Date: 1604
Author: Arjan Dev, Ram Das, Namdev, Kabir, Ravi
Genre: Religious tract
Summary Overview
The Sri Guru Granth Sahib is a holy living book that preserves the spirit of the worldview of the ten gurus, or founders, of Sikhism. The book is thus considered to be an eternal guru itself. Granth means “holy book,” and sahib is a term of respect meaning “honorable one.” The text consists of thirty-one raga (musical measure) compositions. Raag Gond, treated here, is the seventeenth raga and spans seventeen pages.
The compilation of these writings into one book was completed in 1604 by Guru Arjan. The writings were chosen based on both a common ideology of universal religion on the part of the authors and the compiler’s intent to be inclusive of local religions by integrating the texts of those religions. Thus, it includes prayers and hymns written by the founders of Sikhism as well as by Hindus and Muslims. Devotional songs in the standard text take up most of the 1,430-page Sikh scripture and are sung according to the season and time of day. The Raag Gond is usually sung in the late afternoon or early evening.
Although the Sri Guru Granth Sahib was compiled, written, and arranged in order to manifest and preserve the foundational ideas of Sikhism as a living memory for its devotees, the cross-faith and cross-cultural subject matter of the text acts as a partial conversation between Sikhs and those of different faiths and cultures who reside in the same world. The text aims to influence its own devotees to higher purity, to persuade nondevotees to take a similar view of holiness, and to negotiate and promote peace among members of society.
Defining Moment
Nanak (1469–1538), the founder of Sikhism, was born into a Hindu family in a village near Lahore in present-day Pakistan, a predominantly Muslim region of South Asia. He strove to unite the people of his region despite their religious differences. He is often quoted as saying, “There is no Hindu; there is no Muslim,” and this view is the reason that saints and poets who are well known for being particularly pluralistic in their respective Hindu and Islamic traditions are included in the text of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
Nanak began his missionary work at age twenty-eight and traveled throughout India, Arabia, and Persia to spread his ideas about what he considered to be true religion. He believed that true religion taught equality of all peoples, men and women, and so he instituted the religious practice of sharing a common meal where people of all religions and castes or stations in life could gather together. This meal, called langar (meaning “free kitchen”), continues today in Sikh places of worship. True religion did not, in Nanak’s opinion, ask followers to renounce the world but instead to be in perpetual service to it.
Although Nanak believed in unification, his message was not evangelistic. Nanak believed that one could get to the core of true religion while remaining in his or her own religious tradition. Nevertheless, those who accepted his teachings called themselves Sikhs, a word from Sanskrit that means “disciples.” Sikh men eventually began to distinguish themselves by wearing turbans, not trimming their beards, and carrying or wearing five items called the “five Ks”: kesh (uncut hair), kanga (a small comb), kara (a band of steel), kirpan (a small sword), and kacha (special undershorts). In addition, followers of Sikhism eventually began to adopt the names “Singh” (meaning “lion”) for men and “Kaur” (meaning “princess”) for women.
At the time of the founding of the Sikh religion and throughout the lives of the successive ten gurus, northern India and Pakistan were in perpetual political and cultural transition. During Nanak’s life, the region in which he lived became a part of the Muslim Mughal Empire, which dominated South Asia for 250 years. Nanak disapproved of the new social structures that the Mughal Empire brought about, and the violent use of guns and gunpowder to establish its authority. Nanak comments in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib on the slaughter and the terror as well as the dishonoring of women that he saw accompanying the invasion. Taxes were the primary mode of gaining wealth for the empire, and non-Mughals, especially peasants, felt the brunt of these tax hikes, which spurred many rebellions.
It was likely in response to his local political environment that Nanak promoted a worldview that was based on ideas of equality and a displacement of secular authority with obedience to a universal God. The Sikh response to persecution thereafter included a militant ideology that was encapsulated in the concept of the soldier-saint, especially following the martyrdom of prominent Sikhs such as the fifth guru, Guru Arjan (1563–1606), the compiler of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
Angad Dev (1504–1552), the second Sikh guru, first undertook to preserve the sayings of Nanak as well as his own, and he adopted the Gurmukhi script for this purpose, the script used by more people in Punjab at that time. This script, which means “from the mouth of the guru,” is now associated with Sikhs. The third Sikh guru, Amar Das (1479–1574), extended the desire to create and preserve the Sikh worldview by publishing volumes that included the sayings of all the gurus up to that point, but he also added the sayings of other like-minded poets and peoples. By the time of the fifth guru, Arjan Dev, a substantial collection of material had been produced, to which Arjan added his own and other non-guru works, and he decided to arrange the material as a comprehensive sacred text. The composition of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib was completed in 1604.
Author Biographies
The authors of the Raag Gond section of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib include two of the ten Sikh gurus and three other poet-mystics. The gurus include Guru Ram Das (1534–1581) and Guru Arjan Dev (1563–1606). Guru Ram Das is the first of these authors to appear in the Raag Gond; he became the fourth guru of the Sikh tradition in 1574, at age forty, and was born in the Punjab region. He composed 679 hymns included in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, and he was the founder of the city of Amritsar (meaning “reservoir of the nectar of immortality), the center of the Sikh religious world and later the site of the religion’s most sacred shrine, the Golden Temple (built in 1585–1604).
Guru Arjan Dev, Ram Das’s youngest son, became the fifth guru in 1581, at age eighteen. Guru Arjan composed 2,218 of the hymns found in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, and in 1603–1604 he compiled all the hymns and writings of the saints and poets into a sacred text called the Adi Granth. Guru Arjan Dev was central to the building of the Golden Temple, a place that became renowned as a destination for pilgrimage and daily devotion and prayer. Even though relations between Sikhs and Mughals were not always contentious during Arjan’s life under the rule of Akbar, he was tortured and martyred by Akbar’s son, Jahangir, who had come to the throne in 1605 and was hostile to the ideologies and activities of Sikhs and the successful religious leadership of Arjan in particular.
