HISTORY OF OUR GURU'S
Guru Nanak & Guru Angad Dev
Bhai Buddha became a devoted disciple of Guru Nanak. His marriage at the age of seventeen at Achal, near Batala, did not distract him from his chosen path and he spent more time at Kartarpur where Guru Nanak had taken up his abode than at Katthu Nangal.
Such was the eminence he had attained in Sikh piety that, at the time of installation of Bhai Lahina as Guru Angad, (Nanak II), Guru Nanak asked Bhai Buddha to apply the ceremonial tilak on Bhai Lahina’s forehead. Bhai Buddha lived to a ripe old age and had the unique honour of anointing all of the four following Gurus. Guru Angad Dev ji invented the Gurmukhi script, the script used in the Guru Granth Sahib.
In order to popularize the new script, the Guru started teaching it to the children of the Sikhs. Bhai Budha also learned Gurmukhi (lit. from the Gurus’ mouth) and then took up the Guru’s duty to teach it.
Throughout his live Bhai Buddha continued to serve the Gurus with complete dedication, remaining an example of holy living for the growing body of disciples.
Guru Amar Das and Guru Ram Das
He devoted himself with zeal to such tasks as; construction of the Baoli at Goindval under the instruction of Guru Amar Das and the excavation of the Amrit Sarovar (Amritsar) the city that lent its name to Amritsar, under Guru Ram Das and Guru Arjan.
The ben tree under which he would sit, supervising the excavation of the Amritsar pool still stands in the precincts of the Golden Temple. He subsequently retired to a bar (a forest), where he tended the livestock of the Guru Ka Langar. What is left of that forest is known as ‘Ber Baba Buddha Sahib’.
Guru Arjan Dev & Guru Hargobind
Guru Arjan Dev ji placed his young son, Hargobind, under Bhai Buddha’s instruction and training. When the Adi Granth (Guru Granth Sahib) was installed in the Harmandar on 16 August 1604, Bhai Buddha was appointed as the granthi by Guru Arjan. He thus became the first high priest of the sacred shrine, now popularly known as the Golden Temple.
Following the martyrdom of Guru Arjan on 30 May 1606, Guru Hargobind raised, in front of, the Harimandar a platform called the Akal Takhat, the Timeless Throne or the Throne of the Timeless, the construction of which was entrusted to only Baba Buddha and Bhai Gurdas, no one else was allowed to take part in building the platform.
After the Martyrdom of Guru Arjan, the investiture ceremony of Guru Hargobind was held on the new platform that Baba Buddha and Bhai Gurdas had built. Even then, the new platform facing the entrance of the causeway to the Harmandar Sahib was referred to as the Akal Takht Sahib.
Bhai Buddha, as he had done so many times before, was called on again to perform the initiation as he had done before, but on that day (24 June 1606) Guru Hargobind ji took Sikhi in a new direction for he asked Baba Buddha for a sword, rather than the traditional seli that had once been worn by Guru Nanak. Guru Hargobind then put on not one but two swords; one on his left side and the other on his right.