Guru Harkrishan Ji

Guru Har Krishan Ji was the eighth guru. He was born on July 23, 1656, at Kiratpur. His father was Guru Har Rai Ji and his mother was Mata Krishan Kaur Ji. He had one brother named Ram Rai. Guru Ji was given the guru gaddi on October 20, 1661, at the young age of 5. Guru Har Krishan Ji was the youngest Guru to be given guruship, all of the other gurus were given guruship when they were over the age of twelve.

When Ram Rai found out that his younger brother was the guru, he was furious. He asked Aurangzeb to call Guru Sahib to Delhi. When the message reached Guru Ji he said that he would go to Delhi. On the way to Delhi, he passed Ropar, Bahur, and Ambala. When he reacher his destination he was greeted well by Raja Jai Singh and the other Sikhs in Delhi. Many people from different places came to pay homage to the guru. During his stay, Guru Ji stayed in Raja Jai’s Bungalow which is now the site of Gurudwara Bangla Sahib.

On March 25, 1664, Guru Ji went to the emperor who had prepared a trial. He has two large trays put in front of the guru, one with clothes and toys while the other had a holy man’s cloak and cowl, telling him to pick one. Guru Har Krishan Ji chose the plate with the holy man’s cloak and cowl. This convinced the emperor of Guru Sahib’s holiness. Aurangzeb thought that he could invite the guru again so he could see a miracle be performed. Guru knew these were his intentions so he refused and never met him again. Raja Jai Singh also had a test for Guru Ji. He requested the guru to identify the real queen out of well-dressed woman to test the Guru’s intelligence. Guru Sahib walked past all the women wearing the rich clothes and sat in the lap of a lady dressed as a maid and proclaimed that she is the queen. The queen came up with her own test. She asked Guru Ji to come to the ladies house. When he went inside he was greeted by ladies with jewels, he walked past them went up to a lady in a maid’s dress and asked her,” You are the Rani, why are you dressed in those clothes?” The rani bowed in homage. Guru Sahib passed all these tests and proved that age does not matter when you are a guru.

When Guru Ji was in the village Panjikhard he met a pandit named Lal Chand who was proud of his caste and his knowledge, being a Brahmin. Lal Chand came up to Guru Ji and asked, ” You’re sitting on the throne of Guru Nanak, but what do you know about the old religious texts” While Lal Chand was talking, Chhajju Ram, a low caste water carrier who could not read or write walked by. Guru Sahib put his stick on Chhajju Ram it’s head and asked him to give everyone a brief summary of the Gita which is one of the really hard scriptures. Everyone was astonished by his remarks. Lal Chand fell at the guru’s feet and both Chhajju Ram and Lal Chand became followers of the guru.

While Guru Ji was in Delhi the disease smallpox and cholera were at their peak. The young guru started nursing all of the people there, not caring about their caste or religion. The Muslims were so impressed by this deed that they called him “Bala Pir” which means child prophet. Even Aurangzeb was impressed by this feat and didn’t interfere. Sadly, one day Guru Ji also caught smallpox and stayed in bed for days. This is when he proclaimed Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji as the next guru. Guru Harkrishan Ji left this earth on 16 April, 1664 at the age of 8.