Guru Granth Sahib

The Guru Granth Sahib (Punjabi: ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ, pronounced [ɡʊɾuː ɡɾəntʰᵊ saːhɪb]) is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the religion. The Adi Granth (Punjabi: ਆਦਿ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ), its first rendition, was compiled by the fifth guru, Guru Arjan (1564–1606). Its compilation was completed on 29 August 1604 and first installed inside Golden Temple in Amritsar on 1 September 1604. The text consists of 1,430 angs (pages) and 5,894 shabads (line compositions), which are poetically rendered and set to a rhythmic ancient north Indian classical form of music. The bulk of the scripture is divided into 31 main rāgas, with each Granth rāga subdivided according to length and author. The vision in the Guru Granth Sahib is of a society based on divine freedom, mercy, love and justice without oppression of any kind.

One Universal Creator God. The Name Is Truth. Creative Being Personified. No Fear. No Hatred. Image Of The Undying, Beyond Birth, Self-Existent, (known by) the grace of the Guru.

Quotes

True In The Primal Beginning. True Throughout The Ages.
True Here And Now. O Nanak, Forever And Ever True.

He Himself spread out the expanse of His Maya, and He Himself beholds it. He assumes so many forms, and plays so many games, and yet He remains distinct and detached from it all.

When the Giver of peace grants His Grace, the mortal being meditates on the Lord, the Life of the Universe.

• One Universal Creator God. The Name Is Truth. Creative Being Personified. No Fear. No Hatred. Image Of The Undying, Beyond Birth, Self-Existent, (known by) the grace of the Guru.
  True In The Primal Beginning. True Throughout The Ages.
  True Here And Now. O Nanak, Forever And Ever True.
  By thinking, He cannot be reduced to thought, even by thinking hundreds of thousands of times.
  By remaining silent, inner silence is not obtained, even by remaining lovingly absorbed deep within.
  The hunger of the hungry is not appeased, even by piling up loads of worldly goods.
  Hundreds of thousands of clever tricks, but not even one of them will go along with you in the end.
  So how can you become truthful? And how can the veil of illusion be torn away?
  O Nanak, it is written that you shall obey the Hukam of His Command, and walk in the Way of His Will.
  By His Command, bodies are created; His Command cannot be described.
  By His Command, souls come into being; by His Command, glory and greatness are obtained.
  By His Command, some are high and some are low; by His Written Command, pain and pleasure are obtained.
  Some, by His Command, are blessed and forgiven; others, by His Command, wander aimlessly forever.
  Everyone is subject to His Command; no one is beyond His Command.
  O Nanak, one who understands His Command, does not speak in ego.
  • Opening passages, including the Mul Mantar

• No one knows the state of the Lord. The Yogis, the celibates, the austere penitents, and all sorts of clever people have failed. Pause. In an instant, He changes the beggar into a king, and the king into a beggar. He fills what is empty, and empties what is full. Such are His ways. He Himself spread out the expanse of His Maya, and He Himself beholds it. He assumes so many forms, and plays so many games, and yet He remains distinct and detached from it all. Incalculable, infinite, incomprehensible and immaculate, He has misled the whole world. So give up all your doubts; prays Nanak, O mortal, focus your consciousness on His Feet.
  • SGGS, Ang 538

• I am a sacrifice to the True Name. Your rule shall never end. Your rule is eternal and unchanging; it shall never come to an end. He alone becomes Your servant, who contemplates You in peaceful ease. Enemies and pain shall never touch him, and sin shall never come close to him. I am forever a sacrifice to the One Lord, and Your Name
  • SGGS, Ang 568

• When the Giver of peace grants His Grace, the mortal being meditates on the Lord, the Life of the Universe.
  • SGGS, Ang 1260

• “Raam Chand passed away, as did Raavan, even though he had lots of relatives. Says Nanak, nothing lasts forever; the world is like a dream.”
  • (Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Ang 1429)

• “O Nanak, the Lord is fearless and formless; myriads of others, like Rama, are mere dust before Him.”
  • (Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Ang 464)

• “Kabeer, it does make a difference, how you chant the Lord’s Name, ‘Raam’. This is something to consider. Everyone uses the same word for the son of Dasrath and the Wondrous Lord. Kabeer, use the word ‘Raam’, only to speak of the All-pervading Lord. You must make that distinction. One ‘Raam’ is pervading everywhere, while the other is contained only in himself.”
  • (Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1374)

• ਸਾਚੇ ਤੇ ਪਵਨਾ ਭਇਆ ਪਵਨੈ ਤੇ ਜਲੁ ਹੋਇ ॥ ਜਲ ਤੇ ਤ੍ਰਿਭਵਣੁ ਸਾਜਿਆ ਘਟਿ ਘਟਿ ਜੋਤਿ ਸਮੋਇ ॥
  • From the True Lord came the air, and from the air came water. From water, He created the three worlds; in each and every heart He has infused His Light.
• ਪਹਿਲਾ ਪਾਣੀ ਜੀਉ ਹੈ ਜਿਤੁ ਹਰਿਆ ਸਭੁ ਕੋਇ ॥ (472)
  • First, there is life in the water, by which everything else is made green.