Kabir (1441–1518), Namdev (1270–1350), and Ravi Das (whose exact dates of birth and death are debated) are the poets and spiritual guides from other traditions included in the Raag Gond. Kabir was a mystic and saint born in Uttar Pradesh, India, who was one of India’s greatest poets. Born to Muslim parents, he became a disciple of a Hindu teacher and leader of the Bhakti movement in India, which emphasizes love and devotion (bhakti) to God as the means to spiritual salvation. In the case of Kabir’s teacher, that god who was the object of devotion was Rama, an incarnation of the supreme god of Hinduism, Vishnu. Rama is depicted as the ideal human who adheres to dharma (one’s duty) despite any difficulty. Kabir wrote 541 hymns in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
Namdev was a Hindu religious poet of the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries, born in Maharashtra in India. He was devoted to Vithoba, a form of Vishnu depicted as a dark young boy. He embraced the Bhakti movement, and sixty-one hymns of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib are written by him; his views are understood to be similar to those of Kabir. Ravi Das, born perhaps around 1399 in Uttar Pradesh, was a mystic of the Dalit, or Untouchable, caste. The Sri Guru Granth Sahib contains forty hymns by him. All of these authors were similarly concerned with minimizing the importance of caste in their society, breaking down the barriers between religious communities, and seeking liberation through devotion to a universal, single god.
Document Text
Excerpts from Raag Gond
Part 1
One Universal Creator God. Truth Is the Name. Creative Being Personified. No Fear. No Hatred. Image of the Undying. Beyond Birth. Self-Existent. By Guru’s Grace:
Raag Gond, Chau-Padas, Fourth Mehl, First House:
If, in his conscious mind, he places his hopes in the Lord, then he shall obtain the fruits of all the many desires of his mind.
The Lord knows everything which happens to the soul. Not even an iota of one’s effort goes to waste.
Place your hopes in the Lord, O my mind; the Lord and Master is pervading and permeating all.
O my mind, place your hopes in the Lord of the World, the Master of the Universe.
That hope which is placed in any other than the Lord that hope is fruitless, and totally useless.
That which you can see, Maya, and all attachment to family don’t place your hopes in them, or your life will be wasted and lost.
Nothing is in their hands; what can these poor creatures do? By their actions, nothing can be done.
O my mind, place your hopes in the Lord, your Beloved, who shall carry you across, and save your whole family as well.
If you place your hopes in any other, in any friend other than the Lord, then you shall come to know that it is of no use at all.
This hope placed in other friends comes from the love of duality. In an instant, it is gone; it is totally false.
O my mind, place your hopes in the Lord, your True Beloved, who shall approve and reward you for all your efforts.
Hope and desire are all Yours, O my Lord and Master. As You inspire hope, so are the hopes held.
Part 2
Nothing is in the hands of anyone, O my Lord and Master; such is the understanding the True Guru has given me to understand.
You alone know the hope of servant Nanak, O Lord; gazing upon the Blessed Vision of the Lord’s Darshan, he is satisfied.
Gond, Fourth Mehl:
Serve such a Lord, and ever meditate on Him, who in an instant, erases all sins and mistakes.
If someone forsakes the Lord and places his hopes in another, then all his service to the Lord is rendered fruitless.
O my mind, serve the Lord, the Giver of peace; serving Him, all your hunger shall depart.
O my mind, place your faith in the Lord.
Wherever I go, my Lord and Master is there with me. The Lord saves the honor of His humble servants and slaves.
If you tell your sorrows to another, then he, in return, will tell you of his greater sorrows.
So tell your sorrows to the Lord, your Lord and Master, who shall instantly dispel your pain.
Forsaking such a Lord God, if you tell your sorrows to another, then you shall die of shame.
The relatives, friends and siblings of the world that you see, O my mind, all meet with you for their own purposes.
And that day, when their self-interests are not served, on that day, they shall not come near you.
O my mind, serve your Lord, day and night; He shall help you in good times and bad.
Why place your faith in anyone, O my mind, who cannot come to your rescue at the last instant?
Chant the Lord’s Mantra, take the Guru’s Teachings, and meditate on Him. In the end, the Lord saves those who love Him in their consciousness.
Servant Nanak speaks: night and day, chant the Lord’s Name, O Saints; this is the only true hope for emancipation.
Gond, Fourth Mehl:
Remembering the Lord in meditation, you shall find bliss and peace forever deep within, and your mind will become tranquil and cool.
It is like the harsh sun of Maya, with its burning heat; seeing the moon, the Guru, its heat totally vanishes.
O my mind, night and day, meditate, and chant the Lord’s Name.
Here and hereafter, He shall protect you, everywhere; serve such a God forever.
Meditate on the Lord, who contains all treasures, O my mind; as Gurmukh, search for the jewel, the Lord.
Those who meditate on the Lord, find the Lord, my Lord and Master; I wash the feet of those slaves of the Lord.
One who realizes the Word of the Shabad, obtains the sublime essence of the Lord; such a Saint is lofty and sublime, the greatest of the great.
The Lord Himself magnifies the glory of that humble servant. No one can lessen or decrease that glory, not even a bit.
Part 3
He shall give you peace, O my mind; meditate forever, every day on Him, with your palms pressed together.
Please bless servant Nanak with this one gift, O Lord, that Your feet may dwell within my heart forever.
Gond, Fourth Mehl:
All the kings, emperors, nobles, lords and chiefs are false and transitory, engrossed in duality know this well.
The eternal Lord is permanent and unchanging; meditate on Him, O my mind, and you shall be approved.
O my mind, vibrate, and meditate on the Lord’s Name, which shall be your defender forever.
One who obtains the Mansion of the Lord’s Presence, through the Word of the Guru’s Teachings no one else’s power is as great as his.
All the wealthy, high class property owners which you see, O my mind, shall vanish, like the fading color of the safflower.
Serve the True, Immaculate Lord forever, O my mind, and you shall be honored in the Court of the Lord.
There are four castes: Brahmin, Kh’shaatriya, Soodra and Vaishya, and there are four stages of life. One who meditates on the Lord, is the most distinguished and renowned.
The poor castor oil plant, growing near the sandalwood tree, becomes fragrant; in the same way, the sinner, associating with the Saints, becomes acceptable and approved.
He, within whose heart the Lord abides, is the highest of all, and the purest of all.
Servant Nanak washes the feet of that humble servant of the Lord; he may be from a low class family, but he is now the Lord’s servant.
Gond, Fourth Mehl:
The Lord, the Inner-knower, the Searcher of hearts, is all-pervading. As the Lord causes them to act, so do they act.
So serve forever such a Lord, O my mind, who will protect you from everything.
O my mind, meditate on the Lord, and read about the Lord every day.
Other than the Lord, no one can kill you or save you; so why do you worry, O my mind?
The Creator created the entire universe, and infused His Light into it.
The One Lord speaks, and the One Lord causes all to speak. The Perfect Guru has revealed the One Lord.
The Lord is with you, inside and out; tell me, O mind, how can You hide anything from Him?
Serve the Lord open-heartedly, and then, O my mind, you shall find total peace.
Everything is under His control; He is the greatest of all. O my mind, meditate forever on Him.
