When someone dies, we may write “RIP” because we want to offer comfort. For a Sikh, the question is whether those words express the understanding the Guru gives us, and which words already do. Gurbani teaches us about death, while Ardas gives us a way to pray for the departed and those who mourn.
The Roman line is only a reading aid, not the translation. The English sentence gives the plain meaning.
In Japji Sahib, Guru Nanak Sahib Ji places everyone within Hukam, the Divine command and ordering within which all life exists:
ਹੁਕਮੈ ਅੰਦਰਿ ਸਭੁ ਕੋ ਬਾਹਰਿ ਹੁਕਮ ਨ ਕੋਇ ॥
Simple reading:
Hukmai andar sabh ko baahar hukam na ko-e.
Plain meaning: Everyone is within Hukam; no one is outside Hukam.
Reference: Japji Sahib, Mahalla 1, Guru Nanak Sahib Ji, Panna 1, extract from Pauri 2.
The person who has died and those who remain are within Hukam. The following line connects understanding Hukam with giving up speech governed by haumai, the self-centred sense of “I” and “mine”. Our words do not decide what happens. They can ask Waheguru for grace and for the strength to understand and accept His Will. Prayer leaves the decision with the One to whom we pray.
A prayer for the departed and the family
The Sikh Rehat Maryada allows its model Ardas to be adapted to the occasion, while preserving specified opening and concluding portions.[1]
An SGPC condolence statement of 27 February 2026 records a prayer for the departed and the family.[2] Its request can be expressed in English like this:
Waheguru, grant the departed soul a place at Your feet, and give the family strength to accept Your Will.
Both requests matter. The first entrusts the departed to Waheguru’s grace. The second asks for support for the family. Asking for a place at Waheguru’s feet leaves the outcome with Waheguru. It makes no claim that we know the departed person’s final spiritual state. This is prayer, not a verdict.
Article XIX of the Rehat Maryada directs Gurbani recitation or repetition of Waheguru beside the dying or deceased. It recommends the same remembrance to help the family accept God’s Will and provides for Ardas at several stages of the funeral.[3] These directions concern funeral observance; they do not prescribe every written condolence.
The article also rejects particular rites, including keeping a lamp to light the departed person’s path and piercing the skull in the belief that this secures the soul’s release.[3] Asking Waheguru for grace is different from claiming that a ceremony gives us control over another person’s destiny.
Gurbani also directs our understanding of peace. Guru Ram Das Sahib Ji calls us towards Naam, the Divine Name. In this Shabad, remembering Naam means turning the mind towards Waheguru in love, through the Guru’s teaching:
ਨਾਮੁ ਜਪਹੁ ਮੇਰੇ ਗੁਰਸਿਖ ਮੀਤਾ ॥
ਨਾਮੁ ਜਪਹੁ ਨਾਮੇ ਸੁਖੁ ਪਾਵਹੁ ਨਾਮੁ ਰਖਹੁ ਗੁਰਮਤਿ ਮਨਿ ਚੀਤਾ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
Simple reading:
Naam japahu mere gursikh meetaa.
Naam japahu naame sukh paavahu naam rakhahu gurmat man cheetaa. ||1|| Rahao.
Plain meaning: My friends, Sikhs of the Guru, meditate on Naam. Meditate on Naam and find peace through Naam; through the Guru’s teaching, keep Naam in your mind.
Reference: Asa, Mahalla 4, Guru Ram Das Sahib Ji, Panna 367. Both lines of the Rahao, the pause for reflection.
The address is affectionate: the Guru speaks to Sikh friends. The Shabad describes a mind that hears Naam and learns love through the Guru’s teaching. This peace belongs to a relationship built while we live. Remembering Naam at a death brings us back to that continuing relationship.
Learning how to die
The Alahania are the Guru’s compositions in the form of funeral laments, turning attention towards remembrance of the Divine. In one of these Shabads, Guru Nanak Sahib Ji calls companions together in remembrance and reminds them that they too must depart. Within it comes this teaching:
ਮਰਣੁ ਨ ਮੰਦਾ ਲੋਕਾ ਆਖੀਐ ਜੇ ਕੋਈ ਮਰਿ ਜਾਣੈ ॥੨॥
Simple reading:
Maran na mandaa lokaa aakheeai je koi mar jaanai. ||2||
Plain meaning: O people, death is not to be called bad, if someone knows how to die.
Reference: Vadhans, Mahalla 1, Guru Nanak Sahib Ji, Panna 579. Closing line of stanza 2; the opening expresses the same teaching in different wording. The complete Shabad continues onto Panna 580.
The condition matters. The surrounding stanza speaks of serving the Divine Master and approaching with the offering of Naam. The teaching turns our attention towards the life through which we approach death. It asks us to learn something now, while there is still time to respond.
Guru Amar Das Sahib Ji develops this further. The following are the last three lines of a five-line Salok. Its opening considers how to die and turns towards keeping the Divine Master in remembrance:
ਮਰਣੈ ਤੇ ਜਗਤੁ ਡਰੈ ਜੀਵਿਆ ਲੋੜੈ ਸਭੁ ਕੋਇ ॥
ਗੁਰ ਪਰਸਾਦੀ ਜੀਵਤੁ ਮਰੈ ਹੁਕਮੈ ਬੂਝੈ ਸੋਇ ॥
ਨਾਨਕ ਐਸੀ ਮਰਨੀ ਜੋ ਮਰੈ ਤਾ ਸਦ ਜੀਵਣੁ ਹੋਇ ॥੨॥
Simple reading:
Maranai te jagat darai jeeviaa lorrai sabh ko-e.
Gur parsaadee jeevat marai hukmai boojhai so-e.
Naanak aisee marnee jo marai taa sad jeevan ho-e. ||2||
Plain meaning: The world fears death; everyone wishes to live. Through the Guru’s grace, one who dies while living understands Hukam. O Nanak, one who dies in this way has enduring life.
Reference: Bihagre ki Var, Salok Mahalla 3, Guru Amar Das Sahib Ji, Panna 555. Last three lines of the five-line Salok numbered 2 before Pauri 17.
Here, dying while living means becoming free from the hold of worldly attachment. The passage places this change within the Guru’s grace and understanding of Hukam. It gives the learner a way forward through fear. Calling ourselves Sikh does not mean that we have already learnt how to die.
Another Shabad of Guru Amar Das Sahib Ji makes the relationship with the Guru explicit:
ਸਬਦਿ ਮਰੈ ਤਿਸੁ ਸਦਾ ਅਨੰਦ ॥
ਸਤਿਗੁਰ ਭੇਟੇ ਗੁਰ ਗੋਬਿੰਦ ॥
ਨਾ ਫਿਰਿ ਮਰੈ ਨ ਆਵੈ ਜਾਇ ॥
ਪੂਰੇ ਗੁਰ ਤੇ ਸਾਚਿ ਸਮਾਇ ॥੧॥
Simple reading:
Sabad marai tis sadaa anand.
Satgur bhete gur gobind.
Naa phir marai na aavai jaa-e.
Poore gur te saach samaa-e. ||1||
Plain meaning: One who dies through the Shabad has lasting joy and meets the True Guru, the Divine Guru. Such a person does not die again or come and go, and through the complete Guru merges in the True One.
Reference: Asa, Mahalla 3, Panchpade, Guru Amar Das Sahib Ji, Panna 364. Complete opening stanza. Panchpade identifies Shabads of five stanzas.
The dying here is understood as freedom from worldly attachment through the Shabad, the Guru’s Word. The stanza joins lasting joy and release from coming and going to union through the complete Guru. Its Rahao returns us to Naam and devotion received through the Guru. This is a teaching about a change in life through grace, not merely a description of the body’s death.
The words we choose
“RIP” abbreviates the Latin requiescat in pace, meaning “may he or she rest in peace”.[4] In Catholic usage, it is also a prayer for Divine mercy.[5] We should represent that usage accurately.
A wish for rest after death does not, by itself, express the fuller Sikh understanding developed here. The stanza on Panna 364 speaks of merging in the True One and freedom from coming and going through the complete Guru. In Ardas, we entrust the departed to Waheguru’s grace and ask for strength for the living. The prayer above names the One we ask; the letters “RIP” alone leave that unspoken.
The history of a phrase cannot tell us everything about the beliefs of someone who uses it. This is a question to consider in our own learning, rather than an invitation to correct grieving people at the moment of loss. Nor does it require a compulsory replacement slogan.
A Sikh may simply remember Waheguru, or express the prayer for the departed and the family in plain words. Alongside those words, we can sit with the bereaved, listen and offer practical help. Prayer gives us a way to ask for care; being there is a way to give it.
The Sikh does not need “Rest in Peace” to fill an absence in Sikh prayer. The words already exist, with an understanding that also tells us how to live. Our condolences will be read by people who are grieving. They should offer care.
What will we do with the life that remains?
Verify
Panna 1: Japji Sahib, Guru Nanak Sahib Ji, Pauri 2. Read the complete Pauri, including the closing connection between understanding Hukam and giving up speech governed by haumai. “Mahalla 1” in the article identifies the Guru; it is not presented as a separate printed heading above Japji Sahib. Open Panna 1 on SriGranth · Read Darpan.
Panna 367: Asa, Mahalla 4, Guru Ram Das Sahib Ji. The Shabad ends ॥੪॥੮॥੬੦॥. Both Rahao lines are quoted. Open Panna 367 on SriGranth · Read Darpan.
Pannas 579–580: Vadhans, Mahalla 1, Guru Nanak Sahib Ji, second Shabad in the Alahania sequence, ending ॥੪॥੨॥. The quotation is stanza 2’s closing line. Its opening expresses the same teaching but is not word for word identical. Read all four stanzas. Open Panna 579 · Open Panna 580 · Read Darpan’s explanation of the complete Shabad.
Panna 555: Bihagre ki Var, Salok Mahalla 3, Guru Amar Das Sahib Ji. Read the complete five-line Salok numbered 2 immediately before Pauri 17. The article quotes its last three lines. Open Panna 555 on SriGranth · Read Darpan.
Panna 364: Asa, Mahalla 3, Panchpade, Guru Amar Das Sahib Ji. The Shabad ends ॥੫॥੧੧॥੫੦॥. The article quotes its complete opening stanza. Read the Rahao and remaining stanzas alongside it. Open Panna 364 on SriGranth · Read Darpan.
Cross-check
Checked to 22 September 2026. The quoted Gurmukhi, locations, headings and numbering were checked against SriGranth. The complete relevant units and Professor Sahib Singh Ji’s Darpan were consulted for context. The Roman reading aids and English meanings were reviewed against the Gurmukhi. These Gurbani checks used digital text, not a printed-page facsimile comparison.
The links under Verify allow readers to open each Panna and its contextual commentary directly.
Correction note
PanthSeva will correct errors in quotation, attribution, reference, reading aid, English meaning or supporting evidence publicly and calmly, with a dated correction note.
Source note
The plain-English meanings draw on the Gurmukhi and Professor Sahib Singh Ji’s Darpan. They are interpretive aids; Shabad Guru Granth Sahib Ji remains the authority.
[1] Sikh Rehat Maryada, Article IV, 3(a). SGPC’s English publication, printed page 9, footnote 2: adaptation of the model Ardas and preservation of its specified opening and concluding portions. SGPC’s Section One HTML page · SGPC’s official English download · Scanned SGPC booklet consulted, PDF page 8.
Article IV, 3(a), was checked in the linked scan of SGPC’s publication. The publisher’s Section One HTML page and official download are also linked for readers.
[2] SGPC, condolence statement on the passing of Bhai Harsimran Singh, 27 February 2026. See the final sentence of the Punjabi statement, which records the prayer before Karta Purakh for the departed and the family. The article’s English prayer renders that request; it is not presented as fixed wording for every Ardas. The original uses rooh, meaning soul. Read the SGPC statement.
[3] Sikh Rehat Maryada, Article XIX(a), (b), (e) and (g). SGPC’s English publication, printed pages 29–31, covering funeral observance. SGPC’s official English download · Scanned booklet consulted, PDF pages 18–19.
Article XIX was checked in the linked scan of SGPC’s publication. The official download is linked for readers.
[4] Merriam-Webster, “requiescat in pace”. Definition, abbreviation and tombstone usage. Read the dictionary entry.
[5] United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Prayers for Death and Dying”. See “Prayers after Death”, particularly “Prayers Immediately after Death”, for the expression within prayers addressed to God. Read the prayers.
Sources [4] and [5] establish the expression’s meaning and prayerful usage. They do not govern the meaning of Gurbani.
Strong disagreement is welcome. Contempt is not.
Bhul chuk maaf karni Ji.
Gurjit Singh Sandhu
PanthSeva
London