‘Religion,’ as it appears in the phrase ‘world religions,’ refers to a genus of human activities sharing certain family resemblances. These similarities and differences cluster along three necessary but singly insufficient elements common to all religions—helpfully identified by the Baron von Hügel—as the institutional, intellectual, and mystical (The Mystical Element of Religion, vol. 1, pp. 51-53). The last among these is first, in that a transformative experience of the Originary constitutes the metaphysical root and blessed fruit of true religion, distinguishing it from all other phenomena.
In the case of GurSikhī, there naturally exist the customs and creed of a distinct tradition, but to a degree uncommon among the world’s holy books, essentially all of Gurū Granth Sāhib celebrates and instructs humanity to seek the state of mystical perfection. The remarkable history of the GurSikhs—replete with the most exquisitely-souled humans triumphing over the grimmest adversity—and the existence of the marvelous, living sacred musical treasures of Gurbāṇī Sangīt—again, sustained despite the bleakest odds—are most satisfactorily accounted for given the view that this superlatively choiceworthy state—the prime reason for GurSikhī and mankind’s existence—itself exists.
Some intimation of this ultimate realization comes most readily into view by way of an ascent from ordinary experience. Much of the suffering as old as the human condition arises from imperfect wisdom. Particularly vexatious and especially chagrinning is the suffering we cause ourselves for want of self-knowledge. Consider how often our actions backfire and then how pitilessly the wraiths of lessons inadequately learned haunt us. Upon honest reflection, the fears, desires, schemes, and regrets that comprise so much of humanity’s inner life prove tragically divorced from our lasting happiness. In the language of Gurbāṇī, bharam—inner turmoil arising from the deceptions of māiā or illusion—plagues us, and neither achieving worldly success nor indulging in the narcotics of hedonism will cure the gnawing malaise. Manmat, reliance on the ego-addled intellect, proves of no avail, for the rational faculty is corrupted in direct proportion to our houmae—or egotism.
The supremely blessed state is alone free of this disease; it is the eternal peace that comes from winning the war within. Reality is no longer shrouded by illusion, nor does one drown in the fiery waves of desire. In this dynamic balance, one experiences the rapturous bliss of beholding the fundamental harmony of the cosmos. Critically, detachment from egotism brings renewed commitment to ensuring the good of everyone. The blessed serve Providence as instruments of grace, awakening others from the nightmare of untruth to flourish in the luminous paradise of the Lord’s presence.
If GurSikhī is most essentially a path towards realizing this state of mystical beatitude—which constitutes the purpose of life and offers the sublime antidote to all torments—what exactly is one to do? Before proceeding, it must be understood that for all of a seeker’s myriad virtues, the highest state cannot be earned through individual effort. Mystical union is realized only at the gracious pleasure of the Lord through Kirpā—divine mercy. The self-defeating hubris of believing one has merited salvation through one’s own righteousness itself separates one from union. As Kirpā—the necessary and sufficient condition of liberation—necessarily transcends our control, we must proceed, believing—without presuming—that the merciful Lord will act in accordance with his merciful nature, and so not withhold the saving embrace. Thus returns the question, what exactly is one to do?
‘GurSikhs, friends: walk upon the Gurū’s path. Whatever the Gurū utters, accept that as beneficial; the discourse of Harī—the pervading One—is unparalleled’ (Gurū Ram Das, Srī Gurū Granth Sāhib:667). What does it mean to walk the Gurū’s path; where is the Gurū’s instruction to be found? In ‘Siḍh Ghosṭ,’ Gurū Nanak’s dialogue with the occultists, he reveals that ‘Sabad is the Gurū, and surati—meditative awareness—is the disciple of its ḍhun—melody’ (SGGS:942). Thus Sabad comes to the foreground in our attempt to understand the GurSikh mystical path. Sabad is among the most fundamental and multi-faceted terms in Gurbāṇī, so it will become necessary to distinguish between several distinct but interrelated meanings.
Etymologically, Sabad is closely related to the more tangible shabad—or word. The Vedic concepts of Nād or Sabda Brahman ascribe originary creative agency to sound or the sacred word. Striking parallels also exist between Sabad and the Word, as in “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). ‘Logos’ in the original Greek, its Christian employment retains pregnant associations with the concept of universal reason, as suggested by the surviving fragments of Heraclitus.