O Servant Nanak, that Lord is always with you. Meditate forever on your Lord, and He shall emancipate you.
Gond, Fourth Mehl:
My mind yearns so deeply for the Blessed Vision of the Lord’s Darshan, like the thirsty man without water.
My mind is pierced through by the arrow of the Lord’s Love.
The Lord God knows my anguish, and the pain deep within my mind.
Whoever tells me the Stories of my Beloved Lord is my Sibling of Destiny, and my friend.
Part 4
Come, and join together, O my companions; let’s sing the Glorious Praises of my God, and follow the comforting advice of the True Guru.
Please fulfill the hopes of servant Nanak, O Lord; his body finds peace and tranquility in the Blessed Vision of the Lord’s Darshan.
First set of six.
Raag Gond, Fifth Mehl, Chau-Padas, First House:
One Universal Creator God. By the Grace of the True Guru:
He is the Creator of all, He is the Enjoyer of all.
The Creator listens, and the Creator sees.
The Creator is unseen, and the Creator is seen.
The Creator forms, and the Creator destroys.
The Creator touches, and the Creator is detached.
The Creator is the One who speaks, and the Creator is the One who understands.
The Creator comes, and the Creator also goes.
The Creator is absolute and without qualities; the Creator is related, with the most excellent qualities.
By Guru’s Grace, Nanak looks upon all the same.
Gond, Fifth Mehl:
You are caught, like the fish and the monkey; you are entangled in the transitory world.
Your foot-steps and your breaths are numbered; only by singing the Glorious Praises of the Lord will you be saved.
O mind, reform yourself, and forsake your aimless wandering.
You have found no place of rest for yourself; so why do you try to teach others?
Like the elephant, driven by sexual desire, you are attached to your family.
People are like birds that come together, and fly apart again; you shall become stable and steady, only when you meditate on the Lord, Har, Har, in the Company of the Holy.
Like the fish, which perishes because of its desire to taste, the fool is ruined by his greed.
You have fallen under the power of the five thieves; escape is only possible in the Sanctuary of the Lord.
Be Merciful to me, O Destroyer of the pains of the meek; all beings and creatures belong to You.
May I obtain the gift of always seeing the Blessed Vision of Your Darshan; meeting with You, Nanak is the slave of Your slaves.
Raag Gond, Fifth Mehl, Chau-Padas, Second House:
One Universal Creator God. By the Grace of the True Guru:
He fashioned the soul and the breath of life, and infused His Light into the dust;
He exalted you and gave you everything to use, and food to eat and enjoy how can you forsake that God, you fool! Where else will you go?
Commit yourself to the service of the Transcendent Lord.
Through the Guru, one understands the Immaculate, Divine Lord.
He created plays and dramas of all sorts;
He creates and destroys in an instant;
His state and condition cannot be described.
Meditate forever on that God, O my mind.
The unchanging Lord does not come or go.
His Glorious Virtues are infinite; how many of them can I count?
Part 5
His treasure is overflowing with the rubies of the Name.
He gives Support to all hearts.
The Name is the True Primal Being;
millions of sins are washed away in an instant, singing His Praises.
The Lord God is your best friend, your playmate from earliest childhood.
He is the Support of the breath of life; O Nanak, He is love, He is consciousness.
Gond, Fifth Mehl:
I trade in the Naam, the Name of the Lord.
The Naam is the Support of the mind.
My consciousness takes to the Shelter of the Naam.
Chanting the Naam, millions of sins are erased.
The Lord has blessed me with the wealth of the Naam, the Name of the One Lord.
The wish of my mind is to meditate on the Naam, in association with the Guru.
The Naam is the wealth of my soul.
Wherever I go, the Naam is with me.
The Naam is sweet to my mind.
In the water, on the land, and everywhere, I see the Naam.
Through the Naam, one’s face becomes radiant in the Court of the Lord.
Through the Naam, all one’s generations are saved.
Through the Naam, my affairs are resolved.
My mind is accustomed to the Naam.
Through the Naam, I have become fearless.
Through the Naam, my comings and goings have ceased.
The Perfect Guru has united me with the Lord, the treasure of virtue.
Says Nanak, I dwell in celestial peace.
Gond, Fifth Mehl:
He grants honor to the dishonored, and gives gifts to all the hungry;
he protects those in the terrible womb.
So humbly bow forever to that Lord and Master.
Meditate on such a God in your mind.
He shall be your help and support everywhere, in good times and bad.
The beggar and the king are all the same to Him.
He sustains and fulfills both the ant and the elephant.
He does not consult or seek anyone’s advice.
Whatever He does, He does Himself.
No one knows His limit.
He Himself is the Immaculate Lord.
He Himself is formed, and He Himself is formless.
In the heart, in each and every heart, He is the Support of all hearts.
Through the Love of the Naam, the Name of the Lord, the devotees become His Beloveds.
Singing the Praises of the Creator, the Saints are forever in bliss.
Through the Love of the Naam, the Lord’s humble servants remain satisfied.
Nanak falls at the feet of those humble servants of the Lord.
Gond, Fifth Mehl:
Associating with them, this mind becomes immaculate and pure.
Associating with them, one meditates in remembrance on the Lord, Har, Har.
Associating with them, all the sins are erased.
Associating with them, the heart is illumined.
Those Saints of the Lord are my friends.
It is their custom to sing only the Naam, the Name of the Lord.
By their mantra, the Lord, Har, Har, dwells in the mind.
By their teachings, doubt and fear are dispelled.
By their kirtan, they become immaculate and sublime.
The world longs for the dust of their feet.
Millions of sinners are saved by associating with them.
They have the Support of the Name of the One Formless Lord.
He knows the secrets of all beings;
He is the treasure of mercy, the divine immaculate Lord.
When the Supreme Lord God becomes merciful,
then one meets the Merciful Holy Guru.
Part 6
Day and night, Nanak meditates on the Naam.
Through the Lord’s Name, he is blessed with peace, poise and bliss.
Gond, Fifth Mehl:
Meditate on the image of the Guru within your mind;
let your mind accept the Word of the Guru’s Shabad, and His Mantra.
Enshrine the Guru’s feet within your heart.
Bow in humility forever before the Guru, the Supreme Lord God.
Let no one wander in doubt in the world.
Without the Guru, no one can cross over.
The Guru shows the Path to those who have wandered off.
He leads them to renounce others, and attaches them to devotional worship of the Lord.
He obliterates the fear of birth and death.
The glorious greatness of the Perfect Guru is endless.
By Guru’s Grace, the inverted heart-lotus blossoms forth, and the Light shines forth in the darkness.
Through the Guru, know the One who created you.
