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The Guru Granth Sahib Ji is often described as the living Guru of the Sikhs. But to understand it only as a religious scripture would be to miss its extraordinary philosophical depth.
In a conversation on Read a Book in 14 Minutes, Professor Charan Singh Ji – who has studied the Guru Granth Sahib Ji for over 60 years and has served as Chairman of Punjab & Sind Bank, taught at IIM Bangalore, and worked with the World Bank – offered a deeply simple way to understand this profound text.
His message was striking: you do not need 14 minutes to understand the heart of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji. You need half a minute.
Because the first page asks one question:
How do I become truthful? How do I shed falsehood?
That, according to Professor Charan Singh Ji, is the central inquiry of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Across its 1430 pages, through hymns, music, reflection and spiritual wisdom, the question returns again and again: Am I truthful?
The Guru Granth Sahib Ji Is Not Just To Be Read. It Is To Be Reflected Upon.
One of the most powerful ideas in the conversation is that reading alone is not enough.
The Guru Granth Sahib Ji is not a text to be consumed mechanically. It is not a book to be finished. It is a wisdom tradition to be lived.
Professor Charan Singh Ji explains that a practicing Sikh is encouraged to read in the morning, evening and before resting at night. But the real purpose is reflection. The objective is not simply recitation. The objective is to ask: Are my intentions truthful? Is my conduct truthful? Is my behaviour truthful?
This makes the Guru Granth Sahib Ji intensely practical.
For a child, truthfulness may mean not cheating in an exam. For a young adult, it may mean honesty in relationships and ambition. For a working professional, it may mean integrity in decisions, money, power and responsibility. For an elder, it may mean truthfulness in memory, wisdom and surrender.
The question remains the same. The context changes.
A Scripture That Brings Together Saints, Seekers, Workers and Kings
One of the most remarkable aspects of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji is its inclusiveness.
It contains nearly 6,000 hymns written not only by Sikh Gurus, but also by saints from different backgrounds and traditions. Professor Charan Singh Ji points out that the contributors include people from Sufi Islam, Hindus, Brahmins, Dalits, weavers, cobblers, Pandits – and even a king and a butcher.
This is extraordinary.
The Guru Granth Sahib Ji is not interested in social status. It is interested in truth. It does not ask whether wisdom came from a palace or a workshop, from a saint or a labourer, from a scholar or a so-called outsider.
It asks only one thing: Is it truthful?
That is why the Guru Granth Sahib Ji becomes not just a Sikh scripture, but a deeply universal human document.
Music, Life and the Passage of the Soul
The Guru Granth Sahib Ji is also composed in music. Its hymns are arranged in different raags, giving the text not only philosophical power but emotional and musical depth.
It is present across the key moments of life – birth, marriage, death and everyday worship. But Professor Charan Singh Ji makes an important point: Sikh philosophy sees life as a passage. The body is temporary. The soul continues its journey.
At birth, hymns express gratitude for the blessing of life.
At death, hymns remind us that all must go.
At marriage, hymns point beyond the human relationship to the deeper union with the Divine.
And yet, these ceremonies return to a common understanding: the human body has been given for a purpose. Life must be used meaningfully.
What Happens When You Enter a Gurdwara?
For someone unfamiliar with Sikh practice, entering a Gurdwara can feel intimidating. What should one do? How should one behave? What is the correct way to show respect?
Professor Charan Singh Ji explains it gently.
In a Gurdwara, people cover their heads, remove their footwear, bow before the Guru Granth Sahib Ji and sit with the congregation. Women also cover their heads as a mark of respect. Those with physical difficulty may sit on benches. There is no harsh dogmatism in the practice. The purpose is respect, humility and listening.
The Gurdwara is literally the door of the Guru. When one enters, one enters to listen, reflect and receive wisdom.
And this wisdom is not narrow. In the Guru Granth Sahib Ji, one hears names such as Vaheguru, Ek Onkar, Ram, Krishna and Allah, because the text carries the spiritual vocabulary of many traditions.
The message is meant for all humanity.
No gender is superior. No race is superior. No colour is superior. No language is superior. No human being is spiritually inferior.
The Guru Granth Sahib Ji Is Not Only Punjabi
Many people assume that the Guru Granth Sahib Ji is written only in Punjabi. Professor Charan Singh Ji clarifies that this is not so.
