Guru Arjan Dev Ji dictating the Adi Granth to Bhai Gurdas Ji

Guru Nanak taught people from every religion to overlook their prejudices of race, cast, gender, and religion, and recognize the light of the One Creator in all. The Shabad Guru technology, embodied in the Siri Guru Granth Sahib is not just for the Sikhs. This technology was given to everyone, so that each human being would have the capacity to attain a deep and personal experience of the religion of his or her own choosing, for we are all created from a common pattern, and every human is filled with the Light of the same Creator.

The Siri Guru Granth Sahib is unique because enlightened beings from all faiths and walks of life contributed their poetry to bring it into being. It cuts across the dividing lines of wealth and poverty, education and lack of education and Muslim and Hindu. It goes beyond our concepts of what is holy, and embodies the essence of the truly holy. It speaks to the heart and soul, not to the mind. It is not a history, nor a collection of parables. It brings together weavers, tanners and cobblers in the bosom of the divine the flow of the sound current of ecstatic union with the One.

The precursor to the Siri Guru Granth Sahib is known as the Adi Granth. It was created by Guru Arjan Dev ji in the early 1600's. In 1604, Guru Arjan Dev ji completed the compilation of the Adi Granth and, on August 30th, 1604, introduced the Adi Granth to the Sikh community.