Scroll the Gurbani: Common Ground

Inspiration

Most of us only ever read our own tradition's texts, and meet other traditions second-hand. We build three scripture apps: Talmud Scroller, Gita Scroller and Scroll the Gurbani. We wanted readers of each to see, every day, what the others actually say about the same things, in their own words.

What it does

Scroll the Gurbani brings a line of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji to your phone each day, in the original Gurmukhi with transliteration and plain English, one line per swipe. The Library holds Japji Sahib, Rehras Sahib, Kirtan Sohila, Anand Sahib and Sukhmani Sahib in full, and reading plans run from Japji Sahib to Kabir's saloks.

Common Ground, free for everyone, is the heart of this entry. Each day takes one theme (kindness, forgiveness, the stranger, anger, honesty, humility, contentment) and shows what the Sikh, Jewish, Hindu, ancient Greek or Norse, and Stoic texts say about it, side by side:

• each passage in its own script (Gurmukhi, Hebrew, Sanskrit, Greek, Latin) with plain English and the exact source;
• the app's own tradition first, then its neighbours;
• a link from every passage back to where it comes from;
• a share button to send the whole theme to a friend.

No account, no ads, no tracking. Works offline.

Peace Prize

Talmud Scroller, Gita Scroller and Scroll the Gurbani share one free Common Ground page. Each day it takes one theme (kindness, forgiveness, the stranger, anger, honesty, humility, contentment) and shows what the Jewish, Hindu and Sikh texts say about it side by side, each in its own script and words, with the source, alongside ancient Greek, Norse and Stoic writing. A Jewish reader of the Talmud app, a Hindu reader of the Gita app and a Sikh reader of the Gurbani app meet the same page on the same day, so each learns from the others' tradition in its own words rather than second-hand. Every passage is quoted from the text itself, never paraphrased into agreement, each links back to where it comes from, and the page is never behind a paywall.

How we built it

Expo and React Native with Expo Router, RevenueCat for Plus, and EAS Update. Common Ground is one small JSON file on Cloudflare Pages that all the apps read, so a new theme reaches every app at once, and a switch in the file can turn it off without an app update. All 35 passages are cut by script from the apps' own Library files (so every quote matches the source exactly) and were checked in a scholar pass that swapped or corrected seven pairings.

Challenges

Choosing passages that fit each theme honestly, without forcing traditions to agree, and without anything that could hurt a reader of another faith. That is why every passage is quoted, sourced and reviewed.

What's next

More themes, and Common Ground in more languages.

For judges

Common Ground is free: open the Library tab and tap the globe card. Plus has a 7-day free trial for everything else.

Built With

• cloudflare
• expo.io
• react-native
• revenuecat
• typescript