“Brahm Gyani” describes a highly enlightened individual who has obtained the ultimate blessings of “Wahe Guru.” Practicing Shabad Guru with love and devotion in our hearts can allow us to obtain glimpses of this beautiful state of being if we are so blessed by the Guru. This concept is described in depth in the eighth Ashtapadee in Sukhmani Sahib.

Brahm Gyani, literally means the “knower of Brahman” or “one possessing the knowledge of Brahman.” The “knowledge” (giana, jnana) of the Universal Spirit (Brahman) exists not in the mere recognition of His existence, but in a continuous consciousness about Him—His realization in the heart, or rather the realization of a total identity of the individual soul (atman) with that Universal Soul (Brahman), which makes the former transcend joy and sorrow and life and death.

This total identity signifies, in essence, the oneness of the Universe with that Universal Soul and of the latter with the individual souls which a Brahm Gyani recognizes as the Ultimate Reality. The concept of Brahman in Sikhism delineates the Universal Spirit in theistic terms as the Absolute, the Creator and the Ordainer of the Universe which is, as it were, the visible form of the Divine.

The concept of Brahm Gyani in Sikhism is elaborated in the sublime poetry of Guru Arjan, the fifth Sikh Guru, in Sukhmani Sahib (SGGS, Ang 262-296).

The Brahm Gyani enjoys the highest spiritual status and he is accorded the highest veneration. The Brahm Gyani in Sukhmani Sahib is postulated as being unattached (nirlep) like the lotus in water.

He is endowed with Divine realization; he is deeply humane and compassionate. To all is he gracious casting an equal glance on all like the sun, and indifferent to praise or dispraise like the earth. He has humility and is ever anxious to do good to others.

A Brahm Gyani looks on all beings equally and impartially—brahmgiani sada samdarsi (SGGS, Ang 272). He showers the nectar of love and affection on all (SGGS, Ang 373). An embodiment of compassion, the Brahm Gyani does good to others and helps those in distress. A model of piety and righteousness, he is the repository of all ethical virtues and a shunner of all vices and sins (SGGS, Ang 272-273).

The Brahm Gyani is unaffected by the pleasures and enjoyments of the world, just as the lotus-leaf remains untouched by water. He is fully in control of his mind and is pure and blemishless (SGGS, Ang 272-73). He takes pleasure and pain, profit and loss, equally.

A Brahm Gyani leads others to the path of holiness and piety. He commands their spontaneous respect and reverence by virtue of his great glory and profound spiritual influence (SGGS, Ang 273).

– By D.K. Gupta, repubulished from SikhiWiki. 

~Resource: “Brahm Gyani: Knower of God” (Sikh Dharma International).