A. S. Nagra
Omkar All pervading immanent spirit is one [monotheistic] Aum-Brahma, Vishnu And Mahesh combine into one God-Generator, Operator and Destroyer under the Supreme Bramha.
Satnam: His name is eternal truth, unaffected by any change of time, place , birth and death.
Karta Purakh: The perfect creator , The supreme Being.
Nirbohu; Without fear,
Nirvair: Without enemity,
Akal Murat, Immortal being, he is divine image,
Agoni Sey Bhang: Unborn, he is beyond birth and death,
Gur Prasad, He is obtained by the grace of the Divine Guru.
Aad Sach, Jogat Sach, Hai Bhi Sach Nanak, Hosi Bhi Sach. In the beginning, truth was there , it is still existing and it will always exist and it will go on for ever , Sayeth Nanak.
The Sikh community stands indebted from generation to generation to the Fifth Divine of the Sikh Faith , Guru Deva Arjun Devji for his unforgettable and immortal contribution and the grace that He bestowed upon the Sikh community in particular and the whole mankind in general by providing the Beacon light of divine nectar and wisdom illumination of secular literature through the compilation of “The holy ADi- GRANTH.” in 1604when India was being ruled by the most farsighted statesman and prudent Mughal Emperor Akbar The Great[1556-1605]
Every faith has its own scriptures for its own followers for example The Christians have The Bible,The Muslims The Holy Qoran, The Buddhists Tripitakas, The Jains The Angas The Jews The Torah, The Parsis The Zendavsata, The Hindus The Bhagvad Gita but, The Guru Granth Sahib has attained the status of universal Guruship and its teachings are meant for the whole mankind and anybody can read it and obtain its blessings and beautitude irrespective of any consideration of caste, colour, creed and race. It reveals man’s cleaseless yearning for the Creator and there is only praise of one formless God. All The Gurus use Nanak as the Nom de Plume to write the Bani. Guru Arjun Devji sacrificed his life but refused to enter The name of The Mughal Emperor Jahangir in the Holy Granth ho begged the Guru to do it.
Guru Sahib had to hug countless difficulties to collect the Holy scriptures from those people who were quite reluctant to part with their patrimony. Guruji’s most inimical adversary and insidious foe was his elder brother Baba Pirtha, the greedy, who was distorting the sacred hymns with his self-desired interpolations and selling to the innocent and gullible rustic gentry and swelling his pockets.It urged Guru Sahib to glean it from the genuine sources.Guru Sahib came to learn that this prized treasure was in the custody of Baba Mohan the son of Guru Amar Das and Guru Sahib cajoled him to obtain the Pothis [works]of the his predecessors . These works were carried on shoulders by Bhai Gur Das and Baba Budha .Guru Arjun dismounted from his horse and walked barefooted behind them and Guru’s son came half way to welcome them.
Bhai Gur Das , a great scholar of Persian, Sanskrit, Hindi and Gurmukhi, remained celibate, was the son of Datar Chand, the brother of the 3rd Guru Amar Das , who acted as the Amauensisn[scribe] of the Fifth Guru and wrote the Granth under the dictationship of the Guru at Ramsar on the pond surrounded by green and dense foliage where even the moonbeam could not pry and penetrate the writers. It was an perfect place of idyllic beauty and tranquility where the nature was flying its whisk fly of cool breeze.The heraculean task began in 1589 and it took fifteen years to culminate the project in 1604.
Special paper was imported from Kashmir and special ink was prepared to write this universal bible of the Sikhs and special care was taken for its calligraphy to embellish it in beautiful colours. Guru Arjun Devji made painstaking efforts to sift falsehood from truth and filter the literature to separate the milk of divine wisdom and eternal truth from the offal and husk of individual praises. After a keen scrutiny and search, Guru found that the works of saints -Kahana, Chajju and Shah Hussain were littered with self -praise and self- pride and removed them from inclusion into Holy book. Guru Arjun Dev collected the hymns of first four Gurus and topped the list by adding his own 2,313 hymns ,Guru Nanak’s 974 ,Guru Amar Dass’ 907 , Guru Ram Das’ 699 and Guru Angad’s 62 hymns. Later on , Guru Govind Singh got incorporated 117 hymns of Guru Teg Bahadur at Dam Dama Sahib [Patiala] through his scribe Bhai Mani Singh. This Holy Granth contains one Hymn of Guru Govind Singh that he wrote in response to his father’s letter. The 10th Guru did not add his own hymns to avoid its bulkiness and secondly his hymns are couched with martial spirit and manly courage otherwise it would have been very uphill task to handle the Granth. Besides The six Gurus, fifteen Hindu Saints and fifteen Muslim Faqirs have contributed their wisdom laden spiritual thoughts to replenish this chalice of the eternal intoxication. To genuflect or prostrate before the holy Granth, is to bow before thirty six Divines and receive their blessings and benediction.
The whole Granth has 1,430 pages [called Angas] in 31 Ragas [musical plays] and are sung and its first thirteen pages constitute the Bhani of Nitname[Daily Recitation[ and every true Sikh is ordained to recite it daily both in the dawn and dusk. When this monumental work got finished after a long strenuous efforts, Guru Sahib, deputed a devoted Sikh Bhai Bannu to Lahore to get this Granth bound in a beautiful cover, Bhai Bannu prepared its replica during his travels but Guruji used his clairvoyance to detect the truth and signed the original manuscript. Baba Budha, the Randawa Jatt Sikh, a renowned Divine blessed his head by carrying the First Granth and he was the first priest of the Sikh faith who completed its perusal. Guruji held the whisk to fly over it and rose petals were showered on the path leading to the Harmandir Sahib where it was installed. Guru Sahib used to sleep on the ground out of reverence for this Holy Bible of the mankind.
The first hymn of the Granth opened and read as: Santa Key Karaj Aap Khaloiya, Har Kamm Kraman Aaya Ram.[The
creator himself descended to fulfil all aspitations and finish all the works of the devotees.]
