Hidden Gems of India

GURU NANAK

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गुरु ग्रंथ रत्नावली

 

राग धनासरी

 

गगन मै थालु रवि चन्दु दीपक बने तारिका मंडल जनक मोती ।

धूपु मलआनलो पवणु चवरो करे सगल बनराइ फूलंत जोती ।१। 

कैसी आरती होइ भव खंडना तेरी आरती

अनहता सबद वाजंत भेरी ।१। रहाउ।

सहस तव नैन नन नैन हहि तोहि कउ सहस मूरति नना एक तोही । 

सहस पद बिमल नन एक पद गंध बिनु सहस तव गंध इव चलत मोही ।२| 

सब महि जोति जोति है सोइ।

तिस कै चानणि सभ महि चानणु होइ।

गुर साखी जोति परगटु होइ ।

जो तिसु भावै सु आरती होइ ।३| 

हरि चरण कवल मकरंद लोभित मनो अनुदिनो मोहि आही पिआसा । 

कृपा जलु देहि नानक सारिंग कउ, होइ जा ते तेरै नाइ वासा ।४।३।

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 TRANSLATION 
 

GURU GRANTH RATNAVALI

 

RAGA DHANASRI

 

ARTI

(Hymn of Praise)

 

The whole Heaven with its myriad lights goes 

 round and round my Beloved!

The little stars are as pearls! 

The wind fans Him,

And there rises in His temple the incense from

 the hearts of a million flowers,

The endless music of creation resounds!

A million eyes hath my Beloved!

And yet no mortal eyes!

A rnillion lotus-feet are His.

And yet no mortal feet!

I die with joy of the perfume of His presence!

His Flesh emits a million perfumes! 

And yet He hath no scent! 

He is the Light of Life,

By the beams of His face the stars burn bright, 

And He is the soul of everything. 

My Arti is my waiting for things to be as He willeth. 

When the Master comes and stands by, the Divine 

Light is revealed!

The Moon of His lotus-feet draws me like a 

Thirsty sarang whose thirst daily increases. 

O God! come and bestow on me Thy saving grace,

And let me repose for ever in Thy Holy, Holy.,

 Naming Thee
 

A little background about Raag Dhanasri 

 

इसमें ऋषभ, धैवत कोमल तथा तीव्र मध्यम प्रयोग किया जाता है । वादी पंचम तथा सम्वादी षडज है । राग की जाति सम्पूर्ण सम्पूर्ण है । गायन – समय सायंकाल, दिन का चौथा प्रहर है ।

 

The main swaras in this raga are ‘pancham’ and ‘shadaj’. Komal ‘rishabh’ and ‘dhaivat’, along with tivra ‘madhyam’ are widely used. The jati of this raga is ‘sampoorna - sampoorna’, which means that all seven swaras are used throughout. Raga Dhanasri is sung in the evening, during the fourth prahar of the day.
 

GURU NANAK

(1469-1539)

 

In a world rife with falsehood, sunk in superstitions and plagued by all kinds of inequities and inequalities, Guru Nanak rang in the gospel of truth, universal love and brotherhood. The Founder Guru of the Sikhs and one of the greatest and saintliest of saviours, he redeemed the soul of a moribund society that had experienced a total eclipse, if not annihilation, of all abiding human values. The condition of the contemporary society has been vividly described by the First Master in the well-known words:

 

"This age is a knife, kings are butchers; justice hath taken wings and fled. In this completely dark night of falsehood the moon of truth is never seen to rise." 

 

Guru Nanak was born in a Bedi family at Talwandi (Nankana Sahib), near Lahore, in 1469. At an early age he learnt Sanskrit, Persian and the prevalent form of Gurmukhi. He was a precocious child with a pronounced penchant for religion. His father, Mehta Kalu, made vain efforts to woo him to a mundane mode of life. Accordingly, he was employed in a Government store of the Nawab of Sultanpur where he served for 13 years.

 

It was in 1499 that the day of destiny of ecstatic communion with God came. While taking his daily bath in the rivulet Bain that flows near Sultanpur. Nanak had his illumination through a soul-stirring vision of Almighty God. It was here that the Guru delivered his great sermon in the memorable words: "There is no Hindu, there is no Musalman". The spiritual enlightenment enjoined on him a mission to the propagation of which he consecrated his entire life. He set out on his great Udasis (Missionary journeys) to deliver God's message to sinning and suffering humanity.

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SANT KABIRDAS
 

गुरु ग्रंथ रत्नावली

 

राग प्रभाती
 

'अवलि अलह नूर उपाइआ कुदरति के सभ बन्दे ।

एक नूर ते सभु जगु उपजिआ कउन भले को मन्दे । १ । 

लोगा ! भरमि न भूलहु भाई ।

खालिकु खलक खलक महि खालिकु पूरि रहिओ सर ठाई । १। रहाउ । 

माटी एक अनेक भांति कर साजी साजनहारै । 

न कछु पोच माटी के भांडे न कछु पोच कुंभारै । २ । 

सभ महि सच्चा एको सोई तिस का कीआ सभु कछु होई। 

हुकमु पछानै सु एको जानै बंदा कहीए सोई । ३ । 

अलहु अलखु न जाई लखिआ गुरि गुड़ दीना मीठा ।

कहि कबीर मेरी शंका नासी सर्व निरंजनु डीठा | ४ | ३ |'

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TRANSLATION

 

GURU GRANTH RATNAVALI

 

RAGA PRABHATI

 

The Lord first created Light:

From the Lord's play all living creatures came,

And from the Divine Light the whole creation sprang. 

