Indian Poetics and Sri Guru Granth Sahib
Ratan Singh Jaggi
The Indian poetics is related to the rules set forth for analyzing a poet’s writing while Sri Guru Granth Sahib is the expression of the experiences of the great personages leading a godly life. A literary writer is called a poet and a Banikar (writer of hymns) is called a Great Person. A poet is concerned with the visible world but the writers of Bani have access to what is beyond the seen world and they write accordingly sharing their experience with others. Thus a poet’s view is limited, but the Banikar’s sphere is infinite. A poet can adopt any ‘gunas’ like ‘tamo’, ‘rajo’ and ‘sato’ but a Banikar is endowed with ‘satvic’ disposition and as such, an extraordinary person. As the Bani has been written in poetic style, it is called poetry. But in spite of being poetry, it is far above it. Poetry twitches the human mind, but the Bani transforms a person’s mind totally. A poet takes a flight from the seen world to the world of imagination. In fact where the reach of the poet ends, the mind’s journey of the Banikar begins.Thus the Bani is far above poetry and unaffected by the worldly environs. It is such a word-arrow which inspires the seeker to step ahead on the course of attainment.
In the Indian poetics, the poetry has been classified into four basics. These are, form, style, meter and meaning. The poetry based on form is believed to be of two types, ‘swaya’ and ‘drishya’. Swaya is what can be heard or read and ‘drishya’ is what can be presented on the stage. All the elements of ‘Natak’ (drama) are inherent in this. From the style point of view, poetry is of three types – gada, pada, and champoo (mixture of the two). Meter is of two types – systematic and the free style. The system has many other forms, like mahakav (epics), khand kav, etc. On the basis of meaning, the poetry is divided into three, like, uttam kav (high), madhyam kav (middle) and adham kav (low). In the high type, irony dominates. Such forms of poetry are not easy to trace in Sri Guru Granth Sahib. From the point of view of form the poetry of Sri Guru Granth Sahib would be termed a ‘pada’. From the point of view of meaning, it is high poetry because it may be or may not be dominated by irony, the influence that it has had on the common man and changed the entire thinking of society, makes it Great Poetry. From the point of view of meter, the very large size Banis cannot be placed under any poetic classification as it is neither episodal nor does it have a character. In all, however, the Banis keep moving towards a direction but every stanza or a pada has its meaning even outside the context. Therefore, it cannot be framed into a system; it is a systematised free style. The rest of the Bani can be termed free style, which denotes that it is free, having no link with the previous or the later context. According to Acharya Anandvardhan, a literary work which bears no relation to the prior and still has the capacity to provide ‘rasa’ (taste), is free style poetry. In fact in the free style poetry, the Sanskrit scholars have mixed all the intricacies which cannot be included into the metric system. But the essential element of meter has not been denied there, as would be made clear later on though the metric discipline has not been accepted as such..
The poetic form, in fact, is the structure of poetry in which abides the poet’s soul. What should be correct poetic form of giving expression to his experience, is determined by the poet himself. He has, however, to keep in view the poetic tradtion and the listeners’ interest and it helps him also to be guided by the ever changing realities of life. Thus the poetic form is the mould in which the poet’s feelings, views, experiences, reactions, etc. are shaped depending on the poet’s soul, poetic tradtion and the changing norms of society.
The writers of Bani kept before them the needs of the time to give expression to their feelings, views and experiences and made proper and successful use of the poetic forms derived from tradition in the context of folklore. This method was more in consonance with the people’s intellect. Mainly, the entire Bani can be divided into two forms – metre based and free style.
Under the free style poetry, the large sized compositions can be placed, which were composed with a certain end and planning in view. In other words, such composions as have been composed in a particular sequence and sphere, like Japuji, Sidhagosht, Sukhmani,Anand, Onkar, Patti, Bawan Akhri, Thiti, Baraahmaha, Vars, etc. Though these compositions do not relate any sort of happening, these works have been written in a planned manner and the build up thereof has been done very carefully with reference to the context. The size and content of these verses is not uniform in character. Some are very long verses, like Japuji, Sukhmani, etc. Some are short verses like Thiti, Baramaha, etc. They can be classified into doctrinal aspect, script base or time base. It is important to note here that none of these writings are based on any particular aspect of poetics. Though the compositions like Goshti and Baramaha are indicative of exchange of ideas or the description of seasons based on some seemingly traditional system, in reality there is no element of any ancient tradition in Gurbani writing. All the verses bear a relationship with the poetic forms of the medieval times.
