Disciple, student, scholar: the relationship of a Sikh with her Guru, Shri Guru Granth Sahib
Disciple, student, scholar: the relationship of a Sikh with her Guru, Shri Guru Granth Sahib
Abstract
Disciple, student, scholar: the relationship of a Sikh with her Guru, Shri Guru Granth Sahib
As a Sikh born and raised in the United States I have struggled with a sense of inadequacy with regard to my knowledge of Gurbani, Gurmukhi and Punjabi. While I was lucky to grow up in a home with ‘babaji ki bir’ and parents who modeled the importance of doing paath at home as well as within our small sangat in Pittsburgh, PA, my language skills have always been a source of insecurity. Over the last few years, I am trying to redefine my relationship with Shri Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS) and Gurbani, as a journey rather than a destination. In this spirit, I will explore how the Gurus through the SGGS encourage Sikhs to be disciple, student, and scholar. In my presentation, I will pose the following questions: What is the difference between these three identifications? How does SGGS allow us to experience all three as we engage its wealth of knowledge, reflection and insight? What tools do we have today to learn about and from the SGGS?
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Video of Presentation
Body of Paper
Disciple, student, scholar: the relationship of a Sikh with her Guru, Shri Guru Granth Sahibji
by Sangeeta K Luthra
Gurmukh as disciple:[1]
Gurmukẖ kirpā kare bẖagaṯ kījai, bin gur bẖagaṯ na ho▫ī.
Page 32, Line 4, Guru Amar Das
By His Grace one becomes Gurmukh, worshipping the Lord with devotion. Without the Guru there is no devotional worship.
Gurmukh as student:
Ė man ālas ki▫ā, karahi gurmukẖ nām ḏẖi▫ā▫e. ||1 || rahā▫o.
Page 28, Line 15, Guru Amar Das
O mind, why are you so lazy? Become Gurmukh, and meditate on the Naam. ||1||Pause||
Gurmukh as scholar:
Har bẖagaṯ har kā pi▫ār hai, je gurmukẖ kare bīcẖār.Page 28, Line 16 Guru Amar Das
Devotion to the Lord is love for the Lord, if the Gurmukh reflects deeply and contemplates.
Introduction –
As a Sikh born and raised in the United States I have struggled with a sense of inadequacy with regard to my knowledge of Gurbani, Gurmukhi, and Punjabi. However, in the last few years, I have tried to rethink my relationship with Shri Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS) and Gurbani, as an evolving journey rather than a destination or finish line. Looking back I feel lucky to have grown up in a home with Shri Guru Granth Sahibji and parents who modeled the importance of doing paath at home as well as with our small sangat in Pittsburgh, PA. In the discussion below I will explore various tools and contexts in which I, and I believe many other diasporic Sikhs, learn from the Shri Guru Granth Sahibji and aspire to live as Gurmukhs.
Thesis – In recent years I have started to view my engagement with Shri Guru Granth Sahibji as a lifelong journey involving many settings and through various mediums. First I will share some personal experiences as a diasporic Sikh in order to trace the various ways in which I have engaged with Shri Guru Granth Sahibji and Gurbani. I will then explore how different settings enabled different modes of experiencing and understanding Gurbani enshrined within Shri Guru Granth Sahibji.
Migration – While I began this paper, with focused on the disadvantages of growing up outside of India/Punjab, as I reflected more deeply on my personal journey, I began to see that this disadvantage has the potential to become an advantage. In other words, migration and the cultural distance it initially creates can become a powerful motivator for embracing the Gurmukh frame of mind or the disciple, student, and scholar engaged with Gurbani. As a first generation Sikh American born and raised in the United States, I have been engaging with Gurbani through the Shri Guru Granth Sahib and in particular through the Nitnem Paaths in various settings and mediums. While I was born in the Newark, New Jersey where my parents had come to complete postgraduate training in medicine, I lived in New Delhi from age 1 to 5. As a result, when my parents decided to become permanent residents of the US, my first language was Hindi. Within a few months of settling in the US, I learned English and today I am more at ease in English than in Hindi or Punjabi. Today I have a moderate level of fluency in both Punjabi and Hindi.
Gurdwara/Sangat[2] – Growing up in a small but close-knit Sikh community in Pittsburgh PA, my first systematic exposure to Gurbani was in our monthly dewans in which the children were taught the prayers and the key elements of a Sikh ‘service’ which included recitation of Japji Sahib or Rehras Sahib (depending on the time of day), Shabad Kirtan, Anand Sahib, Ardas, Vaak, distribution of Karah Prashad, and how to do the Prakash and Sukhasan of Shri Guru Granth Sahibji. These early years of learning of Gurbani through participating in sangat directed monthly dewans were very special and important to me and generated a deep and emotional connection to the Sikh faith and identity.
