Amritsar, December 12, 2004
The Tribune
An eminent Sikh religious studies scholar, Dr Harbans
Lal, said today that the Punjab Government had decided
to translate Guru Granth Sahib into all Indian languages.
Talking to the Tribune on the concluding day of
the fourth International Conference on Guru Granth
Sahib organised by Guru Nanak Dev University, professor
emeritus Harbans Lal said although the holy granth
had already been translated into Hindi, Urdu, Sindhi,
English, German and French, there was a need to
translate it into other languages also.
Mr Harbans Lal had been appointed consultant to
a Punjab government-sponsored NGO, which would be
headed by Principal Jasbir Singh, a renowned Sikh
resource person. He said the translation work would
be completed by 2008.
Giving a brief of the four-day international conference,
Dr Harbans Lal said eminent academicians and scholars
of the Sikh religion had acknowledged the comprehensive
history of the compilation of the Adi Granth, which
stresses inter-faith character, universal message,
respect for human rights, justice, peace and freedom
of religious practices.
The consensus among the scholars was that the Adi
Granth had visualised world peace through understanding.
They felt that the ancient wisdom of the granth
would be of a great value to the modern world and
our civil society.
The international conference adopted 10-point guiding
principles, which were endorsed by the representatives
of the leading international organisations, including
Mr Marcus Braybrook, President, World Congress of
Faiths, Mr Tatiana Androsov, World Centre for Thanksgiving,
Alfredo Sfeir Younis, World Bank, Harbhajan Singh
Khalsa Yogi of Sikh Dharma International, Dr Inderjit
Kaur, Dr Rajwant Singh of Guru Gobind Singh Foundation,
Dr Harbans Lal, president of the Academy of Guru
Granth Sahib Studies, Mrs Rajinderjit Kaur of the
Sikh Women Association and Temple of Understanding,
Mr Pritpal Singh Bindra and Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia.
The guiding principles are: to recognise the presence
of the divine light in every living human being;
recognise that earth is created according to God’s
cosmic blueprint and is intrinsically good; God
is the creator and its creative manifestation extend
to all humans; it is human destiny to emulate the
divine attribute, experience divinity in work and
service, follow the principles of righteous living
by believing in equality, dignity, justice and human
behaviour that cleanse the body and the mind; to
build an institution of altruism and sharing social
infrastructure; to advocate for those who are most
vulnerable, uphold spiritual and moral responsibility
to guide politics and finally to build the world
order without the culture of “mine and yours”
psychology.