The verses written without regard to the limitation of meter can be classified as the free style. Most of the Bani is written without any restrictive norm. Chaupadai, Astpadi, Solhai, Salok, Chhant can be placed in this class. All these verses are ordinarily called ‘Shabad’. Chaupadai means a hymn having four stanzas. But under this heading, sometimes a hymn having more than four stanzas has been called an Astpadi. There can be more or less than eight stanzas in such hymns. This has extended even from 7 to 12 padas (stanzas). Hymns called Sohila has sixteen stanzas but still this number is not rigidly followed; it could be more or less. Sohilas figure only in the Maroo raga. The first two lines of the stanzas are short and uniform and the third is quite long, equal to the first two. The third line ends with a word of high pitch. These hymns have ‘rahau’ (pause) also which is generally after the first stanza. The number of lines and size are nor uniform in the case of salokas nor the rhyming has been considered necessary. These salokas are in fact collection of lines. Whatever number of lines may be there in a saloka, depends on the spirit and view thereof. In fact, when the Gurus desire to give their view on any issue, the lines go on increasing in number till the process of writing the hymn or the espression of idea is not completed.
It is clear from the above analysis that the writers of Bani do not accept any traditional norm or the principle of old poetics. Rather they have gone ahead in the choice of poetic form keeping in view the people’s intellect. Here the Bani writers have gone out of the traditional norms and worked independently.
Poetic mode – its discipline Right from the ancient times, in the tradition of poetry, the discipline of the poetic mode had assumed great importance. Therefore the poetry and the poetic mode bear a warm relationship though in the modern times it has by and large freed itself from the royal confines. Two poetic systems have been in vogue in the Indian poetic endeavour; one is Varnic (classic) based on number of classes and the second is Matric (vowel sign) which is based on the vowel count. The Varnic Chhand was mostly used in Sanskrit but the folk-poetics made use of Matric chhand. This trend is discernible in the literature of the Sidhas and Nathas. From there this interest comes to the poetry of the Saint-poets of the medieval times. The reasons for this is that the saint-poets ware very close to the masseses and their verses presented the feelings of the common people.
Sri Guru Granth Sahib is the priceless treasure of the saint-poetry of the medieval times. It contains the poetic modes like swaiyya, salok, pauri, etc but no discipline of poetics can be ascribed to these verses. Bhai Kahan Singh, in his book ‘Gur Chhand Diwakar’, has tried to apply some definitions of the classical poetry to some of the hymns of Sri Guru Granth Sahib or he has expanded the limits of those definitions so as to conform Gurbani to the norms of traditional poetics. Some scholars conducted research on some aspects of Gurbani and they too could not go far from Bhai Kahan Singh’s delineation. But the fact of the matter is that not a single Chhand mode has been strictly followed in any hymn of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Thus it is very clear that while composing Bani, the Bani writer had before him neither Chhand shastra (Book of poetics nor did they have the need of the count of Matras or Varnas. They were the religious people of independent nature. They did not accept the outer forms of poetics. Their hymnology was based on the feelings and aspirations for outer forms have no significance. Those Banikars had their own distinct principles of versification wherein ‘pingal’ (prosody) has very little place, but their concern is only melody and music. The way the Banikars have not accepted the traditional norms of poetics, they have kept themselves free of the traditional musicology. This freedom is like that of the folklore which too is not governed by prosody. They only have the spark of ‘bhava’ (thought) which is spresented tunefully with appropriate beat. The basic idea behind writing of Bani was bringing to light the mysteries of divine realization and simple expression of views ordinarily beyond the comprehension of the common man. Thus in whatever way they could express themselves in their verses became their own style of versification. Wherever it was felt necessary to make their expression tuneful, they lenghthened or shortened the lines and the expression got speed or slacked automatically. The pauries of Japuji are the clear example of this. Along with change of thought, the stanzas too underwent change of form. This versification style is by and large on the lines of that followed by Naths and Yogis and the hymns written in ‘sadhukri’ (language used by sadhus understood over vast expanse of the country) to express spiritual thought or devotion to the Formless God. It is worth noting here that the Gurus further developed the poetic skills inherited from the writings of the Saints. The reason thereof is the inclination of the Punjabi folklore. It is thus crystsal clear that the poetics of Sri Gru Granth Sahib is not in accordance with the prosody, but governed by the throught process. Its basic need is raga or sangeet (measure or music). The vowels have been made use of to suit the need of the musical notes.
