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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 ninth composition of the “Sabad Hajare Patisahi 10” (popularly Shabad Hazare Patshahi 10) series, Guru Gobind Singh Sahib declares that the One Divine will remain fully capable of destroying and creating. Guru Sahib disrupts the phenomenon of identifying “God,” for there is no particular mark of the 1’s form or figure. All forms and figures are destroyed and carved.
In this tenth podcast, Harinder Singh and Jasleen Kaur explore Guru Gobind Singh Sahib’s utterances on the Divine Creator. They discuss the context around this utterance, the popular practice of idol worship and ritual, the Guru’s rhetorical questions for the seeker, and his guidance towards reflecting on our practices and taking refuge in the One.
ਦੇਵਗੰਧਾਰੀ ਪਾਤਿਸਾਹੀ ੧੦
ਇਕੁ ਬਿਨੁ ਦੂਸਰ ਸੋ ਨ ਚਿਨਾਰ॥
ਭੰਜਨ ਗੜ੍ਹਨ ਸਮਰਥ ਸਦਾ ਪ੍ਰਭੁ ਜਾਨਤ ਹੈ ਕਰਤਾਰ॥ ਰਹਾਉ॥
ਕਹਾ ਭਇਓ ਜੋ ਅਤਿ ਹਿਤਿ ਚਿਤੁ ਕਰਿ ਬਹੁ ਬਿਧਿ ਸਿਲਾ ਪੁਜਾਈ॥
ਪਾਨ ਥਕਿਓ ਪਾਹਨ ਕਹ ਪਰਸਤ ਕਛੁ ਕਰਿ ਸਿਧਿ ਨ ਆਈ॥੧॥
ਅੱਛਤ ਧੂਪ ਦੀਪ ਅਰਪਤ ਹੈ ਪਾਹਨ ਕਛੂ ਨ ਖੈ ਹੈ॥
ਤਾ ਮੈ ਕਹਾਂ ਸਿੱਧਿ ਹੈ ਰੇ ਜੜ੍ਹ ਤੋਹਿ ਕਛੂ ਬਰੁ ਦੈ ਹੈ॥੨॥
ਜੌ ਜਿਯ ਹੋਤ ਤੌ ਦੇਤ ਕਛੂ ਤੁਹਿ ਮਨ ਬਚ ਕਰਮ ਬਿਚਾਰੁ॥
ਕੇਵਲੁ ਏਕ ਸਰਣਿ ਸੁਆਮੀ ਬਿਨੁ ਯੌ ਨਹਿ ਕਤਹਿ ਉਧਾਰੁ॥੩॥੧॥੯॥
Divine Creator
How do we recognize The One?
Devagandhari Sovereign 10
Do not mark any other except The One.
That Divine is ever capable of destroying and carving, recognize That as the Creator. Pause-reflect.
So what if the stone idols are worshiped in many ways with great love and consciousness?
Hands are tired of touching the stone idols, but there is no power in hands.
Rice, incense, and lamps are offered; the stone idols do not eat anything.
O ignorant! What power does a stone idol have that it can grant you a boon?
Reflect in mind, speech, and action that if a stone idol had any life, it would have given you something.
There is no liberation in other ways except in the refuge of The One Owner.
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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 ninth composition of the “Sabad Hajare Patisahi 10” (popularly Shabad Hazare Patshahi 10) series, Guru Gobind Singh Sahib declares that the One Divine will remain fully capable of destroying and creating.
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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