Anand Sahib is a composition of forty pauris in raga Ramkali by Guru Amar Das Ji. Its first five and its last are recited at the conclusion of every Sikh service before the Ardas, and it is sung in full at weddings and at major occasions.
The word anand means bliss. The composition describes the state and how it is reached, and it is unusual in the volume for being sustained affirmation rather than argument or lament.
Its opening, anand bhaya meri maye satguru mai paya, joy has come, mother, I have found the true Guru, is among the best known lines in Punjabi.
The Anand Karaj, the Sikh marriage, takes its name from this composition, though the rite itself is built on the Lavan of Guru Ram Das Ji.
It was composed at Goindwal by a man in his eighties or nineties.
Six pauris of it, the first five and the last, are recited at the close of every service, which is why most Sikhs know the opening and the ending and fewer know the middle.
The middle sections are an extended argument about the mind and the senses, working through each in turn and returning to the same conclusion.
Guru Amar Das Ji composed it at Goindwal, where the baoli and the town he founded still stand.