“We will come with flowers”

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh
The Beloved Community Belongs to Divine Oneness;
In that Oneness, All Become Victory

Three hundred and fifty years ago, a boy named Gobind lived with his family in the foothills of the Himalayas in Punjab. One day, people he did not know appeared at their door – 500 men from the land of Kashmir, and they came with stories of terror. An Emperor had come to power – sent his armies into their land, terrorized their children, ripped apart their families, imprisoned those who resisted.

They people came to Gobind’s father, a great teacher, a sage warrior, for help.

The boy looked up and asked his father: “Will their suffering end?”

His father replied, “Jeh koi vaddee kurbani devay.” Only if someone makes a great sacrifice.

The boy said, “Who else could do that but you, Pita Ji?”

Gobind’s father turned to the people and said: “Next time the imperial armies come for you, tell them to come for me first.”

He made his body a shield.

His name was Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth teacher of the Sikh tradition, and this year, the Sikh community around the globe celebrates him as Srishti di Chadar! Shield of Humanity! He showed us what it means to see no stranger – to see their children as our children. It means to risk ourselves for others when they are in harm’s way. It means to make our body a shield.

At this moment, as our loved ones are being abducted and disappeared from our streets, our families ripped apart, our children terrorized, our protests met with an astonishing display of military force, remember: In every turn through the cycle of human history, people have faced the fires of oppression. The question is not: What will you do? The question is: Who will you be in the story?  

Courage is not a calculation of the mind. It is a choice of the heart.

We are here because we choose courage. We choose to be brave with our love. We choose to see the ones you are holding as part of us.

To the soldiers, officers, and agents: Who do you want to be in this moment in history? How do you want the child in your life to remember you? Did you take this job to go to war with your own people? What does it look like for you to choose courage? It may require making a sacrifice.

A few months after his father stood up to the Emperor, nine-year-old Gobind – who would go on to become a great leader – received his father’s head on a bed of flowers.

We come here with flowers. We come here with flowers. And we will keep coming here with flowers.

As long as you hold our people in those cages – we will come here with flowers.

With our ancestors at our backs – we will come here with flowers.

With love as our guide – we will come here with flowers.

With the eyes of a sage and heart of a warrior – we will come here with flowers.

As long as we breathe — we will come here with flowers.

Until we are all free – we will come here with flowers.

As long as you are here [to the agents], and they are there [to the immigrants in cells] – we will come here with flowers.

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh