P.s. Footnotes
I have given the original script of the essay. Even the font formation is preserved lest it may cause confusion as to who has done it.The following are the foot notes to the above.
1. Granth means a volume and Guru means the spiritual preceptor; both sri and sahib which have been used as prefix and suffix, respectively, are just honorifics.
2. The Sikhs bow before it, cover their heads in its presence and remove their shoes in veneration for the holy Word. All this does not amount to a part of ritualistic worship.
3. Guru Granth Sahib, IV 982 (bani guru guru hai bani vichi bani amaratu sare/ gurbani kahai sevak jan mania pratakhi guru nistare)
4. Guru Granth Sahib, I, 722 (jaisi mai avai khasam ki bani taisara kari gianu ve Lalo)
5. N. Muthumohan, Essential Postulates of Sikhism. Ed. Dharam Singh (Patiala: Punjabi University, 2003) 128
6. Ibid., II, 463 (ihu jagu sachai ki hai kothari sache ka vichi vasu/ ikna hukami samailae ikna hukame kare vinasu)
7. Ibid., I, 522 (nanak satiguri bhetiai puri hovai jugati/ hasandia khelandia painandia khavandia viche hovai mukti)
8. Ibid., I, 1030 (panch tatu mili kaia kini/ tis mahi ram ratanu lai chini/ atam ramu ramu hai atam/ hari paiai sabadi vichara he)
9. Ibid., Kabir, 871 (kahu kabir ihu ram ki ansu/ jas kagad par mitai na mansu)
10. Ibid., III, 441 (man tu joti sarup hai apana mulu pachhanu/ man hari ji terai nail hai gurmati rangu manu)
11. Ibid., V, 534 (raj na chahahu mukti na chahahu manu priti charan kamalare)
12. Ibid., III, 600 (isu dehi andari panch chor vasahi kamu krodhu lobhu mohu ahankara/ amaratu lutahi manmukh nahi bujhahi koi na sunai pukara). There are numerous such other references wherein these five are referred to in a variety of ways; at places it also makes reference to certain other evils along with these and they include kusangat, trishna, ninda and others.
13. In the scripture, Guru stands as much for the human teacher or preceptor as for Divine and we find the word used in both senses. However, this identification of the Guru with God is not the identification of the person of the Guru with God, but Guru conceived as sabda or word as revealed by Him. It is Guru’s Word (believed to be revelation and thus making Guru, Word and God synonymous) which leads man on the way to mukti. Also, in Sikh tradition Guru means the ten spiritual preceptors, from Guru Nanak Dev to Guru Gobind Singh; no other person however pious or enlightened can claim or be accepted as such. After Guru Gobind Singh, the office of Guru is occupied for all times to come by the Guru Granth Sahib or more precisely by the Word as contained therein.


Regards to all.