Dear Sangat Jee,
We are happy to announce that the Spanish Translation of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib has now been uploaded onto the Sikhitothemax Website. Below is a brief background to the project.
The whole purpose of the Sikhitothemax software is help Gursikhs and Non-Sikhs to have the chance to connect to our Great Guru Jee’s message.
We always tried to look at new ways of doing this seva. About a year ago we found that the Sri Gur Granth Sahib had been translated in various western languages and it was ourhope to be able to somehow get access to these translation to the masses.
The first language we tried was Spanish, even though none of the team speak or read Spanish Guru Jee helped us over the year. With our Gursikh Veers at Sikhnet we were able to get the translation and do the Seva of importing it electronically into the system.
Below is the background to the Translation. Without Bhai Ji Singh Sahib Babaji Singh Khalsa dedication and seva we would not have been able to do this minor seva.
The Siri Guru Granth Sahib began to be translated in Spanish in 1975 by a student of Siri Singh Sahib Bhai Sahib Harbhajan Singh Khalsa Yogiji. Bhai Ji Singh Sahib Babaji Singh Khalsa was one of those students who opened his heart through the inspiration of Yogi Bhajan. He was born in Mexico City in 1047; raised in a Catholic family, he finished his studies in a Jesuit University in Mexico, Universidad Iberoamericana.
He went on to become yoga teacher himself, returning to Mexico to open the first 3HO (Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization) Ashram in its capital city, Mexico City, and teach Kundalini Yoga there, himself inspiring many students as Yogi Bhajan had inspired him. He became a Sikh and later a minister.
The Ashram began to be a success. A lot of people began to live in the Sikh Dharma lifestyle. They all wanted to understand the words of Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, but there was no Spanish translation available.
When Babaji became 28 years old a very strong cancer invaded his body. It was then that the Siri Singh Sahib ordered him to translate the Siri Guru Granth Sahib. Babaji Singh was cured. He survived not only that cancer, but 3 more. He died of a fourth, 31 years later, happy grateful, and blessed.
He found in translating the Siri Guru Granth Sahib to Spanish, the sense and purpose of his life. The Guru gave him courage, wisdom, patience and grace to go through the physical pain without suffering from it. Babaji Singh was a happy man.
When his wife, Guru Amrit Kaur Khalsa met him – she found him a happy man in 1999. He told her that he was not going to die until he finished the complete translation and transliteration in Spanish. It was his destiny. He wanted to honor Yogi Bhajan’s words.
He translated the Siri Guru Granth Sahib from Gopal Singh English translation over a period of 30 years. He was working at the same time, teaching yoga, in the evenings, and spending long periods of his life in hospitals or in the bed.
In the last 3 years of his life, he worked with his wife in the early morning translating. She remembers him writing with so much devotion and love, researching the exact meaning of every word, hoping the Spanish speaking community could be able to read and understand the beauty of each word.
In 2006, he was diagnosed with the cancer again. After one of the several surgeries he had that year, he said to his wife, he wanted to die at home at the Ashram. At that time the translation had gone to print. His agony lasted 6 days. Because his kidneys were not working, he began to lose consciousness the third day.
The day prior, he had asked for the printed translation as he wanted to see it in finished in print. He had asked for the best imported Spanish fabric for the cover and wanted to be sure that the printing was well done. A group of his devoted students were in the Print House in prayer to the Creator to be able to bring this to him before he passed away. They knew that their spiritual teacher was losing consciousness and if late, he would not be able to see it.
That night Babaji went into a coma which brought a great sadness to all around him. The next day all the community gathered with chanting and prayer until the Spanish translation of the Guru arrived with the students.
Babaji Singh woke up for a moment, read the Mul Mantra at the start of Japji, with difficulty but with a spark and light in his eyes. He lost consciousness after this blessing and died 2 days later with the Mexican community reading for the first time the Siri Guru Granth Sahib in Spanish.
The first Akhand Paath, the traditional Sikh non-stop reading of the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, was performed in Mexico the 17th of November 2006.
In October 2008, in Nanded, at the Tercentenary Celebrations of the Guru Gaddi of Siri Guru Granth Sahib, the Spanish translation was presented to the Takhat there in acknowledgement of the Shabd Guru’s spread around the world since the Guruship was passed by the tenth Sikh master Guru Gobind Singh to the Siri Guru Granth Sahib.
Babaji Singh’s widow, Guru Amrit Kaur Khalsa from Mexico, is there, and has facilitated the presentation of the work in honor of the Tercentenary.
To access the Spanish Translation please read the following instructions.
(Note: There are some minor updates we are going to do in the next few days to improve it! i.e., JapJee Sahib is not available yet.
The way to use the Spanish Translation is to go to:
www.sikhitothemax.com
And click the Show Spanish button, so whatever search you do in Gurmukhi, English or Spanish (Yes you can search Spanish words as well) the results will have the Spanish translation.
So once the result is back you can view in Shabad or Panna form which then you can split the view by clicking the button on the top of the page and see the Spanish Translation together with the original text.
We ask the Sangat to do Ardas so we can continue this seva, we would also like to thank the Sangat who donated for this seva.
There will be another major update soon.
WaheguruJeeKaaKhalsa WaheguruJeeKeeFateh!