This is the legend of the Great Liberator from the Earthly Prison and the Prison of the Rib Cage. As India celebrates Diwali, Sikhs recall the day as “Bandi Chorr Diwas” -the day of liberation coinciding with the release of the Sixth Master -Guru Hargobind Sahib from the Gwalior prison along with 52 other kings and chieftains who were imprisoned there. In this essay, Bhupinder Singh Houston refers to prison life and its impact on inmates who are not spiritually inclined and makes a comparison with the time spent by Guru Hargobind Singh in Gwalior prison in an atmosphere of Bliss invigorated by the remembrance of God and accepting destiny.

Twenty-two-year-old Guru Hargobind Sahib was incarcerated in the Gwalior fort by Emperor Jahangir between the years 1617 and 1619. This is the same prison where another 52 kings were also held. These ex-royal inmates were there, either because they had sided with Prince Khurram in his revolt to succeed Jahangir, or failed to pay agreed-upon revenue or after their kingdoms had been annexed upon their defeat in a battle.  The superintendent of the Gwalior jail for the royalty was Hari Das and had the notoriety that no inmate came out alive.

When Guru Ji arrived there, Hari Das came forward to meet and welcome the new inmate. He prostrated before Guru Ji in a sign of respect and reverence, and in that instant, a transformation took place in him as he became a devotee of Guru Ji. Guru Ji refused to eat the food provided for him at the fort. When Guru Ji did not eat food for three days, Hari Das came to Guru Ji and begged him to eat.

Hari Das pleaded that food provided sustenance, which Guru Ji was not getting, so he begged Guru Ji to eat. He also expressed his grave concerns that as the Superintendent of the jail, the health and welfare of the inmates was his primary concern and if any untoward incident happened, he would be held responsible by the Emperor.

As Guru Ji’s devotee, he was acutely concerned about the detrimental effect of fasting on Guru Ji’s health. Five Sikhs jailed there also pleaded with Guru Sahib to eat.   Guru Ji replied that it is true that food provides nourishment and sustenance, but there is another source of sustenance- that is the remembrance of God- which is his support and sustenance.

Not only this, adding a spiritual tone to the argument, Guru Hargobind Sahib said that food from the state exchequer was not earned with honest labour, but were the proceeds from tax money collected by the state. He told the Sikhs to make food from hard-earned money and this request was acceded to by Hari Das.

This incident serves as an epic reminder of the times from Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s life, where Guru Ji refused to partake food at the lavish feast hosted by Malik Bhago, a high government official of Saidpur, Aminabad. Guru Ji preferred the simple coarse bread of Bhai Lalo as it was prepared from earnings by honest labour.

Hari Das by his ready acceptance of Guru Ji’s suggestion not only showed that he was a conscientious person, genuinely concerned about Guru Ji’s welfare but also simultaneously reflected the inner transformation in him through Guru Ji. Otherwise, the personas and autocratic behaviours of jail superintendents are pretty well-known.

In order to get a better picture of how jail authorities develop their persona, let us ponder over “The Lucifer Effect” by Philip Zimbardo. In the summer of 1971, social psychologist Prof. Zimbardo randomly assigned some male college students to play the role of prisoners and guards in a mock prison he built in a basement at Stanford University. The students had been prescreened for their mental health balance and lack of criminal records.  In exchange for the participation, they were paid $15 a day.

It is interesting to know how this low key experiment turned into hell. The guards took to their duties with an unanticipated appetite of the psychologists running the study. The guards asserted their authority by banging doors; belittling inmates verbally, abusing them, humiliating them, and keeping them awake at night. In fact, within thirty-six hours of the experiment, one of the “prisoners” broke down and had to be released.

Even Zimbardo, who designed the experiment, became a captive of his own grand design. Operating as prison superintendent he forgot that he was a psychologist doing a study. True like an autocratic ruler, he would not abandon the project despite the calls. Eventually, it had to be ended by the sixth day as prisoners became increasingly depressed and guards became sadistic.

The main point that this study established was that even the good people with doctorates in psychology can collaborate in doing evil things to others. Zimbardo contends in his book that it is not a few bad apples that ruin other apples, but the barrel is what does it -prisons are toxic.

Imagine the prison conditions then, as today almost 350 years later, results of reforms and improvements in quality of life have resulted in significant improvements in the prison environment. Now if we look at what Guru Sahib did in Gwalior from that time frame perspective, we can see a miracle taking place.

Guru Hargobind Sahib not just transformed the ruthless jail superintendent whose charge included 52 prisoned rulers into a compassionate, devoted and a service-oriented person but the quality of life of inmates as well. Those prison inmates, leading a hopeless, miserable life had found new hope because of support, encouragement and counselling provided by the Guru. They started following the Guru in devotional singing and meditation. This transformational feat is well beyond the normal human endeavour and only an enlightened soul can perform this.

In one interesting conversation with Hari Das, Guru Sahib said; “I am not a ruler who is lamenting at the loss of my kingdom here in my incarceration. I am a mendicant of God. I spend my time in His remembrance and in His presence.  The ruler can imprison my body, but my mind cannot be imprisoned.”

Now can we imagine if the wheels of life put us in such a precarious situation like imprisonment or even a lonely life because of family circumstances as the death of the spouse and with children have moved away because of work? That life will become a nightmare for us. It will be devastating, and we will be blaming others, including God for our fate. We will be trying to impress that we have been wronged by being put in this unfortunate situation.

Imagine the prison conditions then, as today almost 350 years later, results of reforms and improvements in quality of life have resulted in significant improvements in the prison environment. Now if we look at what Guru Sahib did in Gwalior from that time frame perspective, we can see a miracle taking place.

