Introductory - Global Sikh Studies

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And extirpating all tyrants.” 66
Before his martyrdom, Guru Arjan had instructed Guru
Hargobind ‘Let him sit fully armed on his throne and maintain an
army to the best of his ability’. And, Guru Gobind Singh proceeded
to create the militant Khalsa after the death of Guru Teg Bahadur.
5. Continuity of the Sikh Mission
We have seen above that there were similar responses to identical
situations and crises by different Gurus in different periods of history.
This is in itself a clear indication of the continuity of the Sikh mission.
Also, we have the direct evidence of the Guru Granth that the first
five Gurus, i.e. upto the time of its compilation, were one in spirit,
though they had different bodily forms. 67 Bhai Gurdas writes that all
the six Gurus were one in spirit. “Arjan changed his body and
transformed himself into Hargobind.” 68 We have the independent
evidence of Muhsin Fani that the Sikhs ‘believe that with a mere
change of name, Nanak the first became Nanak the second, and so on
to the fifth, in the person of Arjan Mal’. 68a Similarly, Guru Gobind
Singh says :
“He (Nanak) established religion in the Kali age,…
Nanak assumed the body of Angad, …….
Afterwards Nanak was called Amar Das,
As one lamp is lit from another ………..
And Amar Das became Ram Das,
The pious saw this, but not the fools,
Who thought them all distinct,
But some rare persons recognized that they were all one.
They who understood this obtained perfection —
Without understanding (this) perfection cannot be obtained.” 69
There cannot be more authentic evidence than the one recorded
n the Guru Granth and by Guru Gobind Singh. It lays down in
unambiguous language that all the Gurus were inspired by the same
unified thesis and mission. Not only that. Guru Gobind Singh