Soul of poetry: According to the Indian poetics, the meaning of the soul of poetry is its beauty or its wonderous effect. What is the basis of this miracle, different acharyas have propounded their theories. This led to the development of six poetic tradtions, like, rasa (taste), alankar (ornamentation), riti (style), dhwani (sound), wakoroki (equiovoc), auchitya (propriety-nicety) which got related to expression. Evidently, the first three are the internal elements and the other three are outward.
We have to see in the context of these basic elements as to how far the Bani accepts these principles. It would be apt to take up the rasa-principle. The researchers of Bani have shown, with examples, nine types of rasas therein. But if we go deeply into any hymn or a composition, no rasa develops completely; only feelings of resignation, contempt, wonder, sorrow, anger, zeal, etc. have been picturised. These expressions do not provide the real taste but only a feeling. Only two rasas seem to get highlighted – shingar (erotica) and shant (peace) but both these rasas culminate into the devotional love. In this way even these rasas also cannot be termed as the main or integral rasas.
The main or the integral rasa of Gurbani is Bhagti rasa (devotional taste); the others rasas only support this. Bhagati rasa has not been accepted, to be in accord with the Sanskrit poetics, right from Bharat Muni to Pandit Raj Jagan Nath or any other Sanskrit teacher because, according to them, the Bhagati rasa’s perennial effect falls under the Braham-rati-shingar rasa (erotcic love with the divine). They are also of the view that in the shingar rasa, support and holding on to it, have their well defined place but in bhagati (devotion) only the devotee is clearly visible, and the deity is invisible, hidden in the spirit or imagination. Therefore, the fullest experience of love is not possible. It is without basis in the real sense. Therefore the complete experience of the rasa is not available in devotional love; it may be a spirit but not a complete experience of rasa.
As against what has been stated above, some scholars are firmly of the view that devotion is a ‘rasa’ and compared to other traditional rasas, it is supreme. Shant rasa (peaceful state) is also considered by them to be part of devotion. According them, only devotion is the real rasa (taste) and the others rasas are of supplementary nature or only a feeling of taste. If we go into this aspect carefully, the poetry of divine love creates in the minds of the devotees a special type of atmoshphere of ecstasy, absorption and attunement. This situation is created because of the real experience of bhagati rasa. It is very clear that Bhagati rasa has its own distinct place in human life. In fact Bhagati rasa is not subject to poetics; it is concerned with the practice of faith or Vaishnavi quest. It is remembered as the pure taste, sweet taste, etc. also. The acharyas (teachers) of poetic tastes, have accepted this as the sampardayak rasa (demominational taste), and not as a literary rasa. They believe that the poetic taste is capable of making its presence felt in the mind of the entire human race. Being connected with a particular section of society or denomination, it can be called having demoninational taste.
But the Vaishnav acharyas do not see eye to eye with the teachers of the Indian poetics. Their beliefs have their on history. The founder of the Gauriya Sampardaya, Acharya Roop Goswami defined the Bhagati Rasa for the first time in his book ‘Hari Bhagti Rasamit Sindhu’ from the point of view of poetics. Thereafter, Madhusudan Saraswati examined in detail the wonderous significance of Devotion in an analytical manner in his work ‘Bhakti Rasayan’ and termed it the most important Tenth Rasa. In addition to these scholars, the writers of the important books like ‘Bhagvad Bhakti Chandrika’, ‘Ujwal Neelmani’, ‘Rasa Kalika’, ‘Bhakti Sandarbha’,etc. accepted its existence as a ‘Rasa’ and defined its various facets in greater detail. It has been separated from the Shingara Rasa on the basis of the logic that the Shingara Rasa is based on sexual lust or passion while the Bhagti Rasa depends on pure love. Whatever may be the case, Bhagti Rasa cannot be ignored. The various aspects of this Rasa can be discussed in this way.
