I was visiting my long-time friend’s parents for the first time last weekend. They turned out to be very religious and hospitable. Within the first 15 minutes they gauged my interest and approach towards life and shared a bundle of religious books on Sikhism written in Punjabi. I have no formal education in reading or writing Gurmukhi (official name for Punjabi language). But I learned to read the printed scripts in Punjabi while narrating the Jap ji Sahib, Rehraas sahib and Sukhmani Sahib prayers. My wife and cousin also guided me in a causal manner to master reading Gurmukhi. I was done reading a two-page editorial in one of the books gifted to me. The article highlighted the reason for troubles in life and attributed it to ignorance/disregard to the teachings compiled in Guru Grant Sahib. A stanza was quoted from Guru Grant Sahib to help the reader relate to relevance of the text in today’s world. However, I feel the writing lacked the depth thats is usually expected of well-read younger generations. They do not relate to notions of ‘Akaashwani’ when the Gurus across religions received the message from almighty and they narrated it verbatim to their discipiles. Even when we speak specifically about Sikhism the most important message is to lead a life of a human- have familiy, have fun but then do it in a manner that does no harm to others. In other words, it can be said that Sikhism preaches to keep God in perspective while dealing with the outside world as well as our inner self. It’s about being ethical in all our dealings. So what should the text books on teachings of Guru Grant Sahib be written on? The answer lies in attempting to comprehend the dilemmas the life puts forth to the young today and then try addressing it using the wisdom of Guru Grant Sahib. The mention of Guru Grant Sahib should be as subtle as possible.
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