Nitnem by Dr. Kulwant Singh, with Punjabi & English ... - Gurbani Files

12INTRODUCTIONNIT-NEMDAILY PRAYERPunjabi in Gurmukhi & English TransliterationGENERALNIT-NEM: “Daily Discipline.” It is a collection of the selected portions of the Sikh Scripturesfor their routine recitation every morning, evening, and night. This book is a transliteration ofthe Nit-Nem – Daily Prayer, currently prescribed by the Khalsa Panth (The Sikh people). Someextra Banis – Scriptures, have also been added.KEY-BOARDED SCRIPTURES: The scripture text has been copied from the Gurbani-CD.The making & duplication of the Gurbani-CD is controlled by Dr. Kulbir Singh Thind, MD;3724 Hacienda Street, San Mateo, California 94403, USA.ROMAN: Phonetic representation of Gurbani into a text using English alphabet is a verydifficult task. Many of the commonly accepted English equivalents of the Gurmukhi script usedhere have evolved in the time and have been used by other authors as well, but a good numberof them have gradually been further modified or developed. No matter how it is done, theromananization can at the most achieve an approximation to the original. However, it is hopedthat readers will find the romananization in this document a helpful phonetic approximation asa substitute for the Gurmukhi script. The English language uses spellings that are contextsensitive,but such a methodology cannot be used with advantage for romanization of Gurbani.The methods adopted here are totally devoid of context. The upper case (capital) letters haveonly been used to make a distinction between different phonetic syllables, except in the wordsthat directly refer to God. (Dr. Kulbir S. Thind, MD)SCRIPTURESSeven Gurus composed the Banis - Hymns. Out of the ten Gurus, Guru Granth Sahib (the HolyBook) contains the Banis (Scriptures, Hymns) of the six Gurus – first 5: Guru Nanak Dev,Guru Angad Dev, Guru Amar Das, Guru Ram Das, Guru Arjun Dev, and the 9 th Guru TeghBahadur. Bani of the Tenth Guru Gobind Singh, is in his Dassam-Granth (Book of the 10 thMaster). Coincidentally, the three Gurus who did not compose Banis, had their names startingwith Har-e - GuruHar-e Gobind, Guru Har-e Rai, and Guru Har-e Kishan. Nit-Nem is the collection of selectedScriptures for daily recitation as a routine. The standard Nit-Nem set by the Panth – the Sikhworld, has the Banis of five Gurus - First, Third, Fourth, Fifth and the last i.e. the Tenth GuruGobind Singh.Nit-Nem includes the Bani of the Gurus only, and not of Bhagats (saints), Bhatts andothers. In Nit-Nem, there is no Bani of 2nd Guru Angad Dev, and 9 th Guru Tegh Bahadur (6 th ,7 th , and 8 th Guru did not write Gurbani).If we think the Nit-Nem has Bani only by the Gurus to maintain its special status, all theBanis in the Guru Granth Sahib though authored by anyone, and that of Guru Gobind Singh,are equally honorable. If we presume that the Banis not composed by the Gurus are not there inthe Nit-Nem for a special distinction, it will be a far fetched idea. Every Bani, authored byanyone, became Gurbani when it got entered into the Holy Book.