The true spirit of Bhagati rasa is in fact the subtle feeling of Formless, Attributeless Brahm (Subject stay) on the part of Devotees (support stay). Because the Bhagti Rasa of the Poetics was established mainly by the devotees of Lord Krishna, Sri Krishna-Radha were regarded its mainstay. Here Krishna is the Subject-stay and Radha is the seeker-stay. The stimulus for or the origin of this rasa is the form of Brahm-attributes, the way the universe is sustained, nature, company of the righteous, devotional singing, faith, listening, etc. One experiences, hair-raising, flowing of tears, yearning, halting speech and ecstacsy under this rasa. Resignation, hatred, helplessness, joy, keenness, pride, patience, etc. are its communicative states. Deep love of God is the true spirit behind it. Even love has been defined by the scholars in many ways, like ‘devotion of peace’ in a state of renunciation, devotion of humility regarding oneself as a slave or a servant of the beloved (God), friendly devotion regarding the beloved as a friend, paternal love like a father has with a son and in the spirit of man-woman love (erotica) Shingar Bhagti or the spirit of love that a woman has towards her husband (God). Of these five the last mentioned state of love, because of its intensity, overshadows other types which become part of it. That is why this type of devotion is called the supreme state.
A serious study of Sri Guru Granth Sahib leads us to conclude that the devotional love pervades it everywhere and the love between the spouses is symbolized as the love of a devotee towards God predominant in the devotional aspect. It is seen that in many hymns peaceful state of mind is prepared initially and as the hymn proceeds towards the end the peaceful state gives place to the blissful state, the honey state. Thus the spirit of peace is the introduction to the devotional love. The same holds good in the case of devotion inspired by humility or paternal love. But in many hymns one moves ahead passing through these rasas (tastes) to the firm state of devotional love. It is crystal clear that the feeling of man-woman love or love of wife for her husband is the dominating spirit. This type of love has been picturised extensively from the initial state of sadhna (practice) to the ultimate state of ‘prapati’ (attainment). The two states of union and separation have been vividly described. A hymn characterizing the state of ‘sanjoga’ (union) is given below:
Mairi ichh punni jio ham ghar sajan aiya.
Mil var nari mangal gaiya.
Gun gaiye mangal prem rehasi mundh mani umaheyo.
Sajan rahansai, dusht vyapai saach japi sach lahyeo.
Kar jor sadhan karai binti din rain rasa bhinniya.
Nanak pir dhan kareh raliyan ichh mairi punniya. (p.242)
(My desire has been fulfilled, my beloved has come home.
In the state of union, the spouses sing joyfully.
Singing of love, the yearning female gets ecstsatic.
‘The beloved Lord has given me real joy of His Name
Killing the base instinct of sexual lust and pleasure.
The blessed female prays with joined palms day and night
Experiencing the fragrance of Union with Him
Sayeth Nanak, thus the lover and beloved ones
(Devotees and God) experience the true love
Which provides the state of fulfillment.’
Here the soul is yearning for union with the Supersoul, its hope and support. The beloved, husband, friend are the mainstays. Pleasing of the beloved, dying of evil, joyful singing, are all the stages of moving towards union. Singing of His praises, praying, getting enthused, enjoying with the beloved, are all the experiences of Union with the Divine. Fragrance of the taste, fulfillment of desires, are the satvic (true) feelings. Attachment, forbearance, happiness, zeal are all communicative aspects. Here the devotional love culminating into union has been picturised. Here is a hymn describing the sate of separation (viyoga).
Suni Nah Prabhu jio ekaldi ban mahe.
Kyon dhiraigi Nah bina Prabhu beparwahe.
Dhan Nah bajhhu reh na sakai bikham rain ghaneriya.
Neh neend awai prem bhavai suni benanti mairiya
Bajhahun pyarai koi na sarai ekaldi kurlaye
Nanak sa dhan milai milayee bin pritam dukh paye. (p.243)
(O my Lord, hear me, the forlorn one in the forest.
How can she bear separation of the indifferent Lord ?
She can’t live without her spouse and
She spends nights restlessly in great difficulty.
In her yearning for the beloved one, she cannot sleep
She prays all the time (to her Lord) for support
Without her spouse no one else can give her solace
And she yearns (for union) with her spouse
Though all alone, forlorn.
Sayeth Nanak, the union can be had in His Will
Living becomes so painful without the beloved.)
