Now to put those very verses for a publication in the English language ! I sit across a computer. I am surrounded by texts, dictionaries, translations, commentaries. Behind me are my editors and publishers; in front, my readers. The whole scenario is different. At home in the Punjab, the very language of the Sikh verse is given the greatest respect. In our house, even Punjabi newspapers in the Gurmukhi script were not allowed to be put on the ground. Any volume containing the sacred poetry is deeply honoured. When I studied the texts with our Gyaniji (scriptural scholar) over my summer holidays from America, I was reprimanded for having tea during our sessions or for not rinsing my mouth before I resumed after a tea-break. Now, miles away from home, should I cover my head as I pick up the texts ? Should I be listening to popular music while I work? Should I even have a cup of tea as I hold and read through the sacred poetry? The process of translation has been more than a conversion of a text from one language into another; it has been moving back and forth between the sacred and the academic worlds. Undoubtedly, the process has been elating; it has been daunting.

There has been the sheer joy of returning to "my" poetry, to my past. For, first of all, the process of translation required a sound understanding of the original. The meaning and rich philosophical import of the poetry that was heard and read earlier in life had to be fully recovered. The intimacy between the sound of the verses I had heard from my mother’s lips, and their sense that I was now discovering with my own tiny daughter pottering around, was a wonderful experience. Time acquired a timeless quality about it.

The project has enabled me to renew old friendships and make new ones. To work with my old family friends, Dr. Narinder Kapany and Dr. Owen Cole has been a memorable experience. I am especially delighted to have found a close associate in Kerry Brown, the editor of the International Sacred Literature Trust. Her sincere appreciation of the Gurus’ poetry was most inspiring. Her excitement carried over the Irish Sea and spurred me on. I am truly grateful to her for her attraction to the simplicity of Sikh poetry, and her constant support to maintain the freshness of the Gurus’ Word in the English language.

These translations also afford me an opportunity to share my heritage with my students and academic colleagues in the West. The rich literature of the Sikhs still remains inaccessible as Sikhism is one of the traditions that is still relatively unexplored. During my course of study and teaching in the United States, I found that Sikhism simply does not seem to be a part of world religion courses. Even professors who would like to include it, find themselves with a practical problem: "what primary text do we use?" During conferences and seminars like the National Endowment for the Humanities, my colleagues have pressed hard on this issue. Teaching Religious Studies in a New England Liberal Arts College for almost a decade, I myself have felt a real need for a basic book in the area of Sikh literature. Of course no translation can replace the original text, but how to introduce this Asian text in a Western classroom? An accessible translation is urgently needed. Several translations of the entire corpus exist but they are unwieldy. The standard four-volumed sets published in India are not only difficult to hold but also difficult to get hold of.

Furthermore, the translations that exist are archaic. During my seminars and classes I am amazed at the way in which translators and exegetes in the English language have managed to make the rich and inclusive literature of the Sikhs so "foreign" and "alien", one which can only be approached with distance and detachment. This has been a problem with translations from India for a long time. Yeats correctly identified it when he commented that the works of eminent scholars are strewn with latinised and hyphenated words "polyglot phrases sedentary distortions of unnatural English ... muddles, muddied by `Lo! Verily’, and `Forsooth’..." Yeats was talking about the Upanishads when he made this remark. Things may have improved in major Hindu texts, but unfortunately there still hasn’t been much change in translations of Sikh literature.

I also find the existing translations androcentric. The Ultimate Reality of the Sikhs is beyond gender and yet invariably this metaphysical Being is translated into a male Deity. I hope, in particular, my translations will reach out to women. The feminine imagery in Sikh poetry presents a plurality of viewpoints and provides a host of options for self-discovery. As we launch into the twenty-first century, the Sikh message of love, and the egality of men and women can offer a new meaning and a new authenticity to our goal of cultural and sexual equality.

