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THE SRI GURU GRANTH SAHIB
Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the last and eternal Guru
The Guru Granth Sahib was first compiled
by the Fifth Sikh Guru, Arjan Dev, in 1604 in the city of Amritsar. Its second
and last version was the handiwork of Guru Gobind Singh, and it was finalized at
Damdama Sahib in the year 1705. He added the hymns of his father, Guru Tegh
Bahadur, the Ninth Master, and a couplet of his own to the volume wrought a
century earlier. Since then, the authorized version has been transcribed and
printed a number of times, and it abides. Its adoration or veneration is an
article of faith with the Sikhs. Religious literature is sometimes sectarian and
monolithic, if not partisan and polemical. It may admit of few variations and
shades. No word but its own may be allowed sanctity and sovereignty. One of the
greatest glories of the Guru Granth Sahib is its catholic character. Hardly any
other scripture of that stature is completely free from bias, animus and
controversy. Indeed, the uniqueness of the Granth in this respect is all the
more astonishing when we think of the obscurantism, factionalism and fanaticism
of the period in which it was composed. Perhaps it is the only scripture of its
kind which contains within its sacred covers the songs, hymns and utterances of
a wide variety of saints, sages and bards. For, it is instructive to note that a
fairly substantial part of the volume carries the compositions of Hindu bhaktas,
Muslim divines, Sufi poets and other God-intoxicated souls. Of course, their
hymns and couplets rendered in their own idiom find a ready correspondence in
the songs of the Sikh Gurus. Obviously, the idea of Guru Arjan Dev was to affirm
the fundamental unity of all religions, and the unitary character of all mystic
experience. It was, so to speak, an integral congress of minds and spirits
operating on the same spiritual beam. To have thus elevated the songs of the
bhaktas and the bhats to the condition of the logos was to salute the power of
the word whatever form it might take to reveal the glory of God. For, it may be
observed that Guru Granth Sahib comprehends
the compositions and utterances
of the high-born Brahmins and the proud Kashatriyas as also of the so called
lowly Shudras and the unlettered Jats. This was done at a time when the caste
system in India had paralysed the conscience of man. The revolutionary
egalitarianism which such a step symbolized was, therefore, to become the creed
of the Sikhs. Above all, a poetic and mystic collage bespeaks the essential
humility of the Sikh mind, for humility has been given pride of place in the
table of virtues drawn up by the Gurus. The Guru Granth Sahib, then, is a sui
generis scripture in the world.
It is indeed, a magnificent compendium of
the religious, mystic and metaphysical poetry written or uttered between the
12th Century and the 17th in different parts of India. It is, also, at the same
time, a mirror of the sociological, economic and political conditions of those
days. The satire on the reactionary and tyrannical rulers, on the obscurantist
clergy and sects, on the fake fakirs and their like, is open, uncompromising and
telling. In showing the path to spiritual salvation, the Guru Granth does not
ignore the secular and creative side of man.
The poetry of the Guru
Granth is in itself a subject worthy of the highest consideration. The language
principally employed is the language of the saints evolved during the medieval
period-a language which, allowing for variations, still enjoyed wide currency in
Northern India. Its appeal lay in its directness, energy and resilience. Based
upon some of the local dialects, it was leavened with expressions from Sanskrit,
Prakrit, Persian and Arabic.
Another outstanding feature of the Guru
Granth Sahib is the precision of its prosody. While a great deal of it, cast in
traditional verse forms (salokas and pauris), could best be understood in the
context of the well-known classical ragas, its hymns and songs make use of
popular folk meters such as alahanis, ghoris, chands etc. The integral
relationship between music and verse has been maintained with scholarly
rectitude and concern. This complete musicalisation of thought in a scientific
and studied manner makes for the unusually rigorous, yet supple, discipline of
the Granth's metrics and notations. The entire Bani whose printed version in its
current format comes to 1430 pages is divided into 33 sections. While the first
section comprises the soulful and inspiring song of the Japji composed by Guru
Nanak as also a few selected pauris or couplets, the final section is collection
of assorted verses including the shalokas and the swayyas of the bhattas. The
remaining 31 sections are named after the well-known classical ragas such as
sri, magh, gauri, gujri, devghandhari, dhanassari, bilawal, kedara, malhar,
kalyan etc. The division, thus, is strictly based on Indian musicology.