In this hymn, the agony of separation and yearning for union with Him (union of soul with Supersoul) are depicted, seeking the Divine support. Dear one, beloved husband, Almighty God are all objects of love. Being alone in the forest, indifference of the Lord, very difficult and restless nights, are all the states of mind. Praying, getting not a wink of sleep, etc. are symbolic of suffering (without union). To feel painful, to cry and to try to meet (to have union) are the true feelings. Humility, fear, worry, despondency, etc.are communicative aspects. In this way the pangs of separation in devotional love have been picturised.
The following hymn, clarifying the form of devotional love, is worthy of attention:
Sakhi kajal har tambol sabhai kichh sajiya.
Soleh kiyai singar ki anjan pajiya.
Jai ghar awai kant ta sabh kichh paiai
Harihan kantai bajh seegar sabh birtha jaiai. 3.
Jis ghar wasya kant sa wadbhagnai
Tis banya habh seegar sayee sohagnai.
Hau sutti hoye achint man aas puraiya
Harihan ja ghar aiya kant ta sabh kuchh paiya.4
Asa iti aas ki aas purayeeai.
Satgur bhai dayal ta poora payeeai.
Mai tan avgun bahut ki avgan chhaiya
Harihan Satgur bhaye dayal ta man thehraiya.5
Kahu Nanak be-ant, be-ant dhyaiya
Duttar eh sansar Satguru taraiya.
Mitya awa-gaun ja poora paiya
Harihan amrit Harika naam Satgur tai paiya.(Pp. 1361-62)
(O my dear friend, I have readied myself with all the make-up, jewelery, a betel leaf (in my mouth). I have decoratred myself in sixteen ways (indicated in erotica) to please the spouse, including collyrium in my eyes. Now if my spouse comes home, I would feel having attained everything. But without him, all this make-up is absolutely of no use. Lucky are those who have their spouses with them. Their make-up is of real worth and they are the happily wedded ones. And only then one can relax, freed of all worries and desires fulfilled. There is everything in hand to make one happy when the spouse is at home. I have no doubt that all my desires will be fulfilled, O Lord. It is Guru’s Grace which helps one to have this fulfillment. Though full of vices and sinful intent and vicious thoughts, the Grace of Guru has helped me to experience His Bliss in a state of equipoise. With the Grace of Guru, my mind is now fixed in Him and the very hard to cross ocean of life have I been able to swim across. The cycle of births and deaths is gone thanks to the kindness of the perfect true guide. Yes the Nectar of His Name have I got from my Guru’s hand).
One begins to feel at first sight that this hymn is full of Shingar Rasa. But it is not so here because the hero and the heroin (God and Gujru Arjan Dev Ji) are not the ordinary ones of ordinary tastes (shingara rasa). Here the hero, Formless One is based on imagination, and the heroin is the devotee, Guru Arjan Dev himself. Therefore the ordinary erotica does not dominate this theme. Nor is the rasa of only ‘peace’ present. It is true that this hymn began with the ‘shant rasa’ (feeling of peace) but this rasa is there only as an introduction to the real experience of the real rasa of union with the spouse (soul and Supersoul).It is therefore very clear that the Bhagti Rasa is supermost in Sri Guru Granth Sahib and not any other rasa. As a whole, the other rasas are just notional. From the point of view of the Indian poetics, it would be a futile (rather unauthorized) exercise to look for all the other rasas in Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
Alankar (flowery language) adds to the beauty of poetry, according to the scholars of Indian poetics, who consider this as the leading or main element of poetry. Bhameh, Dandi, Udbhat, Udat, all these Acharys (teachers) have regarded it as the essential feature. According to the protagonists of Alankar, it symbolizes the true meaning and all aspects lending miracle to poetry are included in this. As a matter of fact the role of Alankar in poetry is to glorify and make the expression wondrous. Thus Alnkar turns the ordinary poetry into an extra-ordinary effort and makes it acceptable to one and all. Deeply attached to their principle as they were, the votaries of Alankar have expressed themselves leaning very heavily on its place in poetry, as a result of which poetry became a means for expression of ‘Alankar’. The writers of Bani of Sri Guru Granth Sahib were not the poets; they were treading the spiritual path. Therefore, while composing their hymns, they did not keep before them the principles of poetics. Rather, they expressed themselves in such a way that their words had the desired effect on the mind of the seeker, who, inspired by the Word, can move ahead along the spiritual path. It is very clear that the Alankars used in Gurbani were not strictly aimed at creating the effect of a miracle.They were simply used to share their own experiences with the seekers. It is not intended here to cite more instsances of Alankar, but only to say as to which of the Alankars were made use of by some writers of Gurbani in more number than others and how did they make the selection of the similes. Mostly similes and metaphors have been used, like, Simile.