Within GurSikh tradition, Sabad most concretely refers to the revealed songs of the Gurūs and other mystics of their selection, first sung as Kīrtan and later recorded in Srī Gurū Granth Sāhib. Sabads in this sense are collectively known as Gurbāṇī—the enlightening expression—which also includes the minority of GurSikh scripture that was not revealed in musical form. Hence, we may say that the key to walking the Gurū’s mystical path is known through Gurbāṇī—which is itself Gurū—both in that the revealed word has the property of taking one from darkness to enlightenment and in that Gurū Gobind Singh named the Granth his eternal successor.
Gurbāṇī often stands in reflexive relation to itself as is evident in the concept of the Gurū’s Sabad recurring prominently in the Sabads of Srī Gurū Granth Sāhib. Closely related to the Sabads’ self-referentiality is their more general description and instruction of GurSikh life. In other words, the singing, reciting, and contemplation of Gurbāṇī is at the core of the Gurū’s path, the illumination of which is itself characteristic of the Gurū’s utterances. Gurbāṇī describes states, activities, and virtues that find ostensive expression among the GurSikhs.
The Vārāṅ or ballads of Bhāī Gurdas (1551-1636) are celebrated by Gurū Arjan as the key to Gurbāṇī. In the twenty-fifth pauṛī of the twenty-fourth vār, Bhāī Gurdas unequivocally explicates this relationship between Gurū, Sabad, and the holy: ‘The Gurū’s form is the Gurū’s Sabad; it is manifest in the SāḍhSaṅgati—the saintly association.’ While the living examples of saintly beings naturally aid travelers on the Gurū’s path in understanding the nature of the mode of life represented in Gurbāṇī, in eras of spiritual aridity and pretense, the merciful asymmetry is that Gurbāṇī remains an unchanging touchstone for distinguishing the genuine from the counterfeit.
Even having encountered only a few Sabads, one quickly begins to notice the frequent recurrence of certain key terms, including Gurū, Sabad, Nām, Amrit, and Ṭaksāl. On closer study, one gradually comes to grasp their interrelation within an internally coherent system. What is more, Gurbāṇī proclaims these relationships also hold true externally, which is to say, the Sabads offer practical instruction in reforming our mode of existence so as to realize our divine potential. ‘Through the Gurū’s Sabad, one realizes oneself” (Gurū Amardas, SGGS:1064). As such, for one striving to live in accordance with the Gurū’s teaching, vīchār—or contemplation—of the Sabad that brings about a sounder understanding of Gurbāṇī can lead directly to sounder conduct.
One thus oriented towards Gurmat—the Gurū’s wisdom—is known in Gurbāṇī as a Gurmukh, while one who relies on manmat—mental wiles—is termed a manmukh. Quite naturally—the Sabad is, after all, the Gurū—both the Gurmukh and manmukh are characterized by their differing relations to Sabad. ‘The Gurmukh is one who contemplates the true Sabad’ (Gurū Nanak, SGGS:946). In the twelfth pauṛī of his nineteenth vār, Bhāī Gurdas relates this reflection to conduct: ‘Contemplating on the Sabad, the Gurmukh practices truthfulness.’ On the other hand, ‘Those are manmukh who do not recognize the Sabad’ (Gurū Amardas, SGGS:1054). Failing to recognize the Sabad, the manmukh fails to know himself.
The indispensability of Sabad for attaining self-knowledge is rendered clearer upon becoming aware of its inherence within all people. ‘Do not search for the True One far away; recognize the Sabad is in each and every heart’ (Gurū Nanak, SGGS:581). By internalizing the Gurū’s Sabad, the GurSikh comes to discover and live by the Sabad within. ‘The Gurmukh goes deep within his inner mansion [to meet the One;] there plays the unbounded Sabad’ (Gurū Ramdas, SGGS:1310). Amid the finitude of human existence, the GurSikh mystical path leads us to locate what is infinite in us.
At different stages in a GurSikh’s progress, different Sabads may hold special meaning, and a seeker may grow in his relation to the same Sabad. Internal textual evidence, oral tradition, and hagiographical chronicles—as of Gurū Nanak’s journeys—indicate that many of the Sabads were revealed to address the spiritual needs of the humans the Gurūs met. These transformative encounters between various states of soul and the Gurū’s perfect wisdom offer spiritual instruction of permanent value; while the human failings are all too familiar, the prescription has lost none of its efficacy.
