Vaheguru

From SikhiPedia

Vaheguru (Gurmukhi: ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ), (vāhigurū) is the term used by Sikhs to refer to the God or infinite creator. It means "The Wonderful Teacher" in the Punjabi language. 'Vah' translates to wonder and 'Guru' is a term denoting a teacher in the religious or spiritual sense. The word 'Guru' is further broken down to 'Gu' and 'Ru', 'Gu' meaning darkness and 'Ru' meaning light, so a Guru is one who takes someone from darkness to light.

Vaheguru is the distinctive name of the Supreme Being in the Sikh dispensation. In Guru Granth Sahib Ji, the term does not figure in the compositions of the Gurus, though it occurs therein, both as Vaheguru and Vahguru, in the hymns of Bhatt Gayand, the bard contemporary with Guru Arjan Dev Ji(1553-1606), and also in the Varan of Bhai Gurdaas Ji.

The most common usage of the word Waheguru is in the greeting:

   Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa: "The Khalsa (pure one) belongs to Vaheguru" 
   Vaheguru Ji Ki Fateh: "Victory belongs to Vaheguru" 

Usage in Sikh scripture

"Vaheguru", and its variant "Vahguru", appear only 18 times in Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Of these, Waheguru occurs nine times on Ang 1402 and six times on Ang 1403. Vahguru occurs twice on Ang 1403 and once on Ang 1404. Other words used in the Guru Granth Sahib to refer to God are: Onkar, Satguru ("true teacher"), Satnaam ("true name"), Ram, and numerous more.

A verse in Guru Granth Sahib Ji highlights the very fact that different people use different 'words' :

   (Ang 885, Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji) 
   Koyi Bole Ram Ram, Koyi Khuda (Some call(you) Ram Ram, Some Khuda) 
   Koyi Seve Gosain, Koyi Allah (Some serve (you) as the Gosain, some Allah) 
   Kaaran Karan Kareem (You alone are the cause of everything) 
   Kirpa Taar Raheem (Shower your mercy and bail me out) 

Guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), used "Vaheguru" in the invocatory formula ("Ik Onkar Sri Vaheguru ji ki Fateh", besides the traditional "Ik Onkar Satigur Prasad") at the beginning of some of his compositions as well as in the Sikh salutation ("Vaheguru ji ka Khalsa Vaheguru ji ki Fateh" or "Sri Vaheguru ji ki Fateh"). Bhai Gurdaas Ji at one place in his Varan (I.49) describes "Vaheguru" as an acrostic using the first consonants of the names of four divine incarnations of the Hindu tradition appearing in four successive eons. Some classical Sikh scholars, such as Bhai Mani Singh, Bhai Santokh Singh, and Pandit Tara Singh Narotam, taking this poetic interpretation seriously, have traced the origin of the term in ancient mythology.

Some modern scholars, however, believe that the name Vaheguru is owed originally to the Gurus, most likely to the founder of the faith, Guru Nanak, himself. According to this view, Vaheguru is a compound of two words, one from Persian and the other from Sanskrit, joined in a symbiotic relationship to define the indefinable indescribable Ultimate Reality. "Vah" in Persian is an interjection of wonder and admiration, and "guru" (Sanskrit guru: "heavy, weighty, great, venerable; a spiritual parent or preceptor") has been frequently used by Guru Nanak and his successors for "satiguru "(True Guru) or God. Bhai Santokh Singh, in Sri Gur Nanak Prakash (pp. 1249-51), reporting Guru Nanak’s testament to the Sikhs has thus explicated "Vaheguru": "Vah" is wonder at the Divine might; "gu" is spiritual darkness while "ru" is illumination brought to eliminate this darkness.

Significance, meaning, usage

Cumulatively, the name implies wonder at the Divine Light eliminating spiritual darkness. It might also imply, "Hail the Lord whose name eliminates spiritual darkness." Earlier, Bhai Mani Singh, Sikhan di Bhagat Mala, gave a similar explication, also on the authority of Guru Nanak. Considering the two constituents of "Vaheguru" ("vahe" + "guru") implying the state of wondrous ecstasy and offering of homage to the Lord, the first one was brought distinctly and prominently into the devotional system by Guru Nanak, who has made use of this interjection, as in Majh ki Var (stanza 24), and Suhi ki Var, slok to pauri 10.

