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General Akhand Paath In Languages Other Than The Original

Kanwaljit.Singh

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No one is suggesting to alter the Gurbani. But is there really that much power in sounds without understanding that reading translations is akin to making curd without milk?

Did any Guruji endorse the practice of akhand paath, or was this behaviour introduced later?

Akhand Paath was started when the Swaroops of Guru Granth Sahib were limited and they went from town to town, so there will be Akhand Paaths so that people could listen to Gurbani in shortest time (non stop renditions).

Now consider Rehat. Like you have to read Japuji Sahib in the morning. Would you be OK with reading just the translation and not the Gurbani? Similarly I wonder if we can consider the whole volume of Guru Granth Sahib translations as Guru? No we cannot. We would not bow to that. The notion of Paath is incomplete without Gurbani. Translation will enhance your understanding.

Thanks for the video but it doesn't actually teach anything in the way of learning the actual Gurbani. There are plenty of resources for the newbie like myself to learn to read Gurmukhi and do paath. But there are scant resources that explain the actual meaning of the words and language.

I understand for you the tougher part is the pigeon hole problem, making sure all translations fit the original word.

Something simple like 'ki' instead of 'da' - I've only just figured that out in the last couple of months. Call me slow but without any kind of guide you've got to muddle along until you go 'hmm, I guess ki is da for some reason'.

Ishna ji, see here you are ahead of me, I am still researching the use of 'ki' and 'da' in Gurbani and don't have a concrete hypothesis on it. Maybe you can start a new topic with your understandings.

It is also one of the methods of sending the Guru’s message to those who are not aware of it. Gradual awareness is also part and parcel of giving wings to the religion that our society needs.In India sikhi is treated as part of Hinduism only. Sikh is, constitutionally speaking, a Hindu.

Therein lies the problem. Being a Hindu means living without rules. Pray to anyone. Have a fast on any day. Choose your Gods. Choose your scripture. What is in Sikhi is defined. Akaal Purakh. Guru Granth Sahib. No fasts no ritual worships, no pilgrimages etc. Just because it says in the constitution, Sikhs are not Hindus.

I think the over all requirement is dedication and love of Lord that matters. He understands all the languages and cannot be supposed to be only of an idealists God. He is kind and merciful. He forgives His devotees. He also very well understand as to who is in devotion without any hypocrisy. All that we seek while doing Paath is to seek his grace. Let the language not become a barrier to meet this end. He knows, in my humble opinion, the language of our hearts that, we all know is LOVE.

What is Gurbani to us? Just some nice thoughts written in Gurmukhi language? No. I am not caring about the Gurmukhi. I am not concerned about what language it is written in. Gurbani is our Living Guru. Each word, matra, sound etc. is a creation of our Gurus. When I read from Gurmukhi Gutka, I see everyday, the hard work our Gurus had put in, their beautiful art, it is in a way reliving the history 300 years ago all over again. I don't want to let go of that feeling.
 

Scarlet Pimpernel

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My entire POST is about WHY ?? Please re-read

This shows exactly the problem with reading, you can only take from it what you see, and not always fully what the writer intends,
Isi the original language is Truth ,it will always translate into Truth ,read it in any language it will ring true , breathe it in for your language is aquired too,read it as if in the womb you had not learned a language, think on it without thinking in your language.
 
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Kanwaljit.Singh

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English and other Latin languages were around at the time Gurbani was written. Our Gurus were well travelled and probably aware of them. Still they chose Gurmukhi was they found it was the best script to unify all the Baani under one Framework. Remember, Gurbani from other 'languages' were not chosen to support many languages. The primary reason was that they were spiritually relevant.

See this award winning documentary on Gurmukhi http://www.sikhnet.com/video/35
 

Chaan Pardesi

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I have just gone through briefly.NO bhog or akhand path can be done through translated Granth sahibs; as the current Sikh law stands.The translated versions are only for learning and understanding the message of Gurbani through other languages.

They are NOT GURU granth sahibs, for a very simple reason.They lack the special messsage in a unique language ....੧(ੳ¬ !