• ਪਾਤਾਲਾ ਪਾਤਾਲ ਲਖ ਆਗਾਸਾ ਆਗਾਸ ॥ ਓੜਕ ਓੜਕ ਭਾਲਿ ਥਕੇ ਵੇਦ ਕਹਨਿ ਇਕ ਵਾਤ ॥ ਸਹਸ ਅਠਾਰਹ ਕਹਨਿ ਕਤੇਬਾ ਅਸੁਲੂ ਇਕੁ ਧਾਤੁ ॥ ਲੇਖਾ ਹੋਇ ਤ ਲਿਖੀਐ ਲੇਖੈ ਹੋਇ ਵਿਣਾਸੁ ॥
  • After an immense and tiring search the authors of Vedas concluded that there are hundreds of thousands netherworlds under nether worlds and skies above skies. The Semitic texts say there are eighteen thousand worlds, but their Creator is One. However, the cosmos is so vast that it is beyond the scope of counting/measurement (i.e. beyond human comprehension)one would run out of numbers if one were to undertake the counting. Nanak salutes the Great One, as It alone knows the vastness Its creation.
• ਖੰਡ ਪਤਾਲ ਅਸੰਖ ਮੈ ਗਣਤ ਨ ਹੋਈ ॥
  • There are countless worlds and nether regions; I cannot calculate their number.
• ਕਵਣੁ ਸੁ ਵੇਲਾ ਵਖਤੁ ਕਵਣੁ ਕਵਣ ਥਿਤਿ ਕਵਣੁ ਵਾਰੁ ॥ ਕਵਣਿ ਸਿ ਰੁਤੀ ਮਾਹੁ ਕਵਣੁ ਜਿਤੁ ਹੋਆ ਆਕਾਰੁ ॥ ਵੇਲ ਨ ਪਾਈਆ ਪੰਡਤੀ ਜਿ ਹੋਵੈ ਲੇਖੁ ਪੁਰਾਣੁ ॥ ਵਖਤੁ ਨ ਪਾਇਓ ਕਾਦੀਆ ਜਿ ਲਿਖਨਿ ਲੇਖੁ ਕੁਰਾਣੁ ॥ ਥਿਤਿ ਵਾਰੁ ਨਾ ਜੋਗੀ ਜਾਣੈ ਰੁਤਿ ਮਾਹੁ ਨਾ ਕੋਈ ॥ ਜਾ ਕਰਤਾ ਸਿਰਠੀ ਕਉ ਸਾਜੇ ਆਪੇ ਜਾਣੈ ਸੋਈ ॥
  • What was the moment or time or date or day or season or month when the cosmos was created? Had the authors of Hindu scriptures or Quran known it, they would have mentioned it. Neither did the yogi know the date or day or month or season. It is only the Creator, Who knows when the cosmos was created.
• ਭੈ ਵਿਚਿ ਸੂਰਜੁ ਭੈ ਵਿਚਿ ਚੰਦੁ ॥ ਕੋਹ ਕਰੋੜੀ ਚਲਤ ਨ ਅੰਤੁ ॥
  • In the Fear of God, the sun shines, and in the Fear of God, the moon reflects. They travel millions of miles, endlessly.

• ਅਰਬਦ ਨਰਬਦ ਧੁੰਧੂਕਾਰਾ ॥ ਧਰਣਿ ਨ ਗਗਨਾ ਹੁਕਮੁ ਅਪਾਰਾ ॥ ਨਾ ਦਿਨੁ ਰੈਨਿ ਨ ਚੰਦੁ ਨ ਸੂਰਜੁ ਸੁੰਨ ਸਮਾਧਿ ਲਗਾਇਦਾ ॥੧॥ …
  • For immeasurable length of time there was darkness. Neither there was Earth or sky nor day or night nor moon or sun, except the One Entity (Reality) and Its Hukam(order of GOD). It was in a transcendent mode filling the void like fog fills space. The cosmos was brought into being according to the Hukam(order of GOD) without any visible support upholding the vast expanse.AGGS, M 1, p 1035.
• ਕੀਤਾ ਪਸਾਉ ਏਕੋ ਕਵਾਉ ॥ ਤਿਸ ਤੇ ਹੋਏ ਲਖ ਦਰੀਆਉ ॥
  • The cosmos sprang from a single act of Hukam(order of GOD) generating innumerable currents of creation. M 1, Jap 16, p 3.

