AKHAND PATH: Aakhand Path is nonstop recitation of Guru Granth Sahib. It is completed in approximately 48 hours. Several readers perform this recitation in a relay system. The reading goes, in a relay manner, continuously, day and night. At given intervals (usually two hours per turn) the next reciter

KAUR, from Sanskrit human or kunvdr`i meaning a princess, young girl, or virgin, is a suffix which, by tradition and under stipulated code of conduct, is added to the names of all Sikh females, so that like their male counterpart, Singhs, they all have a common surname.

RAHRASI is the name given to the main evening prayer of the Sikhs. The word itself implies supplication, though some traditionalist scholars have interpreted it as rahirdst which, in Persian, means the straight path, the path of faith and devotion as against that. of mere ritual practices or yogic

ASCETICISM, derived from the Greek word askesis, connotes the `training` or `exercise` of the body and the mind. Asceticism or ascetic practices belong to the domain of religious culture, and fasts, pilgrimages, ablutions, purificatory rituals, vigils, abstinence from certain foods and drinks, primitive and strange dress, nudity, uncut hair, tonsure.

KRODH (Ski. krodh(i) or wrath is an emotion recognised in the Sikh system as a spring of co-nation and is as such counted as one of the Five Evils. It expresses itself in several forms from silent sullenness to hysterical tantrums and violence. In Sikli Scripture krodh usually appears

AJAMILA This name occurs singly and with others in several verses of the Sikh Scripture. Where it occurs singly, there is pointed reference to his life-incident, e.g. At the time of his death, Ajamila grew conscious of Narayan (God); he attained in an instant that state, which the great

BHANDARA from bhandar (Skt. bhandara = bhanda, vessel, implement, + agara, house, meaning storehouse, depository, treasure house) has been used in this literal sense in Guru Granth Sahib, the Holy Book of the Sikhs. In extended connotation the term stands for a feast given especially for yogis and sannyasins, or

BENARES (BANARASA, VARANASI) .....They have rosaries around their necks and glittering jugs in their hands—they cannot be called the saints of Hari, they are the Thugs of Benares (Varanasi).(Asa Kabir, pp. 476) He lives on the bank of Asi rivulet in Benares (Varanasi). (Gond Namdev, p. 873) It is

CHITRA GUPTA Chitra and Gupta write all the account of good and bad actions, but they do not look towards the devotees of the Lord. (Asa M. 5, p. 393) Meditating at the door of the Unknowable and Incom-prehensible Lord, one attained the Permanent Seat, where there is neither

DURJODHANA (DURYODHANA) Durjodhana lost his reputation and prestige; he did not comprehend the Lord—that Creator. He who causes suffering for the men of God, also suffers himself. (Gauri M. l, p. 225) The Lord shattered the pride of Durjodhana. (Bhairo Kabir, p. 1163) Durjodhana (Duryodhana) was the eldest son

GOMATI My Haj (Muslim Pilgrimage) is on the banks of Gomati, where lives my Pir (Guru) of yellow garments (i.e Krishna). (Asa Sri Kabir, p. 478) Gomati is a river in Uttar Pradesh. The Sikh Gurus and radical saints do not believe in religious rituals. Kabir, in the reference