Courses
Vaaran Bhai Gurdas: The Formation of the Sikh Panth
An intermediate, semester-length study of the first six Vaars of Bhai Gurdas Ji — the writings Guru Arjan Dev Ji called the ਕੁੰਜੀ (key) to Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Reading these Vaars as both devotional poetry and the earliest Sikh historiography, the course traces how the ਪੰਥ was formed: the cosmic mission behind Guru Nanak Sahib's coming, the gift of ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ under Guru Angad Dev Ji, ਸੰਗਤ and ਪੰਗਤ under Guru Amar Das Ji, the founding of Amritsar under Guru Ram Das Ji, the compilation of the Adi Granth under Guru Arjan Dev Ji, and the doctrine of ਮੀਰੀ ਪੀਰੀ under Guru Hargobind Sahib.
Vaaran Bhai Gurdas: A Key to the Guru Granth Sahib
An intermediate course on the forty ਵਾਰਾਂ of ਭਾਈ ਗੁਰਦਾਸ ਜੀ — the scribe of the Adi Granth, first ਜਥੇਦਾਰ of the Akal Takhat, and the poet whose work Guru Arjan Dev Ji called ਗੁਰਬਾਣੀ ਦੀ ਕੁੰਜੀ, the key to Gurbani. Students study his biography, the structure and language of the Vaaran and Kabitt-Savaiye, and the theological framework through which he interprets ਗੁਰਮਤਿ for the ordinary ਗੁਰਸਿੱਖ.
Vaaran Bhai Gurdas: Social Ethics and Community Life
This intermediate course examines Vaars 26-40 of ਵਾਰਾਂ ਭਾਈ ਗੁਰਦਾਸ as a social charter for the early Sikh community. Reading ਭਾਈ ਗੁਰਦਾਸ as the first authoritative interpreter of ਗੁਰਬਾਣੀ, students explore how the Vaars articulate a revolutionary social ethic: the rejection of ਜਾਤ-ਪਾਤ, the dignity of women, the economy of ਲੰਗਰ and ਸੇਵਾ, the ethics of the Sikh merchant and householder, and the institutions—the ਧਰਮਸਾਲ, the ਸੰਗਤ, and the ਗ੍ਰੰਥੀ—that bound the ਪੰਥ together. The course treats the Vaars not as abstract poetry but as a lived constitution for the ਗੁਰਮੁਖ within the ਸਾਧ ਸੰਗਤ.
Vaaran Bhai Gurdas: Spiritual Practice and Inner Life
An advanced theological study of Vaars 7 through 15 of the Vaaran Bhai Gurdas — the work Guru Arjan Sahib called the ਕੁੰਜੀ (key) to Sri Guru Granth Sahib. This course undertakes an extended textual and devotional reading of Bhai Gurdas's mapping of the inner life: ਨਾਮ ਸਿਮਰਨ as the ground of practice, the contrast of ਗੁਰਮੁਖ and ਮਨਮੁਖ, the disciplines of ਸੇਵਾ and ਸੰਗਤ, the relocation of ਤੀਰਥ from outer pilgrimage to inner purification, the meaning of ਧਰਮ, and the social ethics of compassion and humility. Students learn to read the Vaaran as a sustained practical theology of how a Sikh actually lives, drawing on classical and modern commentary to recover Bhai Gurdas as the first systematic interpreter of Gurmat.
Vaaran Bhai Gurdas: Theology and Philosophy (Vaars 16-25)
An advanced seminar on the theology and philosophy embedded in Vaars 16-25 of the Vaaran of ਭਾਈ ਗੁਰਦਾਸ, the corpus ਗੁਰੂ ਅਰਜਨ ਦੇਵ ਜੀ called the ਕੁੰਜੀ (key) to ਗੁਰਬਾਣੀ. Students examine the nature of ਅਕਾਲ ਪੁਰਖ, the metaphysics of ਹੁਕਮ and ਨਾਦਰਿ, the structure of ਮਾਇਆ as ਤ੍ਰਿਗੁਣੀ, the power of the five ਬਾਣੀਆਂ, and the Sikh theology of ਮਨ, reading each through close analysis of selected ਪਉੜੀਆਂ and in critical comparison with ਵੇਦਾਂਤ and ਸੂਫ਼ੀ frameworks.