• ਮਾ ਕੀ ਰਕਤੁ ਪਿਤਾ ਬਿਦੁ ਧਾਰਾ ॥ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਸੂਰਤਿ ਕਰਿ ਆਪਾਰਾ ॥ ਜੋਤਿ ਦਾਤਿ ਜੇਤੀ ਸਭ ਤੇਰੀ ਤੂ ਕਰਤਾ ਸਭ ਠਾਈ ਹੇ ॥੪॥ (1022)
  • From the union of the mother's egg and the father's sperm, the form of infinite beauty has been created. The blessings of light all come from You; You are the Creator Lord, pervading everywhere. ||4||

• ਦੇਹੀ ਮਾਟੀ ਬੋਲੈ ਪਉਣੁ ॥ ਬੁਝੁ ਰੇ ਗਿਆਨੀ ਮੂਆ ਹੈ ਕਉਣੁ ॥
  • The body is dust; the wind speaks through it. Understand, O wise one, who has died.
• ਪਵਨੈ ਮਹਿ ਪਵਨੁ ਸਮਾਇਆ ॥ ਜੋਤੀ ਮਹਿ ਜੋਤਿ ਰਲਿ ਜਾਇਆ ॥ ਮਾਟੀ ਮਾਟੀ ਹੋਈ ਏਕ ॥ ਰੋਵਨਹਾਰੇ ਕੀ ਕਵਨ ਟੇਕ ॥੧॥ ਕਉਨੁ ਮੂਆ ਰੇ ਕਉਨੁ ਮੂਆ ॥ ….
  • The wind merges into the wind. The light blends into the light. The dust becomes one with the dust. What support is there for the one who is lamenting? ||1|| Who has died? O, who has died?
• ਕਹੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਗੁਰਿ ਬ੍ਰਹਮੁ ਦਿਖਾਇਆ ॥ ਮਰਤਾ ਜਾਤਾ ਨਦਰਿ ਨ ਆਇਆ ॥੪॥੪॥
  • Says Nanak, the Guru has revealed God to me, and now I see that there is no such thing as birth or death. ||4||4||
• ਨਾ ਕੋਈ ਮਰੈ ਨ ਆਵੈ ਜਾਇਆ ॥੪॥੧੦॥ (885)
  • No one dies; no one comes or goes. ||4||10||

• ਧਰਤੀ ਦੇਗ ਮਿਲੈ ਇਕ ਵੇਰਾ ਭਾਗੁ ਤੇਰਾ ਭੰਡਾਰੀ ॥੨॥ ਨਾ ਸਾਬੂਰੁ ਹੋਵੈ ਫਿਰਿ ਮੰਗੈ ਨਾਰਦੁ ਕਰੇ ਖੁਆਰੀ ॥ (1190)
  • You have made this Earth like a great dish of yours which the living beings get only once in their life. It is the great source of all the materials needed by mortals. But the mortal becomes unsatisfied, and begs for more; his fickle mind brings him disgrace.
• ਨਾਨਕ ਸਚ ਦਾਤਾਰੁ ਸਿਨਾਖਤੁ ਕੁਦਰਤੀ ॥੮॥
  • O Nanak, the True One is the Giver of all; He is revealed through His All-powerful Creative Nature. ||8||
• ਪਾਣੀ ਪ੍ਰਾਣ ਪਵਣਿ ਬੰਧਿ ਰਾਖੇ ਚੰਦੁ ਸੂਰਜੁ ਮੁਖਿ ਦੀਏ ॥ ਮਰਣ ਜੀਵਣ ਕਉ ਧਰਤੀ ਦੀਨੀ ਏਤੇ ਗੁਣ ਵਿਸਰੇ ॥੨॥ (877)
  • Binding together water and air, the Almighty infused the breath of life into the body, and made the lamps like the sun and the moon. The almighty has given us Earth to live and die on, but we have forgotten these blessings.