Jio meena bin paniai tio sakat marai pyas. (p.597) (As fish dies without water, the faithless ones die of thirst of vices)
Jaisa sang bisiyar sio hai rai taiso hi ehu parigrih. (p.403) (Lusting with another’s wife is like being with a snake; both have the venomous effect). Metamorphosis.
Karam dharti sarir jug antar jo bowai so khat. Kahu Nanak Bhagat sohai darwarai manmukh sada bhawat. (p.78)
(As you sow, so shall you reap from the field of your actions, sayeth)
. Gud kar gyan dhyan kar dhawai kari karni kasu payiai. Bhati bhawan prem ka pocha itu ras amyo chuayiai. (p.360)
(Let meditation be the molasses, the virtuous deeds the wood in the furnace for distilling wine, the bark of His Name, love of the Lord, should all go to extract the true wine, the Nectar of His Name.)
The decorative words (Alankar) are the original contribution of Gurus who chose them. There is no doubt that some traditional decorative words too have been used in Gurbani, but the method of their use is different from tradition. Of course the similes are so real, so close to life of the common people, so natural and so impressive. On the one hand they depict the religious principles and experiences of the Gurus and they make their expression melodious and artistic on the other. The similes hone the feelings arising in the mind of the seekers and create in them the awareness and environs of the devotional sphere. Use of similes or metaphors was not the real motive of Gurus, they are the means to move towards the real motive. These similies and metaphors are taken from the ordinary life which have helped to forge a warm and cordial relationship between the people and nature. Therefore their use was not intended to make a show of the quality of poetry but the real and eager expression of thoughts helped to strengthen the impact thereof on the human mind.
Gurbani was written to show the true path to the common people. Therefore, everything has been said in a very clear and explicit manner. The Bani writers were not desirous of showing their word-power or tunefulness of their expression. But going deep therein, one can find countless instances of word-power. Let’s see this-
Kal kaati rajai qasayee, dharam pankh kar udreya.
Kood amavas sach chandrma, deesai nahi keh chadhya (p.145)
(The dark age is like a knife, the rulers are butchers, the true
faith has taken wings and flown away. In the dark night of falsehood, the moon is not to be seen).
In this saloka, kal, rajai, dharma, kood, sach, etc.are the first words as symbols, and in the subsequent ones, can be seen the power thereof. But the purpose of the writer of Gurbani is not served by merely saying this. This saloka echoes the prevalent conditions in Kaliyuga. Countless expressions of this kind can be found. But these expressions have been given in an ordinary way rather than by making some special effort.
According to the Riti tradition, poetic norms are followed while composing poetry. In Gurbani, especially, three such norms or forms get highlighted. The hymns of Kanta Bhagati (Devotion love between devotee(female or soul) and her spouse (God or Supersoul) are so sweet and melodious. In the hymns rejecting rituals and blind faith, powerful words have been used but the dominance still remains that of ‘prasad’ (His Blessing, or Guru’s blessing). The hymns full of Guru’s views or principles, thus talk of His Blessing. Other samples like sarcasm and propriety can also be found therein.
It can be said, in essence, that the principles of Indian poetics are concerned with the poetic world but not with the spiritual domain. Therefore, the literary norms can be applied to ordinary poetry which may be analysed accordingly. Not being poetry, it would not be proper to apply those yardsticks to Gurubani. Gurbani is not for ordinary taste but for spiritual ecstasy. The use of alankar has not been made for any poetic excellence but for sharpening the feeling of devotion. Same is the case with other poetic norms. Gurbani cannot be put to a test of Indian poetics or the norms thereof as the Gurbani writers did not aim at writing ordinary poetry. Just as spirituality and worldliness cannot be placed on equal footing, in the same way Gurbani cannot be assessed in the background of the Indian poetics. But if a scholar in his desire make a show of his excellence in finding the rasas, alankars, gunas, word-power, etc in Gurbani, in disregard of these points, he cannot be stopped from doing so. The fact of the matter is that Sri Guru Granth Sahib is in the poetic form which is above the traditional poetics. Therefore Granth Sahib has its own original poetics. Determining this distinct poetics only can help in highlighting the true glory in clear terms.