Wonder Days

Have you ever thought about what it means to truly be free? Not just free yourself, but to refuse to leave unless everyone around you can come too?

That kind of freedom is what Bandi Chhor Divas celebrates. Its name means “Day of Liberation.”

The year was 1619. Guru Hargobind was the sixth Sikh Guru — a teacher, a leader, a man known for his wisdom and his strength. The Mughal Emperor Jahangir had ordered him imprisoned in the great Gwalior Fort.

Guru Hargobind was kept there for years. But even inside those walls, something about him could not be confined. He taught. He prayed. He offered comfort to the other prisoners around him — 52 princes and chieftains who had also been locked away.

When the time came for the Guru’s release, he was told he could go free.

He looked around at the 52 men beside him.

He said: I will only leave if these men can leave with me.

The Emperor said the Guru could bring out only those who could hold onto his cloak as he walked through the gate. The gate was narrow.

But Guru Hargobind had a cloak made with 52 strings — one for each man. Every one of them held on. Every one of them walked through that gate.

Fifty-two men. Free.

When the Guru arrived in Amritsar, the city was already lit up — because the date of his return fell around the same time as Diwali. People had set out lamps to welcome him. The lights that had been burning for another reason now blazed with a new meaning: liberation had come home.

How people celebrate today:

Bandi Chhor Divas falls on the same day as Diwali — and in Sikh communities, the two celebrations flow together, the lights of one giving meaning to the lights of the other.

The Golden Temple in Amritsar — the most sacred site in the Sikh world, its walls sheathed in shining gold, its reflection floating on still water — is decorated with thousands and thousands of lights. Oil lamps called diyas line every edge. The effect is breathtaking.

Fireworks bloom over the temple, crackling and shimmering in the night sky.

At Gurdwaras around the world, kirtan fills the air. The Guru Granth Sahib is honored. Prayers are offered. And langar flows: the community kitchen that never closes, where hot food is offered freely to anyone who comes.

The 52 strings on that cloak are remembered. Because the lesson is simple and it is big: freedom is not really freedom if you take it only for yourself. You hold on. You bring everyone through the gate. Together.