In 1974, the small sangat formally established the Tri-State Sikh Cultural Society and eventually began to raise funds for a new Gurdwara which was completed in the late 1980’s. Soon after the construction of the Gurdwara Sahib, the sangat hired a Granthiji to run the weekly Sunday dewan and manage the Gurdwara building. The current Bhai Sahib offers various classes in Shabad Kirtan, Gurmukhi, Gurmat/Vichaar, Gatka, and in recitation and understanding of the Baani of the Shri Guru Granth Sahibji. Some of these programs are also for adults. Increasingly it seems these types of programs, classes, and resources are becoming common in Gurdwaras around the country. This trend also requires reflection and study of the role and conditions of the ‘ecclesiastical’ community – Bhaisahibs, Granthis, Pracharaks, and Kirtania – in promoting and teaching Gurbani and Gurmukhi. How can Sangats best support those who seek to become experts in linguistics and theology of the Sikhi and to help educate their fellow Sikhs in the diaspora? Equally importantly we must do so without creating a class system or a formal priestly class which would be contrary to the principles of worship envisioned by the Gurus?
Family connections to the ‘homeland’- Looking back on my family life, my parents’ investments in staying connected to family back home provided rich opportunities for learning Gurbani as well as becoming familiar with the cultural milieu within which the Shri Guru Granth Sahibji was created. Obviously the cultural milieu of India/Punjab today is not identical to the era in which the Guru’s lived. But looking back on my experiences I believe in some powerful ways there is cultural continuity. In particular, the identity politics or inter-community dynamics of the last 30 or 40 years are not dissimilar with those of the Gurus’ period. In particular the need to define, express, and defend the distinctness of Sikhism has been and continues to be an issue for Sikhs in India and in different ways around the world.
Visits to family back in India also were an important source of language and Gurbani learning. In particular my paternal grandfather, known to the family as “Darji,”was important in my learning Gurbani. I have vivid memories of reciting Nitnem paath in the morning and evening, even if we happened to be traveling in his car. The children in particular were all expected to participate and to sing simple shabads after the paath. Darji also loved to take his grandchildren on excursions around New Delhi, which usually included visiting different Gurdwara Sahibs. Those excursions were very special to me because they allowed me to experience Sikhi in a sensory as well as intellectual and spiritual way. To this day when I visit any Gurdwara, especially in the evening during the Rehras Sahib paath, I can’t help but feel Darji’s presence with me.
Sikh Camps – Sikh ‘youth summer camps’ are a wonderful mix of Western and Sikh tradition and were very important for me in the journey of Gurmukh learning and for cultural and social growth. My brother and I attended a Sikh Youth Camp run by the Pittsburgh Gurdwara from 1974 to 1986. The camp became a very special part of our childhood in which we learned about Sikh values, beliefs, history and culture. The two week overnight camp was held in the lush green Racoon Creek State Park in nearby West Virginia. It attracted Sikh children from all over the US and had at its peak about 100 campers per year. Parent volunteers, ran the camp and did everything from preparing meals to cleaning, providing emergency health care, teaching, and chaperoning. Every morning and evening we did Paath and Shabad Kirtan in a dedicated Darbar hall. For the rest of the morning we learned Gurmukhi, Punjabi, Sikh history, and philosophy. In the afternoons we had sports/recreation, and Bhangra and Gidda; and the in evenings we had a bonfire and enjoyed chatting with our buddies under the starry night skies. Many of the alumnae of the camp, continued to meet in our college years by organizing seminars to discuss Sikh topics and current events. Many of the friendships forged at the Sikh youth camp continue to thrive to this day. The camps generated a sense of camaraderie for the small Sikh community and encouraged a network at a time when we were few and far between.
The importance of Sikh youth camps as a means for spreading the message, wisdom and poetic beauty of Shri Guru Granth Sahibji has continued to grow in the 21st century in terms of access to many regional camps and in the number of Sikh youth who attend.
A special Sikh Youth Camp in India – In the summer of 1980, about a group of about 20 students attended the camp which included about three weeks in a boarding school in Dalhousie, India and three weeks traveling through Punjab and Jammu Kashmir. During the travel through Punjab and Jammu Kashmir were able to visit many historical sites linked to the Guru’s lives. Being in India as a teenager was a great opportunity to continue to improve my Punjabi, Gurmukhi, and Shabad Kirtan.
