Is 'Wah-e-Guru' the Name of God?

All the verses that you have quoted are couplets that have this following structure. The first line says somehting about the Supreme Lord, and the second is more like a chorus, that spontaneously bursts into praising the Guru who has delivered the wisdom given in the first line. This is the standard practice.

Take one of you quotes for instance:
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/sikh-sikhi-sikhism/27483-is-wah-e-guru-name-god.html

||2||7||

The first line praises the Supreme Lord by stating,'You are forever True, the Home of Excellence, the Primal Supreme Being!'

In the second, you praise the Guru who delivered this wisdom by singing, 'Waahay Guru, Waahay Guru, Waahay Guru, Waahay Jee-o!'

Its not that complicated really, unless that is you want to complicate it intentionally.

 
Do share your immediate thoughts or reactions on this issue? We value your views! Login Now! or Sign Up Today! to share your views with us.. Gurfateh!

All the verses that you have quoted are couplets that have this following structure. The first line says something about the Supreme Lord, and the second is more like a chorus, that spontaneously bursts into praising the Guru who has delivered the wisdom given in the first line. This is the standard practice.

Take one of you quotes for instance:

||2||7||

The first line praises the Supreme Lord by stating,'You are forever True, the Home of Excellence, the Primal Supreme Being!'
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=27483
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=27483

In the second, you praise the Guru who delivered this wisdom by singing, 'Waahay Guru, Waahay Guru, Waahay Guru, Waahay Jee-o!'

Its not that complicated really, unless that is you want to complicate it intentionally. The Wah-e-Guru mentioned here is certainly not in reference to the Supreme and it certainly cannot be mistaken as the name of the Supreme.

Please my friend stop with this language of disrespect. I asked when I mentioned Gopal and Gurpal to be corrected if I am wrong.

You see there is no 'word jugglery' from me, only open and honest questing for the truth, you must see by my name that I have no connection to the Punjab and so must expect my knowledge of the language to be inferior.

Naam as I understand it does not only equate to name, but has other meanings too, perhaps that is the basis for this misunderstanding?

I understand Naam to also mean sound, or word, or utterance. Again, if I am incorrect here perhaps one of our more learned members can correct me.


Are you going to answer the rest of my questions?

akalpurkh ji,

Guru Fateh.

You write:
1.Would you be kind enough to describe what NAAM is in lay man's terms?

2.How does one attain,get, receive NAAM once its definition is established?

3.Who/ what is Supreme?

4.What do you mean by "HOLY NAME of the Supreme"? Your implication indicates that there is also an unholy name. What is it?

Thanks and hope to learn from your insights.

Regards

Tejwant Singh

Now a word of warning before I log off to go to work! Gopal and Gopi come from the same root. No question that Gopal is referring back to Vedantic references. In fact it is a reference to "cows" - but in the most concrete sense. An un-nuanced transposition from Sanskrit syllables to a giaan of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji is a transposition trapped in literality.

I hope this reference from Sant Ravidas illustrates my point,

ਜਨਮ ਮਰਣ ਕਾ ਭਉ ਗਇਆ ਭਾਉ ਭਗਤਿ ਗੋਪਾਲ ॥
janam maran kaa bho gaeiaa bhaao bhagath gopaal ||
The fear of death and rebirth is removed by performing loving devotional service to the Lord of the World.

Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji refers to "the wish-fulfilling cow" but neither a Vedic scholar nor a scholar of Gurbani would say that God is literally a Cow. I am going to leave for the time being with that thought. When I return -- if the level of interpretation does not rise to something higher, then it may turn out that I or another mod or admin will decide that Guru Granth is being undermined and action may be needed.

Something to consider. Try to draw on your capacity to understand metaphor. This is the moment for discriminating intellect.

ਇੰਦ੍ਰੀ ਸਬਲ ਨਿਬਲ ਬਿਬੇਕ ਬੁਧਿ ਪਰਮਾਰਥ ਪਰਵੇਸ ਨਹੀ ॥੨॥
eindhree sabal nibal bibaek budhh paramaarathh paravaes nehee ||2||
Our passions are strong, and our discriminating intellect is weak; we have no access to the supreme objective. ||2||


ਕਹੀਅਤ ਆਨ ਅਚਰੀਅਤ ਅਨ ਕਛੁ ਸਮਝ ਨ ਪਰੈ ਅਪਰ ਮਾਇਆ ॥
keheeath aan achareeath an kashh samajh n parai apar maaeiaa ||
We say one thing, and do something else; entangled in endless Maya, we do not understand anything.


ਕਹਿ ਰਵਿਦਾਸ ਉਦਾਸ ਦਾਸ ਮਤਿ ਪਰਹਰਿ ਕੋਪੁ ਕਰਹੁ ਜੀਅ ਦਇਆ ॥੩॥੩॥
kehi ravidhaas oudhaas dhaas math parehar kop karahu jeea dhaeiaa ||3||3||
Says Ravi Daas, Your slave, O Lord, I am disillusioned and detached; please, spare me Your anger, and have mercy on my soul. ||3||3||


ਸੁਖ ਸਾਗਰੁ ਸੁਰਤਰ ਚਿੰਤਾਮਨਿ ਕਾਮਧੇਨੁ ਬਸਿ ਜਾ ਕੇ ॥
sukh saagar surathar chinthaaman kaamadhhaen bas jaa kae ||
He is the ocean of peace; the miraculous tree of life, the wish-fulfilling jewel, and the Kaamadhayna, the cow which fulfills all desires, all are in His power.

You say: [These problems arise when we are misguided by transliterations. The English language has many alternate ways to make the same sound, unlike Gurmukhi which has far fewer. So Wah e Guru will not necessarily seem to be in Gurbani, but in fact is using an alternate phonetic strategy. Whether one is successful in one's search depends on the transliteration system being employed. There are around 3 that are standard (Professor Thind has authored more than one). Search engines do not use a single transliteration scheme. So linguistic confusion can be misleading.]
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=27483

I say: This is not correct; most of us here can read Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji in Gurbani. At any rate, I see no point in this argument, for I see no ambiguity with regards to the name in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. There are countless instances in the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji wherein the actual names of the Supreme Lord, such as 'Gopal, Ram, Hari, Mohan, Thakur (generic but specifically referring to Krishna)' etc., are mentioned. I really don't need a Thind 'who has authored more than one book' to sort this out for me. Nor, indeed should you.

akaalpurakh ji

You can say This Is Not Correct until the cows come home Not only are your own facts completely off, but you are taking a very literal-minded view of the topic and perhaps not realizing that you are winding people up.
Reference:: Sikh Philosophy Network http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/showthread.php?t=27483

Bye for now.

Don't you worry about me dear. I know exactly where I am going. Can you follow? That is the real question.

Sorry Lee. I got to go now. Catch you all tomorrow.