One cannot write or put the ੧(ੳ¬ in any other language in the unique manner Guru Nanak ji gave it to us/ world!It will mean nothing in French; or tamil or Chinese.

This cannot be translated into any other language for the simple reason as described!

We can write in as Eko'n kar!But that is not the same as ੧(ੳ¬ , which is very unique and peculiar to only the Gurmukhi language.
 

Ishna

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My entire POST is about WHY ?? Please re-read...

Perhaps I'm not reading it right, but your post talks about akhand paath ritual being useless and ends saying a rendition in any other language is even more useless than that. I would ask, how is it even more useless?

(edit)- perhaps Gyaniji is saying which is more broken, the shattered cup or the shattered mug.
 
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Ishna

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Akhand Paath was started when the Swaroops of Guru Granth Sahib were limited and they went from town to town, so there will be Akhand Paaths so that people could listen to Gurbani in shortest time (non stop renditions).

Now consider Rehat. Like you have to read Japuji Sahib in the morning. Would you be OK with reading just the translation and not the Gurbani? Similarly I wonder if we can consider the whole volume of Guru Granth Sahib translations as Guru? No we cannot. We would not bow to that. The notion of Paath is incomplete without Gurbani. Translation will enhance your understanding.

I do my japji Sahib half in Gurbani (and don't understand most of what I'm saying) and half in English. I am learning the word sounds so it makes it easier I hope later on to learn the meanings behind the words. But when I'm done, its the English that I carry with me and contemplate, because the rest I don't understand. Actually that's not entirely true. Gurbani phrases often get stuck in my head because they rhyme.

You are correct, we would not bow to any other bir except the original.

I understand for you the tougher part is the pigeon hole problem, making sure all translations fit the original word.

I don't quite understand what you mean by pigeonholing, the problem is lack of resources to learn what each word means. you can have a sentence in Gurbani and the same in English but it means nothing unless you can see what the Gurbani words actually mean which lead to the English translation. Am I clear?



Ishna ji, see here you are ahead of me, I am still researching the use of 'ki' and 'da' in Gurbani and don't have a concrete hypothesis on it. Maybe you can start a new topic with your understandings.

I highly doubt that brother! I didn't even realise 'ki' was more complicated than that!


What is Gurbani to us? Just some nice thoughts written in Gurmukhi language? No. I am not caring about the Gurmukhi. I am not concerned about what language it is written in. Gurbani is our Living Guru. Each word, matra, sound etc. is a creation of our Gurus. When I read from Gurmukhi Gutka, I see everyday, the hard work our Gurus had put in, their beautiful art, it is in a way reliving the history 300 years ago all over again. I don't want to let go of that feeling.

Great paragraph, don't let go of that feeling. :) But remember, the mission is to understand and put into practice what the Guru jis have written. It wasn't written for the sake of writing but for the sake of teaching. You can't learn if you don't understand. That's like trying to teach math without knowing which numeric symbol represents which number. Sure, you can verbally count from one to ten, can recognise and say the numbers out loud, but you don't know that one is a single, two is a pair, etc.
 
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Gyani Jarnail Singh

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Perhaps I'm not reading it right, but your post talks about akhand paath ritual being useless and ends saying a rendition in any other language is even more useless than that. I would ask, how is it even more useless?

(edit)- perhaps Gyaniji is saying which is more broken, the shattered cup or the shattered mug.

Yes Ji..the idea is in the mug/cup part. An AP in Gurmukhi as its done now is a shattered CUP..and in English it would be shattered MUG..BOTH useless.
 

OSingh

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Gurbani is also written to a poetic metre. This is why Gurbani rhymes so beautifully and we can both utter Gurbani (path) and do kirtan. When you do translation you lose the poetic and rhyming quality which is very important. It is the way Gurbani has been written that one can listen for long time.

Translations and meanings done in English are fine but paath and kirtan of Gurbani should always be done in Gurmukhi.

The rass and an anand of reading Gurbani in Gurmukhi can never be equalled by translation. Reading Gurbani in Gurmukhi one even gets anand from the bani we do not understand such is the poetic quality of Gurbani.

