by Harnaak Singh

This article is an analysis of the article “Ek Granth, Ek Panth, Ek Maryada: A logo that says it all” in Asia Samachar on 3-Nov-2016

The article, by the Sikh Vichar Forum (SVF) claims that Ek Oangkar gives birth to “Ek Granth”, “Ek Panth” and “Ek Maryada”.  By this the claim it is implied that the “Ek Granth-Panth-Maryada” ideology is espoused in Gurbani.

We will first analyse the “Ek Granth” claim of this ideology.

The SVF claim is that the verse

ਗੁਰੁ ਪੂਰਾ ਪੂਰੀ ਜਾ ਕੀ ਬਾਣੀ ਅਨਿਕ ਗੁਣਾ ਜਾ ਕੇ ਜਾਹਿ ਨ ਗਣੇ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥ SGGS P805 Bilawal M5

Perfect is the Bani, the Word of the Perfect Guru. His Virtues are so many, they cannot be counted. ||1||Pause||

implies “Ek Granth”.  SVF have, BASED ON THIS VERSE and the word “SAREY ਸਾਰੇ” in another verse, derived this conclusion. On this we wish to allude to the following.

SVF audio by Dr. Karminder Singh, posted at Asia Samachar dated 13-Nov-2016; states “Many a time our Ragis, Kathakaars, and Kirtanias take a single verse and make just about anything out of it to establish a point of their personal choosing” and go on to state “…we should never attempt to use single verses from Gurbani” and then add “We SHOULD BE SUSPICIOUS on those who insist on taking just one or two verses and try to explain major spiritual principles to us based on that one or two single verses”.

SVF seems to espouse one thing and do another.  SVF, as the phrase goes DO NOT WALK THE TALK.

Can we trust what they espouse especially since they say that “WE SHOULD BE SUSPICIOUS….those … one or two verses…”?

Are they taking the Sangat down the “bottomless pit” of spirituality so to speak; ending up nowhere?

Coming back to our analysis.

Nowhere in the above SGGS verses, is stated that SGGS Ji is the ONLY GRANTH though it is clear that SGGS is our LIVING GURU, the embodiment of the TEN Gurus.  This is what Guru Gobind Singh stated.  Guru Gobind Singh never stated SGGS is the ONLY GRANTH.

Kavi Santokh Singh in Gur Partap Suraj Granth Rut 5 Chapter 15, Verse 4 states what Guru Gobind said.  English translation from “An Introduction to Sri Guru Granth Sahib” by Gurbachan Singh Talib.

ਦਸ ਅਵਤਾਰ ਗੁਰ ਏਕ ਸਮ, ਜਯੋਂ ਜਾਨੈਂ ਜੋ ਮੇਰ।

ਇਕ ਦਸ਼ਮੋ ਗੁਰ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਜੀ,  ਬਾਣੀ ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਹੇਰਿ ॥੪॥

Whoever holds, belief in the ten Gurus as one in spirit, is, my true disciple.

Behold ye the Guru Granth as the eleventh Guru, Its Bani, too as the holy Preceptor.

Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is the embodiment of our Gurus and is our living Guru today.  We do not believe that any Sikh denies this.  But this statement is not mutually exclusive of any other Granth.

It is surprising that the writer can conclude there is no other Granth besides SGGS from the one verse and one word!

We all know that SGGS is universal thought and independent of faith.  Members of any faith can derive inspiration from the teaching of SGGS but still follow their own Faith/Granth and are doing so.  Using “Ek Granth” means downgrading the SGGS to be only for those that follow SGGS and none other.  This means anyone who derives inspiration from another Granth cannot follow the SGGS because of “Ek Granth”.  THIS IS AGAINST THE VERY ESSENCE OF THE SGGS as envisaged by our GURUS.

WHAT IS THE MEANING OF GRANTH?  According to the Mahan Kosh Granth means “ਪੁਸ੍ਤਕ (ਕਿਤਾਬ), ਜਿਸ ਵਿੱਚ ਮਜਮੂੰਨ ਗੁੰਦੇ ਗਏ ਹਨ i.e. book consisting of compositions or writings” and Uni Patiala Dictionary gives the meaning as “book, tome, sacred book”.

Essentially Granth refers to the book in which some type of composition is recorded.  We emphasise that Granth refers to the BOOK or the BOUND COLLECTION OF PAPERS but NOT THE COMPOSITIONS in the Granth (book).

That is why as we have stated previously there is a deep meaning to the verse “Bani Guru Guru Hai Bani”.  Our Guru is telling us not to follow rituals and ritualise the GRANTH but delve on the GOD SENT INSPIRATION in the GRANTH, NOT THE PAPER which contains the inspiration.  SCIENTIFIC LOGIC/ REASON is not going to help understand this, SHARDA is.  See how the ANTI DSMEE NINDAKs (ADNs – SVF and its associates) misinterpreted the Gurbani verses; thanks to their SCIENTIFIC LOGIC/REASON.  Let’s delve further into the word Granth.

