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ਅਲਾਹੁ ਅਲਖੁ ਅਗੰਮੁ ਕਾਦਰੁ ਕਰਣਹਾਰੁ ਕਰੀਮੁ ॥
alāhu alakhu agammu kādaru karaṇhāru karīmu.
Allah is Unseeable, the Unattainable, the All-Powerful, the Creator-Maker, the Bountiful.
Through the Persian-influenced Sabad of Guru Nanak Sahib, Asha Marie Kaur explores our feeling of "place" in light of COVID-19.
How do we cope when the physical places we frequent are beyond our reach? Guru Nanak Sahib's redefines the Sufi principle of "maqam" or spiritual waystation and provides insights.
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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.
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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.
The Sikh Research Institute recognizes its ethical responsibility to promptly correct any factual small or large errors. Please get in touch with us via email to request a correction if you have identified a mistake.
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To mark the 40th year of the violence of 1984, we reflect on the events that unfolded in India and make connections with the ongoing and durable violence against Sikhs, Muslims, and other minority groups in India and the diaspora.
In Maru Kaphi, Guru Nanak Sahib reflects on the grief caused by separation from IkOankar, showing that even with worldly comforts, one remains unhappy without this connection.
In this Sabad, Bhagat Sain Ji sings the ‘Arti’ of the transcendent Supreme Being, IkOankar (the Divine). He emphasizes that the true 'Arti' of IkOankar is not a ritualistic act of adorning a platter with incense, lamps, and ghee.
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