Why Wahe-Guru?

This is a humble attempt to understand why our Gurus choose the word ‘Wahe - guru’ for our daily simran.
Firstly, God has infinite qualities and infinite names. Few of these are: Meher-vaan, Akaal - purakh, Nir-bhau, Akhand, Dataar, Kirpalu, Sad-bakshind, etc.
But Guru Nanak chose a new word, ‘Wahe-guru’ for our daily simran. What could be the reason?
There are two words in ‘Wahe - guru’.
One is ‘Wahe’, which indicates praise, amazement and wonder.
The second word is ‘Guru’, which indicates Teacher, Preacher and Giver of knowledge.
So, the hidden message to us is:
1: We must praise God and His creation.
There are many lines in Gurbani, which remind us about this.
· ‘Gun gaavat, teri utraes mael’ - Sukhmani Sahib.
· ‘Wahu Wahu kartiyaa, mann nirmal hove; haume vitcho jae’ (SGGS: 515).
· ‘Wahu Wahu kartiyaa prabhu paiyeea’ (SGGS: 514).
· ‘Wahu Wahu gur-sikh jo nit kare; so man chindiya phal payee’ (SGGS: 515).
By sincerely praising, our mind becomes pure as explained above. When our mind is purified, the Indwelling God is revealed . By praising God, all our wishes are fulfilled. By praising God, we can reach the goal of our life.
2: The second message in ‘Wahe-guru’, is that God is our teacher.
And that we should ask for ‘brahm-gian’, or spiritual knowledge. Most of us get so engrossed in asking for food, shelter, money, job, children etc., that we tend to forget to ask for spiritual knowledge.
To succeed in any aspect of life, we need knowledge, know-how or the method. Similarly to achieve everlasting happiness, or mukti, we need ‘brahm-gian’ or spiritual knowledge.
Our Gurus knew that we may forget to ask for spiritual knowledge. So to remind us they placed the word ‘Guru’ at a strategic position in our daily simran.
So, let us recite ‘Wahe-guru’, and try to remember its deeper meaning.