Why then should we divide human creatures 

Into the high and the low?

Brother, be not in error:

Out of the Creator the Creation comes:

Everywhere in the creation the Creator is:

The Lord’s Spirit is all-pervading!

The Lord, the Maker, hath moulded one mass of clay

Into vessels of diverse shapes.

Free from taint are all vessels of clay

Since free from taint is the Divine Potter.

The True One pervadeth all things 

All things come to pass as the Lord ordaineth 

He who hath understood the Divine Will 

Recognizeth only the One Reality 

And he alone is what man ought to be 

The Lord, being Unknowable, cannot be comprehended,

But the Guru hath given me 

A sweet joy of His Presence.

Kabir Sayeth: My doubts have departed from me.

In all things I have recognized the Taintless One.

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A little background about Raag Prabhati

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यह एक भारतीय राग (रचना) है जो उत्तर भारत से सिख परंपरा में प्रकट हुआऔर श्री गुरु ग्रंथ साहिब जी नामक सिख पवित्र ग्रंथ का हिस्सा है। प्रभाती में व्यक्त की गई भावनाएँ भक्ति की हैं। प्रभाती भैरव थाट से संबंधित है और इसे अक्सर राग भैरव के साथ जोड़ा जाता है। इसे सुबह गाया जाता है।

 

This is an Indian musical raga (composition) that appears in the Sikh tradition from northern India and is part of the Sikh holy scripture called Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. The emotions conveyed in Prabhati are those of extreme devotion; there is an intense confidence and love for the entity it is devoted to. Prabhati belongs to the Bhairav thata and is often combined with Raga Bhairav. It is sung in the morning.
 

SANT KABIRDAS

(1398 - 1495)

 

Kabir was the most celebrated revolutionary saint of the Bhakti movement. He condemned social and religious abuses and emphasized the fundamental equality and fraternity of all mankind. Borr in a weaver's family of Banaras, he joined the Bhakti fold under Swami Ramanand's influence. Thinking that being a low-caste he might not be considered fit to receive initiation, he lay prostrate one day, early in the morning, in the path which Ramanand used to follow while going to his bath. When the Swami's feet touched Kabir's body, he uttered the words 'Ram. Ram. The saint affectionately lifted him and made him his disciple. Thereafter. Kabir got so deeply absorbed in meditation that he began to dwell habitually in the realms of the spirit.
 

 

SURDAS
 

गुरु ग्रंथ रत्नावली

 

राग सारंग 

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‘हरि के संग बसे हरि लोक ॥

तनु मनु अरपि सरबसु सभु अरपिओ अनद सहज धुनि झोक ॥१॥ रहाउ ॥

दरसनु पेखि भए निरबिखई पाए है सगले थोक ॥

आन बसतु सिउ काजु न कछूऐ सुंदर बदन अलोक ॥१॥

सिआम सुंदर तजि आन जु चाहत जिउ कुसटी तनि जोक ॥

‘सूरदास’ मनु प्रभि हथि लीनो, दीनो इहु परलोक’ ॥२॥१॥८॥

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TRANSLATION

 

GURU GRANTH RATNAVALI

 

RAGA SARANG

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Those whom God has chosen

Dwell ever in Him,

To Him they dedicate body and soul. 

To Him they dedicate all possessions. 

And while they exalt His Name

They enjoy divine rapture. 

On beholding the Lord

A man is set free

From all sinful cravings

And all his desires are fulfilled.

One has no need of anything else. 

Having gazed on His Beauty. 

But they who forsake the Beauteous Lord 

And set the desires of their hearts

On any other object

Are like leeches sucking a leper! 

O Surdas, God hath taken thy soul in His keeping 

And hath blest it with His Kingdom!

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A little background about Raag Sarang

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 राग सारंग को राग बृंदावनी सारंग भी कहा जाता है। यह एक अत्यंत मधुर व लोकप्रिय राग है। इस राग में रे-प, म-नि, नि१-प, म-रे की स्वर संगतियाँ राग वाचक तथा चित्ताकर्षक हैं। इस राग के पूर्वार्ध में प रे म रे और उत्तरार्ध में नि१ प म रे यह स्वर समुदाय बहुतायत से लिये जाते हैं।

 

Raga Sarang is also known as Raga Brindavani Sarang. In this raga, the melody of Re-P, Ma-Ni, Ni-P, Ma-Re is melodious and mesmerizing. The swara patterns of this raga are ‘Pa-re-ma-Re’ at the beginning and ‘Ni-Pa’ at the end.
 

SURDAS

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There have been many poets, bearing the name Surdas, including the celebrated author of Surs. agar and devotee of Lord Krishna But the bhakt whose Word is enshrined in the Adi Granth is a different person with the same name. He was born in 1529 in a Brahmin family. In addition to learning Sanskrit and Persian, he studied music and poetry. He was originally named Madan Mohan, but later on, came to be known as Surdas. Emperor Akbar, who always respected and rewarded the virtuous and the learned made him Governor of Sandila. His duty was to collect revenue and deposit it in the Government treasury. Since he was a man of a kindly and charitable disposition, he often doled out money to the needy and did not bother about the accounts. Some people complained to the Emperor, who then took him to the task; Surdas gave up his job and disappeared. When Akbar came to know of his saintliness and benevolence, he sent for him. But Surdas's devotion to the Lord had grown too deep to be shaken by any material bait. Thus, he spent the rest of his life in meditation at Benaras where a temple commemorates his memory. In one of his hymns he says:

 

Abandon, O my heart.

the company of those

Who have turned away from the Lord.