Self-learning in college – In college my main exposure to Gurbani was through audio tapes of Nitnem. In the evenings in my dormitory room, I listened to and recited Rehras Sahib and Kirtan Sohila paath with the help of these tapes. I would also follow along with a ‘gutka’ as the audio was running. In this way I tried to improve my reading skills and pronunciation. Listening to the tapes and doing Paath was a source of comfort and guidance for me as I faced the emotional, social, and academic stressors so many students and young adults experience.
Going back to India/Punjab as a young adult: From 1986 to 1987, my junior year of college, I spent one year in Varanasi, India through the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s study abroad program. Over that year I learned to read and write in Hindi and some Persian, and I really improved by verbal skills in Hindi. I also learned many Sanskrit words and more about Hindu mythology which has been helpful for understanding references made within Shri Guru Granth Sahibji. I was also able to travel a great deal that year. I visited places like Bodhgaya, Kathmandu, Patna, Nainital, RishiKesh, Manali, Dharmasala, Jaipur, and Indore. In many of these places I visited local Gurdwaras which helped me feel a connection to the Gurus’ lives. The most impactful visit was to Patna Sahib Gurdwara and the various small Gurdwaras and historical sites related to Guru Tegh Bahadurji and Guru Gobind Singhji’s childhood. I was given tours by local Sikhs whose ancestors had become Sikhs during the time of Guru Tegh Bahadurji. In Varanasi, to fulfill the program’s research requirement, I decided to learn about the historical Gurdwaras and other historical sites relating to Guru Nanak Devji, Guru Tegh Bahadurji, and Maharaja Ranjit Singh. I also interviewed members of the local Sikh community about their experiences migrating to Varanasi after the Partition of 1947. Finally, and perhaps the most difficult discussions were about the devastating riots of 1984 and the effects on the Sikh community in Varanasi and many other towns and cities throughout North India. My year in Varanasi in 1986-1987 brought home the rich multiculturalism of the Guru’s lives and the difficulties of the post 1984 period for Sikhs outside of Punjab.
In 1994-1995, I went back to India for my PhD dissertation research and lived in New Delhi. Conducting research in Hindi and Punjabi of course allowed me to improve my language skills. I also happened to visit a newly constructed neighborhood which I later found out was populated by Punjabi Hindus who had left Punjab in the late 1980’s and 1990’s in response to the Khalistani movement. This was again a difficult but important learning moment, as I had to grapple with the complexities of late 20th century Sikh history and identity.
Parenting with Gurbani – Perhaps the most difficult but important point in my journey to learn Gurbani continued after marriage and especially when I became a mother to two daughters. Both my husband and I are primarily English speakers at home and that has put our daughters at a disadvantage in learning Punjabi and Gurbani. Attending the Khalsa school at the San Jose Gurdwara, participating in the Vaisakhi Raat event for many years, and reciting Japji Sahib and Sukhmani Sahib at home have been some of the ways to help them learn about the core beliefs and values enshrined in Shri Guru Granth Sahibji. Grandparents’ visits have also been important for our daughters to hear spoken Punjabi, Paath and Shabad Kirtan. Learning Gurmukhi script and spoken Punjabi at Khalsa School and participating in the Vaisakhi Raat program have been important spaces for learning and connecting to Sikhi. Equally important is the Sangat we have gained with which to share this amazing journey of learning.
Shri Guru Granth Sahib in my home – I was reluctant to keep SGGS at home initially because I didn’t feel I could live up to the responsibility, but my mother-in-law, Sardarni Darshan Kaur, really pushed me to make a space and looking back I am grateful that she did. She told me that just having a space like this in the home was a source of great strength and solace in the face of “life’s dukh sukh.” I was hesitant in the beginning but in the end I realized Mom was absolutely right.
The online environment and the ‘Digital Guru Granth Sahib’[3] – Since the beginning of the 21st century, like many other Sikhs around the world, I have increasingly utilized various online sites and search and translation tools to improve my Gurbani and Gurmukhi literacy. An example of my access of the Guru online is my subscription to an email list called “Gurbani Word of the Day.” This daily email service is sponsored by the Shabad Foundation based in Faridabad, India. I receive four to five emails a week exploring the meaning of a Gurbani term. The email includes the following information: the Gurbani term with translation, the Gurbani term in an original quote or line from a shabad from Shri Guru Granth Sahibji, translations of the quote in both Punjabi and English, transliteration of the quote, the etymology of the Gurbani term, and a description of social and cultural context of the meaning of the Gurbani term.
