Preface To 'Sacred Japji' By Harbans Singh Doabia

The Jap(u) Ji Sahib, composed by First Sikh Satguru, as communicated to him by Almighty God, can he termed as the KEY to Sikh Scripture. It contains the fundamental doctrines of the Sikh Religion and every Sikh repeats this Divine Hymn early in the morning. Most of the Sikhs have it by heart.

Some of the fundamentals of the Sikh Religion can be summarised as follows:

1. Every mortal should repeat and remember the name of One God with all sincerity and devotion, in order to get freedom from the cycles of births and deaths and to achieve joys in this world also.

2. Goel has two forms : one as abolute (Nirgun) and the other as personal (Sargun).

3. God is not an abstract idea. He is the Supreme Personal Being, who can he loved and respected. Yet His presence is diffused all over His creation.

4. God is the Common Father of all in this world. He creates and supports all.

5. God does not take birth.

6. God is the creator of Mammon (maya) All gods and goddesses are created hy God and are subject to His Command.

7. Goel is the Eternal Beauty.

8 Worship One Supreme God and not the deities, idols, graves, burning places and other inanimate objects.

9. God is not an impotent machine, fashioning matters, which already existed, but on the contrary having fashioned the world, He does not exclude matter but transcends it.

10. The universe is not a fiction or a myth, hut it is a living Reality, because One God is present in it.

11. Everything and the entire nature is subject to the Command of God and is regulated under His Orders.

12. God cannot he pleased hy formalities, useless rituals and formalism.

13. Sincere and honest love and devotion are necessary to achieve God's Grace.

14. Besides repeating the Name of God one has to keep in mind His excellences and to sing His praises.

15. Ego, falsehood and evil designs of a mortal create a wall hetween him and God. Sincere worship of God, accompanied by virtuous actions, will result in breaking away this barrier.

16. The mortal should have intense desire to serve the humanity, without distinction of any caste or creed.

17. One should adopt virtues to such an extent that he can avoid all temptations to do evil by taking instant decisions.

18. One should not believe in caste, creed or untouchability and must practically observe this rule.

19. Women have got the same rights including right of worship and joining congregations as males possess.

20. A mortal is fully equipped with will and wisdom and he must wisely follow the dictates of truth and virtue. He inherits his own past, which he can improve by following the path of virtues.

21. Mortal's own will can be attuned to the Supreme Will of God by following the words of the True Guru, and thus he will be able to transcend all his past and to obtain a new status.

22. The Infinite God resides within everybody and hy listening to and following the Teachings of the True Guru, one can see the Supreme Light within himself. The darkness of ego does not allow the mortal to see the same.

It is most difficult for a mortal to interpret and explain the meanings of the Divine Verses of the Jap(u) Ji Sahib and other Divine Hymns of the Satgurus. We most humbly take the courage to submit that the entire subject has been dealt with in a new form in this book. The letters used for transliterating the verses give almost the exact sounds of the words as used in the Gurmukhi Script. All attempts have been made to give the translation in Simple English language. The learned readers may find mistakes. May Almighty God and the Satguru shower Their Grace on all of us, so that this work may be of some use to the world.