Guru Arjan Dev Ji, the fifth in the line of Guru Nanak, presided over a time of many great new horizons for the young Sikh faith. Amritsar, which had been founded by his father Guru Ram Das Ji, was becoming a great social, political and religious centre. Large throngs of devotees were drawn to this place by a longing to be with their Guru, their love of Gurbani and to witness the completion of the Harmandir Sahib.

However, even in this time of limitless possibilities, the Guru foresaw a great peril to the integrity and sanctity of the Sikh faith, both for the Sikhs of his day and the countless generations yet to be born. All about him he witnessed imposters and false Gurus distorting the sacred hymns of the first four masters. Some, such as Prithi Chand, were further confusing the sangat by composing their own poetry and attributing it to Guru Nanak. The Guru foresaw a time when Sikhs of future generations would not be able to recognize the sacred poetry of his predecessors from these false renditions.

Guru Arjan thus began the Compilation of the Guru Granth Sahib, which he called the Adi Granth – the “primal knot” which would forever secure the sanctity of the Sikh faith. The Guru sent out a call to all Sikhs far and wide to bring forth the poetry which had been composed by the four Gurus. When all the volumes had been collected, he chose a shady spot and sat down with his scribe Bhai Gurdas and carefully selected the genuine works which would be encompassed in the Holy Granth. Guru Arjan himself dictated the banis which Bhai Gurdas then wrote out in Gurmukhi script. Bhai Gurdas was often instructed by Guru Arjan to revise and correct the portion of Adi Granth that he had written during the day.

The Gurus had always desired to establish Sikhism as a casteless and universal creed. Side by side with the verses of the first four Sikh Gurus and his own, Guru Arjan Dev Ji blended the celestial utterances of other enlightened beings from many different walks of life, sects and castes: Sheikh Farid, a Muslim saint; Bhagat Kabir, a Muslim weaver; Bhagat Ravi Das, a shoe maker from Uttar Pradesh; Dhanna, a farmer from Rajastan; Namdev, a calico printer from Maharashtra; Bhikhan, a Sufi saint; Jai Dev, a poet from Bengal; Trilochan, a Brahmin from Maharashtra; Sur Das, a blind poet; Pipa, a king from Uttar Pradesh, and several more. Guru Arjan Dev’s own verses are of the highest artistic caliber. More than half of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib is made up of his writings. The Gurumukhi script made it possible for everyone to read all the selections in the Siri Guru Granth Sahib even if they were originally written in Persian or Sanskrit, Arabic, Bengali or some other language or dialect.

With the completion of this momentous work, the Guru gave the world a gift such as it had never experienced before, a source of divine living guidance so clear and penetrating that it could uplift the consciousness of a human being within no time. A gift so pure and essential, that it could transcend the boundaries of time and religion and exist beyond personality and human form.

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