Foreword
Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, belonged to the Bhakti movement of the fifteenth century along with such fellow travellers as Kabir, Ravidas, Jaidev, Namdev, Farid, and several other saints. They strove to heal the strife-torn socio-political fabric in India menaced with Hindu ritualism and Muslim fanatacism. Guru Nanak launched his mission with a modest call, asking the Hindus to be good Hindus and the Muslims to be true Muslims. However, the compulsions of the times galvanized his followers into one of the most scientific faiths among the religions of the world today. An unparalleled crusader of his time, Guru Nanak was an inborn verse writer. He employed his talent as a poet to carry his message throughout the length and breadth of the subcontinent, nay even to Sri Lanka and Lakshdweep in the south, Manasarover in the north, the Holy Mecca and farther to Baghdad in the west, and the borders of Burma in the east. He has bequeathed a substantial volume of divine verse which has been preserved in the Holy Granth, the Sikh Bible. Of all his scriptures Japji is considered to be his most outstanding work, containing the quintessence of the Sikh philosophy and prescribing the Sikh way of life. Written in Punjabi, the language of the common man of the land of Guru Nanak's birth, Japji has been rendered into English in part and whole by such eminent scholars as M. A. Macauliffe, Dr. Gopal Singh, Khushwant Singh, Professor Gurbachan Singh ("Talib") and a number of others. However, I believe that no matter how well done, no work is translated for good. It applies even to the Holy Bible. Every generation has to make its own translation of the classics and other works of importance. The idiom changes, the images acquire different shades, the words shed their old connotations. Not infrequently a people read themselves in a translation. They like themselves to be reflected in their rendering of the original. It is said, "Every text is original because every translation is different." It is a truism that many of the best poems in the Western languages are in translation, and yet it is maintained that poetry does not lend itself to being rendered into another language. Robert Frost described poetry as "what gets lost in translation." The poet may not have been wrong, but there are exceptions to the rule. Edward FitzGerald demonstrated it in his handling of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat. Swami Rama does it once again with his rendering into English of Japji by Guru Nanak. It is because, rather than attempting mechanical rendering, both FitzGerald and Swami Rama capture the spirit of the original text. Swami Rama has the added advantage of belonging to Guru Nanak's order. A man of God, he has drunk deep at the fount of the spiritual heritage of India, living the greater part of his life with the Himalayan masters. Swami Rama was commissioned by Gudhri Baba, one of his preceptors, to render into English the Sikh scriptures so that the holy word would be propagated far and wide. A blessed soul, the
Preface
It was in 1947, after I returned from Tibet, that I was directed to travel and visit some of the rare saints of the Sri Nanak Dev order. I visited all the holy places and conversed with many great souls in the Himalayas. I traveled with a sage, a great jnani who was famous for his way of life. He was called Gudhri Baba. I have never met anyone else who would recite the Adi Granth verbatim in one posture. He had memorized the entire Adi Granth. Such rare great men are not known by historians, writers, priests, and intellectuals. It was Sri Gudhri Baba who said that I would have to one day write on Japji in a practical manner. The way he explained Japji, the sacred book of meditation in Sikhism, in that same way I submit this commentary for the use of meditators. I am not a great poet but I like to rhyme and the rhyming in this book was done in a simple way. It was done so that children would be able to remember Japji, and adult aspirants would practice in a methodical manner. Actually, Sri Sukhamani Saheb, the Psalm of Peace, authored by Guru Arjan Dev, the fifth Sikh Guru, should have preceded it. It is already at the press and I feel sad that it was not released earlier. Soon it will be available. The price of this book has not been set to make a profit, but has been arranged in such a way that it is available at cost as a service to aspirants.
About the Author
One of the greatest adepts, teachers, writers, and humanitarians of the 20th century, Swami Rama is the founder of the Himalayan Institute. Born in Northern India, he was raised from early childhood by a Himalayan sage, Bengali Baba. Under the guidance of his master he traveled from monastery to monastery and studied with a variety of Himalayan saints and sages, including his grandmaster who was living in a remote region of Tibet. In addition to his intense 'Spiritual training, Swami Rama received higher education in both India and Europe. From 1949 to 1952, he held the prestigious position of Shankaracharya of Karvirpitham in South India. Thereafter, he returned to his master to receive further training at his cave monastery, and finally in 1969, came to the United States where he founded the Himalayan Institute. His best known work, Living with the Himalayan Masters, reveals the many facets of this singular adept and demonstrates his embodiment of the living tradition of the East.
Hindu (1774)
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Dictionary (12)
Ethics (49)
Language (350)
Logic (81)
Mimamsa (58)
Nyaya (136)
Psychology (513)
Samkhya (61)
Shaivism (66)
Shankaracharya (232)
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