By the Guru’s Mercy, the foolish mind comes to believe.
The Guru is the Creator; the Guru has the power to do everything.
The Guru is the Transcendent Lord; He is, and always shall be.
Says Nanak, God has inspired me to know this.
Without the Guru, liberation is not obtained, O Siblings of Destiny.
Gond, Fifth Mehl:
Chant Guru, Guru, Guru, O my mind.
I have no other than the Guru.
I lean upon the Support of the Guru, day and night.
No one can decrease His bounty.
Know that the Guru and the Transcendent Lord are One.
Whatever pleases Him is acceptable and approved.
One whose mind is attached to the Guru’s feet
his pains, sufferings and doubts run away.
Serving the Guru, honor is obtained.
I am forever a sacrifice to the Guru.
Gazing upon the Blessed Vision of the Guru’s Darshan, I am exalted.
The work of the Guru’s servant is perfect.
Pain does not afflict the Guru’s servant.
The Guru’s servant is famous in the ten directions.
The Guru’s glory cannot be described.
The Guru remains absorbed in the Supreme Lord God.
Says Nanak, one who is blessed with perfect destiny
his mind is attached to the Guru’s feet.
Gond, Fifth Mehl:
I worship and adore my Guru; the Guru is the Lord of the Universe.
My Guru is the Supreme Lord God; the Guru is the Lord God.
My Guru is divine, invisible and mysterious.
I serve at the Guru’s feet, which are worshipped by all.
Without the Guru, I have no other place at all.
Night and day, I chant the Name of Guru, Guru.
The Guru is my spiritual wisdom, the Guru is the meditation within my heart.
The Guru is the Lord of the World, the Primal Being, the Lord God.
With my palms pressed together, I remain in the Guru’s Sanctuary.
Without the Guru, I have no other at all.
The Guru is the boat to cross over the terrifying world-ocean.
Serving the Guru, one is released from the Messenger of Death.
In the darkness, the Guru’s Mantra shines forth.
With the Guru, all are saved.
The Perfect Guru is found, by great good fortune.
Serving the Guru, pain does not afflict anyone.
No one can erase the Word of the Guru’s Shabad.
Nanak is the Guru; Nanak is the Lord Himself. …
Part 8
Gond, Fifth Mehl:
Bow in humility to the lotus feet of the Guru.
Eliminate sexual desire and anger from this body.
Be the dust of all,
and see the Lord in each and every heart, in all.
In this way, dwell upon the Lord of the World, the Lord of the Universe.
My body and wealth belong to God; my soul belongs to God.
Twenty-four hours a day, sing the Glorious Praises of the Lord.
This is the purpose of human life.
Renounce your egotistical pride, and know that God is with you.
By the Grace of the Holy, let your mind be imbued with the Lord’s Love.
Know the One who created you,
and in the world hereafter you shall be honored in the Court of the Lord.
Your mind and body will be immaculate and blissful;
chant the Name of the Lord of the Universe with your tongue.
Grant Your Kind Mercy, O my Lord, Merciful to the meek.
My mind begs for the dust of the feet of the Holy.
Be merciful, and bless me with this gift,
that Nanak may live, chanting God’s Name.
Gond, Fifth Mehl:
My incense and lamps are my service to the Lord.
Time and time again, I humbly bow to the Creator.
I have renounced everything, and grasped the Sanctuary of God.
By great good fortune, the Guru has become pleased and satisfied with me.
Twenty-four hours a day, I sing of the Lord of the Universe.
My body and wealth belong to God; my soul belongs to God.
Chanting the Glorious Praises of the Lord, I am in bliss.
The Supreme Lord God is the Perfect Forgiver.
Granting His Mercy, He has linked His humble servants to His service.
He has rid me of the pains of birth and death, and merged me with Himself.
This is the essence of karma, righteous conduct and spiritual wisdom,
to chant the Lord’s Name in the Saadh Sangat, the Company of the Holy.
God’s Feet are the boat to cross over the world-ocean.
God, the Inner-knower, is the Cause of causes.
Showering His Mercy, He Himself has saved me.
The five hideous demons have run away.
Do not lose your life in the gamble.
The Creator Lord has taken Nanak’s side.
Gond, Fifth Mehl:
In His Mercy, He has blessed me with peace and bliss.
The Divine Guru has saved His child.
God is kind and compassionate; He is the Lord of the Universe.
He forgives all beings and creatures.
I seek Your Sanctuary, O God, O Merciful to the meek.
Meditating on the Supreme Lord God, I am forever in ecstasy.
There is no other like the Merciful Lord God.
He is contained deep within each and every heart.
He embellishes His slave, here and hereafter.
It is Your nature, God, to purify sinners.
Meditation on the Lord of the Universe is the medicine to cure millions of illnesses.
My Tantra and Mantra is to meditate, to vibrate upon the Lord God.
Illnesses and pains are dispelled, meditating on God.
The fruits of the mind’s desires are fulfilled.
He is the Cause of causes, the All-powerful Merciful Lord.
Contemplating Him is the greatest of all treasures.
God Himself has forgiven Nanak;
forever and ever, he chants the Name of the One Lord.
Gond, Fifth Mehl:
Chant the Name of the Lord, Har, Har, O my friend…
Part 11
Gond, Fifth Mehl:
I am a sacrifice to the Saints.
Associating with the Saints, I sing the Glorious Praises of the Lord.
By the Grace of the Saints, all the sins are taken away.
By great good fortune, one finds the Sanctuary of the Saints.
Meditating on the Lord, no obstacles will block your way.
By Guru’s Grace, meditate on God.
When the Supreme Lord God becomes merciful,
he makes me the dust of the feet of the Holy.
Sexual desire and anger leave his body,
and the Lord, the jewel, comes to dwell in his mind.
Fruitful and approved is the life of one
who knows the Supreme Lord God to be close.
One who is committed to loving devotional worship of God, and the Kirtan of His Praises,
awakens from the sleep of countless incarnations.
The Lord’s Lotus Feet are the Support of His humble servant.
To chant the Praises of the Lord of the Universe is the true trade.
Please fulfill the hopes of Your humble slave.
Nanak finds peace in the dust of the feet of the humble.
Raag Gond, Ashtapadees, Fifth Mehl, Second House:
One Universal Creator God. By the Grace of the True Guru:
Humbly bow to the Perfect Divine Guru.
Fruitful is His image, and fruitful is service to Him.
He is the Inner-knower, the Searcher of hearts, the Architect of Destiny.
Twenty-four hours a day, he remains imbued with the love of the Naam, the Name of the Lord.