If one really wants to get full benefit of Gurbani they will surely make an effort to learn Gurmukhi. We learn lots of other stuff and waste hours doing useless activities but we cannot take the time out to learn Gurmukhi?

I agree Akhand Paath is just becoming a revenue stream for Gurdwaras to finance even more Akhaand Paaths and weddings. Those booking the Akhaand Paath do not listen to the bani rather they spend most of the time in the langar hall chatting with relatives. Everybody then attends the final ardaas thinking they have done Akhaand Paath but in reality have not even listened to or done vichar of even 1 pankti of Gurbani. For 3 days the the darbar sahib is mostly empty whilst the Granthi does path in poor manner which no one can understand.

However the Granthi must also be disheartened when none of the par war (family) who organised Akhaand Paath are actually listening to it. This results in the Granthi becoming lazy in doing the paath. However when there is lots of Sangat for the bhog then the Granthis do paath of final banis Mahalla Naava, Mundavani loudly and clearly.

For a good Akhaand Paath you you require good sewadaars who do sewa with pyaar and shardha. You require Granthis who can read Gurbani in fluent and clear manner and do not becoming lazy in doing path. The Granthi should read Gurbani in same manner regardless of how many in attendance. Also at least 1 member of parwar if not all should always be listening to paath of Gurbani in Darbar Sahib.

The Gurdawara committee's need to set out guidelines before an Akhand Paath and tell the parwar clearly what is required of them. However this is unlikely as this will result in less Akhand Paaths and therefore less revenue.

Satguru Mehar Karan!
 

Randip Singh

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English and other Latin languages were around at the time Gurbani was written. Our Gurus were well travelled and probably aware of them. Still they chose Gurmukhi was they found it was the best script to unify all the Baani under one Framework. Remember, Gurbani from other 'languages' were not chosen to support many languages. The primary reason was that they were spiritually relevant.

See this award winning documentary on Gurmukhi http://www.sikhnet.com/video/35

The reason why the Guru's wrote in Gurmukhi was that it was the language of the common man in Punjab:

http://www.sikhs.org/gurmukhi.htm

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=KbWsvR34ax8C&pg=PA15&dq=why+was+the+guru+granth+sahib+written+in+gurmukhi?&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JEcJUMuEHMXXtAbW_pzjCA&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=why%20was%20the%20guru%20granth%20sahib%20written%20in%20gurmukhi%3F&f=false

It was the language that Guru Nanak spoke. No common man understood religious texts because they were either in Sanskrit or in the case of Muslim ones Arabic.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...uru granth sahib written in gurmukhi?&f=false

If they had been brought up in England they would have written in English (around that time it would have been Shakespearean English).

Writing the Guru Granth Sahib ji in English or Spanish at that period of time would have made no sense whatsoever. The Guru's wanted to convey the word of God in language that the common man understood in Punjab.

In order for people to remember it more easily, they also wrote it to verse and made it rhyme.

In terms of translation, Hew Mcleods done a pretty good job as well as Pritam Singh Chahil:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...u granth sahib translation hew mcleod&f=false
 

itsmaneet

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The only problem with translation is it differs the 'pronunciation' & we now how important is the correct pronunciation. So, Gurbani preferably should be read in its original language itself.

It's my view & am saying on my experience may differ from other ....
 

Gyani Jarnail Singh

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There is one scholar..a Professor Gopal Singh dardee who was in the Indian Govt..he wrote a Four Vol SGGS in ENGLISH which RHYMES !! I have a Copy...

This guy fell victim to a SCAM..some White Guy came to see him and told him he is chosen for the Nobel Prize and he has to pay a large sum to book a place as well as have his compositions and name in the NP book. He even had Greeting cards printed announcing a party at a five star hotel in Delhi to celebrate this..next morning he was flabbergasted to note that no such NP was awarded to him..and he was cheated in a scam..:interestedkudi:
 

Astroboy

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I have just gone through briefly.NO bhog or akhand path can be done through translated Granth sahibs; as the current Sikh law stands.The translated versions are only for learning and understanding the message of Gurbani through other languages.