• ਕਈ ਜਨਮ ਭਏ ਕੀਟ ਪਤੰਗਾ ॥ ਕਈ ਜਨਮ ਗਜ ਮੀਨ ਕੁਰੰਗਾ ॥ ਕਈ ਜਨਮ ਗਜ ਮੀਨ ਕੁਰੰਗਾ ॥ ਕਈ ਜਨਮ ਪੰਖੀ ਸਰਪ ਹੋਇਓ ॥ ਕਈ ਜਨਮ ਹੈਵਰ ਬ੍ਰਿਖ ਜੋਇਓ ॥੧|| ਮਿਲੁ ਜਗਦੀਸ ਮਿਲਨ ਕੀ ਬਰੀਆ ॥ ਚਿਰੰਕਾਲ ਇਹ ਦੇਹ ਸੰਜਰੀਆ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥ ਕਈ ਜਨਮ ਸੈਲ ਗਿਰਿ ਕਰਿਆ ॥ ਕਈ ਜਨਮ ਗਰਭ ਹਿਰਿ ਖਰਿਆ ॥ ਕਈ ਜਨਮ ਸਾਖ ਕਰਿ ਉਪਾਇਆ ॥ ਲਖ ਚਉਰਾਸੀਹ ਜੋਨਿ ਭ੍ਰਮਾਇਆ ॥੨॥
  • Many births (different evolutionary stages of life) created worm and insect. Many births created elephant, fish and deer. Many births created bird and snake. Many births created ox and horse, which are yoked. O human being, now is your time to meet the Lord of the universethe Creator, since it took a very long time for the human body to evolve through many evolutionary stages of life. Pause. The matter constituting the human body was recycled many times as rocks and mountains. Many births resulted in abortion (defective mutations resulting in death of the species). Many births produced plant life. It took innumerable births to produced human body. AGGS, M 5, p 176.

• ਕੀਮਤਿ ਕਿਨੈ ਨ ਪਾਈਆ ਕਹਣਿ ਨ ਵਡਾ ਹੋਇ ॥ ਸਾਚਾ ਸਾਹਬੁ ਏਕੁ ਤੂ ਹੋਰਿ ਜੀਆ ਕੇਤੇ ਲੋਅ ॥੩॥
  • God’s worth (greatness) is beyond measure, nor it can be overestimated. You alone are the True Lord of mine and of other beings of countless worlds. AGGS, M 1, p 15.
• ਜਲਿ ਥਲਿ ਜੀਆ ਪੁਰੀਆ ਲੋਆ ਆਕਾਰਾ ਆਕਾਰ ॥ ਓਇ ਜਿ ਆਖਹਿ ਸੁ ਤੂੰਹੈ ਜਾਣਹਿ ਤਿਨਾ ਭਿ ਤੇਰੀ ਸਾਰ ॥
  • There are living beings in water, on land and in the cosmos. O Creator, You know their needs as You take care of them. AGGS, M 1, p 466.

