Nine Granths For Study

I've read the following nine granths are studied at Taksals/Gurmat Schools in order to get a better understanding on GurbaNee.
I have never heard of these before, what are they overall about and do they come from Vedantas.

Chanaka Raajneeti
Sarkutavali
Bhavrasamrit
Vichar Mala
Vairag Shatak
Parbodh Chandar Natak
Adhiatam Parkash
Birti Parbhakar
Vichar Sagar


From my understanding, I thought to understand BaNee better first you must read and learn Bhai Gurdass jees Vaars/Kabits which hold the key to GurbaNee.Then other texts to understand Mythology in BaNee.

Bh Kulbir Singh, Bh Bilja Singh, Bh MB Singh any help?

ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂਜੀਕਾਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ
ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂਜੀਕੀਫ਼ਤਹਿ

These granths are taught in sampradayak Taksals which educates Gianis and parcharaks/kathakars. A lot of useful gian is contained in those Granths. These books were written at a time when we did not have a lot of literature. But today we have many more books which can be taught. A Singh who is well read in all the books of Bhai Randhir Singh Jee or Bhai Veer Singh Jee(which is a lot!!), prof Sahib Singh Jee is no less a Giani in his own right.

I do not believe studying these granths is a must to understand Gurbani. Nirmala works starting from later half of 18th century are heavily Vedantic.

Daas agrees with bhai Bijla Singh ji that these granths are not a pre-requisite to understand Gurbani. Unfortunately I believe Nirmale do not regard Gurmat as a distinct religion and that other mats too can reach SachKhand and that SachKhand is an avastha rather than a realm.

However I do respect the amount of literature that Nirmale have produced from the 18th century onwards including the great historic work, Suraj Parkash by kavi Santokh Singh ji. Also I believe some Nirmale were opposed to Ragmala including Pandit Tara Singh ji Narotam, Giani Gian Singh ji and kavi Santokh Singh ji.

I think one of the main reasons that Nirmale were not able to correctly intepret Gurbani was because they did not understand the special role laga matra have in Grammar.

Grammer is very important in regards to interpreting Gurbani in addition to literature explaining various concepts such as dasam duar, naam simran jugti e.t..c. For these Gurmat concepts one can refer to books of bhai sahib Randhir Singh ji.

A vichar mala steek is available in steeks and teekas > sant surjit Singh sevapanthi section of gurmatveechar.com

1. As far as understanding Gurbani is concerned, the greatest aid is to do Paath of Gurbani, again and again. The more Paath we do, the better understanding we get. Gurbani has Paaras Kala. This Paaras Kala not only acts as a detergent that cleanes the self but also enables the reader to get Gurmat Gyaan. Gurbani is Guru and by this virtue, it gives the required understanding to its Sikh - the reader.

2. The Arth Vichaar of Gurbani is attained from the Sangat of Gurmukhs. Gurmukhs arrange for Gurbani Santhiya and at that time, Arth Vichaar too is done of Gurbani which provides the required Gurbani Gyaan to the seeker.

3. The Gurbani Vichaar presented in the books on Gurbani, written by Gurmukhs is indispensible. The foremost of these books or literature is the Baani of Bhai Gurdaas jee. After Bhai Gurdaas jee, many other books and literature written by Gurmukhs should be studied including the Rehitnaamas, books by Bhai Nandlal jee, Bhai Sahib Randhir Singh jee Bhai Vir Singh jee etc.

4. The 9 books mentioned in this thread are good to read and understand but these books are not a pre-requisite to understand Gurbani. Most of these books e.g. Vairag Shatak, Saruktavali, Probodh Chandr etc. are definitely books of Advaita Vedanta. Others too are mostly related to Advaita. Chanakya's Rajneeti is more inclined towards Vaishnav matt as the author was a Vaishnav Bhagat. It's an interesting read but again to say that reading it would enhance one's Gurbani understanding, is fetching it too far.

Kulbir Singh

Interestingly, Nirmale still teach student at various dera's throughout Punjab and India. The main dera of Nirmale is located in Hardwar and currently Gyan Dev Singh is the mukhi.

Sevapanthis have also produced literature and one of their granths is available on PDL:

[www.panjabdigilib.org]

This granth is attributed to bhai Seva Ram who was a disciple of the great Gursikh bhai Kanhaiya ji.

I feel that for understanding of Gurbani our 10th Nanak GuRoo Gobind Singh ji stated an excellent clue which in my view is totally
overlooked .
In fact one should be very clear first as to what is required to be known from within Gurbani.?Without knowing this one will always be moving in cirlcles for getting correct understanding of Gurbani.

The very fundamental clue given by 10th Nanak GuRoo Gobind Singh ji is that.............Jo Prabh Ko Milbo Chahen Khoj Sabad Main Lehen

Therefore first and the foremost thing to be known from Gurbani should be .

TO KNOW PRABHu FROM WITHIN GURBANI

If the starting point is correct rest every understanding would be with reference to the correct starting reference point..

It is very important that Gurbani is understood from GuRu itself .GuRu is the real teacher.Trying to understand Gurbani with the help of
other sources can result in incorrect understanding
Only requrement is one should be familiar with the language of SGGS ji and a bit grammar of Gurmukhi script.One can make use of other books which assist in understanding Gurbani language as per Gurmukhi script. This is more important than knoweldge from other Granths.

One should not try to verify the authenticty of the messages of Gurbani as per knowledge from other Granths.
It should be rather otherwise if required.

Bhul Chuk Maaf

DAS

Prakash.s.Bagga