Sikhism was born of the tumultuous bhakti movement of medieval period when religious bigotry was at its peak. Wandering minstrels, saints and sufis spread the message of love for god and of brotherhood, with their soul stirring compositions.
GRANTH SAHIB OF THE SIKHS is a collection of outpourings of the founder of Sikhism , Guru Nanak and four gurus who followed him and also 15 other minstrels and bards. Guru Arjun Dev, the fifth guru, collected all and the ADI GRANTH was consecrated.
Compositions of ninth guru were added on by his son who was the tenth and last guru. Further, he declared that he is the last living guru and after him the granth will be ETERNAL GURU for the Sikhs. Thus the GRANTH came to be worshipped as GURU GRANTH SAHIB. Sahib is a parsee word, meaning LORD. In Shreeramacharitamanasa, Tulaseedasa talks of Rama as RAM SAHIB .
Guru Govind Singh elevated the Granth to the throne on 30th October, 1708 . He himself breathed his last a few days later ( 3rd November, 1708.). The tercentenary of both events is being celebrated now in NANDED, Maharashtra where both events took place.
The Granth is secular and obliterates differences between communities by its aura of sanctity. Its appeal is universal. In the 1430 pages book, three distinct parts are seen. First part is work of Guru Nanak, second of four subsequent gurus and 15 bhagats and the third is the addition of ninth guru’s outpourings.
Shabad is a hymn . Keertan is group singing. Samkeertan is singing while going round streets. Qawwalis are sung in dargahs. ( these days qawwaili is highly are commercialized with no place for Allah.). All these in the Granth are GURUVANIS. The scripture are found in Khadiboli, Awadhi, Marathi, Persian etc.
The composers also came from various creeds and professions. Kabir was a weaver, Namdev a calico-binder,Sain a barber, Jaidev a samskrit poet,Soordas a blind poet, FARID a muslim sufi and so on.
Music is woven into the fabric of gurubani. The shlokas are set in 31 ragas and raginis of hindusthani classical music, each centered about a different hour of the day.
Everything , down to the atom , is product of five aspects- Sat, Chit , Ananda, Roopa and Nama. The first three are imperishable. Roopa ( shape ) and Nama ( name ) are transient. In bhaktri, some worship IDOLs and other worship names. The later mistakenly call the former as idol-worshipper without realising they are word –worshipper ! Worshipping is our nature. Buddha did not talk of god and his followers made him a god and you have largest idols of Buddha. Jesus decried idol worship and His idol is now worshipped. And a statue taller than the Liberty statue is atop a hill overlooking Rio de Janeiro port. And some worship by Name. or a Cross. Idol, name , book, cross etc are just symbols. But remember, Name ,cross or book has a FORM behind it. It is proxy idol worship.
EYES DO NOT MATTER. . WHEN A MOTHER KISSES ITS CHILD, HER EYES ARE CLOSED. SHE SEES WHAT THE MIND’S EYES PROJECT. NANNA MARI HONNA MARI. PARARA MARI KAKA MARI. A MOTHER CAN SPOT HER CHILD IN A GROUP PHOTO OF HIS CLASS AND VISUALISE THE FULL CHILD. A LOVER SEES SOME ASPECT OF THE BELOVED IN WHATEVER IS SEEN FORGETTING WHO IS STANDING IN FRONT.
SEEN IS ONE BUT WHAT IMPRESSION IT CASTS IS DIFFERENCE.