The glint of steel flashes in the sunlight as the sword sweeps up in a slicing arc. Twirling blue kurta follows the motion of the whistling steel as it cuts a path through the air, up over a turban fortified with malla and chakra, circling once and then thrust down with a mighty force. The sword travels a circular path on each side of the combatant, protecting side, shoulders and head. In the days of ancient warfare, such maneuver would create a shield of motion that could repel even arrows. These sweeping round movements executed with swift precision create a protection that allows a single swordman to face the weapons of many opponents.

One man can fight 125,000, this is what I hace created. That is why my name is Guru Gobind Singh.

This is Gatkha, the weighty steel turning effortless circles and arches to strike the adversary and defend the bearer. and to turn this cold metal into motion is the Sikh, bana twirling, kara clanging, chakra glinting. The sword is held in nobility, wielded in kindness, and displayed with honor. The sword is our salvation and our redemption for we are Sikhs, the Gatkha people.

Guru Gobind Singh clearly laid out to his Sikhs the need to combine spiritual capacity with martial mastery. When the forces of evil control the elements of power, then humanity endures immense suffering. But when virtuous people master the ability to contain malevolence, then a proper balance is maintained and spirituality is allowed to flourish. As Sikhs, it is not only our birth right, but our obligation to uphold this balance. Guru Gobind Singh gave us the power, the shakti, to fulfill his responsibility by creating the order of the Khalsa. By making us Sant Sephai - the saint-soldier, we have wisdom and enlightment, power and ferocity as intruments to serve us.

The merger of these two seemingly opposing forces, that of soldier and saint, is an art and technology of its own. Like most opposites, peace and violence are two parts of a single whole. The soldier is a necessary part of the life of the saint in order to protect his physical existence and to provide an environment in which righteousness can prosper. The saint is essential in the life of the soldier to instruct and guide the power of violence towards righteous action and away from immoraand cruel deeds. when these two qualities are embodied in the same individual, the result is a life of honor and grace guranteed and protected by its own faculties.

Guru Gobind Singh tells us to pay the highest obeisance to our weapons. By giving the proper spiritual context, these elements of destruction become tools of liberation.

By the nature of opposites, people of peace are usually repelled by people of violence. Similarly the one who respects the force of violence rarely acknowledges the power of peace. Gatkha is the methodology with bridges the chasm between the two. It is the art which melds these opposites.

Gat means fulfillment, the merging of two halves into a whole. It is through this experience of the whole that we encounter our own liberation. Gatkha is the art and science of mukta, the liberation of the spirit.


Combat: The Highest Meditation

Gatkha attracts mankind through both the avenues of the saint and soldier. A meditative person may be drawn to prayers through his own destiny, but in order to experience his unlimited Shakti he must set aside his fears and doubts and fully accept the duty of righteous action.

By developing yourself mentally and physically to protect the weak and defenseless, and at the same time training yourself never to misuse your strength and bodily power, your spiritual awareness rises to untold heights.

In combat, a person fights the battle within as well as engaging the enemy without. You learn to willingly expose yourself to physical danger, and face directly the aggressive energy of the opponent. By confronting your own fear of physical injury or death, you gain power over this fear and eventually neutralize it. This releases you from the limitation of the physical existence. Through the skills of a soldier, the saint can experience his liberation.

Combat with the sword is the greatest meditation. If you do not concentrate with all your being, all of your energy, all of your subtle perception, you will be hit over and over again. In order to meet the challenge of combat, you must allow all your inner fears to dissolve and the enrgy of chardikala will rise in your being. Your weak points become quickly apparent and then you must concentrate your shakti to stregthen your vulnerable areas and balance your projection. By dealing with all your weakness, your opponent becomes yourself and you have no one in front of you but a mirror.


Beyond the Sword

In daily life you do not have to deal with the direct aggression of combat. You rarely have the chance to bring such energy into action. By the practice of Gatkha, the sword directs your life even when it is not in your hands. The lessons you learn in combat stay with you through all forms of communication and human interaction.

You learn to be determined, but at the same time controlled and graceful. You learn never to react for to do so is to fall into an oppenent's trap. Instead you must assess the elements of combat and then act.

By intergarting the lesson of combat into a life of prayer and meditation, you increase your effectiveness for yourself and others. The confrontation of combat keeps your spiritual practice from becoming stagnant and ineffectual. Spiritual awareness is increased by leaps and bounds. It will effect and challenge everyone around you as they get drawn into the excitement of it.


Into The Future

By incorporating the bi-polarity of Sant-Sephai into your daily life, the powerful essence of Guru Gobind Singh will guide and surround you. This sword play integrates itself into your life, and so never becomes outdated in the modern world. No matter what medium of engagement you employ, be it your voice or a nuclear bomb, it is your personal dynamic which determines the ultimate outcome. By developing yourself to be both soldier and saint, you build character and internal direction. Your victories will be righteous and will benefit all of mankind.

It is Guru Gobind Singh's words that tell us that the sword is permanent weapon that should be honoured and respected. It never runs out of bullets, it never misfires, it never breaks down. He predicts that the weapons of modern world, rockets, bombs and nuclear devices will all destroy themselves. It is the Guru's hukam that when all modern weapons are destroyed the rule of the Khalsa will begin. And at that time, the Khalsa will rule by the sword.

If the Guru's words are to be believed, then the art and science of Gatkha is in our custody. It is our obligation to continue the propagation of sword play through our generation and into the next one. Because of the tragedy which is being enacted in Punjab today, most of the great Gatkha masters have been killed or have become inaccessible. It would be the wish of our enemies that our mastery of the sword disappear from the earth, because our Dharma itself becomes vulnerable. It is the personal responsibility of each Sikh to keep alive the skills of the aword that this may not be lost for our future generations.

This has to be accomodated. For we are Sikhs, the Gatkha people.

Gatkha is not only a defense art but it is a total definition of human fulfillment, human essence and human grace. It is a martial art that makes a person fearless. It makes a person revengeless. It makes a person concentrate. Every movement is originated, organised and projected for the parameter in which there is nothing but success. It needs dedication. It needs devotion. It needs time.

Real growth in Gatkha comes from real practice. through my daily practice of gatkha I have been taught a way of dealing with fear. When not properly managed, fear wreaks havoc in the minds of the humans. the Tenth Master conquered fear when he transformed the sparrows into hawks and when he took a frightened people and turned them into a fighting Khalsa Nation.

Fear is what holds us back from positive change and once we learn to manage it, fear will slowly be replaced by self-confidence. this is truly a freedom and one of the benefits of regular gatkha practice. I have seengathka work wonders and people who were terribly unbalanced in their mental and physical bodies. As Sikhs, I believe we are the masters of the physical plane. Where does a person go to to be systematically trained in the laws of physical reality - the gym, dance class, jazzexercise? Well yes, there are valuable lessons to be learned but they are not complete and you have to compromise in the process. Gatkha is unbelievably simple systematic process of taotally aligning a person to the properties of the physical plane.

Contributed by Shanti Kaur Khalsa and Nanak Dev Singh Khalsa. Posted by Jasmail Singh