In its earthly form, the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, the living Guru of the Sikhs, is 1430 pages of sacred teachings and songs. These songs are set to 60 different musical scales (raags). In Sikh Dharma, the spiritual technology for awakening ourselves to our Inner Divinity is to pronounce and sing the songs from the Siri Guru Granth Sahib.
The Sikh Gurus taught that a person’s own spiritual progress rests within him or herself, and that it is up to each person to walk the path, or not. For Sikhs, the sacred songs of the Shabad Guru embodied in the Siri Guru Granth Sahib are the key to one’s own self-awakening.
Sikhs believe that it is especially powerful to sing these shabads in the raags in which they are given, and that singing or reciting shabads from the Siri Guru Granth Sahib will have a profound healing effect on our body, communication and mind. When a person, with his or her own lips, tongue and breath, sings the songs of the Sikh Gurus, it begins a chemical chain reaction in the brain. The singing re-patterns the nervous system so that eventually, in time, the Sikh can perceive directly what the Gurus spoke about in their own consciousness. Then there is union between the Sikh and the Guru.
The totality of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib offers individuals the opportunity to experience a pure Infinite consciousness and a profound inner transformation. Its 1,430 cannot be easily summarized, as each page contains vast eternal wisdom.
Here are a few of the main messages contained within the Siri Guru Granth Sahib:
- Live Your Life to the Highest Principles: Living in alignment with the Siri Guru Granth Sahib is about living a life of Truth, respect for others, humility, tranquillity, peace, blessings, high moral standards, equality, service and co-existence.
- All Peoples of the World are Equal: The Siri Guru Granth Sahib promotes a message of equality of all beings. Discrimination of all types is strictly forbidden, and no one is higher or lower. All are One, and the One is in all.
- Equality of Women: Guru Nanak established Sikhism as the first religion to advocate emphatically the equality of all people, especially women.
- One God: The Siri Guru Granth Sahib tells us that there is only one God and no other, and that the Divine is merciful, Infinite and everywhere (all-pervading).
- Speak and Live Truthfully: the Siri Guru Granth Sahib emphasizes the importance of truthful living for all. The Gurus emphasized that a body and mind impaired by falsehood cannot be purified by bathing in holy rivers, visiting holy places or engaging in religious ritual. There is no substitute for purity of mind and consciousness, and impurity of the mind leads to other vices such as anger, lust, attachment, ego, and greed. A core tenet of Sikhism and truthful living is earning an honest living by the sweat of one’s brow (Kirat Karo).
- Control of the Five Thieves (Vices): The Siri Guru Granth Sahib instructs us to control our animal instincts of pride or ego, anger, greed, attachment and lust.
- Live in God’s Hukam: the Siri Guru Granth Sahib urges Sikhs to accept the “Hukam” or command of the Divine easily, and to live according to God’s will. The Guru advises Sikhs to cultivate contentment and a positive attitude of Chardikala (ever-rising spirit).
- Practice Humility, Kindness, Compassion, and Love: the themes of controlling the mind and subduing one’s ego appear repeatedly in the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. The Gurus emphasized the importance of practicing humility, kindness and compassion toward all in daily life, and demonstrated the values of love and service for all humanity in their words and actions as an example to Sikhs everywhere.
~Resources: “Siri Guru Granth Sahib” (Sikh Dharma International) and “Message of Guru Granth Sahib” (SikhiWiki).