The compositions span nearly 1,000 years, from Farid to Guru Nanak and beyond. The text is written in Gurmukhi script, but it contains multiple languages and influences, including Braj, Sanskrit, Marathi, Hindi and Persian words.
This matters deeply.
The Guru Granth Sahib Ji is not a closed linguistic world. It is an open spiritual universe. It speaks through the languages of the people it addresses. It reaches beyond one region, one identity and one community.
Its intention is common even when languages differ.
The central question remains: How do I become truthful?
The Next Question: Who Am I Really?
In the second part of the conversation, Professor Charan Singh Ji goes deeper. Once a person asks, “How do I become truthful?”, the next question naturally arises: Who am I?
Am I the body? Am I the mind? Am I the soul? What part of me is permanent? What part of me changes?
What part of me can be truthful?
The body changes from childhood to youth to adulthood to old age. Therefore, the body cannot be the full truth. The Guru then turns the seeker inward, toward the mind and the soul.
But the mind is difficult.
The body has limits. It can walk, run, fly or travel. But the mind moves faster than all of these. It can go in all directions at once. It can create desire, fear, anger, jealousy and illusion.
So how does one win the mind?
Professor Charan Singh Ji explains the Guru’s answer in a beautifully simple way: discipline, patience, knowledge and purified intention.
This is not a call for complicated spiritual engineering. It is a call to cleanse intention.
As You Sow, So Shall You Reap
The Guru Granth Sahib Ji does not separate spirituality from everyday action.
If you hurt someone, be prepared for hurt to return. If you spread anger, anger returns. If you love, love returns.
Professor Charan Singh Ji summarises this moral law simply: as you sow, so shall you reap.
This is not merely punishment and reward. It is spiritual cause and effect. Every intention carries a consequence. Every action creates a direction. Every habit shapes the mind.
That is why Sikh wisdom pays such deep attention to the mind.
To purify the mind is to purify life.
Compassion and Contentment: The Foundation of Religion
One of the most moving insights in the conversation is this: the whole structure of religion stands on compassion. And to be compassionate, one must be contented.
This is a powerful idea for modern life.
A restless person struggles to be compassionate. A jealous person struggles to be generous. An insecure person struggles to be truthful. A greedy person struggles to be peaceful.
Contentment is not laziness. It is inner balance. It is the state from which compassion becomes possible.
Why the Guru Granth Sahib Ji Is Treated as a Living Guru
The Guru Granth Sahib Ji is not treated casually. There is a code of conduct around it because it is considered the living Guru.
In a Gurdwara, and in devout Sikh homes where the Guru Granth Sahib Ji is present, it is greeted in the morning and respectfully retired at night. This is not empty ritual. It reflects reverence for wisdom.
At the same time, Professor Charan Singh Ji makes another important point: wisdom is everywhere. Hymns are also available on phones. One can read them, reflect on them and allow them to change one’s life.
The physical form is respected. The wisdom is universal. The transformation happens within.
How Were the Hymns Collected?
The conversation also explores how the Guru Granth Sahib Ji came together.
Guru Nanak Dev Ji, born in 1469, travelled widely to share the message that there is no Hindu, no Muslim, no caste system, no superiority of language, gender, colour or skin. He travelled on foot for many years, met scholars, encountered spiritual writings, verified them and collected them.
This collected wisdom passed from Guru to Guru until Guru Arjan Dev Ji compiled the hymns in 1604 near Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar. The manuscript was written by Bhai Gurdas Ji, bound respectfully and taken to the Golden Temple.
This history gives the Guru Granth Sahib Ji its astonishing breadth. It is not one man’s philosophy. It is a carefully preserved ocean of wisdom, devotion and truth.
The Real Message: Become Truthful
In the end, the Guru Granth Sahib Ji brings the seeker back to the simplest and hardest question: Am I truthful?
Not outwardly religious. Not socially respected. Not intellectually clever. Not ritually perfect. Truthful. Truthful in thought. Truthful in speech. Truthful in work. Truthful in relationships. Truthful in intention. Truthful in the mind.
That is why the Guru Granth Sahib Ji remains so powerful. It does not merely ask us to believe. It asks us to become. And perhaps that is the real test of any great wisdom tradition.
It does not give us an escape from life. It gives us a mirror. The Guru Granth Sahib Ji asks us to look into that mirror and ask:
How do I become truthful?
Karnvir Mundrey is the Editor of TheFutureOfPR.com. Reach out at tfofpr@gmail.com or at +918296303806.
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