cover pdf - Sikh Naujawan Sabha Malaysia

The Sikh, July 2012
Nitnem: The Sikh Daily Liturgy
Convenor: RAVINDER SINGH
Every Friday for the past three years or so, a few of us
get together for what has come to be known as
Gurbani Vichaar.
The sessions began in the local gurdwara and were
focused on the nitnem banis - the Sikh daily liturgy -
but over time, the locale has shifted away from the
gurdwara to private homes.
Interestingly enough, a pattern has also emerged -
all without much conscious thought or effort. We now
begin with a reading from the Guru Granth Sahib,
usually 10 pages at each sitting. Everyone present
reads aloud, in unison.
This is followed by 10-15 minutes of doing jaap or
simran, audibly sounding the word 'Waheguru' until it
naturally recedes into mental repetition. Thereafter a
discussion ensues, usually around a passage that was
previously read. A question that pops up with predictable
regularity centers on the prescription of the daily
nitnem.
The nitnem regimen requires a Sikh to awake at
amrit vela - the ambrosial hour, pre-dawn, commonly
believed to around 4 am - to take a bath (ishnaan),
then settling down to do simran, followed by reciting
a specified number of banis. The discipline also
includes banis to be read later in the evening and at
night as well. The question invariably circles around
the need for an externally imposed requirement. What
good is it to merely recite gurbani without understanding
what is being read?
Why rise so early, especially when we all have
busy, hectic schedules? Besides, isn’t it all the Guru’s
grace?
Shouldn’t we focus on reflection, dialogue and
understanding instead? The idea that nitnem is
mechanical and repetitive and therefore without value
is one that needs to be resisted. Repetition is a necessary
element for the development of any skill or
discipline - from learning to hit a tennis ball to acquiring
language skills. It is much like learning the alphabet
or the multiplication tables, and requires daily
practice - although the spiritual formation that must
follow takes time.
Not unlike the ability to piece together the alphabet
symbols into words, and words into meaningful
sentences. Or the facility of being able to calculate
figures in a moment in one's head, instead of having to
do an elaborate mathematical calculation, or having to
resort to a computerized device.
I get the distinct sense that these questions (like all
questions) are cultural. Given our bottom line orientation,
time is money and this activity does not appear to
offer a healthy 'return on investment' ("ROI") - if at
all. We are also a culture of instant gratification and
our spiritual quests have become a search for the
silver bullet - the technique, the trick or the holy man
(or woman) that will bring instant transformation. But
spiritual growth is like physical growth - it does not
happen overnight.
Nitnem, in addition to being a mental and spiritual
exercise, is a matter of consecrating our days - and
nights. By interrupting the mundane rhythm of our
daily lives, it teaches us to create a sanctuary, a sacred
inner space by defying the tyranny of ordinary time.
Most of us jump out of bed only to become slaves of
the clock, racing through our routines, transformed
into Type automatons, high on caffeine.
Nitnem weaves the sacred into the fabric of daily
life and serves as a reminder that we live on dual
planes simultaneously - the sacred and the
profane, the secular and the spiritual.
These moments make the extraordinary possible.
Nitnem offers the doorway to enable us to enter the
sacred space of the timeless One - Akal - where the
soul dwells and its cultivation takes place.
But we cannot rush the process. The inner self
responds on its own time, its own cycle. We have to
learn to wait.
Conversation about this article
Basant Kaur (Chandigarh, Punjab): I have been
going to the gym, as well as doing yoga exercises, for
years. Never have I, or ever heard anyone else, ask the
instructor to first explain how each position or aasan
or exercise "really works", or how the inner workings
of the body go into operation in order to create a result
... We simply do it! Fully knowing that if we do it
continually, good results will invariably flow. We are
also fully aware that initially there is a bit, or a lot, of
drudgery, but then, gradually, slowly but surely, it
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