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Introducing Sabad Hajare Patshahi 10, new translations and commentaries of Guru Gobind Singh Sahib's composition. Harinder Singh (Innovation Director) and Jasleen Kaur (Research Associate) discuss their learnings and challenges while engaging with the words of this composition. The unique contexts and subversions these compositions reveal are a treat for those who yearn to get to know Guru Gobind Singh Sahib and those who yearn to celebrate Guru Gobind Singh Sahib.
In the seventh composition of the “Sabad Hajare Patisahi 10” (popularly Shabad Hazare Patshahi 10) series, Guru Gobind Singh Sahib locates the Creator as the Death; there is no god or messenger of death to fear. Guru Sahib disrupts prevailing thought by declaring that there is only One Creator whose identity includes death for only the 1 creates.
In this eighth podcast, Harinder Singh and Jasleen Kaur explore Guru Gobind Singh Sahib’s utterances on the Creator as Death, and the Guru’s guidance of considering IkOankar as the only Force of both coming and going, creation and death. They contextualize this composition in the larger popular understanding of death as separate from the One, and smaller deities and mythological figures as infallible creators and destroyers.
ਤਿਲੰਗ ਕਾਫੀ ਪਾਤਿਸਾਹੀ ੧੦
ਕੇਵਲ ਕਾਲਈ ਕਰਤਾਰ॥
ਆਦਿ ਅੰਤਿ ਅਨੰਤਿ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਗੜ੍ਹਨ ਭੰਜਨਹਾਰੁ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ॥
ਨਿੰਦ ਉਸਤਤਿ ਜਉਨ ਕੇ ਸਮ ਸਤ੍ਰੁ ਮਿਤ੍ਰੁ ਨ ਕੋਇ॥
ਕਉਨ ਬਾਟ ਪਰੀ ਤਿਸੈ ਪਥ ਸਾਰਥੀ ਰਥ ਹੋਇ॥੧॥
ਤਾਤ ਮਾਤ ਨ ਜਾਤਿ ਜਾਕਰ ਪੁਤ੍ਰ ਪੌਤ੍ਰ ਮੁਕੰਦ॥
ਕਉਨ ਕਾਜਿ ਕਹਾਹਿਂਗੇ ਤੇ ਆਨਿ ਦੇਵਕਿਨੰਦ॥੨॥
ਦੇਵ ਦੈਤ ਦਿਸਾ ਵਿਸਾ ਜਿਹ ਕੀਨ ਸਰਬ ਪਸਾਰ॥
ਕਉਨ ਉਪਮਾ ਤੌਨ ਕੋ ਮੁਖਿ ਲੇਤ ਨਾਮੁ ਮੁਰਾਰਿ॥੩॥੧॥੭॥
Creator Death
Who carves and destroys?
Tilang Kafi Sovereign 10
Only the Creator is the Death.
From the beginning to the end, carver and destroyer of endless forms. Pause-reflect.
For Whom slander and praise are alike, there is no foe or friend.
What trouble came to Krishna that he had to be the charioteer of Arjuna’s chariot?
For Who has no father, mother, caste, children, and grandchildren is the Emaniciaptor;
Then for what deed did Krishna come and call himself the son of Devaki?
The One who created deities, demons, directions, corners, and the whole expanse;
What’s the glory if the mouth names That One Krishna who killed Mura?
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Harinder Singh is the Senior Fellow at the Sikh Research Institute. He holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Wichita State University, an MS in Engineering Management from the University of Kansas, and an MPhil from Punjab University in the linguistics of the Guru Granth Sahib.
View profile ⟶Jasleen Kaur is a Research Associate at the Sikh Research Institute. She has received a Religious Studies B.A./M.A. from the University of Virginia, focusing on South Asian Religions through the lens of literature and poetry.
View profile ⟶
In the seventh composition of the “Sabad Hajare Patisahi 10” (popularly Shabad Hazare Patshahi 10) series, Guru Gobind Singh Sahib locates the Creator as the Death; there is no god or messenger of death to fear.
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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Gatha refers to a song or verse, rooted in the word gai, to speak, sing, or recite. It can also refer to a profound discourse with the self beyond simple praise or devotion.
Harinder Singh explores Bhai Vir Singh's unique framing of Sikh history at Bhai Vir Singh Sahitya Sadan, Delhi.
The essence of this composition is revealed in the stanza of rahau (Pause). In it, worldly accounting (entanglements) is described as useless.
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