The first holy book of the Sikhs
was the Adi Granth and it was put
together by The fifth Guru — Guru Arjan Dev. The
tenth Guru — Guru Gobind Singh extended the
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Equality regardless of religion, race, gender,
colour… as Akal Purakh (God) is Sargun
An honorable way of living—encouraging mar-
riage, family life, working hard…
Naam Japna—meditating on the name of God Kirat Karna—An honest way of life (no theft or
deception)
Wand Chhakna—sharing and being generous
towards the less fortunate.
(by melody)—instead of subject or author.
Treatment and use in Worship
The Guru Granth Sahib is very important in wor-
ship. It is treated the way a living Guru would be treated—with respect and tolerance. It is needed
on a daily basis for guidance through life. The
Guru Granth Sahib was not industrially printed until
the nineteenth century and there was resistance
from some within the Sikh community. People had a genuine fear tat by printing the Holy Granth more
Adi Granth by adding some hymns or shabads
from his father and immediate predecessor; Guru Teg Bahadur. The Guru Granth Sahib was made Guru by Guru Gobind Singh in 1704CE.The Guru
Granth Sahib was put together because it was a central collection of the scriptures and it gives for
their daily life. Moreover it provides easy public access to the Guru which promotes education.
Language and Teachings
The Guru Granth Sahib is written in Gurmukhi, the
Sikhs are called upon to put these teachings into practice
in every aspect of their daily life. The Guru Granth Sahib
is therefore of central importance to the life, work and worship of the Sikh community.
Contents
The Guru Granth Sahib contains the writings of the first
five Gurus as well as the ninth Guru—Guru Teg Ba-
hadur. The Guru Granth Sahib is unique among the sa-
cred writings of religious teachings in that it contains some material from people who do not belong to the
copies would be available, and some people would
not know how to treat it with the respect it de-
served. At the very least, hands should be washed although some Sikhs take a bathe before touching the Guru Granth Sahib.
In the Gurudwara the Guru Granth Sahib
is kept in a room called the Divan hall. In there the Guru Granth Sahib sits on a Manji (stool) which is
placed on the Takht (a raised platform) which is
covered by a Palki. The Guru Granth Sahib is
show respect by:
written form of Punjabi ( ੰ
). The alphabet con-
religion. Most of these people were Hindus and Muslims.
Even though the Guru Granth Sahib contains these writ-
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Waving a Chauri (a type of fan)
sists of 35 letters, written on the page left to right.
It is arranged in seven groupings of five letters each, mostly based on phonetic sound patterns.
Translations of the Guru Granth Sahib have been
made into other languages (e.g. Hindi, Urdu, Eng-
lish, French…) but these are not used as a basis
ings it is nevertheless regarded as sacred, and shown the respect and tolerance which Sikhs are expected to demonstrate towards others. This idea reflects the Sikh
belief of equality that truth is not the monopoly of any
one religion and that the love and grace of God is for all.
The first passage of the Guru Granth Sahib is
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Shoes are taken off before entry
People bow down on their knees in front
of the Guru Granth Sahib
Hands are washed
Heads are covered…
for worship. This is because Sikhs believe the
Guru Granth Sahib contains actual words spoken by the Guru. The teachings contained in the Guru
Granth Sahib provide a structure by which Sikhs
the mool mantar. In the Guru Granth Sahib each hymn is
called a Shabad. The length of a Shabad varies; some are just a few lines while other run to several pages. A
small portion at the beginning of the Guru Granth Sahib
Overall, the Guru Granth Sahib
plays a very important role in modern Sikhism as well as the Sikh history.