My Spiritual Voyage Through Word Divine by Surinder Jit Singh Pall: A devotee’s journey

Name: My Spiritual Voyage Through Word Divine (Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji)
Author: Surinder Jit Singh Pall

The journey of a disciple and his endeavours to understand Gurbani form the essence of this volume

Roopinder Singh

Updated At : 04:50 AM Jul 27, 2025 IST

My Spiritual Voyage Through Word Divine (Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji) by Surinder Jit Singh Pall. Kes Sambhal Parchar Sanstha, Amritsar. Pages 512. Rs 1,300

Book Title: My Spiritual Voyage Through Word Divine (Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji)

Author: Surinder Jit Singh Pall

Devotees seek to understand and follow the teachings of the Gurus as enshrined in Sri Guru Granth Sahib, and in this sense, a Sikh is the eternal shishya, ever the learner. The journey of a disciple and his endeavours to understand Gurbani form the essence of this volume.

Seeking to understand Gurbani is an endeavour that goes back centuries. We have many examples of exegesis, called steek or teeka, that explain, interpret and provide a context for Gurbani to ordinary people. Their authors wrote them in Punjabi for a Punjabi-reading audience.

Surinder Jit Singh Pall notes his debt to the previous scholars who have contributed to our understanding of Gurbani.

While the German scholar Ernest Trumpp and the British civil servant Max Arthur Macauliffe did pioneering work in translating Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Trumpp’s translation was rejected by the Sikhs, whereas Macauliffe’s was regarded as respectful; it owed much to the noted scholar Bhai Kahan Singh.

Sikh scholars provided us with the classic translations from the 1960s: Dr Gopal Singh’s two-, later four-, volume work (Allied Publishers) and the eight-volume translation and transliteration by Manmohan Singh (Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee). A decade later came the four-volume set by Gurbachan Singh Talib (Punjabi University, Patiala). The work of US-based Dr Sant Singh Khalsa has been popular online and offline since the 1980s. In short, several works provide references for those seeking to understand Guru Granth Sahib in English. There are many more translations of Japji Sahib and other banis, which the author has also consulted.

In the volume under review, the author provides the original text in Gurmukhi script, its Roman transliteration, and then an explanatory passage about the stanza(s). This is instructive, and it feels like the author is taking us along on his journey through the notes he formed as he read the stanzas, explaining their meaning and significance. Indeed, the lack of academic rigour and form makes it easier for regular readers to navigate this volume, which deals with the first 150 Ang (pages) of Sri Guru Granth Sahib. He is working on the rest and intends to publish more volumes in time.

He wisely relied on the expertise of Dr Rajbir Kaur of the Centre on Studies in Sri Guru Granth Sahib, GNDU, Amritsar, and other members of the department. In any work of this kind, there will be points of difference, and there are departures that the author makes from conventions. They reflect his understanding and commitment to presenting Gurbani in a simple form.

The index provides a handy guide, and here again, it is more reader-friendly than those in most books, summarising the topics rather than instances where particular words occur. The author, who retired as the Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, has devoted his life to writing books about Sikhism. This is his labour of devoted love for the Gurus and their teachings.

— The writer is a senior journalist

My Spiritual Voyage Through Word Divine by Surinder Jit Singh Pall: A devotee’s journey

Roopinder Singh

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