Reaching Out

Understanding Gurbani

Taking children to local Gurdwara, where sermons are being led in English is a wonderful opportunity for our children to invite their friends and acquaint them with the universal message of our Gurus.

It comes at you in sly touches during unexpected moments - the self-doubt that plagues a lot of parents.

For me, it is almost always tied into whether I have been able to pass on the love of Sikhi to my son, now nineteen.

Listening to Asa-di-Vaar on a Sunday morning, when I am completely drenched in the pathos and poignancy of music mingled with the Guru’s wisdom, I often wonder, “Will Anhad ever feel what I feel while listening to Gurbani? Will it ever bring him to tears? Does he truly grasp the meaning and the wisdom embedded in each precious verse?”

As I ask myself these questions, I shy away from the answer that dredges up a certainty in my mind.

I know that the languages of Gurbani are “foreign” to him. Even though I take solace in the fact that he routinely recites or listens to various baanies, I wonder if, one day, a certain verse will pierce his heart wide open, cultivate in him a feeling of empathy and transform the way he looks at the world.

Growing up in India, we absorbed not only English, but Punjabi, Hindi, Urdu and/or even Sanskrit, as a “second” language. Those of us who moved around in different states also picked up a smattering of Bihari, Bengali, Marathi, Haryanvi, etc.

Gurbani is replete not only with a multiplicity of languages of the Indian sub-continent, but also different dialects of its people. Our Gurus were, after all, communicating the revealed Word to the masses in the languages that they understood.

Is it a surprise, then, that its beauty and power is hard to experience by those reared in English with Spanish or French as a second language and Punjabi as a distant third?

We can knock ourselves and think of everything we could have done differently to make our kids more proficient in Gurmukhi and Gurbani, or we can offer a route that may at first appear questionable to some, but can eventually instill a desire to study Gurbani in depth.

Two Sundays ago, I attended an English Service at the Gurdwara during the Sunday school that runs in the afternoons. The service opened with two shabads, Tu mera Pita, Tu hain mera mata and Na koyee bairi naahi begana.

The shabads had been translated and they were spiritedly sung by the children of the Khalsa School.

During the talk that followed on “Why we do what we do at the gurdwara”, the young attendees of the program were educated on the reason for the protocol and respect shown to Guru Granth Sahib Ji.

The programme concluded with a poignantly-rendered English version of the Ardaas.

As I looked at the young faces of the five- and seven-year-old girls who sat in the first row, I saw a zestful and whole-hearted involvement that is rare. For once, they knew what they were singing; for once, the words were comforting because they were familiar; for once, they could put their heart and soul into the shabad, because it touched them at a deep and personal level.

“You are my father, you are my mother, you are my friend, you are my brother” - the verse was easy to understand and embrace.”

The programme is offered not as an alternative to learning Gurmukhi, but as a way to relate to the message in an immediate and effortless way; the underlying hope being that once the love for the Guru’s message is ignited, so will the desire to delve deeper into it, in its original form.

Knowing my community, I am fully cognizant of the divergent voices that will rise in opposition - with good intentions, I’m sure - to such an effort.

Perhaps they are unaware of the inroads Christianity is making in the Punjab by bringing their message to the masses in Punjabi. In many instances, they have incorporated the style and stance of Kirtan as they praise Jesus Christ!

Taking children to local Gurdwara, where sermons are being led in English is a wonderful opportunity for our children to invite their friends and acquaint them with the universal message of our Gurus. Something to be proud of, something to share, finally, in a language the mainstream understands!

by Jessie Kaur