In its earthly form, the Siri Guru Granth Sahib is 1430 pages of sacred teachings and songs. There are a total of 36 contributors to the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. In addition to 6 of the Sikh Gurus, there are compositions from 30 saints from different religions, places and times. These songs are set to 60 different musical scales, called Raags (Sikher / SikhiWiki). Raags are very particular musical scales. Different Raags are meant to be sung at different times of day or at different seasons.
The spiritual technology for awakening yourself to your Inner Divinity in Sikh Dharma is to pronounce and sing the songs from the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. It is especially powerful to sing them in the Raags in which they are given. But singing or chanting them, in Raag or not, will have a profound healing effect on your body, communication and mind.
The late Siri Singh Sahib, Yogi Bhajan explained the power of the Raags this way:
“The power and projection of the sound current in the Shabads of Siri Guru Granth Sahib are in Raagas. These Raagas are a methodology of harmonies, they are the play of the life force. The blessings of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib nurtures the trees, humans, bees and birds, demons and angels alike.”
“Once the honeybees sat on a branch to create honey. A tape of Gurbani was played at a distance constantly. That beehive gave three times the honey of the other hives.”
Click here for more resources to read and listen to the Siri Guru Granth Sahib
From the time of Guru Nanak to the time of Guru Gobind Singh, each Sikh Master taught that a person’s own spiritual progress rests within him or herself. A teacher can show us the way. But it is up to each person to walk the path or not. The sacred songs of the Shabad Guru embodied in the Siri Guru Granth Sahib are the key to one’s own self-awakening. When a person, with his or her own lips, tongue and breath, sings the songs of the Enlightened Masters, it begins a chemical chain reaction in the brain. The singing repatterns the neuro-net so that eventually, in time, the student can perceive directly what the Masters spoke about. Then there is Union between the Sikh and the Guru.
“When children sleep at night with a lullaby of Guru Ram Das playing, they become fresh and energetic. There is a beauty in the Siri Guru Granth Sahib with music that gives us excellence and wisdom as vast as the infinity.”
(From Sri Guru Granth Sahib Darshan by Bibiji Inderjit Kaur Khalsa, Ph.D. Page 13)
For more information about the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, visit the Shabad Guru section on the blog on this website. Or view the Light of the Shabad Guru video series on-line.
There are also some awesome resources for the Siri Guru Granth Sahib on Sikhnet’s website
Download the Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji
Click Here to Access and Download the Complete Siri Guru Granth Sahib in PDF Form
Alternately, you can view and download PDFs for each individual volume of the 5-volume set of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib in Gurmukhi and English:
- Volume 1 (Pages 1-757)
- Volume 2 (Pages 758-1511)
- Volume 3 (Pages 1512-2235)
- Volume 4 (Pages 2236-2973)
- Volume 5 (Pages 2974-3714)
Here is a 7 volume PDF translation of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, interpreted by Daljit Singh Jawa.
Web PDF Files Volumes
VOL 1 | VOL 2 | VOL 3 | VOL 4
VOL 5 | VOL 6 | VOL 7