The Living Word

Manifested Spirit

Of all religions, the best religion is To utter the holy name with love, and do good deeds. Of all temples, the most sacred is (Says Nanak) The heart in which God dwells. [Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Sukhmani, Astpadi 3, Pauri 8, ang 266]

Four hundred years ago, in 1604, the fifth Sikh Master, Guru Arjan Dev Ji, compiled the Ad(i) Granth and installed it in the Harmandar, known the world over as the Golden Temple. A hundred years later, in 1708, the canon was completed and sealed, and the Ad(i) Granth became the Guru Granth Sahib Ji. In today’s global village, it allows us to engage successfully with the many modern dilemmas that come our way everyday.

To the Sikhs, Guru Granth Sahib Ji is more than just a collation of scriptural writing. To us, Guru Granth Sahib Ji is a living presence and not a mere book that may be stashed in a bookshelf or in the drawer of a nightstand at a hotel.

Guru Granth Sahib Ji asks humans to recognize the divinity within each of us (ang 441). Human life becomes a unique opportunity to discover the divinity within us and others. This voyage of discovery of the infinite within our lives becomes the purpose of human existence. This translates to the pursuit of a truthful life that nurtures the universal connectivity by service to community and creation. A life that perceives God in all sees no enemy.

Guru Granth Sahib Ji asks from us not a life of renunciation, but a life of productive involvement in society. Marry, have a family, earn an honest living, and share your rewards with fellow humans, and live this life with your mind centered on the Infinite within you. The life of a recluse is not the model to be emulated or admired.

“In this life what did you accomplish; what footprints have you left in the sands of time?”

The idea is not of a God who micromanages our existence, but to provide the spiritual basis for a moral and ethical framework around which purposeful lives can be fashioned. Guru Granth Sahib Ji does not provide a sin quotient for every infraction committed or contemplated. Some may think this to be a weakness - a chink in the teaching. I find it our strength because it demands responsibility and accountability from each of us.

In the final analysis, self-awareness and a life of introspection are recommended: Guru Granth Sahib Ji, ang 922. It asks us,

Life will serve us many dilemmas that will test us. Time and technology will bring us new bioethical problems and issues of life and death. Our response will evolve with time and technology in a changing world. What we need is not cut-and-dried solutions or an easily swallowed pill, but an ethical framework within which to navigate our way.

Sikhs do not worship the Gurus who composed the writings in Guru Granth Sahib Ji, nor do they need to idolize the holy scriptures, though they revere it. The Word is God. But the only way it actually becomes so is when the Sikh reads it and heeds what he reads.

“The Word is the manifest spirit of the Guru; The Guru is immanent in the Word” (ang 982).

And this is how Guru Granth Sahib Ji speaks to a Sikh.