PRONUNCIATION Guide to the Romanized version of quotations from the Guru Granth Saheb. A. Consonants Gurmukhi letter Roman Word in Roman Word in Gurmukhi Meaning Letter letters using the letters using the relevant letter relevant letter from from the second the first column column S s Sabh sB All H h Het ihq Affection K k Krodh kroD Anger K kh Khayl Kyl Play G g Guru gurU Teacher G gh Ghar Gr House | ng Ngyani / gyani i|AwnI / igAwnI Possessing divine knowledge C c Cor cor Thief C ch Chaata Cwqw Umbrella j j Jahaaj jhwj Ship J jh Jhaaroo JwVU Broom \ ny Sunyi su\I Quiet t t Tap t`p Jump T th Thag Tg Robber f d Dar fr Fear F dh Dholak Folk Drum x n Hun hux Now q t Tan qn Body Q th Thuk Quk Sputum d d Den idn Day D dh Dhan Dn Wealth n n Net inq Everyday p p Peta ipqw Father P f Fal Pl Fruit b b Ben ibn Without B bh Bhagat Bgq Saint m m Man mn Mind X y Yam Xm Messenger of death r r Roti rotI Bread l l Loha lohw Iron v v Vasai vsY Dwell V r Koora kUVw Rubbish (n) in brackets, and (g) in brackets after the consonant 'n' both indicate a nasalised sound - Eg. 'Tu(n)' meaning 'you'; 'saibhan(g)' meaning 'by himself'. All consonants in Punjabi / Gurmukhi are sounded - Eg. 'pai-r' meaning 'foot' where the final 'r' is sounded. 3 Copyright Material: Gurmukh Singh of Raub, Pahang, Malaysia B. Vowels Vowels Symbols in Roman Word in Roman Word in Meaning Gurmukhi letter letters Gurmukhi letters Mukhta a man mn Mind Kanna w aa taap qwp Fever Sehari i e ek iek One Behari I i moti (short vowel) moqI Pearl I ee jeet (long vowel) jIq Win Aunkar u u put puq Son Dulainkray U oo noor nUr Light Laa(n) y ay khayl Kyl Play Dulaava(n) Y ai bhai BY Fear Hora o o bol bol Speak Kanaura O au caurasih cOrwsIh Eighty - four Points to note: (a) The use of 'a' for the kanna as a short vowel or the use of 'aa' for the long vowel is a matter of discretion. For Bwxw some might use bhaana whilst some might write it as bhana. In these articles an attempt has, as far as possible, been made to differentiate between the short and long vowel sounds of the kanna by using one 'a' for the short sound and 'aa' for the long vowel sound. (b) Words pey, pwey; gey, gwey; are written thus in Roman: pa-ay, paa-ay; ga-ay, gaa-ay (c) The sehari is used as a short version of the laa(n) 'ay' . Eg. 'ek' is the short version of 'ayk' meaning one and they are written as iek, eyk. Exception to this has however been made in (1) the use of 'i' instead of 'e' in certain proper nouns as in 'Sikh', 'Singh', and (2) the use of 'e' instead of 'ay' in proper nouns as in 'Dev', 'Teg', 'Ved'. (d) The 'u' for aunkar is used as short form of the hora. Eg. 'ehu' and 'eho' meaning 'this' - iehu, ieho. (e) When a number of vowels are used an attempt has been made to separate the syllables by using the hyphen, to avoid confusion . Eg. Pa-ee-ai - pweIAY (f) Vowels 'a-ee' are used for words: bha-ee, ma-ee, la-ee … BweI, mweI, lweI. (g) Vowels 'a-i' are used for words: bha-i, ma-i, la-i … BeI, meI, leI. (h) Vowels 'ai' are used for words: bhai, mai, lai … BY, mY, lY. (i) 'y' is used as a vowel in words such as maya, gyan, pyar , dayal 4 Copyright Material: Gurmukh Singh of Raub, Pahang, Malaysia TEXT GUIDE 1. All Gurmukhi words written in Roman script are given in italics. 2. To relate what is mentioned in the text to the quotation from the Guru Granth Saheb, hyphens, or hyphen and some other appropriate punctuation mark, are used to give the equivalent word or phrase from the relevant quotation which follows the text. Sometimes this method is used to give the meaning of a word even though it is not in the quotation. In some places where the Gurmukhi word or phrase is found in the text the meaning in English is given subsequently by using hyphens, or hyphen and another punctuation mark . 3. An oblique line i.e. slash, is used separating: (a) Two or more Gurmukhi words with a slight difference in spelling due to the way it is spoken in different areas. Eg: shaant / saant meaning 'quiet and peace'; kaagar / kaagad meaning 'paper'; koel / kokel which is the name of a bird. (b) Two or more words different completely in spelling but having the same meaning. Eg: Nermal / pavetar / soocay meaning 'clean or pure'; neer / jal / paani meaning 'water'. (c) Inflected forms of a word having the same root. Eg: doojai / dooja / dooji referring to 'maya'; Kartai / karta / kartaar meaning 'creator' ; dhaul / dhaulaa meaning 'white bull' . 