Some Aspects of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
Preface
This work is an attempt to study a few aspects of the Sacred Book of Sri Guru Granth Sahib that is gaining the reputation of the holy book not only for the Sikhs but for entire humanity as it ia a wonderful anthology of the verses composed by Immortal Gurus and prominent Bhakts during the Bhakti movement who viewed relationship between individual Soul and Almighty God to be same as the relationship between a lover and a beloved. An attempt has been made in this work to translate some of these verses so that non-punjabi, non-Hindi readers too can relish the delight of these immortal verses soothing and healing the soul of any person voyaging in this terrible ocean of life. The rising popularity of The Holy Granth specially among the non- Punjabi readers like Sindhi and a few muslims residing in Punjab, has given motivation to put these compositions into English for the benefit of non- Punjabi, non-Hindi readers so that they can also grab its essence and make their journey of life in this terrible world of ocean easy, convenient and fruitful. As Sacred Granth does not entail worship for any particular or specific deity but it asks to bow before that Creator, Immaculate, Omnipotent, Ever present Cosmic Power of Lord who has created everything in the universe and is present even in the smallest particle and creature of it. On one hand it talks of Hindu deities like Ram ji, Shiv ji or Shankar ji and on the other hand it says “ Allah is purest of the pure, doubt it if any another is like Him” ( Allah pakam pak hai, Shak kare je Dusra hoe). I sincerely hope that readers would find this work interesting- specially non-sikh, non-punjabi, non- Hindi readers and enjoy the elixir of life contained in these immortal verses.
Author
I
Introduction to Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji
Sri Guru Granth Sahib ji is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism. It is also regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of ten human gurus. The Tenth Guru Sri Guru Gobind Singh ji deeming the probability of word to be less corruptible than a human being granted the Granth the status of the Final and Eternal Guru of the Panth. Its first edition- the Adi Granth- was compiled by The Fifth Guru- Guru Arjan Dev ji and its composition was completed on August 29,1604 A.D and first installed in Harmandir Sahib, Golden Temple at Amritsar in September 1604 A.D with Baba Buddha as its first Granthi. Shortly afterwards Guru Hargobind Singh ji, the Sixth Guru, added Ramkali Ki Vaar. Later Guru Gobind Singh ji added hymns of his father Guru Tegh Bahadur ji, the Ninth Guru and established this text as the next Guru of Sikhs after him.
This holy text consists of 1430 pages or Angas. Here it should be mentioned that taking Guru Granth Sahib ji as a live human body,its pages are deemed as angas or limbs by the Sikhs. It contains 5894 shabads ( line compositions), that are poetically rendered and set to rhythmic ancient North Indian Classical music tradition that is its unique feature and this distinguishes it from the sacred texts of other faiths. The bulk of the Scripture is divided into 31 Ragas with each Raga subdivided according to length and author. It has compositions of six Gurus- Guru Nanak Dev ji, Guru Angad Dev ji, Guru Amar Das ji, Guru Ram Das ji, Guru Arjan Dev ji and Guru Tegh Bahadur ji and Ramkali ki Var by Guru Hargobind Singh ji. It also contains fourteen Bhagats from Bhakti movement like Ramanand, kabir , Tirlochan, Dhanna, Pippa, Namdev, Ravidas, Jayadeva, Parmanand, Sain, Surdas, Balwant Rai, Sheikh Farid, Bhikhan, Beni and Sadhna. Bhatts have also contributed to it like Balh, Bahlh, Bhika, Gayand, Harbans, Jalap, Kirat, Kalshar, Mathura, Nalh and Sulh. Gursikhs who have contributed to it are Bhai Satta, Balvand , Bhai Mardana and Bhai Piara.
History
Guru Nanak Dev ji composed hymns, that were sung by followers in ragas set to music. His successor Guru Angad Dev ji opened centres and distributed these hymns. The community would sing hymns and his agents collected donations or Dasvand ( ten percent of income). This tradition was continued by Guru Amar Das ji, the third Guru and Guru Ram Das ji, the fourth Guru. Guru Arjan Dev ji, the fifth Guru found to his dismay that his elder brother Prithvi Chand who was also his rival to the Guruship as he placed his claim over it, had an earlier copy of the Granth known as Pothi Sahib( Palm leaf manuscript) with hymns and he was distributing it along with his own hymns to his followers. Guru Arjan Dev ji started compiling an officially approved version of the Sacred Text. As he was concerned about establishing an authentic anthology of approved hymns so he sent his followers to all the corners of the country to collect the hymns by various sages and saints of Bhakti movement. He also convinced Bhai Mohan, son of Guru Amar Das ji to donate the collection of the religious compositions of three Gurus. Even Guru Arjan Dev ji had to compose the praise him in order to get these priceless compositions from him in words.
O’Mohan, your temple is so lofty,
and your mansion is unsurpassed,
O’Mohan your gates are so beautiful,
fit to be worship houses of the saints ( SGGS ; 248)
When his followers returned with their collections, Guru Arjan Dev ji selected and edited hymns to be incorporated in the Holy Granth or Adi Granth that was scribed by Bhai Gurdas. This effort yielded several drafts and manuscripts some of which have survived even in the modern era. Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru issued the definitive and final edition that included the hymns of his father- Guru Tegh Bahadur ji. This copy is called Damdama Bir, and a 1707 A.D copy of this manuscript is preserved in the Toshakhana of Hazur Sahib Nanded. Out of the total shlokas Guru Nanak Dev ji’s contribution is 16.53%, of Guru Angad Dev ji is 1.10 %, of Guru Amar Das ji is 15.38 %, of Guru Amar Das ji is 11.52 %, Guru Arjan Dev ji’s is 32.63 % and Guru Tegh Bahadur ji’s contribution is 5.92 5 and rest 16.92 % are the contributions of Bhagats, Bhatts and Gursikhs.
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