The Book That Is Not a Book
In 1708, at Nanded in present-day Maharashtra, Guru Gobind Singh did something no religious leader had done before or has done since. He ended the line of human Gurus and installed a book in their place. Not as a memorial. Not as a record. As the living, sovereign, eternal Guru.The Guru Granth Sahib is given a room of its own called the Sachkhand. Each morning it is opened in a ceremony called Prakash, an awakening. Each night it is closed in Sukhasan, a putting to rest. It is carried on a human head, never under an arm. It is fanned with a chaur sahib, the same whisk used for royalty. In every Gurdwara from Amritsar to Southall, the Granth sits on a throne called the Palki, raised above the congregation.No other scripture on earth is treated as a living sovereign. The Bible is revered. The Quran is handled with care. The Vedas are chanted. But none of them is given a bedroom.
