Scripture as Guru in the Sikh Tradition

What do Sikhs mean when they say that the Guru Granth Sahib lives? Taking a comparative approach, this article compares the lived religious practices and traditions that constitute the lives of three religious texts. Cross-cultural patterns emerge when comparing ritual uses and conceptions of the I-Ching, the Torah and the Guru Granth Sahib. These patterns reveal similar strategies for interpreting and relating to texts understood to be alive. At the same time, the cross-cultural patterns demonstrate the ways in which understanding a text to be alive depends on culturally and religiously specific metaphysics, practices and definitions of life. Going beyond a biological definition of life, these patterns demonstrate the complexities involved in defining what it means to live in a religious community.In 2008, Kulbir Kaur wrote in the Times of India,[t]he sacred Guru Granth Sahib is considered as the living guru of the Sikhs … [w] hoever reads it attentively, listens or sings to the hymns, is believed to get in direct contact with the Guru who is regarded as incarnate in these hymns … .Kaur's language describing the Adi Granth as living is typical of the way Sikhs regard their scripture. However Sikhs are not the only group of people to claim that their scriptures live. Jews, I-Ching diviners and many others have made similar claims. Although it is unlikely that many of these people would ascribe a biological understanding of life to a book, codex or scroll, religious and cultural notions of what it means to live are often more complex than scientific understandings. Placing the Torah, the I-Ching and the Guru Granth Sahib in comparison with one another reveals similarities in the ways that people in diverse religious and cultural contexts have understood their scriptures to live. These cross-cultural patterns show that similar kinds of beliefs and practices contribute to understanding a text as living. At the same time, recognizing these patterns highlights the particular religious and cultural complexities that are unique to the ways in which each of these texts are said to live.

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Scripture as Guru in the Sikh Tradition

Cited by 5 publications

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Guru Granth Sahib

Guru Granth Sahib

Scripture (Sikhism)

Patterns in the Lives of Texts

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