sikha

Pandit Kirpa Ram stayed in the Darbar of Guru Gobind Rai after the shaheedi of Guru Tegh Bahadur. Here he was a court poet where he translated different works from Farsi to Braj for the Guru (most of the kashmiri pandits were fluent in farsi).. One of the books that Pandit Kirpa Ram translated that is still extant is the 12th century Kimiye-ye-sadat by Muhammad Al Ghazali which is an extremiely beautiful treatise on spirituality and ethics. Later on the Sewa panthis copied this manuscript in dozens and used it for parchaar in muslim areas of West Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunwa.amongst the pashtuns.

Probably refers to the Charitro Pakhyan in the Dasam Granth

Also read the article on Zindaginama on the new bhai nand lal website: Zindagînamâ The Zindagînamâ is written in classical Persian and consists of 510 verses. It is a long, and consistent poem that heralds key aspects of the Sikh tradition using Islamicate vocabulary. According to tradition, it was written upon the poet’s arrival to Anandpur and presented as a gift to the Tenth Guru who was so fond of its content, that he renamed the composition from Bandagînâma (guidance of spirituality) to Zindagînamâ (Guidance of life). Sarup Das Bhalla in 1775 comments on the Zindagînamâ in the following way: Nand Lal prepared the Bandaginama and presented it as a gift to the True Guru. The True Guru effaced the title Bandagânamâ to Zindagînamâ. The text was recited in the Bahir Tavil style in Persian and afterwards placed in front of the Guru. Hearing it the True Guru was filled with mercy. He noted that it consistently pronounced the mystical knowledge of the Divine. It makes dharma clear and always brings peace upon its reader. Reading it the mind will achieve glory and be free from adversity. The splendour of the mystical awareness of the Fearless Lord will then become manifest within the heart. Indeed, without the True Lord nothing can be known. The Zindagînamâ is roughly centred on four themes: Meditation (Zikr-e-Haqq), the devotees of God situated in the Sat Sangat (Mardân-e-khudâsat) The Perfect Spiritual Guide and Guru (Murshid-e-Kâmil) and proper conduct in this world (Adab). The first theme excels the others by far and there is a constant reiteration of virtues of living a spiritual life based on meditation on the Name of God throughout the whole composition. Read the rest of the article here: http://bhainandlal.com/zindaginama.html

The world's first website on a court poet of Guru Gobind Singh has now been launched!!!! "The writings of Bhai Nand Lal Goya are like the whispers of two lovers in a crowd. If you allow them to caress your ears and penetrate your heart they will surely take you to places where your spirit will be at home, at the lotus feet of the Eternal Sat-Guru." See the website on http://www.bhainandlal.com/

Gurfateh For those of you who have Facebook, please sign a friendship with the following group to get a free daily quote of the Persian Ghazals of Afghan Sikh poet Bhai Nand Lal. In love, there is no distinction between wisdom and madness. - Diwân-e-Goya "The world is like the dark of the night; Awake my beloved! Let your moon face be a candle to the way-farer." - Diwân-e-Goya Know separation so that you can yearn for union, for how can you reach the goal without seperation as your guide? - Diwân-e-Goya To sign on click the following link https://www.facebook...100003548512896

An old edition of Chaupa Singh rehitnama was burned and destroyed, however luckily Mcleod did a translation and transliteration of the manuscript.. I have not heard that he did an entire cataloging of the library but what would be great to view if such exist http://www.sikhtimes.com/news_060703a.html

U can't use the above tuk to argue that Sikhs can't dance. The tuk is not didactic. We have similiar shabads saying "make Truth your capital" etc, does that mean SIkhs can't work as business partners?? Others say "make X your pen, Y your ink and W your paper". Does that mean SIkhs should'n learn to read???

It looks weird and i was shocked myself but who are you to use punjabi cultural norms to judge their western behaviour? Obviosly they dont consider it disrespectful, otherwise they would not do it... They are western sikhs, they have other norms of what is disrespectful. Dont turn sikhi into panjabism.... U have no objective source to state what they are doing is wrong, only your own subjective background as a panjabi

There might have been one made in 1733 (Piara Singh Padam's seems to trace it back to the court of Guru Gobind Singh) but the one we have today is not from 1733. It gives references to Nadir Shah, Shah Abdali, Maharaja Ranjit Singh etc which means it was corrupted at a later stage

SIkhoooooooooo

Sounds great Singhs and Kaurs. We already have a team of about 5 people doing different things. Can u either here or in a private PM tell me a little about about what you might be able to help in with? At the moment we especially need people who are good at making slide show videos and grapichs (art work with Gurmukhi texts etc, either hand made or computer made). With slideshow video i mean something like this (audio,video and text all combined in a beautiful setting telling a story):

Thank you for your reply Singh. We are thinking of launching the website around March 2012 so there should be plenty of time Do you think this project is something you would be interested in contributing with? The level of material we are going to put on the website is gonna be historical,- material never released for the sangat in the past 50 years or more

Waheguru ji ka Khalsa Waheguru ji ki Fateh. Bhai Nand Lal Goya was one of the most outstanding Court poets of the Guru. He was a great Persian and Arabic scholar and his Diwân is a part of the Sikh litterary Canon. Yet only a hand full of Sikhs are knowledgeable about his beautiful works. We wish to change that! In commemorating his 300 year death tricentenary in 2013 we wish to make a website, provide fresh translations, kirtan and recitations of his Perso/arabic/panjabi bani. For this we need help from a wide range of people with various skills, especially website skills, multimedia (video and image), artists etc. If you are interested, or know anyone who is good at making websites, videos and translating from punjabi to english, please send me a PM or write in this thread and we will tell you more about the project. One sample of Nand Lal's craving mystical poetry can be read here. He wrote this once while waiting in the darbaar for Guru Gobind Singh to return: My heart burns in separation of my beloved; My soul is aflame with a passion for him; I am so much enveloped in these flaming emotions; That whoever sees me in this plight burns like pinewood that catches fire. I am not the only one burning in these flames; The whole world around me is ablaze. I am burning on the embers of separation, just as a chemist burns chemicals on a furnace. Blessed be thou O heart of Goya, For being burnt in passionate flames of love. Alexandar Von Humbolt who has translated some of Bhai Nandlal Goya's work in "The Pilgrims Way" has this to say about Nand Lal: "Goya was among the masters who could put in verse what he felt deep within, and like the entirety of his self laid at the sacred feet of the great Guru, the Beloved. And no doubt, those who surrender the self, master the world." Help us in mainstreaming and making the figure of Bhai Nand Lal Goya popular among mainstream Sikhs. In 2013 we mark the 300 year death tricentenary of this majestic soul. Come be a part of this project of reviving the universal message of the Sikh faith.

Thanks i've been looking for pictures of this. However I believe it does not date from the period of Guru Nanak but rather from the missionary tours of the udasi sikhs who travelled as far as russia