Prayer At Dawn

About the Book

Prayer At Dawn is an attempt to translate Japuji Sahib in simple, modern North American English verse and explain it for the beginner and curious. Japuj is the prayer, the divine song that the followers of the Sikh faith recite at dawn every day. Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion wrote this exquisite song in praise of God, the creator and provider of the creation. Japuji, the first verse at the beginning of the 1430 pages of Guru Granth Sahib, explains that there is ONE God and no other entity exists without His will. God loves and takes care of everyone, of every faith and even agnostics and atheists. Thus, Japuji has universal message for humanity irrespective of individual's faith or lack of it.

The messages and ideas in the Japuji and in Guru Granth Sahib have universal appeal. They preach absolute love, faith and submission to God and God's will. It has no conflict with science or scientific thought either.

About the Author

Eldest of the seven children in a Sikh family, Kamaljeet was born in the eastern Indian city called Jamshedpur. being in a cosmopolitan environment the children were allowed to learn about all major religions. The emphasis on the family religion, Sikhism, was informal and more like occasional discussions aide from visits to the Gurudwaras (Sikh temple or church) on special occasions. Family language was Punjabi but schooling was in Hindi and English only. Kamaljeet taught himself Gurumukhi, the script of Punjabi language when he was in high school with supportive help from his parents.

Kamaljeet choose a career in Engineering with a degree in Metallurgical Engineering. In 1972 he was granted an immigration VISA for the USA (green card) while he was working in a factory in Calcutta. In the US he ent to graduate school at the Georgia Institute of Technology and continued with the Engineering career.

Kamaljeet married Surjeet Kaur in 1966. They have a son and daughter and five grandchildren.

Although he has a modest number of technical papers published and written hundreds of technical reports, this is his first attempt at publishing a book. It started about three years ago. While routinely reciting the Japuji in the morning the words started forming in English in "my mind". This continued for some time, until one day he started to write those words ringing in his mind on the computer. The English words kept flowing as he read the original in the Punjabi language. It was inspired and beautiful and eventually took the shape of this book.