Apart from the use of this interjection, the attitude of wonder and total submission at the sight of Divine Greatness is prominently visible in Guru Nanak as evidenced for example in the hymn in Dhanasari:

   "gagan mai thalu ravi chandu dipak bane tarika mandal janak moti" (GG, 663); 

in measure Suhi:

   "kaun taraji kavanu tula tera kavanu saraphu bulava" (GG, 730); 

and in Japji:

   "kete pavan pani vaisantar kete kan mahes, kete barame gharati ghariahi rup rang ke ves" (GG, 7). 

In Asa Di Var (GG, 462-75) the opening slok to pauri 3 is woven round "vismad nad vismad ved", "wondrous is the sound, wondrous the wisdom". Wonder and ecstasy are expressed at the cosmic order and its mystery full of contradictions, yet all comprehended in the Divinely-appointed system. This salok concludes with: "Ever present to our gaze is wonder. At the sight of this mystery are we wonderstruck. Only by supreme good fortune is it unravelled." In the opening salok to pauri 4—"bhai vichi pavanu vahai sadvau", "in (the Lord’s) fear bloweth the wind with its myriad breezes" — is expressed wonder at the cosmic “fear” under which the universe operates in obedience to the Divine Law, the Lord alone being exempt from such fear.

In Japji, besides other themes, one that stands out prominent is wonder at the cosmic order, its infinitude and the mystery of its moral élan. As a matter of fact, the theme of Japji may be said to be what occurs in the course of stanza 4: "vadiai vicharu" ("contemplation of Divine infinity"). In stanza 16, for example, is the expression of wonder at the limitlessness of space. Stanzas 17-19, each beginning with asankh (infinite), are uttered in the same mood.

In stanza 22— "patala patal lakh agasa agas", "countless the worlds beneath, countless the worlds above" —is a vision of the limitlessness of the universe. So are stanzas 24, 25, 26, 27, 32, 34, 35 and 36. It is in response to this overwhelming vision of Guru Nanak that the unique Name of the Supreme Being, Vaheguru, originated. No other name could have been adequate to express what in his vision he found lying at the heart of the cosmos, compelling a response in the human self attuned to devotion and ecstasy.

Guru Amardaas Ji has also employed the term in Gujari ki Var (GG, 514-16) and in Astpadis in Malar (GG. 1277). In the former, it is calculated that the interjection "vahu-vahu" ("Hail, hail the Lord") is used as many as 96 times. The interjection "vahu" ("hail, wondrous is the Lord") occurs in Guru Ramdaas Ji in conjunction with "Satiguru "(compounded from Guru) in sloka 2 in Slok Varan te Vadhik (GG, 1421). In Guru Arjan Dev Ji by whose time the formulation Vaheguru appears to have become current and acquired distinctiveness as the Name Divine, the phrase ‘Gur Vahu’ figures in Asa measure (GG, 376). This is only as inverted form of Vaheguru and has the same force and significance. Kavi Santokh Singh in Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth (p. 5686) uses the two terms as synonymous: “simrahu vaheguru guru vahi, or contemplate ye Vaheguru, the Lord all hail.”

The earliest use of Vaheguru, in this form, is traceable to Varan by Bhai Gurdaas Ji and to Gayand’s hymns in the Guru Granth Sahib Ji. In both it may be said to have occurred contemporaneously, for while no date can be assigned to Bhai Gurdas’ Varan, the work may be assumed to have appeared soon after the compilation of the Scripture in 1604, being so much alive with its spirit and phraseology. Gayand in the course of his lines encomiastic of Guru Ramdaas Ji (GG. 1403) made use of Vaheguru as the supreme Name Divine in recognition of the primacy and appeal it had by then come to acquire in the Sikh tradition. In this Savaiyya numbered 11, the term occurs twice as Vah Guru. Earlier in that numbered 6, it is repeated thrice as Vaheguru in the opening line, expressing fervour of devotion. So also in the concluding line of Savaiyya 7. In Savaiyya 12, Vahu Vahu (Wonder, personifying the Lord) signifies the Supreme marvel, embracing the infinitude of the universe. In Savaiyya 13, this name is used twice once as Vaheguru in the opening line and Vah Guru in the last line. In the concluding line of Savaiyya 8, Vaheguru is used thrice, concluding with the interjection "Vahe" ("Hail").

