Doctor who wants to distil essence of Sikh holy book

The Sikhs' holy book has been translated into English by many experts like Dr Gopal Singh, Manmohan Singh and Gurbachan Singh Talib. Now, Canada-based scholar Dr Devinder Singh Sekhon has started a six-year project to bring out “the real essence of the Guru Granth Sahib“. This, he hopes will benefit the GenNext of Punjabi diaspora.
Based at Hamilton near Toronto, the 73-year-old Sikh scholar says, he “Having devot ed the last 25 years to minute study of the holy granth with assistance from various sources, I felt our scripture needs translation to bring out its true essence.“ Dr Sekhon says he started his mission of translating the Guru Granth into English on January 9.
“I spend eight to 10 hours every day on this job, and I have so far translated 200 pages. Since the scripture has 1,430 pages, I am looking at a possible journey of about 72 months. I undertake translation of about 22 pages each day. This is my full-time mission now,'' says Sekhon.
He moved to US from Punjab in 1972 and enrolled for PhD in chemistry at the Uni versity of California in Davis (UCD) and then shifted to Edmonton in Canada in 1975 On why he thought of em barking on this ambitious pro ject, he said he wanted to uti lise his 42 years of study of Sikhism and the holy scripture to make a meaningful contri bution to Sikh literature.
“My approach is to bring out what the gurus really tried to convey through Gurbani. I am not interest ed in literal translation be cause I have command over the English language and I know the subject inside out I aim to convey the essence of the message of the holy book.'' Having grasped the deep er meaning of the hymns in the scripture, he says he doesn't consult any sources these days for his translation “Once in a while, I check a dictionary and possibly Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha's Mahan Kosh. But that's all.'' The scholar, who was born at Chak 73 in Lyallpur dis trict of Pakistan, grew up at Sathiali village in Gurdaspur . district after Partition. He says the works of Punjabi literary giant Sohan Singh Seetal fostered a deep love in him for studying Sikhism.
“But today, the new generation particularly those growing up in the Indian di aspora doesn't understand anything about Sikhism when they go to gurdwaras. I hope that after my translation is complete, it will enable them to know the real essence of the Guru Granth Sahib. I . would like non-Sikhs to ben efit from my work, too'' says Sekhon, who retired from Grande Prairie Regional College in Alberta in 2009.
Will he seek their help of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee . (SGPC)? “The SPGC won't publish it and I don't want that either,'' says Dr Sekhon, who taught at Khalsa College Amritsar and Sikh National College at Qadian before emigrating to America.