According to Jasjit Singh, online engagement with Sikhism can be organized in three categories: social networking, worship online, and as a “missionary tool” (2014, p 85). According to Singh,
An analysis of the survey responses to questions about Sikhism-related internet usage reveals that young Sikhs primarily go online in order to:
- discuss taboo subjects;
- obtain answers to questions about the Sikh tradition;
- explore differing practices within the Sikh tradition;
- access repositories of kirtan and katha;
- examine English translations of Sikh scriptures;
- obtain orders from the Guru Granth Sahib (hukamnamas);
- find out about Sikh events;
- access event archives, recordings, and instructional videos;
- purchase Sikh resources, including books, photographs, and clothing; and
- understand the legal position of Sikh articles of faith
(Jasjit Singh, 2014, pp 86-88)
To summarize some advantages of the online environment are easy access to original texts, historical archives relating to Gurbani and Sikh history, and translations and transliterations of Gurbani and Shri Guru Granth Sahibji. Online discussion forums allow for more open discussions of problems or issues in the community especially in relation to ‘taboo topics’ like dating and marriage, Gurdwara management, equality of women, caste discrimination, and support for Sikhs who identify as LGBTQ (Jasjit Singh presentation, 4th Sikh Studies Conference, University of California, Riverside, May 8-10, 2015). Finally, Singh concludes that ‘online’ engagement and communities are in effect “electronic extensions” of real world communities and sangats (Jasjit Singh, 2014, p 93).
One potential disadvantage is the potential for the transmission of inaccurate or partial information. Another potential disadvantage is that the overwhelming majority of online translations of Gurbani/SGGS are increasingly coming from just one or two sources and often the sources are not clearly identified to the online user. The complexities of translation are often overshadowed by the ease of access. In other words, it is important for Sikh users of online information and tools to carefully assess whether the information we are getting online is accurate and from experts who are trained in the study of Gurbani. The question of authenticity or interpretation is a complex one that I won’t elaborate on at this point. But being aware of the sources of the information or interpretations we get online, and the qualifications and methods of those sources, is obviously very critical to all aspects of life in the contemporary world, including in our journey through and with Shri Guru Granth Sahibji.
Summary – In this reflection paper, I have described a number of tools and contexts through which I have tried to be a better student of Shri Guru Granth Sahibji. The kinds of learning I have experienced and discussed can be thought of as a mixture of participatory and contextual/experiential learning. The participatory learning is illustrated in my experiences in sangat-directed worship, camps, conferences, doing paath by myself, and eventually in teaching my children. The contextual or experiential learning occurred in time spent with my grandparents and extended family and time spent traveling and living in India. Both modes of learning were important and helped me to experience Shri Guru Granth Sahibji holistically, by which I mean intellectually, spiritually, and emotively. I also hope this discussion resonates with younger generations of Sikhs around the world as they forge their own tools and contexts. Finally I want to return to the idea of Gurmukh, literally ‘one who faces the Guru’ through the lifelong practice of being a disciple, student, and scholar of the Shri Guru Granth Sahib.
[1] Quotes and translations from Srigranth.org, http://www.srigranth.org/servlet/gurbani.gurbani?S=y
[2] I am referencing, with permission from the authors, an unpublished paper about the TriState Sikh Cultural Society of Pittsburgh, PA: “The Building of the Sikh Gurdwara: A Brief History” by Sohan Singh Chaudhary and Rekhinder Kaur.
[3] In this section, I am referencing two papers by Dr. Jasjit Singh in the School of Philosophy, Religion, and History of Science, University of Leeds, England: “Sikh-ing Online: the role of the Internet in the lives of young British Sikhs” explores the advantages and disadvantages of the growing importance of online environment for Sikhs around the world today (Jasjit Singh, Contemporary South Asia, 2014, Vol. 22, No. 1, pp 82-97; http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2013.870974 ). The second publication is, “Lost in Translation? The emergence of the Digital Guru Granth Sahib,” Jasjit Singh (Sikh Formations: Religion, Culture, Theory, June 19, 2018; https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17448727.2018.1485355) looks specifically at the issue of online translations of Shri Guru Granth Sahib and the impact of those on locating Sikh “religious authority” and the transmission of Sikh tradition across time and space.
About the Author
Dr. Sangeeta Luthra is an anthropologist and educator. She has taught classes in cultural anthropology, gender studies, and cultural studies. She has conducted research on women’s empowerment and development with a special focus on non-governmental organizations in urban northern India. Her research interests are women’s development and empowerment, feminist theory, cultural politics of development, and most recently Sikh American institution building in the post 9/11 period. Her writing on diasporic Sikhs has been featured in the academic journal Sikh Formations, and in online forms like SikhChic.com, Punjabi Beat Magazine, and Sikhpoint.com. She is a contributing writer and member of the editorial board of Her Name is Kaur: Sikh American women write about Love, Courage, and Faith. In addition to teaching and research Sangeeta is a volunteer in her community and in South Asian cultural associations.
Sangeeta lives in Los Altos, CA with her husband and two daughters.