[By: Daljit Singh Jawa, Publisher: Sikhs Serving America, Topeka, and KA]

A Sikh is a spiritual samurai, so he/she seeks the daily order of his Commander-in-chief before starting his/her day. Traditionally this order is known as the Guru’s Hukam (message or order). It is recited a loud and clear to the congregation so that everyone can hear and understand the hukam. Any person from the congregation may take the hukam. Our living Guru, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, speaks to us through the hukam. Therefore the hukam taking is made a central obligation of the daily routine of every Sikh. Hukam is read in the original Gurmukhi. Immediately following it is also read and/or translated in the common language of the people. It is usually in Punjabi, often in English, and occasionally in both.

Although many Punjabi translations of the Gurmukhi hukam are available, there is none existing in English for the setoff hukams alone. Daljit Singh who has a long history of serving the community through media promotion is the first to fulfill that scarcity. Each page of his book corresponds to a page of the Grant containing the hukam. Each page begins with the heading of the hukam followed by the opening line of hukam both in English transliteration. The page proceeds to give the central idea or the meanings of the line of rahaao, The Rahaao identifies the pause line meant to give the central theme of the hymn. Where there is online designated as therahaao line the beginning line is used to determine the central theme. This translation is adopted from the translations published either by Dr. Manmohan Singh or Dr. Gopal Singh Dardi. Remaining page is finished with the author’s understanding of the hukam written in simple English. The page number of Sri Guru Granth Sahib for each hukam is included at the end of every page. Future editions of the book will contain the hukam also in Gurmukhi and roman versions.

Congregation everywhere will find this book very useful. It will be particularly be valuable to our generation raised in the West and the Western populations converting to Sikhism. Those who take hukam in privacy of their home will need it too. The book can be obtained from the publisher for $10.

 

Article extracted from this publication >>  August 14, 1996