It is pertinent to see how Guru Hargobind Sahib dealt with the situation, by providing hope and encouragement. We will notice that he was thankful as it afforded him an opportunity to spend quiet and quality time in meditation besides helping other royal inmates.

It is an inspiration for us on how to embrace the unpleasant situation that may not be to our liking or even when it has been wrongfully thrust upon us. Acceptance of life’s situation in such circumstances is not easy as we will be constantly reminded of the good old days and then the mind will start wondering, “Why did this happen to me? Why do I always get picked for such adverse life scenarios?”

We can learn from the example of the Sixth Master to get used to an adverse situation in bettering a lot of others. It is only when solitary life becomes loneliness or more precisely haunting loneliness that it can have a debilitating effect on the mind and body. Guru Sahib has set an example by showing us that there is an alternative, a healthier one, which has a positive effect.

In fact, Guru Sahib turned the lives of the other 52 ruler inmates from despondency, helplessness, depression at the loss of kingdom, power, and position, into an oasis of hope and thankfulness. He set an example on how to turn the period of confinement into an uplifting experience.

Victor Frankl, the Austrian Psychiatrist of Jewish descent, learnt this lesson from his imprisonment by Germans during World War II. He said; “The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.”   This is the model of mental fortitude that Guru Sahib has set for us.

Through the offices of Mian Mir and Wazir Khan, Governor of Punjab; Jahangir was convinced to release Guru Hargobind Sahib. Jahangir sent Wazir Khan to Gwalior to personally deliver the message of release. Guru Sahib refused to avail it and told Wazir Khan that his stay in prison has provided succour to other inmates and has improved the quality of their lives, so he is quite happy here with them. Wazir Khan made three trips back and forth, negotiating release terms and finally Guru Hargobind Sahib agreed to leave if all the other prisoners incarcerated were also set free. Jahangir stipulated a counter condition that only those incarcerated rulers who hold to Guru Ji’s tassel can be released in anticipation that these rulers, being Rajputs will not accept such humiliation of accepting authority over them.

“The one thing you can’t take away from me is the way I choose to respond to what you do to me. The last of one’s freedoms is to choose one’s attitude in any given circumstance.”

Victor Frankl, Austrian Psychiatrist of Jewish descent

Guru Hargobind Sahib got a special gown made with 52 tassels and all the 52 rulers came out with Guru Ji with each holding one tassel of Guru Ji’s special long gown. Thus, Guru Ji was hailed as “Bandhi Chhor” – The Great Deliverer or Liberator. Even in his release Guru Ji provided succour to other royal inmates as he snapped their prisoner’s fetters.

Imagine a prisoner setting condition for his own release, and those conditions are altruistic. When Guru Ji returned back to Amritsar, his arrival was greeted with showers of flower petals and fragrances followed by lighting of the whole town in the evening.  As Guru Ji returned there on the Deepawali day, every year this day is celebrated there with the lighting of the entire Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple) complex. While it was a celebration of the release of Guru Ji and his return back to Amritsar, it was also a symbolic celebration that when Guru’s light shines inside of our house, which is the human body; then all the darkness of ignorance outside is dispelled and there is light everywhere.

No wonder that Bhai Gurdas Ji, who was a close eyewitness to the unfolding of the life of Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji described him as:

“ਏਕੰਕਾਰ ਅਕਾਰੁ ਕਰਿ ਗੁਰੁ ਗੋਵਿੰਦੁ ਨਾਉ ਸਦਵਾਇਆ॥”

“Aekankaar akaar kar gur govind naao sadhavaaeiaa.”

(Bhai Gurdas; Vaar 25, Pauri 1)

The formless Brahm assuming (human) form has got himself called Guru (Har) Gobind.

It is only an enlightened soul, one with God, who can bring about such a transformation in others’ lives and inspire them. We have the privilege to have such Gurus, whose altruistic nature brightens life like the light of Deepawali. Even today, their exemplary acts provide inspiration, positive outlook to life, hope and strength. Every year as we celebrate Deepawali lighting lamps, let the memory of “Bandhi Chhor” be refreshed in our minds, and a prayer for such mental fortitude and our own deliverance may well-up within us.

References:

Singh, Bhai Vir.  Shree Asht Gur Chamatkar, Volume 3 (In Punjabi)
Singh, Ranbir.  Glimpses of Divine Masters.
Singh, Joginder.  Gurmat tae Gurdarshan
Berryhill, Michael,  Of Crime and Punishment.  Book Reviews.  The Houston Chronicle, August 12, 2007.
www.sikhs.org
https://www.lucifereffect.com/
Frankl, Victor. Man’s search for Meaning
https://www.prisonexp.org/.

An en­gi­neer by pro­fes­sion, hail­ing from Myan­mar, ed­u­cated in In­dia, Bhupin­der Singh is a Hous­ton-based busi­ness­man, with a keen in­ter­est in writ­ing books and ar­ti­cles on Sikh his­tory, mo­ti­va­tion and spir­i­tu­al­ity. The books he has writ­ten in­clude, Con­nect­ing with the Mas­ter – A col­lec­tion of es­says on top­ics re­lated to Sikhism, Gur­mat Quo­tient (GQ) – Book on de­vel­op­ment of Spir­i­tu­al­ity, Rehraas – With mean­ing and com­men­tary in Eng­lish, Why are We Here? – Be­come ex­plor­ing the pur­pose of hu­man life, Fish Eat Fish World – An Il­lus­trated Chil­dren’s book, Humil­ity – A Spir­i­tual Jour­ney, In Bul­ly’s Eyes – An Il­lus­trated Chil­dren’s book on Bul­ly­ing.