PUNN, a concept in the Indian tradition carrying simultaneously ethical, spiritual and philosophical connotations. As an ethical concept it implies voluntary obedience to the moral rules of conduct which have the sanction of a system of reward and punishment. As spiritual attitude, it is the inclination of the self towards

BHAGAUTI or Bhavani (Skt. Bhagavati. consort of Visnu, or the goddess Durga) has had in Sikh usage a chequered semantic history.In early Sikhism, especially in the compositions comprising the Guru Granth Sahib, the word means a bhakta or devotee of God. "So bhagautijo bhagvantai janai; he alone is a true

PUTANA By remembering the Lord, Putana attained salvation; she, who was the fraudulent child-killer. (Gond Namdev, p. 874) She, a female demon, was the daughter of Bali. She was known as a child-killer and \'was sent by Kansa to kill Krishna. She applied poison to her teats and attempted

BHANA, lit. liking, pleasure, will, wish or approval, is one of the key concepts in Sikh thought. In Sikhism, it refers specifically to God`s will and pleasure. Raza , an Arabic term popular in the context of various schools of Sufi thought, also appears frequently in the Sikh texts to

QUDRAT (spelled qudrati in gurbani), a term adopted by Guru Nanak from the Arabic and given a philosophical signification and connotation which, to some extent but with different shades of sense, had till then been conveyed by the milenniaold Indian words prakriti and mdyd. Qudrat, in Arabic, literally means power,

BILAVAL KI VAR, by Guru Ram Das, is one of his eight vars in a corpus of twenty-two included in the Guru Granth Sahib. It occurs in Raga Bilaval, and consists of thirteen pauris or stanzas, each comprising five lines, with the exception of pauri 10 which is of

SODARU or SO DARU, lit. That Door, implying the entrance to the Lord`s presence, is a hymn by Guru Nanak figuring with slight orthographical variations, at three different places in the Guru Granth Sahib ; it forms part of the Japu (paun27), the morning prayer, and of the Rahrasi,