Maluk Das, a resident of Kara Manakpur, a village on the right bank of Ganga River (in Uttar Pradesh), was a vegetarian Vaishnav Sadhu. When Guru Tegh Bahadur visited this village, he came to see the Guru. Finding the Guru clad in princely attire, and escorted by armed disciples, who had also been hunting, he asked the Guru if all that did not affect spiritualism. The Guru told him that vegetarianism had nothing to do with spiritualism and use of arms was no hindrance to spritual uplift. Maluk Das was convinced by the Guru’s explanation and he asked him (the Guru) to initiate him as a Sikh.
(Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)