Asha Marie Kaur is a Research Assistant with SikhRI. She has a BA in Political Science and International Studies from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she was born and raised.
Her work at SikhRI is tied to her love of the Persian language and the ways it connects Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. She is working on writing sabad in Perso-Arabic script to reassert gurbani's place in the Persian literary world. A self-identifying mixed-up Sikh, she is also working on creating resources for Sikhs and non-Sikhs alike that offer ways to connect the word of the Guru to concepts of justice in today's world. One day she hopes to get a PhD in Iranian politics, and for now can be found between Newark, New Jersey and Chicago, Illinois with her travelling cat Mac.
One of Asha's favorite terms for the Creator helps us move away from a fear based relationship to a more Love based connection.
An immersive introduction into the principles of the Sikh faith told through the primary source of the Guru Granth Sahib and secondary historic texts on the life of Guru Nanak Sahib. This course has been created with an audience of young adults in mind.
How did Guru Nanak convey the message of IkOankar using words and phrases from Islamic traditions? In the 1st episode of this video series Asha Kaur explores “Al-Rahim” in the Sikh context.
How did Guru Nanak Sahib react to witnessing a genocide? What is the Babar Vani and how does it inform a Sikh response to injustice?
How did Guru Nanak Sahib describe the human relationship with death when asked by religious leaders at Mecca? What does the relationship with death tell us about how we need to live our life?
In the Mul Mantra (literally “root-verse”), the opening verse of the Sikh scriptural canon and manifesto, Guru Nanak expresses the qualities of the Divine.
In this transcreation, the original Gurmukhi is followed by an English transcription to guide the Sabad’s (Divine Word) pronunciation in its original form.
In this transcreation, the original Gurmukhi is followed by an English transcription to guide the Sabad’s (Divine Word) pronunciation in its original form.
This is a continuation of the Persian Voice of the Guru's featuring the Sikh Research Institute's Researcher, Asha Marie Kaur.
In this episode from the Persian Voice of the Guru Granth Sahib series, Asha Marie Kaur tells us of the Persian linguistic influences of a Sabad by Guru Arjan Sahib.
Persian is one of the many languages found in the Guru Granth Sahib. Guru Nanak Sahib, Guru Arjan Sahib, and several of the bhagats revealed bani (Wisdom) in the Persian language.
Persian-based Sabad is difficult to read and understand for both native Panjabi speakers and native Persian speakers. Panjabi grammar and South Asian vernacular speech is imported into Persian and vice versa, creating new deviations of standard pronunciations. The hybridized language of Gurbani takes influence from the languages of South Asia at the time (Panjabi, Persian, Sanskrit, Braj, and many more) in which the bani was revealed, but often defies the rules of language and poetry to create new meaning. The language of Gurbani stands alone, therefore the following commentary was created to help guide readers through the meaning of this Sabad and enrich understanding.
Sabad is Infinite; we are very finite. This is our understanding at the moment, which was different yesterday and may evolve tomorrow, as we deepen our relationship with the Sabad. In this transcreation, we have chosen to keep the repeating words in the Sabad the same. We aspire to learn and retain the Divine attribute as used in the original Sabad and avoid terms like God or Lord.