Students of physics of the cosmos will say that the book “Relativity by Albert Einstein, Pi Press, NY” is their “RELATIVITY THEORY GRANTH”.  A student of anatomy and physiology will say that “Seeley’s Essentials of Anatomy and Physiology by C VanPutte et al” McGraw Hill” is their “A & P GRANTH” , the Christians will say that “Holy Bible by Bible Society” is their HOLY GRANTH”,  the Muslims will say that “The Noble Qur’an by Dr Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din Al-Hilali and Dr Muhammad Muhsin Khan” is their “KORANIC GRANTH”.

What do we see?  The word Granth is preceded by an adjective describing what the Granth is about.  Hence “Relativity Theory Granth”, “Koranic Granth” etc.

Now we term our scriptures “GURU GRANTH”, “DASAM GRANTH”.  The former contains the inspirational compositions, i.e. the Shabad or Bani also termed Gurbani, of our Gurus.  Dasam Granth contains the composition of our Tenth Master Guru Gobind Singh.

Then what is the meaning of EK GRANTH.  ONE GRANTH? Yes so what! It means just one book but “WHAT IS INSIDE THE BOOK?” NOBODY KNOWS.  For all we know it could be a collection of empty pages with nothing written in it!  The adjective Ek (One) tells us nothing about the book except that it is ONE BOOK.

Why was this done.  What is the motive behind doing so.  Why not commit and say it is “GURU GRANTH”.  Let’s think deeply.  The sacred word “ੴ” is included but they did not include “Ek Oangkar” in their logo while other words have English version.  Now let’s consider further, the ADNs have been promulgating preaching against the teachings of Guru Granth Sahib Ji e.g. “Amrit Vela” is NOT “in the morning before dawn”, “Meditation” that is “Jap” or “Chant” is simply RATNA (ਰਟਨਾ) and useless etc etc.  Now let me further say that the NINDAKS state that our SACRED “ੴ” IS A LOGO (like the logo of a car).  We quote from page 73 of JapJi book at http://www.iuscanada.com/books/jap2016.html by Dr Chahal. This book promulgates ideologies synonymous to those of the ADNs.  It is noted that Dr Karminder Singh wrote the foreword in this book.

“The Commencing Verse starts with a LOGO: ੴ EK OH BEANT (The One and Only – That is Infinite”

By definition a logo is a symbol used by an organisation to represent the organisation and the logo is put on the products of the organisation.  The logo does not impact the performance of the product.  If you remove the logo of your car, it will keep operating as intended.

Try removing SACRED “ੴ” from the Guru Granth Sahib; then you will understand if it is a logo or SACRED INSPIRATION FROM GOD.  Now further the ADNs want to replace pronunciation EK OANGKAR with EK OH BEANT (see above).

Now you know what their long term intention is.  Get rid of Dasam Granth, get rid of Raagmala, get rid of Bhagat Bani etc etc.  Then the ADNs can include anything in their empty EK GRANTH.

We know that SGGS is universal thought for everyone independent of faith and this IS THE VERY ESSENCE OF OUR GURUS teaching.

“Granth” means “sacred book” according to University Patiala Punjabi-English Dictionary.

Let us now investigate what our scriptures have to say about the question of “Ek Granth” meaning there is no other Granth except SGGS. We will study a number of quotes from Gurbani to derive our conclusion.  We will refer to two verses related to Vedas (Hindu Granth) and Ketab (Abrahmic Faiths Granth) today (the English translation blue text below is by Sant Singh Khalsa).

• SGGS Page 2 Line 8 states

ਗੁਰਮਿੁਖ ਨਾਦੰ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਵੇਦੰ ਗੁਰਮੁਖਿ ਰਿਹਆ ਸਮਾਈ ॥

The Guru’s Word is the Sound-current of the Naad; the Guru’s Word is the Wisdom of the Vedas; the Guru’s Word is all-pervading.

• SGGS Page 5 Line 3 states

ਸਹਸ ਅਠਾਰਹ ਕਹਿਨ ਕਤੇਬਾ ਅਸੁਲੂ ਇਕੁ ਧਾਤੁ ॥

The scriptures say that there are 18,000 worlds, but in reality, there is only One Universe.

In the first verse Gurbani states that the Guru’s word i.e. teaching provides wisdom as the Vedas do.  Our Gurus were knowledgeable in the Vedas to make this statement.  In the second verse our Guru’s make a statement that the though the Ketabs state that there are 18,000 worlds in reality the Universe is so vast that there are practically innumerable number of worlds.  Again to make this statement our Gurus were knowledgeable in the Ketabs.

What we notice from the above two verses is that our Gurus did not reject or condemn the other Granths but acknowledged their wisdom and pointed out the difference based on our Gurus inspiration.  Remember our Gurus derived this inspiration from God (refer for e.g. SGGS Page 722 Line 16).

This was the way of our Gurus.  LEARN THE TEACHINGS OF THE OTHER GRANTHS and INDICATE ANY DIFFERENCE based on their inspiration.  There was NO REJECTION OF THE TEACHING OF THE OTHER GRANTHS.

Those denigrating the Dasam Granth should ask themselves IF THEY HAVE STUDIED THIS GRANTH?  OR it is simply HERD MENTALITY succumbing to instincts controlled by the 5 Evils steered by the KALA AFGANA IDEOLOGY.  We should look ourselves in the mirror and find out.

JAGO SONAY WALO – DON’T LET THE ANTI-DASMEE NINDAKs 

ruin our invaluable scriptures