With great humility and sense of gratitude towards almighty. We at IGNCA feel blessed that we were given the opportunity to execute the celebrations of 550th Parkash Parv(1469-2019) of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, which started in early 2019. While we were busy planning such celebrations at grand scale, world witnessed unprecedented spread of pandemic and for many months, life came to a standstill around the globe. While it brought many challenges to life at global level, it made us realize that we always need the blessings and teachings of our spiritual masters, if we have to face the challenges posed by forces of nature and system. It made us see the relevance of collective spiritual heritage of mankind in ensuring that we do not forget our creator almighty, and it made us see that mercy for all the living beings is a cherished value. It made us realize the significance of the teachings of great Gurus and Sants that there is no substitute for truthful and honest living.
Five centuries ago, Guru Nanak Dev Ji laid the foundation of new world view on the concepts of God. Religion, Truth, Life and Human Dignity. In his sacred Bani, he reflected upon the nature of God and the nature of right kind of human conduct at the same time. He made extensive travels in India and abroad for engagement in a dialogue with people belonging to plurality of faith and spiritualism. After spending greater part of his life in travels, he lived the life of householder at Kartarpur and practiced farming and warned the men of religion against developing the habit of social parasitism. At Kartarpur, he put an alternative world view in to practice and this small community developed into the present day Sikhism, believed to be the youngest of world religions. At the same time, the writings, and the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev Ji are integral part of collective heritage of human civilization. His life is a great message for humanity. He was a great preacher of a life based on truthful living. Truth lived, not taught, was his key concern. He was founder of a world view where spiritual pursuit was not divorced from social responsibility. Sunil Khilnani, great writer, has summed up Guru Nanak Dev Ji's philosophy as Discipline of deeds. In the present day scenario of increasing intolerance and heightened sectarianism, it is very significant to spread the message of Guru Nanak. Dev who made a distinction between True religion and region of mere appearance.
IGNCA has shown a consistent commitment with the idea of India as a secular nation with respect for its spiritual heritage and religious pluralism. Here we are trying to document India's rich philosophical treasure comprising of the ideas of our saints, Gurus and Scholars. The life of Guru Nanak Dev Ji is iconic symbol of such values. The works and teachings of Guru Nanak Dev. Ji were an integral part of larger Bhakti movement and writings of all the glorious names of Bhakti movement like Sant Kabir Ji. Sant Raidas Ji, Sant Namdev Ji, Baba Fareed Ganjshakar, Swami Ramanand and Sant Surdas were collected and popularized in Gurmukhi by Guru Nanak Dev ji. This rich spiritual legacy was conserved later by Guru Arajn Dev Ji in Adi Granth in 1604. This way, the sacred memory of Guru Nanak Dev ji is a binding thread among all the communities of India.
The tenth Sikh Guru, Shri Guru Gobind Singh, (the first being Guru Nanak) was born to Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur and Mata Gujri on 22 December, 1666 CE in Patna. While 'Gurbani', the utterances and the writings of Guru Nanak and other Gurus, Bhaktas, Sufi saints like Baba Farid, Bhatts the bards), is recorded in the Guru Granth Sahib, all the compositions of Guru Gobind Singh are compiled in Shri Dasam Granth. The tenth Guru was a great poet and thinker who was well versed in both the scriptures and the sword; he also offered patronage to fifty-two poets of different religions, castes, and languages in his court. "Chaubis Avtar" or "Twenty-four Avataras" is a composition by Guru Gobind Singh in the Dasam Granth and it contains the history of the twenty four incarnations of Vishnu. Baljeet Kaur Tulsi has written a critical commentary in Punjabi on the hymns. of the "Ek Omkar Ath Beesvaan Ram Avatar Kathanam" ("The Story of Rama, the Twentieth Avatar") taken from the "Chaubis Avtar" in the Dasam Granth. It is titled "Ram Avtar Kathanam'. In addition, she translated it into simple English in 1967 CE as 'The Ramayana.
Bhai Kahan Singh Nabha defines the 'Ramain' or 'Ramayana' in his monumental text, Mahan Kosh in the following words:
"The book of Shri Rama's katha was first written by the adi kavi Valmiki and titled the Ramayana. It comprised 24,000 shlokas with 7 Sections and 647 Chapters. The Bala Kanda (Book of Youth), Ayodhya Kanda (Book of Ayodhya), Aranya Kanda (Book of the Forest), Kiskindha Kanda (The Book of Monkeys), Sundara Kanda (Book of Beauty), Yuddha Kanda (Book of War), and Uttara Kanda (The Last Book). After Valmiki, Vyas ji wrote the Adhyatama Ramayana which is a part of the Brahmanda Purana." (Mahan Kosh, page 1036-1037). Brahmanda Purana is one of the eighteen major Puranas and is named after one of the cosmological theories of Hinduism of the cosmic egg.
Guru Gobind Singh wrote his composition Ram Avatar Kathanam under just sixty titles and called it 'Been Katha' in the sixth couplet (meaning 'selected story'). That is to say, he has chosen some significant sections linked to Rama's story to be included in the Ram Avatar Kathanam'. It is composed in 864 padas or couplets; and the Guru has used approximately 71 chhands or quartrains. This composition was completed in 1755BC.
Baljeet Kaur wrote a commentary of Ram Avatar Kathanam' in Punjabi because although it is written in Gurumukhi script and the diction is Punjabi, there is a profusion of Brij and mixed Bhojpuri or Bihari vocabulary in it. Before discussing the aim or the purpose of the English and Gurumukhi translations by Baljeet, it is important to know something about her. Baljeet ji was born on 14 February 1915 and was inclined towards poetry right from childhood. She was only fifteen years or so when her poems started appearing in the popular Punjabi magazines of those days, such as Pritam and Phulvari. In 1938, she was married to Sardar Gurcharan Singh Tulsi, an advocate; and she worked as a teacher of mathematics for fifteen years after her marriage.
**Contents and Sample Pages**
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