5 Copyright Material: Gurmukh Singh of Raub, Pahang, Malaysia 1. AIM OF LIFE When talking of the aim of life the vast majority of us think that our aim in life is to attain material welfare. Looking after our bodies, endeavouring to get a sound worldly education and acquiring wealth seem to be the prime targets of everyone. In this way we are under the misguided impression that we can be healthy and prosperous and thereby gain happiness. But in spite of material progress, in practically every field, we have failed to create the desired utopia. Instead we find misery, poverty,crime, increase in the incidence of diseases, animosity and wars all around us. A rich man staying in a palatial building and going about in flashy cars cannot be described as being happy if he is saddled with all kinds of worries. Material progress and prosperity cannot bring about peace of mind without spiritual progress. Thus it is not uncommon to find people who turn to fake gurus, witch doctors, practitioners of black magic and charms, and what not for the sake of acquiring peace of mind. On the other hand there are the rare cases – very rare indeed – of human beings steeped in spirituality who lead happy and peaceful lives even though they might be poor. Such persons understand the meaning of life. They realize that there is a superior being or force whom we call God who is our Creator who also controls our lives. It is only by making spiritual progress that we can know about the Creator, His creation, our relationship with Him and the need to surrender to His Will. Such religious persons are aware that a human being is not only a physical body. The driving force which gives life is the jeevatma – soul. Without the jeevatma the body is dead matter. The jeevatma is an offshoot of the Lord God and its ultimate aim is to get back to its origin, to merge with the Lord. For those persons who don’t make any progress spiritually and fail to merge with the Lord, the jeevatma has to face transmigration by going through the 8,400,000 lives – caurasih lakh joon, the various life forms that exist in this world. Guru Amar Das mentions that the Lord’s creation is like a play / tamasha of His which inspires wonder when we see it – daykh besmaad. The person who does not think of the Lord in his mind – man nahi caytay, because of his fascination with what he sees in this world will have to undergo the repeated cycle of births and deaths – aavagaun sansaara. But those who keep their sense organs in check - sanjam karni – lead a life free of evils. They succeed in putting an end to the repeated cycle of going and coming in the form of births and deaths – aavan jaan raha-ee. Daykh besmaad ehu man nahi caytay aavagaun sansaara……………… sac sanjam karni kerat kmaaveh aavan jaan raha-ee. P.l234 dyiK ibsmwdu iehu mnu nhI cyqy Awvwgauxu sMswrw Ò……scu sMjmu krxI ikriq kmwvih Awvx jwx rhweI Ò Material progress without spiritual progress cannot help in the process of merger with the Lord. It is only self realization – awareness of who we are, what our origin is, where our eternal home or true abode is and the steps that we have to take to attain our origin – that will help in the process of merger. We have been blessed with this precious life to achieve this merger, to realize God within us such that we can return to our true abode. Lower forms of life such as animals, winged creatures, insects, marine creatures and vegetation cannot resort to self realization as the humans can as they are not capable of knowing what God is, what their relationship with God is and how to get back to their origin. Only human beings can understand this and attain the perfect life through naam semran – meditating on the name of the Lord. It is this perfect life that one must aim for, and as Guru Ram Das says the human life – maans janm – is the time when one can attain union with the Lord. Maans janm Har pa-ee-ai Har raavan vayra Ram. P.844 mwxs jnim hir pweIAY hir rwvx vyrw rwm Ò Guru Arjan Dev says, “Oh man, you have got this lovely human body – maanukh dayhuria. This is the time for you to meet the Lord – melan ki baria.