The Guru is the Lord of the Universe, the Guru is the Lord of the World.
He is the Saving Grace of His slaves.
He satisfies the kings, emperors and nobles.
He destroys the egotistical villains.
He puts illness into the mouths of the slanderers.
All the people celebrate His victory.
Supreme bliss fills the minds of the Saints.
The Saints meditate on the Divine Guru, the Lord God.
The faces of His companions become radiant and bright.
The slanderers lose all places of rest.
With each and every breath, the Lord’s humble slaves praise Him.
The Supreme Lord God and the Guru are care-free.
All fears are eradicated, in His Sanctuary.
Smashing all the slanderers, the Lord knocks them to the ground.
Let no one slander the Lord’s humble servants.
Whoever does so, will be miserable.
Twenty-four hours a day, the Lord’s humble servant meditates on Him alone.
The Messenger of Death does not even approach him.
The Lord’s humble servant has no vengeance. The slanderer is egotistical.
The Lord’s humble servant wishes well, while the slanderer dwells on evil.
The Sikh of the Guru meditates on the True Guru.
The Lord’s humble servants are saved, while the slanderer is cast into hell.
Listen, O my beloved friends and companions:
these words shall be true in the Court of the Lord.
As you plant, so shall you harvest.
The proud, egotistical person will surely be uprooted.
O True Guru, You are the Support of the unsupported.
Be merciful, and save Your humble servant.
Says Nanak, I am a sacrifice to the Guru; remembering Him in meditation, my honor has been saved.
Part 12
Raag Gond, The Word of The Devotees. Kabeer Jee, First House:
One Universal Creator God. By the Grace of the True Guru:
When you meet a Saint, talk to him and listen.
Meeting with an unsaintly person, just remain silent.
O father, if I speak, what words should I utter?
Speak such words, by which you may remain absorbed in the Name of the Lord.
Speaking with the Saints, one becomes generous.
To speak with a fool is to babble uselessly.
By speaking and only speaking, corruption only increases.
If I do not speak, what can the poor wretch do?
Says Kabeer, the empty pitcher makes noise,
but that which is full makes no sound.
GOND:
When a man dies, he is of no use to anyone.
But when an animal dies, it is used in ten ways.
What do I know, about the state of my karma?
What do I know, O Baba?
His bones burn, like a bundle of logs;
his hair burns like a bale of hay.
Says Kabeer, the man wakes up,
only when the Messenger of Death hits him over the head with his club.
GOND:
The Celestial Lord is in the Akaashic ethers of the skies, the Celestial Lord is in the nether regions of the underworld; in the four directions, the Celestial Lord is pervading.
The Supreme Lord God is forever the source of bliss. When the vessel of the body perishes, the Celestial Lord does not perish.
I have become sad,
wondering where the soul comes from, and where it goes.
The body is formed from the union of the five tatvas; but where were the five tatvas created?
You say that the soul is tied to its karma, but who gave karma to the body?
The body is contained in the Lord, and the Lord is contained in the body. He is permeating within all.
Says Kabeer, I shall not renounce the Lord’s Name. I shall accept whatever happens.
Raag Gond, The Word Of Kabeer Jee, Second House:
One Universal Creator God. By the Grace of the True Guru:
They tied my arms, bundled me up, and threw me before an elephant.
The elephant driver struck him on the head, and infuriated him.
But the elephant ran away, trumpeting,
“I am a sacrifice to this image of the Lord.”
O my Lord and Master, You are my strength.
The Qazi shouted at the driver to drive the elephant on.
He yelled out, “O driver, I shall cut you into pieces.
Hit him, and drive him on!”
But the elephant did not move; instead, he began to meditate.
The Lord God abides within his mind.
What sin has this Saint committed,
that you have made him into a bundle and thrown him before the elephant?
Lifting up the bundle, the elephant bows down before it.
The Qazi could not understand it; he was blind.
Three times, he tried to do it.
Part 13
Even then, his hardened mind was not satisfied.
Says Kabeer, such is my Lord and Master.
The soul of His humble servant dwells in the fourth state.
GOND:
It is not human, and it is not a god.
It is not called celibate, or a worshipper of Shiva.
It is not a Yogi, and it is not a hermit.
It is not a mother, or anyone’s son.
Then what is it, which dwells in this temple of the body?
No one can find its limits.
It is not a house-holder, and it is not a renouncer of the world.
It is not a king, and it is not a beggar.
It has no body, no drop of blood.
It is not a Brahmin, and it is not a Kh’shaatriya.
It is not called a man of austere self-discipline, or a Shaykh.
It does not live, and it is not seen to die.
If someone cries over its death,
that person loses his honor.
By Guru’s Grace, I have found the Path.
Birth and death have both been erased.
Says Kabeer, this is formed of the same essence as the Lord.
It is like the ink on the paper which cannot be erased.
GOND:
The threads are broken, and the starch has run out.
Bare reeds glisten at the front door.
The poor brushes are scattered in pieces.
Death has entered this shaven head.
This shaven-headed mendicant has wasted all his wealth.
All this coming and going has irritated him.
He has given up all talk of his weaving equipment.
His mind is attuned to the Lord’s Name.
His daughters and sons have nothing to eat,
while the shaven-headed mendicants night and day eat their fill.
One or two are in the house, and one or two more are on the way.
We sleep on the floor, while they sleep in the beds.
They rub their bare heads, and carry prayer-books in their waist-bands.
We get dry grains, while they get loaves of bread.
He will become one of these shaven-headed mendicants.
They are the support of the drowning.
Listen, O blind and unguided Loi:
Kabeer has taken shelter with these shaven-headed mendicants.
GOND:
When her husband dies, the woman does not cry.
Someone else becomes her protector.
When this protector dies,
he falls into the world of hell hereafter, for the sexual pleasures he enjoyed in this world.
The world loves only the one bride, Maya.
She is the wife of all beings and creatures.
With her necklace around her neck, this bride looks beautiful.
She is poison to the Saint, but the world is delighted with her.
Adorning herself, she sits like a prostitute.
Cursed by the Saints, she wanders around like a wretch.
She runs around, chasing after the Saints.
She is afraid of being beaten by those blessed with the Guru’s Grace.
She is the body, the breath of life, of the faithless cynics.
She appears to me like a blood-thirsty witch.
I know her secrets well
in His Mercy, the Divine Guru met me.
Says Kabeer, now I have thrown her out.
She clings to the skirt of the world.
Part 14
GOND:
When someone’s household has no glory,
the guests who come there depart still hungry.
Deep within, there is no contentment.
Without his bride, the wealth of Maya, he suffers in pain.
