Sikh Prayers for Death

This hymn is from the scripture of theGuru Granth Sahib and is composition byGuru Raam Das, the fourth spiritual master of the Sikhs. It is a reminder that death is ordained for everyone from the time of birth, advising that a profitable life is one lived in remembrance of the divine, and that peace attained by such practice goes with one into the hereafter.

History

In Sikhism death is considered a natural process and God's will or Hukam. To a Sikh, birth and death are closely associated, because they are both part of the cycle of human life of "coming and going" ( ਆਵਣੁ ਜਾਣਾ, Aaavan Jaanaa) which is seen as transient stage towards Liberation ( ਮੋਖੁ ਦੁਆਰੁ, Mokh Du-aar), complete unity with God. Sikhs thus believe in reincarnation. The soul itself is not subject to death. Death is only the progression of the soul on its journey from God, through the created universe and back to God again. In life, a Sikh tries always to constantly remember death so that he or she may be sufficiently prayerful, detached and righteous to break the cycle of birth and death and return to God.

The Prayer

God adjudges us according to our deeds, not the coat that we wear:
that Truth is above everything, but higher still is truthful living.
Know that we attaineth God when we loveth,
and only that victory endures in consequence of which no one is defeated.

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