When the Commentary Takes the Guru’s Place

How Bhai Santokh Singh and Pandit Tara Singh Narotam distorted the meaning of Gurbani

If a child asks me what a line of Gurbani means, I might turn to a commentary, a book written to help us understand Gurbani. I still have to ask myself where the answer comes from. If I teach a writer’s idea as the Guru’s teaching, a child may grow up thinking it came from the Guru. That is a serious wrong against Sikhi.

The Roman line is only a reading aid, not the translation. The English sentence gives the plain meaning.

In Sidh Gosht, Guru Nanak Sahib speaks with a group of yogis. They ask whose pupil Guru Sahib is. This is part of the answer.

ਸਬਦੁ ਗੁਰੂ ਸੁਰਤਿ ਧੁਨਿ ਚੇਲਾ ॥

Simple reading
Shabad Guru surat dhun chela.

Plain meaning
Shabad is my Guru. My attention, held on Shabad, is the pupil.

Ramkali, Mahalla 1, Guru Nanak Sahib, Sidh Gosht, Panna 943. One line from pauri 44. Read with pauris 43–44 and the Rahao on Panna 938. [1]

A pauri is one part of a longer poem. Rahao asks us to pause and helps us find the main thought.

A Shabad is a verse or group of verses from the Guru’s Word. To keep my mind on Shabad, I have to listen long enough for the Guru to change me. That applies to the people whose books I read. It applies to me when I write about Gurbani.

A reader told me we need to know Vedanta to understand much of Gurbani. Vedanta is a group of Hindu teachings about God and the world. The reader also said that all the early commentaries followed a school of Vedanta called Advaita. I wanted to see what some of those writers said. If someone says we need Vedanta to understand a Shabad, I would like us to read it together. Where do we need that help?

What did Santokh Singh teach?

At the start of Japji Sahib we read ੴ, Ik Oankar. Bhai Santokh Singh asks why Guru Nanak Sahib put the number one before Oankar when Hindu texts such as the Vedas did not. His answer is that Guru Sahib put the meaning of the Vedas into the language people spoke. He says people living in Kalyug, an age when people had lost their way, needed that help. He also says that the earlier Vedas were Guru Nanak Sahib’s own teaching. [2]

Santokh Singh starts with the idea that Japji Sahib has to agree with the Vedas. On the first page of his explanation of ੴ, he says why. In his view, any difference would mean that Guru Sahib was contradicting the earlier teaching. His rule decides what Japji Sahib can mean in advance. I call that a distortion of Japji Sahib. [2]

If I teach this as Gurmat, the Guru’s teaching, a child can grow up believing that the Guru’s words must fit the Vedas. I have handed down Santokh Singh’s rule for reading as though it came from the Guru.

Santokh Singh studied Gurbani, Sanskrit, philosophy and mythology under Giani Sant Singh in Amritsar. Anandghan was a scholar in the Udasi order, founded by Baba Sri Chand, the elder son of Guru Nanak Sahib. Udasi scholars preached Gurbani. Anandghan studied in Kashi, also called Varanasi, and finished his book on Japji Sahib in 1795. Bhai Udai Singh, the ruler of Kaithal, commissioned Santokh Singh to write a reply. Santokh Singh finished Garab Ganjani Tika in 1829. It was first printed in 1910. Guru Arjan Sahib had compiled the Adi Granth in 1604, and Bhai Gurdas had written his Vaars long before these two books. [3]

The same Light and the same way

When Guru Angad Sahib became Guru after Guru Nanak Sahib, the person the Sikhs saw before them had changed. In a Vaar, a long poem, Rai Balwand and Satta tell us what stayed the same.

ਜੋਤਿ ਓਹਾ ਜੁਗਤਿ ਸਾਇ ਸਹਿ ਕਾਇਆ ਫੇਰਿ ਪਲਟੀਐ ॥

Simple reading
Jot ohaa jugat saai, seh kaaiaa pher palteeai.

Plain meaning
The Light is the same and the way is the same. The Guru has changed the body.

Ramkali Ki Vaar, Rai Balwand and Satta, Panna 966. One line from pauri 2. The pauri continues onto Panna 967. [4]

In Gurmat Nirnaya Sagar, Pandit Tara Singh Narotam says the Guru’s words should come first when we look for proof. He allows texts such as the Vedas and Puranas in support. I will follow Narotam’s own rule and read what he wrote alongside the Guru’s words. [5]

On page 53, Narotam turns to the Vedas and Puranas for proof that Guru Nanak Sahib was an incarnation. An incarnation is the Divine taking form in the world. The Puranas are Hindu books that tell stories about gods and the world.

On page 59, Narotam uses Ram and Krishna as examples of a group with complete divine powers. He puts Guru Nanak Sahib and Guru Gobind Singh Sahib in that group and says they may be called full incarnations. He puts Guru Angad Sahib, Guru Amar Das Sahib and Guru Ram Das Sahib in a group he describes as receiving divine power later. He puts other Gurus in a third group. [5]

Narotam puts Guru Angad Sahib in a group he says received divine power later. The Vaar says the Light and the way stayed the same when Guru Angad Sahib became Guru. On page 59, Narotam lets those groups decide how to understand Guruship. This goes against his own rule that the Guru’s words come first. I reject his classification because it distorts what Gurbani teaches about Guruship. [4] [5]

A child taught from page 59 might ask me, “Did Guru Angad Sahib carry less of the Light?” That question comes from the way Narotam divides the Gurus. I would read the Vaar with the child so we could see what Gurbani says about Guru Angad Sahib.

Narotam trained in the Nirmala tradition, which had a particular interest in classical Hindu philosophy, especially Vedanta. He studied Sanskrit and the Vedas in Kashi. Around 1861, Maharaja Narinder Singh offered him his support. Narotam took up the Maharaja’s invitation and settled in Patiala. [5]

In Punjabi University’s Encyclopaedia of Sikhism, Professor Rattan Singh Jaggi says Narotam used Waheguru to mean Vishnu alone. Narotam’s own book gives several meanings. On page 576 he gives one about nirgun Brahm, the One beyond any qualities we can describe. I ask the editors to read the original passage and revise the entry so readers can see the range of meanings Narotam gave. [5]

Read the whole Shabad

When a child asks what a name means in Gurbani, I would read the whole Shabad with them. In one of Guru Arjan Sahib’s Bhairo Shabads, the Rahao calls the One Guvind, a form of the name Gobind. The opening verse helps us see whom Guru Sahib is speaking of.

ਕੋਟਿ ਬਿਸਨ ਕੀਨੇ ਅਵਤਾਰ ॥
ਕੋਟਿ ਬ੍ਰਹਮੰਡ ਜਾ ਕੇ ਧ੍ਰਮਸਾਲ ॥
ਕੋਟਿ ਮਹੇਸ ਉਪਾਇ ਸਮਾਏ ॥
ਕੋਟਿ ਬ੍ਰਹਮੇ ਜਗੁ ਸਾਜਣ ਲਾਏ ॥੧॥

Simple reading
Kot bisan keene avtaar.
Kot brahmand jaa ke dharamsaal.
Kot mahes upaae samaae.
Kot brahme jag saajan laae.

Plain meaning
The One brought forth more forms of Vishnu than we can count. Countless worlds belong to the One. They are places to do what is right. The One brings countless Shivas into being and takes them back. The One gives countless Brahmas the work of making worlds.

Bhairo, Mahalla 5, Guru Arjan Sahib, Panna 1156. Opening verse of the Shabad ending 8.2.5 on Panna 1157. Read with the Rahao. [6]

If I tell a child that Guvind here can only mean Vishnu, how will I explain this verse? In this Shabad, Guvind brings forth countless forms of Vishnu. In the last verse, Guru Sahib tells us that the One we cannot see with our eyes is there in every heart. If I stop at the name and give the child the meaning I already know, I leave all that out of the lesson.

In the passages we read here, the words around each line helped us understand it. We could follow the teaching without starting from Vedanta. To judge the claim about all the early writers, we would have to read their books one by one.

What they brought to their reading

The Nirmala tradition traces its beginnings to Sikhs sent to Kashi to learn Sanskrit. The order’s scholars became known for their interest in Vedanta. That learning gave them ways to explain sacred texts and speak about the Divine. [3]

Santokh Singh treated the earlier Vedas as the Guru’s own teaching. Once he started there, any difference between Japji Sahib and the Vedas looked like a contradiction. Narotam studied the Vedas in Kashi. When he wrote about the Gurus, he used Puranic categories to decide where each Guru belonged on a scale of divine power. [2] [5]

Punjabi University’s Encyclopaedia of Sikhism describes Anandghan as drawing heavily on the Upanishads. Whether Anandghan gave the Vedas the same weight as Santokh Singh is a question for his own commentary. [3] [8]

Sikh chiefs supported Nirmala centres. The rulers of Patiala, Nabha and Jind helped set up the centre where Narotam later wrote and taught. That gave him a place to pass on his way of reading Gurbani. [3] [5]

What was in their hearts is beyond me. We can see where they studied and judge what they wrote against Gurbani.

What reaches readers today

In 2022, SikhTranslations put Santokh Singh’s explanation of ੴ into English. The project says it drew on the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Academy’s Panjabi edition. The English keeps his first claim that Gurbani holds the wisdom of the Vedas. On page 5 of the scan they link to, the next sentence says the earlier Vedas were Guru Nanak Sahib’s own teaching. The English version at that point speaks of “Western Traditions (Abrahamic Faiths)”. I ask the translators to show readers where those words come from. [7]

Raja Bikram Singh of Faridkot commissioned the Faridkot Tika. Sikh scholars from several schools revised the first draft before it went to print. Copies went to Gurdwaras and scholars. Singh Sabhas and Khalsa Diwans later asked for more changes. The proposed revision fell through and the old text went back into print. A book can go from a ruler’s commission to the shelves of a Gurdwara. When people hear the same reading over the years, they may come to call it the traditional explanation. Each reading still needs to be tested against Gurbani. [8]

Publishers should tell readers whose explanation they are printing. The claim that Gurbani carries the meaning of the Vedas is Santokh Singh’s. Teachers should put that claim beside Japji Sahib and show where it comes from. Where these readings have been taught as Gurmat, teachers and Gurdwara committees should put that right. Tell the Sangat whose claims they are and read the Gurbani alongside them.

Who gets to tell Sikhs who we are?

The question of who gets the last word comes up again when others try to decide who Sikhs are. The reader also said some Hindus would question whether the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) follows the Vedas. In Essentials of Hindutva, V D Savarkar named Udasi and Nirmala groups as part of his case for counting Sikhs as Hindu. In his view, Sikhs could reject the authority of the Vedas and he would still call them Hindu. What a writer borrowed from the Puranas tells us about that writer’s reading. It gives Savarkar no authority to decide who Sikhs are. [9]

The RSS is a volunteer movement founded in India in 1925 to organise Hindu society. It sets out its own view in Why Hindu Rashtra? It says that anyone who is an Indian national is Hindu, whatever faith they follow. So under the RSS definition, an Indian who says “I am Sikh” is still counted as Hindu. I learn what it means to be Sikh from Shabad Guru Granth Sahib. The RSS has no right to decide what it means to be Sikh. [10]

If a child asks me where I found the meaning of a line, I should be able to show them. If I say the Guru’s words must fit what a writer has already decided, I have given the writer the last word. Here the commentary has taken the Guru’s place. If we read the Shabad together and I find I got it wrong, I should say so and put it right. The Guru can correct any of us.

Sources

Source checks were made on 8 and 9 November 2026. The Gurbani text and context checks from 8 November are retained. The plain meanings draw on Professor Sahib Singh Ji’s Darpan. The historical translations and judgements are the writer’s.

[1] Shabad Guru Granth Sahib, Ramkali, Mahalla 1, Guru Nanak Sahib, Sidh Gosht, complete pauris 43–44, Pannas 942–943, with Rahao on Panna 938. SriGranth 943. See also Darpan 942, 943, 938. Displayed line also compared with SearchGurbani-formatted Panna 943. Darpan’s explanation on Panna 943 was checked again on 9 November.