So praise this bride, which can shake the consciousness of even the most dedicated ascetics and sages.
This bride is the daughter of a wretched miser.
Abandoning the Lord’s servant, she sleeps with the world.
Standing at the door of the holy man,
she says, “I have come to your sanctuary; now save me!”
This bride is so beautiful.
The bells on her ankles make soft music.
As long as there is the breath of life in the man, she remains attached to him.
But when it is no more, she quickly gets up and departs, bare-footed.
This bride has conquered the three worlds.
The eighteen Puraanas and the sacred shrines of pilgrimage love her as well.
She pierced the hearts of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu.
She destroyed the great emperors and kings of the world.
This bride has no restraint or limits.
She is in collusion with the five thieving passions.
When the clay pot of these five passions bursts,
then, says Kabeer, by Guru’s Mercy, one is released.
GOND:
As the house will not stand when the supporting beams are removed from within it,
just so, without the Naam, the Name of the Lord, how can anyone be carried across?
Without the pitcher, the water is not contained;
just so, without the Holy Saint, the mortal departs in misery.
One who does not remember the Lord let him burn;
his body and mind have remained absorbed in this field of the world.
Without a farmer, the land is not planted;
without a thread, how can the beads be strung?
Without a loop, how can the knot be tied?
Just so, without the Holy Saint, the mortal departs in misery.
Without a mother or father there is no child;
just so, without water, how can the clothes be washed?
Without a horse, how can there be a rider?
Without the Holy Saint, one cannot reach the Court of the Lord.
Just as without music, there is no dancing,
the bride rejected by her husband is dishonored.
Says Kabeer, do this one thing:
become Gurmukh, and you shall never die again.
GOND:
He alone is a pimp, who pounds down his mind.
Pounding down his mind, he escapes from the Messenger of Death.
Pounding and beating his mind, he puts it to the test;
such a pimp attains total liberation.
Who is called a pimp in this world?
In all speech, one must carefully consider.
He alone is a dancer, who dances with his mind.
The Lord is not satisfied with falsehood; He is pleased only with Truth.
So play the beat of the drum in the mind.
The Lord is the Protector of the dancer with such a mind.
She alone is a street-dancer, who cleanses her body-street,
and educates the five passions.
She who embraces devotional worship for the Lord
I accept such a street-dancer as my Guru.
He alone is a thief, who is above envy,
and who uses his sense organs to chant the Lord’s Name.
Says Kabeer, these are the qualities of the one
I know as my Blessed Divine Guru, who is the most beautiful and wise.
Part 15
GOND:
Blessed is the Lord of the World. Blessed is the Divine Guru.
Blessed is that grain, by which the heart-lotus of the hungry blossoms forth.
Blessed are those Saints, who know this.
Meeting with them, one meets the Lord, the Sustainer of the World.
This grain comes from the Primal Lord God.
One chants the Naam, the Name of the Lord, only when he tastes this grain.
Meditate on the Naam, and meditate on this grain.
Mixed with water, its taste becomes sublime.
One who abstains from this grain,
loses his honor in the three worlds.
One who discards this grain, is practicing hypocrisy.
She is neither a happy soul-bride, nor a widow.
Those who claim in this world that they live on milk alone,
secretly eat whole loads of food.
Without this grain, time does not pass in peace.
Forsaking this grain, one does not meet the Lord of the World.
Says Kabeer, this I know:
blessed is that grain, which brings faith in the Lord and Master to the mind.
Raag Gond, The Word of Naam Dayv Jee, First House:
One Universal Creator God. By the Grace of the True Guru:
The ritual sacrifice of horses,
giving one’s weight in gold to charities,
and ceremonial cleansing baths
These are not equal to singing the Praises of the Lord’s Name.
Meditate on your Lord, you lazy man!
Offering sweet rice at Gaya,
living on the river banks at Benares,
reciting the four Vedas by heart;
Completing all religious rituals,
restraining sexual passion by the spiritual wisdom given by the Guru,
and performing the six rituals;
Expounding on Shiva and Shakti
O man, renounce and abandon all these things.
Meditate, meditate in remembrance on the Lord of the Universe.
Meditate, O Naam Dayv, and cross over the terrifying world-ocean.
GOND:
The deer is lured by the sound of the hunter’s bell;
it loses its life, but it cannot stop thinking about it.
In the same way, I look upon my Lord.
I will not abandon my Lord, and turn my thoughts to another.
As the fisherman looks upon the fish,
and the goldsmith looks upon the gold he fashions;
As the man driven by sex looks upon another man’s wife,
and the gambler looks upon the throwing of the dice
In the same way, wherever Naam Dayv looks, he sees the Lord.
Naam Dayv meditates continuously on the Feet of the Lord.
GOND:
Carry me across, O Lord, carry me across.
I am ignorant, and I do not know how to swim. O my Beloved Father, please give me Your arm.
I have been transformed from a mortal being into an angel, in an instant; the True Guru has taught me this.
Born of human flesh, I have conquered the heavens; such is the medicine I was given.
Please place me where You placed Dhroo and Naarad, O my Master.
With the Support of Your Name, so many have been saved; this is Naam Dayv’s understanding.
Part 16
GOND:
I am restless and unhappy.
Without her calf, the cow is lonely.
Without water, the fish writhes in pain.
So is poor Naam Dayv without the Lord’s Name.
Like the cow’s calf, which, when let loose,
sucks at her udders and drinks her milk
So has Naam Dayv found the Lord.
Meeting the Guru, I have seen the Unseen Lord.
As the man driven by sex wants another man’s wife,
so does Naam Dayv love the Lord.
As the earth burns in the dazzling sunlight,
so does poor Naam Dayv burn without the Lord’s Name.
Raag Gond, The Word Of Naam Dayv Jee, Second House:
One Universal Creator God. By the Grace of the True Guru:
Chanting the Name of the Lord, Har, Har, all doubts are dispelled.
Chanting the Name of the Lord is the highest religion.
Chanting the Name of the Lord, Har, Har, erases social classes and ancestral pedigrees.
The Lord is the walking stick of the blind.
I bow to the Lord, I humbly bow to the Lord.
Chanting the Name of the Lord, Har, Har, you will not be tormented by the Messenger of Death.
The Lord took the life of Harnaakhash,
and gave Ajaamal a place in heaven.
Teaching a parrot to speak the Lord’s Name, Ganika the prostitute was saved.
