Bhai Vir Singh, popularly known as Father of Modern Punjabi Literature, was born at a time when the Sikh community was going through a period of renaissance. Born in 1872, Bhai Vir Singh soon became the main source of inspiration and guarding light of the Singh Sabha Movement. He devoted his whole life in rejuvenating the Sikh community through his writings and through the institutions created by him. Bhai Vir Singh along with other prominent Sikh leaders of the time established Chief Khalsa Diwan, Sikh Educational Society, Khalsa College, Amritsar, and Punjab and Sind Bank.
Bhai Vir Singh's primary source of contact with the maeses was through his tracts which he prolifically produced and his major literary works had the stamp of profound scholarship.
Bhai Vir Singh established the Khalsa Tract Society and the Wazir-e-Hind Press and founded a Punjabi weekly paper, Khalsa Samachar, which is the only Punjabi weekly that completed its centenary in 1999. In spite of his meritorious writings and a spate of humanitarian work that Bhai Vir Singh undertook, he always chose to stay away from the limelight. That is why it was not until in the late years of his life, that his services to literature, arts, philosophy, religion and humanity became formally recognised. The Sahitya Akademi and several other literary institutions honoured him and Government of India conferred Padma Bhushan on him.
Bhai Vir Singh Sahitya Sadan, a premier literary and cultural institution in the National Capital, established in the memory of the doyen of Punjabi literature, has been publishing Bhai Vir Singh's works so that the message of essential unity of humankind could reach the larger body of readers at home and abroad. In view of the growing demand of Bhai Vir Singh's writings, Sadan has not only reprinted most of his original writings through modern technology but has also taken up a major project of translating his writings into English, Hindi and other languages.
Encouraged by the response of Punjabi version, we have got Bhai Sahib's popular work Anmol Heeray translated into English. Anmol Heeray aims to throw light on the lives and contribution of Sikh heroes who got shrouded in the mists of time. The book deals with sagas of brave Sikh men and women who upheld principles and values of equality and humanity taught by the Gurus while fighting against oppression and injustice.
We hope the translation will help in transmitting message of the Gurus to the younger generation at home and abroad.
It is about three years ago, when the greatest Poet of the day, attuned to Him and His Creation, to compose these poems so soulfully, riding the swing of heavenly bliss, went to Kashmir. Some go there and return from there, but he, having realized that "He Abides in His Nature", became the guest of Goddess Nature, and deep within the belly of nature, where is located His Temple of Attunement, he got seated. The poet of nature loves till the end; in the chest of the poet the breast of nature springs up. The un-struck sound of nature becomes eager to be heard in the divine song of the poet, in a wonderful manner, and an idea of this spectacle can be had from the following lines-
When my eyes have thy
First glimpse, Verinag! I
pay obeisance to God
Abiding in His Nature
Greenish blue, crystal shine
Sparkling like pearls
Comes to abide in soul
Mind not feels satiated.
Meetings of poet with nature, in all its beauty, are very successful and precious events in the spiritual history; sometimes the miracle of a moment carries one into a wondrous state of ecstasy. When such meetings take place, there is a joy which has no bounds; springs of joy begun to gush nectar. Such streams are unstoppable. The picture of his infinite and strong current has been drawn by the poet, like this:
Those who have yearning in heart Cannot ever afford to sit and rest In their yearning eyes they perceive Day and night the divine reflect They have only one goal before them: Must keep walking till the end No halt till destination is reached They keep a steady pace till they reach
The meeting of the poet with nature can take place any time, anywhere, "Sarvang Khal Vid" - when the poet gets into joyousness, the blooming flowers dance in their playfulness, there is lighting of lamps by the stars, lost into this touch of love, the great ecstasy thereof, the breezes become heady swings spreading bloom all around, turning the surroundings into eternal spring, there is a feeling of dreamful sleep, and a current of the Infinite passes through. Verily the poet of nature "Poet-Nature-Confluence" abide in such a vast flower garden and in these printed pages, the springs of life keep gushing.
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