A UNIVERSAL SCRIPTURE
BY JAGJIT SINGH “ Guru Granth Sahib is a source book, an expression of man’s Loneliness, his aspiration, his longings, his cry to god and Hunger for communication with that Being”. Lady Pearl
S. Buck, the Noble Prize Winner Guru Granth Sahib, also known as the
holy Bible of the Sikhs, installed first time on 16 August, 1604 at Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar (popularly known as Golden Temple) is a real universal and secular scripture. It is neither a biography (of Sikh
gurus), nor a descriptive volume of historical events. Rather, it is a pure
spiritual Granth that speaks the praise of god only and guides humanity in all walks of life. A remarkable and unique feature of this holy book is that while selecting the Bani i.e.
hymns for this holy Granth, Guru Arjan Dev, the composer, made greatness of the Bani, not greatness of the varna (caste) of its writer, as the criteria. it contains, besides the sacred hymns of six Sikh Gurus viz. Guru Nanak Dev, Guru Angad, Guru Amar Das, Guru Ram Das, Guru Arjan (the composer) and Guru Teg Bahadur- hymns of 30 other saints of medieval period. They came from various parts of the country and a variety of class and creedal background- Hindu as well as Muslim, high caste as well as low caste. They came from north, east, west and south of the country..
The other significant feature of the holy granth’s religious synthesisation is that out of more than 15 thousand names of god appearing in it, the traditional Sikh coinage for god “Waheguru” appears only 16
times. On the contrary, the name Hari appears 8344 times, Rama 2533 times, Prabhu 1371 times, Gopal 491 times, Thakur 216 times and Murari 97 times- all Hindu coinages for god. The holy granth also refers in spiritual context the Hindu mythological characters such as Rama, Krishna, Sita, Lakshmna, Prehlad, Dhruva, Draupade, Bali, Sudama, Azamil, etc and related events. The Bani of Guru Granth Sahib refers to all such events and references to underline and exemplify the god as protector and saviour of his Bhaktas and destroyer of evils.
These two facts are an outstanding example of the religious catholicity of the Sikh Gurus or for that matter Sikhism and its holy scripture. By bringing the hymns of saints of different castes and communities together in the holy Granth , Guru Arjan, the composer and the fifth Guru of the Sikhs, not only rejected the casteism which considered the writing and reciting the holy scriptures as the privilege of “Brahmins i.e. the upper caste Hindus only, but also placed all the saints equal to the Sikh Gurus.
While compiling the holy Granth at Amritsar in 1589-1604 A.D., Guru Arjan included only those hymns which were in complete agreement with the basic thoughts and cardinal principles of Sikhism which believes in the universality of one god and oneness of humanity and also the gender equality. He rejected the verses of Chhaju, Kahna, Peelu and Shah Hussain because their tone was not in harmony with the teachings of the Sikh Gurus. For instance, Kahna’s poetry was egoist in nature wherein he declared, " I am that supreme power which is eulogized even by the Vedas and Puranas." This arrogant egoism was clearly against the basic philosophy of Guru Nanak, the first Sikh Guru, who termed the god as supreme, and creator of the universe. Similarly, Chhaju’s verses were disapproved for the holy Granth because he condemned the womankind and held them responsible for all the evils. On the contrary, Guru Nanak put the women at the highest pedestal and declared: It is a sin to condemn the women who gave birth to mighty emperors.
In the history of religious scriptures of the world, Guru Granth Sahib is the only Granth whose sacred hymns have been created in as many as 31 Ragas Even though the holy Granth was compiled during 1589-1604 AD, it contains the spiritual hymns of the saints and the Sikh Gurus existing between 12th and 17th century. While Jaidev’s (1170A.D.) hymns are the oldest ones, the hymns of the ninth Sikh Guru, Teg Bahadur are the latest ones which were incorporated into the holy Granth by his son and the tenth Guru, Gobind Singh, after the martyrdom of his father in Delhi in 1675 AD to save the Hindus from being forcibly converted into Islam by the then Moghul emperor Aurangzeb.
The sacred hymns of Guru Granth Sahib not only sing the praise of god and emancipation of mankind but also guide us about purity, simplicity, restraint, tolerance, sacrifice, discipline, non-violence, 000000 self-respect, humility, social harmony, fearlessness, social justice, self reliance, protection of human values and rights, respect for women etc. in the day to day life. It also denounces superstitions and hollow rituals and exhorts the mankind to achieve the highest ideals of a pure life by serving the needy and poor. Guru Arjan made it an ocean of spiritual knowledge and awakening. The deeper goes the reader or the listener of its spiritual Bani i.e. the word revealed in the sacred hymns, the higher he rises from the materialistic world and gets closer and closer to the eternity, the real truth.
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