ON Monday Sikhs all around the world will be remembering the birth of their tenth Guru (spiritual leader), Guru Gobind Singh.

As a young woman in the 21st Century, I am infinitely inspired by the Guru, and I look to him for inspiration in every aspect of my life – my faith, my studies, and my desire to help and contribute to the society that I live in.

The Guru was a saint. He was selfless, had an unshakeable faith in God and had an undying love for humanity. He was a warrior who fought for justice and defended the freedom of religion and worship. The Guru was a musician, mastering the art of Indian classical music and even creating his own musical instrument. He was a poet, authoring many spiritual compositions and compiling them in a book called Sri Dasam Granth, and he was a linguist who was literate in six languages. The Guru was also a family man; a son, a husband, and a father to four sons, as well as the spiritual father of the Sikhs.

When Gobind was nine years old, his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was approached by some Hindu Rajas (kings). They explained that they were being harassed and pressurised to give up their religion by the oppressive Mughal regime. Moved by their helplessness, Gobind turned to his father and said "Father, who could possibly better help these people than you?" The young Gobind sent his own father to sacrifice his life – not in the defence of Sikhism, but in defence of another faith.

I believe that society today could learn a lot from this sacrifice. We have a moral obligation to ensure that everyone is able to practice their faith (or no faith) openly and freely without the fear of harassment or discrimination. We need to stop seeing differences in religion, race, nationality and gender as barriers, and start valuing our neighbours as we value ourselves. In the words of Guru Gobind Singh, “Some are Hindus and others are Muslims, then someone is a Shia and another is a Sunni, but recognise the whole human race as one.”

Amrit Kaur Juss