KhojGurbani: Study, Research, Dialogue
April 13, 2014: Sikhi is a life-long apprenticeship to the Guru that includes inquiry, thought, contemplation and discernment. Indeed, Gurbani instructs a Sikh to adopt a holistic model of learning to advance along the path:
har paṛ har likẖ har jap har gāo har bẖaojal pār uṯārī
“Read, write and sing of The One, and you’ll be ferried across the ocean of life …” [GGS: 669]
The Gurus also viewed learning as a social process, not an isolated individual activity.
For Sikhs, then, to reflect (do vichaar) on gurbani through music, dialogue, discussion and discourse is obligatory practice that finds expression through the institution of sangat.
Welcome to KhojGurbani!
KhojGurbani, an online platform that launches today -- on Vaisakhi 2014 -- aims to create a cyber sangat by bringing Sikhs (and interested non-Sikhs) from all over the world to deepen and enrich their engagement with the Guru Granth Sahib.
Through this established kinship of sangat, albeit a virtual one, KhojGurbani also hopes to work towards a common purpose, namely, the creation of a new corpus of knowledge to further our understanding of gurbani.
Specifically, KhojGurbani aims to leverage technology and collaborative learning models to create a synergy that will lead to the development of a commentary on the Guru Granth Sahib, a contemporary translation as well as the compilation of a Gurmat dictionary.
KhojGurbani believes that knowledge creation and production should be drawn across the broadest spectrum of experience – from the Sikh who has a passing interest to established scholars.
The online world has made possible another social space and another mode of learning. Learning is no longer a classroom phenomenon. Consumption of information is increasingly digital and learning done outside traditional classrooms.
This is both an opportunity and a challenge to the traditional (read, gurdwara) mode of gurbani transmission – both in terms of content and delivery.
KhojGurbani does not seek to supplant the gurdwara with its emphasis on Punjabi, hagiography, sermons and saakhis. Indeed these are vital and foundational to our collective discourse. They add to the rich flavor and texture of our culture, not to mention the added nuance of meaning.
KhojGurbani seeks to provide an alternative that better reflects the need of the younger generations of Sikhs everwhere, who are shaped by Western modes of thinking and a scientific cultural temper that emphasizes dialectic and discussion.
The launch will begin with an exploration of Japji Sahib.
An attempt at rendering gurbani in English will be part of the collaborative exercise. While there are many translations available, no translation is really complete or final. In the spirit of building a fresh perspective, and despite Robert Frost's admonition that poetry is what gets lost in translation, a fresh attempt at another translation into English will be made.
KhojGurbani’s Editorial Board will moderate the discussion and provide resources to begin the conversation with Japji Sahib, with a focus on a few stanzas (paurris) each week.
The goal is to eventually read the entire Guru Granth Sahib together and write a detailed commentary on it with a new idiomatic English translation.
Each week the platform will present a section from the Guru Granth Sahib for worldwide study and discussion. A number of weekly online video-based discussion groups will be facilitated to discuss assigned sabads.
We will involve Sikhs with deep expertise in exegesis of the Guru Granth Sahib in these video discussions, which will be broadcasted through the KhojGurbani platform and YouTube. In addition, audio and written responses to the shabad or the section will be solicited and “crowdsourced.”
This exercise will allow eminent intellectuals and laypersons alike to engage with one another across different media and languages, all enabled by the online platform.
KhojGurbani is a labor of love for Harvinder Singh of Boston. With the Guru's blessings, he has devoted multiple years to develop the infrastructure – all the while holding down a full-time job as Director of Data Management at the University of Massachusetts.
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