Atma - A Romance

And then an oft-told story was repeated; a band of followers elected a

successor, laws were necessary as their number increased, and a choice

of particular assembling places became expedient. And as "the trees

That whisper round a temple become soon

Dear as the temple's self," so the laws passed into dogmas having equal weight with the truths that

Nanuk had delivered, and the places became sacred.

Nanuk's successors were ten, fulfilling a prophecy which thus limited

their number. The compilation of their sayings and doings to form a book

which as years went on was venerated more and more, and the founding of

Oomritsur, chief of their holy places, were the principal things that

transpired in the history of the Khalsa during a century and a half,

save that the brotherhood was greatly strengthened by Moslem

persecution, occurring at intervals.

But with the death of the ninth gooroo, by Moslem violence, and the

accession of his son Govind, the worldly fortunes of the Khalsa changed.

Under the leadership of Govind, a young man of genius and enthusiasm,

who comes before us in the two-fold character of religionist and

military hero, the Sikhs moved on to a national greatness not dreamed of

by Nanuk. Govind, who bestowed on himself and his followers the title of

Singh, or lion-hearted, hitherto an epithet appropriated in this

connection by the Rajpoot nobility, devoted the strong energies of his

vigourous and daring nature to the purpose of establishing the faith of

Nanuk by force of arms. To this end he constituted the sword a religious

symbol, and instituted a sort of worship of steel. The Khalsa became an

aggressive force bent on the salvation of surrounding nations by

violence, and succeeded so well, that, eighty-five years after Govind's

death, the Sikhs, still retaining their character of a religious

fellowship, were consolidated into a powerful nation under Runjeet

Singh. The dream of her tenth and last gooroo was realized, the Khalsa

was at her height of worldly prosperity, but her life was no longer the

spirit life which had been revealed to her first founder.

And so under Asiatic skies as well as amid European civilization, man

laboured to redeem the world, making frantic war on the lying creeds of

past ages and proclaiming the merits of his latest discovery.

It is a strange development of human nature this animosity to creeds no

longer our own. Why, if I suffer the loss of faith and hope, must I

hasten to introduce my brother to my sad plight? I may do so, and

perhaps enjoy good conscience in the act by vaunting that I shed light

on his spiritual vision. God help my brother if his light be from me.

And God help me also, if I have attained so high rank among the blessed

before I have learned that the human soul is beyond human aid; that in

its eternal relations each soul travels in an orbit of its own and holds

correspondence only with its Sun.