That Lord is the light of my eyes. …
Glossary
Ajaamal and Ganika: figures who reversed their attachments to the world through acts of kindness and a willingness to take the advice of holy men
Akaashic: referring to the mystical, nontangible library or compendium of all knowledge of the cosmos and history of human experience
Benares: a sacred site in Hindu India, where the devoted bathe in the Ganges River
Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu: the major Hindu gods
Brahmin: a member of the priestly caste in Hinduism
Darshan: usually translated as “viewing” or “meeting”
Dhroo and Naarad: exemplars of devotion and good character
autam’s wife: a woman who was turned to stone after she mistakenly made love with a god who had disguised himself as her husband
Gaya: a sacred site in Hindu India
Gayatri: the second wife of the Hindu god Brahma
Gurmukh: the man who is inspired by God (the collective Gods of Hinduism, or Brahma)
Harnaakhash: a king who had his life taken away because of his uncontrollable ego
Kali: a figure who receives the gift of life from God, in a story that is found in the Bhagavata Purana
karma: the effects of a person’s actions that determine his destiny in his next incarnation
Kh’shaatriya: also spelled Kshatriya; a member of the military caste
Loi: a God-fearing maiden
Maya: often translated as “illusion”, here depicted as a person
Mehl: literally, “body,” or a guru of Sikhism
Naam: that is, “name,” the name of God, or God himself
Nanak: the founder of Sikhism
Puraanas: or Puranas, Hindu religious texts
Qazi: a judge or religious adjudicator who preaches and decides on Islamic religious matters
Saadh Sangat: the company of Holy people dedicated to the elevation of the person to a higher and better level of understanding of righteousness
Shabad: a hymn or paragraph in a holy text
Shakti: the consort of Shiva
Shaykh: an Islamic religious official; or, a term of respect for elders
Soodra: the servant or laboring caste
Tatva: truth, or reality
Tantra: a Hindu or Buddhist religious text, or, doctrine of enlightenment as the realization of the oneness of one’s self and the visible world
Vaishya: the merchant, artisan, and landowner caste
Vedas: the oldest scriptures of Hinduism
Document Analysis
The excerpt here from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib is the Raag Gond, the seventeenth raga. Its sayings identify one god to be supreme above all other gods, and its ideal for humans is to discard empty rituals and authorities and to concentrate the mind on God and on living a holy life filled with respect for others. Hindu mythology and concepts are invoked, commented on, or integrated into the Sikh ideology. Themes of the Raag Gond include equality, social justice, devotion to and intimacy with God, reward and punishment, the soul, and the name of God. The Raag Gond is organized so that all the sayings of Ram Das are located together, followed by the sayings of Arjan Dev, then Kabir, then Namdev, and, finally, Ravi Das.
Parts 1–3
Ram Das begins the Raag Gond. Raag Gond itself begins with the extended mantra that appears elsewhere in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib: “One Universal Creator God. Truth Is the Name. Creative Being Personified. No Fear. No Hatred. Image of the Undying. Beyond Birth. Self-Existent. By Guru’s Grace.” Such a mantra directs the reader’s/reciter’s focus on a monotheistic faith with a god that is eternal, self-sufficient, and worthy of devotion. Ram Das fully describes this god as omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. God is the real truth, and anything perceived as other than God is maya, meaning “not-that.” Maya is sometimes translated as “illusion,” but it is more particularly an incomplete view of the way things really are, which can lead one away from God (who sees things in all completeness) and can cause distress because of that distortion. Therefore, Ram Das explains, one should meditate and contemplate God and be fully dependent on and trusting of him, because God alone will prove dependable and faithful.
In the first part, Ram Das refers to the Indian/Hindu concepts of attachment and duality. In Hindu spirituality, one who is seeking liberation should practice detachment from the world, including all pleasure, duty, pain, family members and friends, and so on. The concept of detachment is not an ascetic abandonment; instead, one is to refrain from becoming overly dependent or possessive of things and people, even the self. Otherwise, distress would be felt. Dualistic thinking divides a relationship into subject-object, often creating hierarchical divisions instead of allowing subjects to homogeneously relate to one another.
In part 2, Ram Das brings up the idea that chanting the name of the Lord is salvific. This is a major concept in Sikhism and in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib as a whole. The repetition clears the mind of all distraction so that a person can be calm and in control and therefore ready to live a life worthy of God and in service to others. As it is in the Hindu tradition, the mental and emotional health of a person is a spiritual/religious concern in this Sikh text.
Part 3 is centered on the idea that God is the great equalizer. In a society that was based on hierarchies of authority and restricted closeness to God via imperial institutions and caste and gender systems, this was a radical message. Ram Das states that it is only God who has control over the goings-on of the world. Such a message clearly stirs up feelings of intimacy in the devotee, for the section is concluded with poetic lines of desire, need, longing, and the expression of familial ties and friendship between Ram Das and God.
Parts 4–6, 8, and 11
Arjan Dev explains the creator-god in a series of paradoxes using “both/and” language. For instance, God does not either create or destroy, two seemingly opposing acts, but “The Creator forms, and the Creator destroys”; that is, God does both. In part 4, Arjan cannot say that God is this or that because God is everything. Arjan portrays God as the highest and most comprehensive and inclusive being. There is nothing that exists, no perspective that does not include or is not within God. Using animals such as fish, the monkey, the elephant, and birds, Arjan contrasts the eternal God with the temporary, limited entanglements of the world. The five thieves he mentions are the five passions (or desires or demons) that every human struggles with: lust, wrath, greed, attachment, and ego. Arjan attempts to reveal to the reader the suffering that accompanies transitory pursuits and convince the reader that he or she should turn to God.
The name of God, an essential element in the meditation and theology of the Sikhs, is discussed in part 5. The Name, or the Naam, is not only individually salvific but also socially so, correcting social ills and equalizing the beggar and king. The Naam is not just a word but is indeed God, and it is left generic intentionally to encompass all the names that people of other religious communities might call God. God’s name is simply Name.
Parts 6 and 8 praise God as Guru, and the Guru as God. Part 7 (not included here) further emphasizes the importance of the name of God by repetitive utterance. The Punjabi word guru can mean the spiritual teacher or leader of a community, a founder of Sikhism, God, or the text of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib as well as the ideas or messages or spirit encompassing all these entities. When Arjan says, “I worship and adore my Guru; the Guru is the Lord of the Universe. / My Guru is the Supreme Lord God; the Guru is the Lord God. / My Guru is divine, invisible and mysterious. / I serve at the Guru’s feet, which are worshipped by all,” he is not indicating that the ten gurus of Sikhism, for instance, are deities or are worthy of worship. Only God is worshipped in Sikhism.