Sadly, the meaning of their sacred verse remains closed even for many Sikhs. The vocabulary of the Guru Granth - which includes Sanskrit, Arabic, and Persian terms - poses problems for an average Punjabi. Decoding the poetry of Guru Gobind Singh, laced as it is with highly subtle and ornate metaphors and imagery, and replete with mythological allusions and linguistic innovations, is an even harder task. Furthermore, the British legacy induces young Punjabi Sikhs to study English and Western philosophies and literatures, drawing them away from their own mother-tongue and their own literary heritage. Taught in English-speaking schools which were founded by Victorian colonialists, many Sikhs do not even possess the basic linguistic tools to recognize the subtleties of their Sacred Text. The verses of their Gurus may continually be seen, read, and heard at all important occasions, during all rites of passage- without their import being really understood. I hope the present translations will open up their own literary tradition to them.

I also hope that these translations are useful for those outside of the Sikh tradition. It will enable them to have an active dialogue with Sikhism. The Guru Granth provided an excellent example of going beyond particular affiliations and loyalties into the universal basis of religion. "There is One Being, Truth Is Its Name" forms the fundamental principle of Sikh scripture. The Sikh vision of the Ultimate encompasses and transcends all space, time, and gender, and cannot be imaged in any specific form. Such a perception shatters narrow and rigid barriers between peoples and enables an inclusive attitude towards followers from different religious and racial backgrounds. The thought that our multicultural and diverse world could benefit from Sikh views through these simple and accessible translations makes it a worthwhile venture.

On the other hand, the cultural differences, make the job of translation a complex one. In spite of the Indo-European linguistic connections, there are some intrinsic differences between the east and the west. Translation of Sikh poetry into English meets with some basic problems. For example, in the Sikh worldview, emotions and thoughts are not bifurcated and we often hear the Sikh Gurus saying "we think with our hearts". Now how do we translate it without deviating from the original, or sounding incomprehensible in English? Similarly in Sikh literature, "being the dust of feet" denotes being humble. To date, Sikhs clean the dust off the shoes of other congregation members as a mark of humility and devotion. But a literal translation of "being the dust of feet" sounds strange in a culture which prides itself in individuality. In a society in which the norm is to shake hands and grandly introduce one self, touching the feet of those whom we respect or becoming the dust of their feet, sounds rather eccentric. Another interesting phrase frequently found in the verse of the Sikh Gurus is "var var", literally, going round and round, sacrificing ourself to the cherished object. When we fall in love, we do go in circles! But instead of reckoning it a silly childish act, the Sikh Gurus hold it in very high esteem. The love for the Transcendent is idealized by them in the fullness of this very experience: ecstatic, we go beyond ourself, totally devoted to our Object, we go round and round. Indeed, the process of translation which showing us the universality also reveals the particularities of the human imagination.

To compound matters, the English language carries its own set of impositions. Many of its important terms are imbued with Jewish and Christian meaning. When such terms are used for rendering Sikh verse, how does the translator ensure that the readers stay clear of their western connotations? Clearly, the role of the translator is not that of an interpreter, and though there is the urge to explain, the translator has to keep to his or her own obligations, that is, remain as close a possible to the text - no additions; no subtractions. For the most part the original verse lends itself to English quite well and it surprises me that translators in the past had to resort so excessively to words laden with Jewish and Christian connotations. I discovered that I could easily transit between Gurmukhi and English without having to use terms like God, Lord, Soul, Sin which were quite unnecessary and actually distorted the essential meaning. For example the term "soul" immediately brings to mind a bi-partite framework, one in which the body is not only subordinated to the soul, but also given a negative identity. Sikh literature straightforwardly establishes an identify between spiritual light and physical body: "eka joti joti hai sarira" (SGGS:125) - there is one light and the light is also the body. The self is the body; the self is the spirit, and a bodiless soul is certainly not demarcated as primary in this case. The important distinction in Sikhism however is that of the self cognizant of its essence Vs. the self ignorantly turned towards its ego, rather than a distinction between two separate entities, body and soul. The cognizant self and the ignorant self are not separate entities, they are the self-same thing. To translate as "soul" would be highly misleading. Similarly, paap is commonly translated into "sin" but the term in Sikh literature denotes an evil deed that a person ignorantly chooses rather than one into which they are tempted by satanic force and a to which they themselves have an inherited propensity.