[2] Bhai Santokh Singh, Sri Japu Sahib Steek: Garab Ganjani Tika, Amritsar: Bhai Jawahar Singh Kirpal Singh & Co., October 1986, printed p.5, PDF p.26. Original scanned page. Printed p. 5 was checked again on 9 November. The final lines of the commentary on that page explain why Santokh Singh expects Gurbani and the earlier Vedas to agree. See also the complete PDF. The key phrase is ਤਿਸ ਬੇਦ ਕੇ ਹੀ ਅਰਥ ਦੇਸ ਭਾਸ਼ਾ ਮੈਂ ਬਨਾਇ, meaning “rendering the meanings of that very Veda into the local language”.

[3] Punjabi University, Encyclopaedia of Sikhism. Rattan Singh Jaggi, Anandghana Svami. Jai Bhagwan Goel, Santokh Singh Bhai. Gurdev Singh, Garab Ganjani Tika. For the earlier chronology, see the SGPC’s account of the 1604 compilation and the Encyclopaedia’s entry on Bhai Gurdas. For the traditions, see Udasi and Nirmala. See also the reproduced Encyclopaedia entry on Udai Singh’s request for the commentary. The entries on Anandghan, Santokh Singh, the Udasis and the Nirmalas, and the account of Udai Singh’s request, were checked on 9 November. Earlier checks are retained for the other references.

[4] Shabad Guru Granth Sahib, Ramkali Ki Vaar, Rai Balwand and Satta, complete pauri 2, Pannas 966–967. Darpan 966 and 967. SriGranth 966. Displayed line also compared with SearchGurbani-formatted Panna 966.

[5] Pandit Tara Singh Narotam, Granth Sri Gurmat Nirnaya Sagar, Anglo-Sanskrit Press, Lahore, for Sardar Buta Singh Rai Bahadur. The consulted edition was printed after Narotam’s death in Bikrami Samvat 1955, dated to 1898 by Dharam Singh’s Encyclopaedia entry. See the scanned edition, printed p. 11 (PDF p. 21) on the order of evidence, p. 53 (PDF p. 63) on the appeal to the Vedas and Puranas, and p. 59 (PDF p. 69) on the categories of incarnation. The categories discussed in the essay are vibhuti, avesha and amsha. Vahiguru Shabdarth is on printed pp. 559–577. See p. 576 (PDF p. 588) for nirgun Brahm. Compare Rattan Singh Jaggi’s entry on Narotam. See also Jaggi’s 2023 Padma Shri citation for his academic title.

[6] Shabad Guru Granth Sahib, Bhairo, Mahalla 5, Guru Arjan Sahib, complete eight-stanza Shabad ending 8.2.5, Pannas 1156–1157. SriGranth 1156 and 1157. See also Darpan, complete commentary under 1156 and a third reproduction. “Places for living rightly” renders dharamsaal.

[7] SikhTranslations, Ik Oangkaar, 12 December 2022, identifies printed p.5/PDF p.26 of Garab Ganjani. The project introduction, 14 October 2022, identifies its reliance on the Academy’s Panjabi edition. Compare the English “Answer” paragraph with printed p. 5 (PDF p. 26) in the scan linked by the translators.

[8] Major Gurmukh Singh, Punjabi University, Faridkot Tika, account of the commission, revision by Sikh scholars before publication, distribution, and later requests for further revision.

[9] V D Savarkar, Essentials of Hindutva, official-site transcription, PDF p. 47 for the named groups and Savarkar’s sentence, “They thereby may cease to be Sanatanis, but cannot cease to be Hindus.” He uses Sanatanis here for followers of Sanatan Dharma in his orthodox sense of the term.

[10] RSS, Why Hindu Rashtra?, 22 October 2012, section “Hindu: National of Bharat”. Used for the organisation’s own identity claim. Its 2017 FAQ gives its full name, founding date and stated purpose.

Related work

Who Decides What Bhagat Bani Means? and When Science Tries to Explain the Guru.

Errors will be corrected publicly with a dated note. Anyone named here may reply, and a substantive reply will be published with the article.

Strong disagreement is welcome. Contempt is not.

Bhul chuk maaf karni Ji.

Gurjit Singh Sandhu
PanthSeva
London