History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c48.s2.37

v3.c48.s2.37

Nanak had no guru save God, and his two immediate successors were chosen for superior character only. But after the third guru the headship of the Church became hereditary. The guru was credited with superhuman powers; he was invested with regal pomp, and man-worship began to infect the Sikhs. When boys of nine and even five years (like Govind Rai and Har Krishan respectively) were accepted as spiritual leaders, it was clear that the guru had ceased to be regarded as a human teacher and was held to be born with supernatural powers like an incarnation of God, whose acts could not be judged by the standard of human reason.*