ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>GI&#256N PRABODH (Guide to Enlightenment)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279<i>GI&#256N PRABODH</i> (Guide to Enlightenment), included in Gur&#363 Gobind Si&#7749gh's <i>Dasam Granth</i>, is a long poem in Braj employing sixteen different metres. It comprises two independent parts, the first, i.e. the introductory one (stanzas 1 to 125), beginning with laudation of the Almighty who is depicted as Supreme, beyond comprehension, non-dual, infinite, invisible, unattached, desireless and fearless. The Supreme Being is the Creator and Succourer of the universe, and the Embodiment of Supreme Bliss. He is beyond Time and beyond retribution for <i>karma</i>. All pilgrimages, practices of yoga, renunciation of the world, are meaningless if He is not remembered. The second part consists of 211 stanzas (126-336), each a quatrain with the exception of two couplets (250 and 253). The theme of this part is the practical philosophy of the world. The expositions are professed in the form of highly metaphysical dialogues, between J&#299v&#257tman and Param&#257tman, and the nature of <i>&#257tman</i> and fourfold worldly <i>dharma</i> i.e. politics (<i>r&#257j dharma</i>), charity (<i>d&#257n dharma</i>), household life (<i>bhog dharma</i>) and liberation (<i>mok&#7779a dharma</i>) have been defined. How this fourfold religion of man is to be lived is illustrated from the legends of the <i>Mah&#257bh&#257rata</i> and from the tales of the successors of Yudhish&#7789hira and his brothers, namely Prik&#7779it, Janmejya and his son, Ajai Si&#7749gh, born of a concubine.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Loehlin, C.H.,<i>The Granth of Guru Gobind Singh and the Khalsa Brotherhood</i>. Lucknow, 1971<BR> <li class="C1"> Ashta, Dharam Pal, <i>The Poetry of the Dasam Granth</i>. Delhi, 1959<BR> <li class="C1"> Jagg&#299, Ratan Si&#7749gh, <i>Dasam Granth Parichaya</i>. Delhi, 1990<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Dharam P&#257l &#256sh&#7789&#257<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>