INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

they have continued a tradition of burning the lamp since Guru Tegh Bahadur’s
visit. 227
Tapasthan at Nichibagh Gurdwara
It is yet noteworthy that the burning lamp is placed outside the space where
Guru Tegh Bahadur did tapas – a word which signified the purifying and creative/destructive
heat of fire in the Rigveda and in later Hindu literature connotes austerity
practices believed to generate a heat in the body and mind which will burn
impurities and karma in the human condition. 228 From a symbolic viewpoint the
burning oil lamp can be seen as an index of the place at which the Guru’s internal
meditation generated “heat” which purified a space and continued to transmit powers
to devotees. It marks out “the place of heat”, that is, a place transmitting powers
from the Guru’s meditative practices. In connection with full moon days and the
227
The practice of lighting oil-lamps in the gurdwaras is sometimes subject for conflicting views
in local discourses. On one occasion in 2001 a visiting Sikh propagandist from Punjab passed
severe criticism on the custom of keeping a jyoti in Nichibagh gurdwara. In one conversation he
said, “When Guru Gobind Singh ji did prakash of Guru Granth Sahib, he lit the lamp of gurbani,
so there is no need of lighting these lamps.” A Sikh student from Benares Hindu University,
who overheard the propagandist’s words while passing by, disapproved of the condemnation
and interrupted the conversation. The student argued that people have faith in this practice and
wishes have indeed come true after people have been lightening lamps for forty days in a row.
As he reasoned, this must mean the practice does invoke some power.
228
See e.g. Kaelber 1979.
100
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008