Furthermore, each psalm or song is preceded by a number (mohalla) which denotes
the name of the composer-Guru from Guru Nanak onwards. It may be noted that the
apostolic succession extends from the First to the Tenth Guru, and that the
Gurus are often referred to reverentially by their place in the order. What is
more, each Guru speaks in the name of the Founder Guru whose spirit permeates
his successors. The House of Nanak is indeed a spiritual decagon based upon a
complete, inviolate geometry of vision. The major hymns-Japji (Guru Nanak),
Anand (Guru Amar Das), Sukhmani (Guru Arjan Dev), Rehras (Guru Nanak, Guru Ram
Das, Guru Arjan Dev) are widely recited solo and in congregation by the faithful
as morning and evening prayers. Their soothing and ambrosial airs have brought
solace and cheer to countless people all over the world.
The Sikh
philosophy as embodied in the Guru Granth Sahib is chiefly a philosophy of
action, deed and consequence. Though in its essentials, it is completely in tune
with the ancient Indian thought regarding the genesis of the world and the
ultimate nature of reality, it moves away from queitism, passivity and
abstractions. The emphasis is on shared communal experience, and on purposive
and idealistic involvement. The extinction of the ego or self is the
corner-stone of Sikhism. A person, we learn, finds fulfillment only by immersion
in the sea of life. Thus, the path of renunciation, abdication, aloofness,
flagellation etc., so typical of Hindu thought, is abjured. It's enjoined on a
Sikh to be an insider, viewing with disturst all forms of alienation. Of course,
the ideal Sikh is supposed to cultivate the qualities of contemplation,
stillness and inwardness in the midst of labor business and engagement. He too
regards the world as ultimately Maya or illusion, and the life of man as a
tableau of light and shade, but the Nirvana may not be achieved except through
an acceptance of the reality of this unreality, and a proper disposition of the
allotted role in the phantasmagoria of life. To that extent, the relative
concreteness or solidity of the world is to be endorsed as a measure of
understanding. So long as man has a role to play, the artifact of the stage or
the theater has to be taken for granted. For, it has thus pleased the Creator to
bring about the world and people it with multiples of His self. And the whole
creation moves according to a predestined plan. Many a time has the grand show
on earth been mounted and dismantled. It is not given to creature man to fully
comprehend the essence of reality.
As for the concept of the Godhead in
the Guru Granth Sahib, it sets upon the trinity of sat chit and anand. God is
omnipotent and omniscient. He is the Initiator and the End. He is Self-Creator
and Self-Propeller. The soul too in its essence symbolizes this trinity or the
God within, though quite often it loses the state of bliss as a result of the
ego and the Id. Caught in the meshes of power and pelf, it loses its true
moorings, and is tossed about by the whirligig of time. A soul thus abandoned by
the Lord, or alienated from Him, keeps spinning through aeons and aeons of
suffering. The road to heaven is paved with pity and piety. The idea of the soul
as the Lord's consort is repeated in the Guru Granth Sahib with amazing
variations. The mystique of the marriage is invoked time and again to emphasize
the indissoluble and ineluctable nature of the union. Man is ordained wife, and
commanded to live in the Will of the Lord. Any infidelity or transgression is
inconveivable. The nuptial and spousal imagery of the hymns is sensuously rich,
apposite and striking. It will thus be seen that the Guru Granth Sahib presents
a comprehensive Weltans-Chauung or world-view. It offers a perfect set of values
and a practical code of conduct. It is, indeed, the complete teacher.
