Guru Har Rai was only 13-years-old when he became the 7th Sikh Guru. His Grandfather, Guru Hargobind, was Guru before him. His son, Har Krishan, succeeded him as Guru.
Har Rai inherited a calvary of 2,200 from Guru Hargobind. He kept the army in good shape and his men ready for battle but he made a promise to only use his army for
defense. He never started a battle and his reign was peaceful. In Kiratpur, the town where he was born, Guru Har Rai created a hospital to care for the ailing and started a botanical garden to grow rare plant-based medicines to help those in need. Guru Har Rai offered the medicine needed to cure the emperor’s son, even though he came from a ruling family that had persecuted the Sikhs. Later, when that boy become a prince, the Guru also gave him protection from the future emperor who had started to show his tyrannical nature. Guru Har Rai founded a zoo to care for animals captured in the hunt rather than kill them. He gave special instructions for langar: to “feed all who come to you with love.” How do the cornerstone values of Guru Har Rai show up in your life?