Seeing the destruction of the religion of the Vedas, and the religion of Rama and Krishna; the Brahmans (Hindu High Priests) took a delegation to Amarnath to pray to Lord Shiva for protection. Macauliffe has described the situation thus,

"They (the Brahmans) cried, 'O God, protect our honour since the sovereign of the Turks is destroying our religion and converting all Brahmans and Hindus to the Mussalman faith. We have come to thy protection."

After eight days of such prayers and supplications, invoking Shiva by his thousand names, and doing painful fasting, they decided it was better to die than to embrace Islam. By chance, the Pandits heard that Guru Tegh Bahadur was at Anandpur on the bank of the Sutlej and so they proceeded in desperation to seek his help.

A group of 500 Brahmans led by Pandit Kirpa Ram and Trilok Nath Raina reached Anandpur Sahib. Pandit Kirpa Ram told Guru ji their sorrowful tale. He told Guru ji how the Emperor was forcibly converting thousands of Brahmans every day. He explained that on seeing the destruction of their religion, they had approached Lord Shiva at Amarnath. But he had told them that in this age of "Kalijug," Guru Nanak is the Sovereign, and that it was not in his power to protect the Hindu religion. It was with this introduction from Lord Shiva that they were now approaching the Ninth Sovereign on the Throne of Guru Nanak.

 Guru Sahib, on hearing the sorrowful tale of the Brahmans, gave a unique prescription to put an end to the miseries of the Brahmans and the Hindus. He said to them that a holy man will have to sacrifice his life for the sake of Hindu religion.

 Suddenly, Prince Gobind Rai appeared from one corner. Seeing strange faces in the Guru's Court, He asked: "O Father, who are these men?" and "what do they want?" The Guru told His nine-year-old Son that they were the representatives of the Hindu religion; their faith was at stake, and they had come to The House of Guru Nanak to seek protection. Guru ji told His Son that the only way in which their religion could be saved was that a holy man should sacrifice his life for the cause of Hinduism. To this, Gobind Rai ji replied: "O Gurudev, who is holier than you in this age of ignorance? They have come to seek protection at your feet. Therefore, you must protect them, even though in doing so you may have to sacrifice your life."

 The Guru was pleased with the reply of His Son. Guru ji could visualise that His sacrifice at Delhi would be the first of a chain of sacrifices that would follow. He could see that His Son would create The Order of the Khalsa, a group of holy men that would always come to the rescue of the downtrodden and the helpless.

 Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib told Pandit Kirpa Ram to go and inform the Emperor of Delhi that they have chosen Him to be their leader. If Guru ji accepts Islam, then all Hindus shall also embrace Islam as their faith. But as long as negotiations were going on between the Emperor and the Guru, the Emperor should stop his crusade of forcible conversions.

The Emperor thought that his job had been simplified. All he had to do was to convert one man—Guru Tegh Bahadur ji, and the whole of India would be Muslim. But the foolish Emperor did not know that the True Prophets of God stay unmoved on their ground and that the sacrifice of Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib would cause the destruction of the mighty Mughal empire.