Our focus on Sabad helps us better understand Nām, another fundamental and similarly elusive concept for the GurSikh mystical path. Gurbāṇī ascribes supreme metaphysical responsibility and efficacy to Nām’s reality. Literally meaning ‘name,’ the word abstractly denotes the One who transcends our capacity for linguistic expression. As opposed to any of the particular names that draw attention to predicable attributes of the One as well as those that apophatically indicate the One’s existence beyond given limitations, the word ‘Nām’ is capable of summoning to awareness the totality of a GurSikh’s present understanding of the One.
A coherent structure begins to emerge from comparing several different propositions whereby the Gurūs relate Sabad to Nām. ‘The Nām’s treasure is attained by those in whose minds Sabad Gurū resides’ (Gurū Arjan, SGGS:100). Sabad is here a sufficient condition for unlocking the wealth of Nām. ‘They alone comprehend the anjan—or salve—of Nām who know the veracity of the Gurū’s Sabad’ (Gurū Nanak, SGGS:766). The wealth of Nām consists in part in its capacity to heal; knowledge of Sabad is a necessary condition for knowledge of this property. ‘The Nām of the most pervading Harī is the boat, and the Gurū’s Sabad is the boatman to deliver one across’ (Gurū Ramdas, SGGS:833). The Gurū’s Sabad enables us to navigate the vessel of Nām across māiā’s whirlpools to arrive safely at our eternal home.
In each of these cases, Nām is likened to something beneficial: treasure, a salve, and a boat. Yet in each of these cases, the benefit of Nām is not immediately available. It is through Sabad that the treasure is accessed, the salve is understood, and the boat is steered to its destination. At least in these cases, Sabad may be understood as the site of Kirpā, whereby the grace of the Gurū’s word activates or grants access to Nām’s beneficial power. While the conceptual sparsity of the word Nām aptly denotes the ontological plenitude of its referent, it is Sabad’s orienting particularity—rendered humanly intelligible through language—that furnishes the key to the transcendental succor of Nām.
It is in Gurbāṇī Kīrtan—the singing of Sabads in rāg and tāl so as to participate in the state of consciousness wherefrom they were revealed—that Sabad’s transformative power may be most fully experienced. ‘Focusing one’s awareness on the Sabad through Kīrtan, one remains united with truth’ (Bhāī Gurdas, Vār 9, Pauṛī 17). Etymologically rooted in the word for praise, Kīrtan employs the most extraordinary musical structures in service of celebrating the One’s wondrous glory and instilling the saintly attributes. Only a couple unbroken GurSikh oral lineages have managed to sustain some memory of the musical form in which particular Sabads were revealed to the Gurūs. The most responsible such lineage has further retained sovereign independence from the lure of contemporary musical approaches and still possesses the core pedagogical tools of the extraordinary GurSikh sacred music tradition.
The unaltered Sabad Rīts that have survived in the memory of the most knowledgeable exponents are marvels, offering a rare glimpse into the degree of complementarity that is possible between words and their musical expression, particularly in evocation of the supremely blessed state. For a GurSikh on the mystical path, it is priceless to hear the Gurū’s revelatory words rendered in the same notes, rhythm, and tempo as the Gurū originally sang them. The opportunity to regulate one’s breath, form the melody-imbued words of the Gurū’s Sabad, and participate in the transformation of consciousness a Sabad Rīt enables is a spiritual boon unlike any other.
The GurSikh path does not prescribe ascetic practices for the sake of self-mortification. A GurSikh is to live a disciplined life of balance, renouncing any indulgence that plunders this chance to realize eternal bliss. From intoxicating substances to emotional dependences, whatever makes one a stranger to one’s deepest resolutions is no friend. Instead, the GurSikh path reforms our tastes such that we act in accordance with our true happiness. ‘The Amrit—ambrosial elixir—of the Nām is the greatest ras—nectar; it is quaffed meditating on the Gurū’s Sabad’ (Gurū Ramdas, SGGS:605). The delight of the Sabad frees us from the temptation of self-defeating misapprehensions. ‘Quaffing the immanent One’s Amrit, they become forever stable, and know the water of corruption as insipid’ (Gurū Arjan, SGGS:81).
Across time, place, and creeds, the testimony of the mystics furnishes a remarkably consistent account of humanity’s spiritual condition. In the language of Augustine of Hippo (354-430), “Thou awakest us to delight in Thy praise; for Thou madest us for Thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee” (Confessions I.1, tr. Pusey). The Gurū’s Sabad enables us to see through the bharam of separation that alienates us from the One as much as from ourselves. ‘The Gurū’s Sabad renders the mind immaculately pure, enabling us to relinquish houmae and corruption’ (Gurū Amardas, SGGS:509). Delighting in Kīrtan by the One’s Kirpā, we abjure the worldly palliatives that only exacerbate our restlessness and find eternal rest in the One who fashioned us to know Oneself.
