Anand Sahib

Anand Sahib — forty verses composed by Guru Amar Das, the third Guru, in Raag Raamkalee — is the Sikh tradition's anthem of joy. It is sung at every ceremony: weddings, births, naming days, funerals, and the close of every congregational service (usually in its shortened form: the first five verses and the fortieth). That liturgical fact is the key to the whole composition — the bliss it describes must be the kind that can be sung with equal truth over a cradle and a coffin. Anand here is not happiness (which depends on events) but the deep-rooted, unconditioned joy that emerges when the True Guru — the awakening wisdom — is found.