Guru Granth and Guru Panth

Sikhs believe the ten Gurus shared one spiritual light. Rai Balvand and Satta say on ang 966 that the light and the way stayed the same while only the body changed. The Dabistan-i-Mazahib, a Persian work of the seventeenth century, records Sikhs saying the same of the succession of Gurus. Bachitra Natak describes it as one lamp lit from another.[EoS][Src]

Long before 1708, the Word was treated as the true Guru. Sri Guru Ram Das Ji says on ang 982 that the Bani and Guru Ji are one. The scripture was at first called the pothi or Granth Sahib.

Sikh tradition holds that Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji, shortly before passing away at Nanded in 1708, told the Sikhs to accept the Granth in his place. The Bhatt Vahi Talauda Parganah Jind gives the date as Kartik sudi 4, 1765 Bikrami, or 6 October 1708. The Rahitnama attributed to Bhai Nand Lal gives similar words. Sikhs also recite a couplet after Ardas stating the same command.[EoS][EoS]

Panth means path. In Sikh use it means the faith and also the whole Sikh people. At the creation of the Khalsa in 1699, Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji received amrit from the Panj Piare, which the Encyclopaedia of Sikhism takes as Guru Ji's merging with the Panth. Sri Gur Sobha reports Guru Ji telling Sikhs that they would see him in the Khalsa.

The Sikh Rehat Maryada states that Guru Panth means the whole body of committed Amritdhari Sikhs, shaped by the ten Gurus and given Guru status by the tenth. The Panth can decide its affairs through a gurmata, but it cannot change the teachings of the Bani. No living person can hold the title of Guru. Mata Sundari Ji's letter, cited in the Encyclopaedia, warned against treating anyone after the ten as Guru.[EoS][EoS][EoS][Src]