They are NOT GURU granth sahibs, for a very simple reason.They lack the special messsage in a unique language ....੧(ੳ¬ !

One cannot write or put the ੧(ੳ¬ in any other language in the unique manner Guru Nanak ji gave it to us/ world!It will mean nothing in French; or tamil or Chinese.

This cannot be translated into any other language for the simple reason as described!

We can write in as Eko'n kar!But that is not the same as ੧(ੳ¬ , which is very unique and peculiar to only the Gurmukhi language.

Maybe you're judging other ways without even trying it. May I remind you that language is just a media to convey the messages.

This reminds me of a tuk :

Page 1429, Line 14
ਤਮ ਸੰਸਾਰੁ ਚਰਨ ਲਗਿ ਤਰੀਐ ਸਭੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਬ੍ਰਹਮ ਪਸਾਰੋ ॥੧॥
तम संसारु चरन लगि तरीऐ सभु नानक ब्रहम पसारो ॥१॥
Ŧam sansār cẖaran lag ṯarī▫ai sabẖ Nānak barahm pasāro. ||1||
The dark world-ocean is crossed over, by assimilating the Divine words and sentences herein; O Nanak, it is all the extension of God. ||1||
Guru Arjan Dev
 
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Astroboy

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I find it better to do Sehaj paath in transliteration (Because I am more English educated than Punjabi) than go for bhangra parties and waste my time there.

Bani tell us in various ways, that you have a 'diamond like birth' with 'swasa di punji', and what you're doing here (on earth) to take along with you?
 

Chaan Pardesi

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Astro Boy, JI, Gurfateh I dont think you quite understand English as well as you have claimed.



To start with ...you have failed to understand my sentence......."NO bhog or akhand path can be done through translated Granth sahibs; as the current Sikh law stands.


It seems that you did not see the bold letters saying..as the current Sikh law stands nor understood its definition and meaning even if you saw it.




It is very obvious you have failed to understand accurately;and then allege that "I may be judging ...without even trying it"

Trying what and judging what?



Instead, I think YOU are ASSumming here and quick to draw your revolver and firing blindly ; but not quite know what you are firing at!




It has become quite fashionable to give a few qoutes from here and there; often not quite right at what one is trying to say; but hope that it will impress.




In your hasty attempt, you have either deliberately ignored; or perhaps did not quite understand the simple terms ..as the current Sikh law stands!Thus, I very much doubt that you are better English educated than Punjabi;as it has shown it makes no difference to your "understanding" ..... understanding ANYTHING with clarity, precisely and accurately is very important, just like prouncing EVERY WORD correctly when doing the Akhand path or any path... I have never come across anything in English that can spell exactly accurately as written in the Gurmukhi langauge of the Guru Granth sahib...so my question to you is how would you manage correct ucharan if spelt in English, French or German or even in chinese?Are you now also assuming that simply because it is written in any other language than Gurmukhi or Punjabi, it is going to be free from inacurate pronounciation, pause for shabad, or even mean

An American humourist Mark Twain declares..I have never let my schooling interfere with MY education;to this I would add, I would not let education interfere in my understanding accurately, precisely and correctly!



As it is very obvious here without giving any more examples...in your own words..(Because I am more English educated than Punjabi)- you have allowed education to interefere with your understanding things correctly and precisely and accurately!


THEREFORE got it all wrong when you have assumed, and are judging the irrelevent and unassociated, while accusing me of "judging".

If you had understood all accurately, then you would have not accused me of judging,nor suggest that I have "not tried other ways".

What these "other ways" are, I have no interest nor desire to try!




I follow the Panthic Rehat Maryada, which clearly states that a Sikh has two sets of responsibility-One personal responsibilty as a Sikh, the other a coporate responsibility as a Sikh.



The question as I understand is whether a akhand Path can be done through the transliterated versions or the Original Guru Granth sahib in Punjabi as written BY the Sikh GURU SAHIBAAN?Very simple and nothing is hard to understand.



The coporate responsibilty of the SIKH towards the collective Panth does NOT condone Akhand Path to be done via transliterated versions as the Sikh Maryada says.