In the final pauṛī of ‘Japjī Sāhib,’ Gurū Nanak offers an extended metaphor likening the GurSikh mystical endeavor to the minting of currency. The penultimate couplet of this pauṛī may be rendered, ‘In love’s crucible, there melt the Amrit. Fashion the Sabad in this true taksāl—mint’ (Gurū Nanak, SGGS:8). Identifying the precise, spiritual action corresponding to the Gurū’s instruction is itself a major task for one on the mystical path. Such interpretive challenges should make obvious the immense value of the original Sabad Rīts of the Gurūs where they have survived.
In light of our study of Sabad, what is clear and striking in this key line is Gurū Nanak’s direction to mint the Sabad within. From the sublime, molten liquid of the inner nectar, the GurSikh must form the Word; the GurSikh must solidify the Amrit within into the form of the eternal Sabad. By thus becoming one with the transcendental Sabad as revealed in the Gurū’s Sabads, the GurSikh by the One’s gracious Kirpā attains the state of supreme blessedness. The Lord himself evaluates the soul coins that come before him: ‘One kind is genuine, one kind is false, and the One himself is the appraiser. The genuine are placed in the treasury, while the counterfeit are tossed outside every time’ (Gurū Nanak, SGGS:143). Notably, later in the same pauṛī, Guru Nanak continues: ‘The True Gurū transmutes the counterfeit into the genuine, exalting them through the Sabad.’
It is also noteworthy that the coins produced by a mint are identical. The passage of Gurū Nanak’s Jōt—divine spark—to Bhāī Lehna, transforming him into Gurū Angad is a fundamental moment in GurSikh history, proving to the satisfaction of Gurū Nanak and his closest disciples that such minting is possible. Amardas became Gurū at age seventy-three; Harkrishan became the eighth Nanak at age five. Gurū Nanak transmitted his supreme realization through nine extraordinary successors who dynamically conserved and developed his vision, receiving Sabads as Nanak. By the tenth Nanak’s authority, Gurū Nanak’s spiritual and temporal sovereignty rests eternally with Gurū Granth and Gurū Panth—GurSikhs on the mystical path. ‘In the company of the saintly, one practices the Gurū’s Sabad’ (Bhāī Gurdas, Vār 16, Pauṛī 1). The possibility that anyone—with humility and the grace of the holy—may genuinely learn the highest things with a mint’s fidelity is key to the GurSikh idea.
Our beliefs about the world are profoundly constitutive of our experience and interpretation of reality. The Sabad’s ontology, concerning the most fundamental aspects of existence, may help catalyze the most dramatic metanoia, for it equips us not only with the tools to correct our acknowledged demerits, but also grants the wonder that inspires us to realize our divine potential. As the institutional and intellectual aspects of religion may help facilitate mystical experience, Gurmukhs perfected by this Amrit are ever ready to undertake heroic enterprises for the sake of justice.
By way of conclusion, it is essential to say a few words about GurSikh mysticism’s relation to time. Having employed the metaphor of a path, one may reasonably be asked how long the journey will take. In a sense, the answer is implicit in our preliminary remarks regarding Kirpā; for all the discernible spiritual progress we make, it is by the One’s pleasure alone that we are admitted eternally into the true darbār. The One may create and destroy, exalt and humble, emancipate and test all creation at his will.
A seeker in love with this One keeps the divine attributes cupped in her contemplative remembrance, careful not to lose a drop of the heavenly Amrit. We are born to wed the One. If one is blessed with a moment’s single-minded worship, enlightenment may occur in an instant. Conversely, each moment of neglectful separation from this enchanting One is perdition. In the opening slōka of Āsā dī Vār, Gurū Nanak proclaims, ‘I am a sacrifice—a hundred times daily—to my Gurū, who transforms mortals into angels, accomplishing this in no time at all’ (SGGS:462). May we continuously attend to that Sabad—whereby Gurū Nanak found enlightenment—that mints angels in an instant.
*This essay is dedicated to my Nānā jī, Sardār Pritam Singh Kohli (1930-), who first sparked my love for Sabad Kīrtan, researching GurSikhī, and seeking its mystical essence.
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Nihal Singh