History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c48.s2.23

v3.c48.s2.23

"The liberation which Baba Nanak realized in his heart was not political liberty, but spiritual freedom. Nanak had called upon his disciples to free themselves from selfishness, from narrow bigotry, from spiritual lethargy. Guru Govind organized the Sikhs to suit a special purpose. He called in the human energy of the Sikhs from all other sides and made it flow in one particular channel only; they ceased to be full, free men. He converted the spiritual unity of the Sikhs into a means of worldly success; he dwarfed the unity of a religious sect into an instrument of political advancement. Hence the Sikhs, who had been advancing for centuries to be true men, now suddenly stopped short and became mere *soldiers*! The end of Sikh history looks very sad. When a river, which had left the pure, snowy, cloud-kissing hilltops to reach the ocean, disappears in a sandy plain, losing its dance, losing its song, a sorry sight is its failure. Even so, when the pure white stream of energy which issued from a *bhakta's* heart to cleanse and fertilize the earth ends in the red mire of a military cantonment, men can see no glory, no joy in it.......To-day there is no spirit of progress among the Sikhs. They have crystallized into a small sect. Centuries have failed to produce a new spiritual teacher from among them."*