Sacred Texts · The Guru Granth Sahib

The Guru Granth Sahib and the Way of Jesus

The Sri Guru Granth Sahib opens with Ik Onkar, one God, and sings of the Name, of truthful living, of service, and of the equal dignity of every soul. Again and again its longing runs close to the words of Jesus. This page reproduces 5 of its best-known passages in the public-domain Macauliffe translation, each with a clearly-labelled Christian comparison. Read the sources, and see for yourself.

Translation: Max Arthur Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion: Its Gurus, Sacred Writings and Authors, Volume I (Oxford University Press, 1909), public domain (author died 1913), via the Internet Archive. We use Macauliffe rather than the modern Sant Singh Khalsa translation, whose redistribution licensing is not clearly established. Ang (page) numbers cite the fixed standard pagination of the printed Sri Guru Granth Sahib; a few well-known lines from Guru Nanak’s hymns are cited to Macauliffe’s volume rather than to a specific Ang. Obvious scanning artefacts were corrected against Macauliffe’s printed wording; passages are reproduced in context.

5 passages that point toward Christ

• Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 1 (preamble of the Japji) · Guru Nanak“There is but one God whose name is True, the Creator, devoid of fear and enmity, immortal, unborn, self-existent, great, and bountiful. The True One was in the beginning; the True …”Read + Christian comparison (Ik Onkar and the one God) →
• Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 3 (Japji, the Suniai pauri) · Guru Nanak“By hearing the Name truth, contentment, and divine knowledge are obtained. Hearing the Name is equal to bathing at the sixty-eight places of pilgrimage. By hearing the Name and rea…”Read + Christian comparison (Naam and the Word) →
• Sri Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 8 (the concluding Slok of the Japji) · Guru Nanak“The air is the guru, water our father, and the great earth our mother; day and night are our two nurses, male and female, who set the whole world a-playing. Merits and demerits sha…”Read + Christian comparison (Mukti and salvation) →
• Sri Guru Granth Sahib · a hymn of Guru Nanak (Macauliffe, Vol. I)“The practice of truth is superior to all else. Call every one exalted; let no one appear to thee low.”Read + Christian comparison (Seva and love of neighbour) →
• Sri Guru Granth Sahib · a hymn of Guru Nanak (Macauliffe, Vol. I)“Under the Guru's instruction regard all men as equal, since God's light is contained in the heart of each.”Read + Christian comparison (Equality and dignity) →

Frequently asked questions

What is the Guru Granth Sahib?

The Sri Guru Granth Sahib is the central scripture and the eternal living Guru of Sikhi, a volume of 1,430 pages (angs) of hymns by the Sikh Gurus and other saints, opening with the Mul Mantar and the Japji of Guru Nanak. This page indexes only a small, curated set of well-known passages that carry a genuine, clearly-labelled comparison to the teaching of Jesus, not the whole Granth.

What translation is used, and why not a modern one?

Max Arthur Macauliffe's 1909 translation, which is firmly in the public domain. The widely-published modern Sant Singh Khalsa translation was not used because its redistribution licensing is not clearly established. Ang (page) numbers cite the fixed standard pagination of the printed Sri Guru Granth Sahib; a few lines from Guru Nanak's hymns are cited to Macauliffe's volume rather than to a specific ang.

Does Living Bread change the meaning of the Guru Granth Sahib?

No. We reproduce each passage accurately from Macauliffe and describe its meaning within Sikhi fairly. Any comparison to Christian belief is clearly labelled as a Christian comparison, never presented as the Granth's own meaning.