• ਬੇਦ ਕਤੇਬ ਸਿਮ੍ਰਿਤਿ ਸਭਿ ਸਾਸਤ ਇਨ੍ਹ੍ਹ ਪੜਿਆ ਮੁਕਤਿ ਨ ਹੋਈ ॥ (747)
  • One may read all the books of the Vedas, the Bible, the Simritees and the Shaastras, but they will not bring liberation.
• ਬੇਦ ਕਤੇਬ ਸੰਸਾਰ ਹਭਾ ਹੂੰ ਬਾਹਰਾ ॥ (397)
  • He is beyond the world of the Vedas, the Koran and the Bible.
• ਬੇਦ ਕਤੇਬ ਇਫਤਰਾ ਭਾਈ ਦਿਲ ਕਾ ਫਿਕਰੁ ਨ ਜਾਇ ॥ (727)
  • The Vedas and the Scriptures are only make-believe, O Siblings of Destiny; they do not relieve the anxiety of the heart.
• ਸਿਮ੍ਰਿਤਿ ਸਾਸਤ੍ਰ ਪੁੰਨ ਪਾਪ ਬੀਚਾਰਦੇ ਤਤੈ ਸਾਰ ਨ ਜਾਣੀ ॥ (920)
  • The Simritees and the Shaastras discriminate between good and evil, but they do not know the true essence of reality.
• ਸਾਸਤੁ ਬੇਦੁ ਬਕੈ ਖੜੋ ਭਾਈ ਕਰਮ ਕਰਹੁ ਸੰਸਾਰੀ ॥ ਪਾਖੰਡਿ ਮੈਲੁ ਨ ਚੂਕਈ ਭਾਈ ਅੰਤਰਿ ਮੈਲੁ ਵਿਕਾਰੀ ॥(635)
  • You may stand and recite the Shaastras and the Vedas, O Siblings of Destiny, but these are just worldly actions. Filth cannot be washed away by hypocrisy, O Siblings of Destiny; the filth of corruption and sin is within you.
• ਬੇਦ ਬਾਣੀ ਜਗੁ ਵਰਤਦਾ ਤ੍ਰੈ ਗੁਣ ਕਰੇ ਬੀਚਾਰੁ ॥ ਬਿਨੁ ਨਾਵੈ ਜਮ ਡੰਡੁ ਸਹੈ ਮਰਿ ਜਨਮੈ ਵਾਰੋ ਵਾਰ ॥ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਭੇਟੇ ਮੁਕਤਿ ਹੋਇ ਪਾਏ ਮੋਖ ਦੁਆਰੁ ॥੧॥(1276)
  • The world is involved with the words of the Vedas, thinking about the three gunas - the three dispositions. Without the Name, it suffers punishment by the Messenger of Death; it comes and goes in reincarnation, over and over again. Meeting with the True Guru, the world is liberated, and finds the Door of Salvation.
• ਪੜਿ ਪੜਿ ਪੰਡਿਤ ਮੋਨੀ ਥਕੇ ਬੇਦਾਂ ਕਾ ਅਭਿਆਸੁ ॥ ਹਰਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਚਿਤਿ ਨ ਆਵਈ ਨਹ ਨਿਜ ਘਰਿ ਹੋਵੈ ਵਾਸੁ ॥ ਜਮਕਾਲੁ ਸਿਰਹੁ ਨ ਉਤਰੈ ਅੰਤਰਿ ਕਪਟ ਵਿਣਾਸੁ ॥੭॥(1277)
  • The Pandits, the religious scholars, and the silent sages, reading and studying the Vedas, have grown weary. They do not even think of the Lord's Name; they do not dwell in the home of their own inner being. The Messenger of Death hovers over their heads; they are ruined by the deceit within themselves.

• You have engulfed Hindustan in dread... Oh Lord, these dogs have destroyed this diamond-like Hindustan, (so great is their terror that) no one asks after those who have been killed, and yet You do not pay heed.
  • Guru Granth Sahib, [Mahla 1.360] quoted in Arun Shourie, "The Litmus Test of Whether Your History is Secular" [1] [2] and in Shourie, Arun (2014). Eminent historians: Their technology, their line, their fraud. Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India : HarperCollins Publishers.

Quotes about the Guru Granth Sahib

• Shri Guru Granth Sahib is a source book, an expression of man's loneliness, his aspiration, his longings, his cry to God and his hunger for communication with that being. I have studied the scriptures of other great religions, but I do not find elsewhere the same power of appeal to the heart and mind as I feel here in these volumes. They are compact in spite of their length, and are a revelation of the vast reach of the human heart varying from the most noble concept of God to the recognition and indeed the insistence upon the practical needs of the human body. There is something strangely modern about these scriptures and this puzzled me until I learnt that they are in fact comparatively modern, compiled as late as the sixteenth century, when explorers were beginning to discover the globe upon which we all live as a single entity divided only by arbitrary lines of our own making.
  Perhaps this sense of unity is a source of power I find in these volumes. They speak to persons of any religion or of none. They speak for the human heart and the searching mind...
  • Pearl S. Buck, as quoted in Dharma : The Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh Traditions of India (2017) by Veena R. Howard, p. 21

• There is not a single line in the Adi Granth which sounds discordant with the spirituality of Hinduism.... Hindus in the Punjab regard the Adi Granth as the sixth Veda, in direct succession to the Rik, the Sama, the Yajus, the Atharva and the Mahabharata.
  • Swarup, Ram, & Goel, S. R. (1985). Hindu-Sikh relationship. (Introduction by S.R. Goel)

• Sikh scholars sat down to take Hinduism out of the Granth Sahib. They took it out page by page. In the end, however, they were left holding the binding cover in their hands.
  • Khushwant Singh, quoted in Elst, Koenraad (2002). Who is a Hindu?: Hindu revivalist views of Animism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and other offshoots of Hinduism. ISBN 978-8185990743

• The holy Granth (SGGS) is the only inter-communal book in India, if not in the world.
  • Teja Singh, The Holy Granth, Punjabi University, Paitala, 1985.

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Guru Granth Sahib on Wikipedia
• Works related to Guru Granth Sahib on Wikisource
• Media related to Guru Granth Sahib on Wikimedia Commons
• Online text and translations at Sri Granth.org
• Panjab Digital Library
• Khoj Gurbani, translations