Page:The Sikhs (Gordon).djvu/67

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GURU GOVIND SINGH.
43

dressing them he commenced by praising God as the Omnipotent, Almighty, Invincible, and Merciful, who must be worshipped in truthfulness and sincerity, and that no material resemblance must degrade Him. He could only be beheld by the eye of faith in the general body of the Khalsa. All Sikhs must be united in one chain of brotherhood. "Ye Sikhs are all brothers, all equal; there must be no caste among you, you must all be equal, no man greater than the other. All must eat together and drink from the same cup. Caste must be forgotten, idols destroyed, the Brahmanical thread broken, the graves of saints abandoned, Korans and Purans torn to pieces." The only way to salvation was through the pahal [lit. gate] of the true Guru.

He appealed to the eternal human instinct of equality, liberty, and brotherhood, broke for ever with caste prejudices, and received into the Khalsa people of all classes who had hitherto been debarred