The work of translation is made even more difficult in that the Sikh Gurus used Sanskrit and Arabic terms. Concepts like dharam, which means duty in Sanskrit, or hukam which means Will in Arabic are frequently used throughout the sacred text. Their usage signifies the liberal attitude of the Sikh Gurus who articulated their new message in terms that people in their day and age were familiar with. For the translator, however, their usage raises an important question: should the original terms be retained? In general I have chosen not to indicate any distinctions between words from Sanskrit or Arabic-Persian origin, and have translated them instead by their clearest English equivalent. This approach is closer to the spirit of the Gurus who wished to speak in a simple manner that would be readily accessible. They were using them not because of their Hindu or Islamic connotations but because they were concepts with which the everyday people were familiar. In fact, the meaning and significance of those concepts and terms in Sikh scripture varied considerably from their usage in Hindu and Islamic contexts. For example, the term dharam retains its Sanskrit meaning ("what holds together"), but its usage in Sikh scripture has a very different meaning from that of the Hindu ideal which regards the continuity of customary and conventional practices as dharma. The Sikh Gurus do not prescribe the customary four-fold caste division of Hindu society into priests, warrior-kings, traders, and labourers, nor the four stages of the life through chastity, family life, withdrawal, and renunciation. In contrast, Sikh verse emphasizes equality in the practice of dharam: Everyone is equally impelled to perform their ethical duty throughout their entire life.

This same idea is perfectly embodied in a moving public prayer recited by Mahatma Gandhi. According to Radhakrishnan, the renowned Hindu scholar and former President of India, Mahatma Gandhi got this idea from Guru Gobind Singh:

Guru Nanak’s ecumenical vision, which was crystallized by his successors, obviously touched a chord in the twentieth-century leader. The Gurus’ use of multiple names suggests that the Ultimate reality is essentially unfathomable and cannot be adequately designated in any singular way, but is open to a variety of personal experiences. The various names show the Gurus’ inclusive approach to the ineffable Reality. But I felt it would be misleading for me to use these particular names in my translation. A reader not familiar with Sikh thought might misinterpret these names and import erroneous connotations from their role in Indian mythology. It is therefore much more in keeping with the orientation of the Sikh Gurus to avoid these specific names in translation and adopt instead all-inclusive universal terms such as the One or the Divine. This is what I have done in my work except where a historical reference required the use of a specific name.

My greatest challenge by far has been to fully reveal the aesthetic dimension of Sikh literature. In the finale of the Guru Granth (called the "Mundavani") Guru Arjun underscores the artistic efficacy of the holy volume:

The Sacred scripture is therefore seen as a sumptuous platter full of delicacies, namely Truth, Contentment, and Contemplation, containing the ambrosial Name. According to Guru Arjun, then, the sacred verse offers the food which sustains us. It is the food of knowledge: the fundamental essence of the universe is perceived through it. It offers the food of contentment: the dissatisfied appetite, the hunger for more and more is fulfilled by it. It offers the food of contemplation: the flickering psyche, the ever-fluctuating thoughts are harmoniously anchored by hearing and reflecting upon its verses. But the "food" is not merely to be eaten; rather, as Guru Arjun says, it should also be savoured. Not through elaborate conceptualizing, but through a full and rich relishing of the sacred poetry, the individual obtains liberation from all finite confinements and from the ever-continuing cycle of birth and death. The poetry of love and devotion is to be approached with reverent wonder; it cannot be pried into with mere intellect. The verses of the Sikh Gurus come with their own speedy metre and cadence. As the Gurus said, they had no control over the flow of their utterances. From the very outset, they regarded their communication as divinely inspired. Full and sensuous to begin with, the words were further energized by the musical measures. The poetic dynamism of the Sikh sacred literature comes from the presence of alliteration, assonance, consonance, the constant repetition, symmetry, and rhythm which creates a momentum so that the readers, hearers, singers go beyond themselves and are launched on a journey towards the Absolute One. In keeping with the message of the Sikh Gurus, their poetry has to be savoured. Taste is a difficult sense to transmit from one tongue to another. The fulfillment of such an obligation no doubt makes the task of translation daunting.