Some relevant lines from Bhai Gurdas, Varan, may also be reproduced here:

• Vaheguru guru sabadu lai piram piala chupi chabola, putting faith in Vaheguru, the Master’s teaching, the seeker drains in peace and tranquillity the cup of devotion
• (IV. 17); "paunu guru gursabadu hai Vaheguru gur sabadu sunaia", ""paun—guru" is the Master’s word wherethrough he imparted the holy name Vaheguru"
• (VI. 5); "Vaheguru salahna guru sabadu alae", "to laud the Lord let me give utterance to the Master’s Word"
• (IX. 13); "satiguru purakh daial hoi Vaheguru sachu mantr sunaia", "the holy Master in his grace imparted to the seeker the sacred incantation Vaheguru"
• (XI. 3); "nirankaru akasu kari joti Sarup anup dikhaia, bed kateb agochara Vaheguru gursabadu sunaia", "the Formless Lord manifesting himself granted sight of His unique effulgent self and imparted to the seeker the Word Vaheguru, that is beyond the ken of Vedas and the Muslim Scriptures"
• (XII. 17); "Vaheguru gurmantra hai japi haumai khoi", "Vaheguru is the Master’s incantation".

By repeating it egoism is cast out:

• (XIII. 2); "dharamsal kartarpuru sadh sangati sachkhandu vasaia, Vaheguru gur sabadu sunaia", "Guru Nanak in the temple at Kartarpur established the Realm Eternal as the holy congregation, and imparted to it the Divine Word Vaheguru"
• (XXIV. 1); "sati namu karta purakhu Vaheguru vichi ridai samae", "let the seeker lodge in his heart the holy Name, the creator immanent, Vaheguru"
• (XL. 22). In these verses, "Vaheguru" signifies the supreme name Divine, to which devotion may be offered. It is transcendent and annular of sin and evil, thus combining in itself the ‘attributed’ and the ‘unattributed’ aspects in consonance with the Sikh doctrine voiced in the Scripture. The main point is that by Guru Arjan’s time and after, this name over all others was established as the object of devotion. The term received the final seal in the time of Guru Gobind Singh.

Vaheguru is for Sikhs the Gurmantr (invocatory formula received from the guru) or nam for repetition (silently or aloud, with or without a rosary) and meditation upon the Supreme Reality. Bhai Gurdaas Ji in his Varan refers to it variously as japu mantr (invocation for repetition), guru sabadu (the Guru’s Word), sachu mantra (true mantra) and gurmantra. It is also called nam (the Name), and is sometimes compounded as “Satnam-Vaheguru” to be chanted aloud in congregations. Nam japna (repeated utterance of God’s Name, i.e. Vaheguru) is one of the three cardinal moral principles of Sikhism, the other two being kirat karni or honest labour and vand chhakna or sharing one’s victuals with the needy. Since the manifestation of the Khalsa by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699, Vaheguru has been part of the Sikh salutation: "Vaheguru ji ka Khalsa, Vaheguru ji ki Fateh" ("Hail the Khalsa who belongs to the Lord God! Hail the Lord God to whom belongs the victory! !" ). It has since also been the Gurmantr imparted formally at initiation to the novitiate by the leader of the Panj Piare administering the rites.

Bibliography

• Sabadarth Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Amritsar, 1959
• Gurdas, Bhai, Varan. Amritsar, 1962
• Mani Singh, Bhai, Sikhan di Bhagat Mala. Amritsar, 1955
• Santokh Singh, Bhai, Sri Gur Pratap Suraj Granth. Amritsar, 1927-35
• Sher Singh, Philosophy of Sikhism. Lahore, 1944

Above adapted from article By G. S. Talib