Guru Gobind Singh Ji on the Importance of Learning Gurmukhi and Gurbani Santhiya

What is the need for learning Gurmukhi and doing Gurbani Santhiya? 

Explained by Guru Gobind Singh Ji

Twelfth Story from Sau Sakhi (100 Stories)

One day, a Sikh was reading the bani of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Dakhnee Oangkaar. He was reading the pangti (a line in Gurbani), 

Instead of reading Kay (with dulavaa), he was reading Kae (with lavaa).

When Guru Sahib heard the Sikh mispronouncing Gurbani, They told a nearby Sikh, 'Bring that Sikh here, and hit him with a stick.' 

The Sikh was brought to Guru Sahib. Guru Sahib said, 'Make him sit further away from me.'

One Sikh asked, 'O' Guru Sahib, why did You order to hit this Sikh? What has he done?'

Guru Sahib said, 'Whoever reads even one pangti of Gurbani, that person will be saved. This Sikh was reading Dakhnee Oangkaar and mispronouncing Gurbani, how can he be saved?'

Guru Sahib laughed and spoke to the Sikh who was reading the Gurbani, 'You were reading Gurbani without understanding what it means.'

Guru Sahib told the Sikh the right way of pronouncing the pangti above and told the meaning of the pangti as well. 

'The right meaning of this pangti is "The greatness of the Creator, either the Creator knows or the True Guru knows. The Sikhs learn about the greatness of the Creator from the True Guru". By mispronouncing the Kay to Kae, the meaning changes to "The greatness of the Creator only the Creator knows, what does the True Guru knows?" Then what is the point of going to the True Guru?'

'O' Gursikhs, read Gurbani with correct pronunciation and you shall be liberated. If you have mispronounced Gurbani, the re-read it correctly. One must have the true desire to read Gurbani, only then one can understand the essence of Gurbani.'

This was the message of Guru Gobind Singh Ji on the importance of reading Gurbani correctly. Because of this, after the war, at Damdama Sahib, Guru Sahib recited the whole of Guru Granth Sahib Ji while Bhai Mani Singh Ji wrote it, and Guru Sahib also did Santhiya (teaching correct pronunciation of Gurbani) alongside with the meaning. This took 9 months, 9 days and 9 gharee(1 gharee = 24 minutes, thus 3.6 hours). A group of 48 Singhs did the full Santhiya with meanings, after which, they attained Bidey Mukti (liberation from the ego of this physical body). From these 48  Sikhs, Baba Deep Singh Ji and Bhai Mani Singh Ji were given the duty to spread the message of doing santhiya and learning the meaning of Gurbani. Up till now, we have the institutions of Damdami Taksaal and few others that still continues the teaching of Gurbani Santhiya. 

One of the 52 hukams (orders) of Guru Gobind Singh Ji is to memorise Gurbani, and to learn the meaning of Gurbani from fellow learned Gursikhs. 

Even in Bhai Desa Singh Ji Rehatnama, Bhai Sahib writes,

Guru Angad Dev Ji, alongside Baba Buddha Ji, took up the task of teaching Gurmukhi to the sangat, those same alphabets that were fashioned by Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Why? Gurmukhi was the script that everyone, regardless of caste, could read and write. Gurmukhi brought those, who felt unworthy for Vaheguru, closer to Vaheguru. The thought that I too can learn the language and read the words of the True Guru, was liberating for them. 

In the present times, many are not seeing the importance to learn Gurmukhi and do Santhiya, mainly due to lack of time. We fail to note that to understand Gurbani, we have to read Gurbani in its original form, which is in Gurmukhi.

Question: Many have asked, what about just reading the transliterations? 

Transliterations are full of flaws. There are many Gurmukhi alphabets that can't be found in Roman alphabets, such as 

and many more. 

Try this experiment: Read the Gurmukhi pangti, and then the transliterations, listen to how you sound and whether you can understand what you are saying.Both versions sound different. It's difficult to find perfect sounding Roman alphabets to match the sound of Gurmukhi alphabets. I made a video on this, which perhaps you can watch and understand further. Why Learning Santhiya & Gurbani is Important?

Question: What if I just read the English translations?

If we could make do with just translations and transliterations, then why did Guru Sahib go through the effort to create Gurmukhi? Why not just use Persian or Sanskrit alphabets to write Gurbani? 

Translations are the authors' own understanding of Gurbani. They are not completely right, but are also very useful for beginners to understand Gurbani. This should just be a stepping stone, having in mind to move on to Gurmukhi. To completely depend on the English translations, can be detrimental as well.  

Best example here, the same pangti as above,

 

The translation in grey is by Dr. Sant Singh Khalsa, while the blue one is by Bhai Manmohan Singh. Both have different meaning, and the best one that explains the meaning of this pangti is Bhai Manmohan Singh Ji. Which is why I chose the blue one to use in this article. There are many instances, where the English translations do not do justice to the meaning of the pangti. Why? Because English vocabulary itself is limited. Many a times, an English vocab is used to explain various Gurbani words, and what happens is that we lack the appreciation for the art of poetry, and perhaps, completely miss the original message of Gurbani. 

There are many translations done in Gurmukhi, which are far better than English translations. Sri Guru Granth Sahib Darpan- a full translation of Guru Granth Sahib Ji, which takes into consideration the grammatical aspect in Gurbani, which lacks in English translations. 

Sri Ameer Bhandaar- tells us the historical aspect of the Bani or Shabads written, hence it is easier for us to read the Shabad in context, and get better understanding of why Guru Sahib wrote the Bani and how we can apply into our life situations. 

Fareedkot Teeka- one of the oldest translations done of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Even the language can be quite difficult to understand as there is a mix of Hindi as well. 

Download iGurbani on your phone or laptop. 

There are many more Gurmukhi translations, and on top of that, to further our understanding, we also have dictionaries, in Gurmukhi, now also available in English, on all the words in Guru Granth Sahib Ji and also other Granths as well. So, there is no reason to not learn Gurmukhi and trying to read Gurbani in its original form. 

Download Isher Micro Media on your phone

You can also try downloading Punjabi Kosh on your phone. 

A quote by the very famous George Orwell,

“The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”

Gurmukhi, is a part of Sikhi, a part of Khalsa Panth, and if we sought for Khalsa Raj, then perhaps we have to start with the fundamentals, and that is our own language and written script. 

Question: Where can I do online santhiya?

Nowadays, with the advancement of technology, those who can't physically attend Gurbani Santhiya classes, or due to time constraint, can do their Santhiya online. Isn't this great?

Online Santhiya Links 

Damdami Taksaal Online Santhiya  

Nihung Santhia

Gursevak Website

Basics of Sikhi - Learn Gurmukhi

Baba Darshan Singh Ji Calgary Santhiya

If you have anymore websites where we can do Santhiya or learn Gurmukhi, do share in the comment below. 

There is so much more we can speak about when it comes to Gurmukhi, but I encourage you to do some reading and contemplation on your own. 

Sangatji, it is never too late to learn the beautiful script that Guru Nanak Dev Ji Themselves fashioned. Take a step closer to getting to know and love our Guru. 

-THE END-