Whether YOU agree or NOT,is irelevent as it does not stop the practices of the panth.In human civilization, when an act of human being or a group of humans proves useful for them, it becomes a custom.When that custom is recognised by the human community, it becomes a tradition; and when these traditions and customs give regular benefits to the human community or groups, they develop as institutions,or laws; whether they are social, political or religious.


It is not the like or dislike of ONE person that makes these institutions.

The COLLECTIVE decision of the Sikh panth is that no transliterated copy is a complete Guru Granth sahib has been made.The reason for this is very simple, which again you have chosen to 'bypass' rather than address appropraitely in your hasty response.



I have explained that a transliterated Guru Granth sahib cannot carry the unique whole message of Guru Nanak Ji...q(3`; thereby rendering a Guru Granth sahib in any other language only worth the value of reading its knowledge, wealth of understanding, and message of the Sikh Gurus.



Any one , whether Sikh or non Sikh can read the translated copies, and put them away.[ a sikh reading in english may offer the extra sharda and respect, but this will not come nor be seen from a non sikh reading these transliterated copies.]


There is no protocol nor any institutional ceremony for a translated copy of the Granth sahib unlike that one sees in the Gurduaras or homes where the wholly GURU GRANTH SAHIB is birajmaan.



There were also other languages prevalent in times of Guru Nanak to Guru Gobind Singh Ji.The language of the Punjab was pratrik in origin, but other dialects like melange of various dialects – including lehndi Punjabi,braj bahsha, sanskrit, khariboli farsi,arabi, marathi, pathohari is also included in The Guru Granth sahib, which indicates it has not monoplised itself to any one language, as would be the case in the transliterated versions,the Guru Granth Sahib holds the creed of synthesis as against the exclusiveness of form, symbols and ideas.



The poetry of the Guru Granth sings in symbols.But the metaphor of the Guru Granth sahib is homely and original and direct.No wonder it has remained untranslated, as no translation would potray the perfect atmosphere of harmony between subject matter aand its form;thus it defies any originality of any translation.



Gurmukho, while discussing conducting the akhand path in transliterated versions, I se no one has explained how they intend to convey the message of the rags sung?In English?



So you are going to sing awal laah ek noor upaya in the transliterated version as well?

Well, I can tell you now, It will no longer sound like Awal alah ek noor upaya...but more like there was one light ...hey it sure sounds very alien to me and I am sure others would agree.



Dr gopal Singh Ji Dardi, took over 15 years to do his research and consultation with various sikh scholars to translate the Guru Granth sahib for the first time, apologises in his forward and admits that all the translated version may not be accurate as the original..despite the fact that for most part it was strctly literal, word for word,except where it became impossible to express the senses through the idiom of the English langauge or wher ethe dignity of the original demaned a little departure in phrasing.Do you know what this means?it means that the original message as given in the Guru granth sahib cannot be be word for word translated into another , no matter how much one tries!



So do you think, that a translated version which may hold half a dozens of wrong prounciations, with some idioms expressing a varied message and very violently mis-spelt and misprounced be acceptable to do path with in the sangat?



The current Sikh law does not accept that.What you do as an individual Sikh about your duties and abilities is your concern and not that of the panth.Reading about Sikhi in other language is not wrong, nor reading the Granth is wrong...but it cannot taek the place of Guru In Sangat!

Many have cut their hair, but that does not mean that as they feel comfortable with it, the whole Sikh panth now has to chnagefor them!Read as many transliterated version to understand Sikh religion, and do the path in your private capacity, but in sangat only a Guru Granth sahib in its originality can be placed upon the palaquin and path conducted with.



So, please, read, digest and understand the issue accurately , before drawing a four pack to open fire blindly and hope you hit someone and score points!


Oh, by the way, I am not going to "try" a transliterated version as I have no need for it.I think I have enough mastery of my own mother tongue, to understand and accept the meanings, the sweetness,the love, the compassion, uniqueness
of Gur Granth sahib.Although I also believe I am never better educated than my own mother tongue.



By the way,in a few words , the issue here is not what you or I am comfortable with, but what the Panthic Guidelines says.Amen!
 
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