Parts 9 and 10 (not included here) mention the salvation and rewards that come with serving God and deal with the punishment that follows slander. Part 11 further deals with the sin of the slanderer. The Sikhs were a group vulnerable to persecution, marginalization, and division. The condemnation of slander as one of the deepest sins, punishable with being condemned to hell, was strategic. Slander within the group might cause strife and schisms; slander from outside the group toward the gurus, devotees, text, or God might cause distress and self-doubt and cast doubt on the truth of the faith system Sikhs were advancing.
Parts 12–15
Kabir wrote many beautiful poems, and his introspective eloquence is set apart through the philosophic musings in his section of the Raag Gond. Kabir contemplates the concept of the soul in part 12. He is distressed at the seeming pointlessness of human death and contrasts his unknowing living state with the rich reservoirs of the “Akaashic ethers” where God reigns. The term Akaashic (usually spelled Akashic) refers to the mystical, nontangible library or compendium of all knowledge of the cosmos and history of human experience. Kabir believes that a person can truly know anything only after physical death. The soul itself is beyond the usual categories of identity: It is beyond the distinction between human and god. It is beyond ideas about human relationship, spiritual path, vocation, caste. It is eternal and no different from what God is.
In part 13, Kabir presents a series of poeticisms and vignettes that engage the futility of a worldly life in contrast to the holiness of a life given up to God. Most of the world strives after Maya, personified as the bride of the world, a seductress, a captivating prostitute, a monstrous witch, wandering around after the most holy—reminiscent of the rhetoric in the biblical book of Proverbs (7:12–23). The devotee is instructed to stay away from the temptations of the world, which are gendered as female. Female sexuality and the female body are depicted as not only sinful but horrifying and violent as well. In part 14, after Maya sucks the life out of her victim, “she quickly gets up and departs, bare-footed.” She has even seduced the Hindu gods Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu.
While the use of the traditional depiction of Maya as female in Indian mythology is not intended to be taken literally or to be transferred to the female body of a female devotee, feminist theologians have long discussed the connection between sin, or evil, and the female body as participant to the subordination of women within and without the church (temple, mosque, or other place of worship). The equality of women is a prominent feature in Sikh consciousness, as attested by its frequency of mention in almost every text about the Sikh ideology or creed. In addition, negative portrayals of the feminine are often countered by positive depictions of the holiness of women; for instance, at the end of part 14, Kabir announces that a female devotee, the street dancer, is his personal guru. Women appear prominently in Sikh history and thought. Nevertheless, it is important to be aware of how sacred texts portray a particular gender, as privileging or stigmatizing any gender may consequently perpetuate gendered privilege or stigmas in society. Kabir’s section ends with some lines at the beginning of part 15 that return to description of the faithful, highlighting the need of the devotee for the holy, as originator, guide, and force.
Parts 15–17
Namdev’s sayings, which begin about a third of the way into part 15, are filled with references to events and figures in Hindu mythology. He first discusses the futility of performing religious rituals, worshipping idols, putting faith in scriptural authority such as the Vedas, and making pilgrimages to sacred sites such as Gaya and Benares. For Namdev these places and practices are spiritually insignificant and even distracting to the devotee. The various Hindu gods are made subordinate in this text to the un-imaged, single, universal God that the gurus hoped would unite followers of all religions.
The devotee’s emotional and intense relationship with God is described in parts 15 and 16. Namdev compares himself to a lured deer, a fisherman, a goldsmith, a gambler, a man filled with covetous lust, a hungry calf, and a walking stick to the blind. His relationship with God is one of animalistic or basic instinct and addiction, often leading to the extremes of survival and destruction.
Parts 15 and 16 further expound on the God-devotee relationship by mentioning many brief examples from Hindu stories of how people are humbled and how it is God who saves. Dhroo and Naarad, mentioned at the end of part 15, exemplify exceptional devotion and character in the stories in which they feature. Harnaakhash, mentioned in part 16, was a king who had his life taken away because of his uncontrollable ego. The devotees Ajaamal and Ganika are referenced as contrasts to Harnaakhash, because of the way in which they reversed their attachments to the world through acts of kindness and a willingness to take the advice of holy men.
Essential Themes
The writings of the gurus gradually came to be a text expressly belonging to a community that called themselves Sikhs, and the Adi Granth did not take an eternal status all of its own until the tenth guru, Guru Gobind Singh, decided to vest guruship in the text itself rather than in any human successors. During the decades after its compilation, the text had the effect of raising consciousness, of creating unity and comfort, a sense of belonging, among followers who agreed with its ideology. When the Golden Temple was completed in the city of Amritsar in 1604, under the guidance of the fourth guru, Guru Ram Das, it housed the Adi Granth, making the sacred space a throne for a truly sacred text.
When the fourth Mughal emperor treated the Sikhs as a political threat and put Arjan Dev to death in 1606, the sixth guru, Guru Har Gobind (1595–1644), mobilized the Sikhs and constructed the Akal Takht as part of the Golden Temple complex, creating a sacred center for Sikh political and military resistance against the cruelty and injustice they experienced under Mughal rulers. The tenth guru of Sikhism, Guru Gobind Singh (1666–1708), established an army of Sikhs and engaged in battles with rulers attempting to invade and subdue their cities and communities.
During this time, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib served as spiritual armor for actual battles, bolstering ideas of the Sikhs as soldier-saints and defending their existence and their stance on justice. When the Sri Guru Granth Sahib took the position as eternal guru in 1708, it became a solid, unchanging scripture that would be the focal point and unifier of the people, with more authority than any human leader. This also left each member of the community to become his or her own interpreter and example of moral authority, rather than looking for leadership from a guru.
By the mid-eighteenth century, the British had solidified colonial control over India and the Punjab, the Mughal Empire was in decline, and Sikh political power was rising. A confederacy of autonomous Sikh states was formed in the Punjab region in 1801, but this empire lasted only fifty years, eventually dissolving after a series of wars with the British. Over the next century, however, a large portion of freedom fighters involved in the Indian anticolonial movement were Sikhs from the Punjab. During tumultuous times, sacred texts often become political beacons to a future liberation. But in times of peace—which the Sikhs have enjoyed in their progressive state and in the world during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries—the Sri Guru Granth Sahib has become more of a devotional text, a songbook for worshipping God and celebrating life.
—LaChelle E. M. Schilling
Bibliography and Further Reading
Chilana, Rajwant Singh. International Bibliography of Sikh Studies. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, 2005.
Grewal, J. S. The New Cambridge History of India. Vol. 2, part 3: The Sikhs of the Punjab. Rev. ed. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Kohli, Surinder Singh. Dictionary of Guru Granth Sahib. Amritsar, India: Singh Bros., 1996.