs to read and understand the teaching of Guru Nanak. He arranged for the Hindu scriptures to be translated into Punjabi so that the Sikhs could learn, what was written in those books. He brooks the shackles of Brahminism that the knowledge of Sanskrit and religious study should remain with Brahmins alone. The Brahmins for their own self interest and benefit, wanted the general public to remain ignorant in order to mislead and cheat the simple village folks. The Guru brought the literary to his followers.

In 1699 AD, out of the lowly and the weak, Guru Gobind Singh created the "Khalsa", the army of God, to end the tyranny. The nectar bestowed by him made Sikhs into real Singhs (lions). A Singh was imbued with such courage that he was prepared to face an army of thousands on his own. Evan a recluse like Banda Singh Bahadur after baptism was so encouraged that he became the first Sikh ruler in Punjab. The Guru brought the women on equal footing with men. After baptism 'Kaur' is added to their name which means princess. In the Hindu caste system the women rights were the same as "Shudras" the lowest in the caste system.

Guru started the first "Red Cross Service". He had love for every one even those who were fighting against him, as he had no enemy except the reign of terror.

I acknowledge, the art work matching the stories by S. Sukhwant Singh, and am indebted to KP Singh Brar my friend for helping to translate the stories, typing the manuscript by my daughter Rajmeet Kaur and full co-operation of S. Pritam Singh Navyug Press, New Delhi.