INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

THE DIVINE COMMAND
On any occasion when the scripture has been ritually installed, the first thing the
granthi will do is to open it at random and take out a Hukam, a hymn or unit of verses
considered to be a divine “command” that will appeal to the whole community for a
period of one day. The hymn that comes into view on top of the left page of the
opened spread identifies the textual section that will constitute a divine command.
The granthi goes back to the beginning of that hymn, even if it starts on the previous
page, and continues to read it until the name of Nanak appears in the text. The signature
of Nanak is a mark of closure for a unit of stanzas that constitute a hymn and
likewise marks the end of a command. 342 The ceremony goes by different names that
mirror the believed qualities of the hymn that will come out: people say they “take a
divine order” (hukam lena), “take the liberated Word” (mukhvak lena), or “take the
sound/voice” (avaz lena). Even though the granthi or some other attendant conducts
the opening act, the Hukam is held to be a manifestation of a divine will, mediated
through the written words in the Guru-scripture and orally communicated by the
granthi. It is the randomness of the opening act of the scripture that determines and
embodies the particular will of God, upon which people should respond and act in
their worship and social life. The command taken daily in the gurdwara is considered
to be a divine guidance for the whole congregation attached to the place at which the
Guru-scripture is made present. 343 Consequently, there will be one daily Hukam for
worshippers in Gurubagh Gurdwara, and another in Nichibagh Gurdwara. In addition,
the act of taking of a divine command is integrated in almost every life-cycle
ritual of the Sikhs. Individuals and families often go the gurdwara to let the granthi
perform the Sikh supplication and take divine commands from Guru Granth Sahib in
different life situations and for a variety of purposes. According to the underlying
emic logic of these acts they serve to establish a dialogic communication with a divine
power: by means of the supplication people present requests and queries to God and
in return they receive a guiding and foretelling divine reply. “It is a royal decree
(pharman [Persian]). We do not have to go around searching for answers, we just go to
Guru Granth Sahib ji, take a Hukam and try to follow that”, one interlocutor stated.
When individuals or the collective are to arrive at decisions in important matters they
commonly take a Hukam that will provide directions and even determine the final
result of their action. As I witnessed in Varanasi, lay Sikhs who do not have access to
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All the Gurus, whose hymns are included in Guru Granth Sahib, used the signature “Nanak”
as a mark of closure of a poetic unit. If the Hukam that comes is preceded by a shalok, a shorter
unit of verses summarizing a hymn or ballad (var), the granthi should go back and read the full
shalok and then continue through the following main hymn until the line containing the name of
Guru Nanak appears.
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The Hukam taken at Harimandir Sahib in Amritsar is considered to count for a global Sikh
community. Wherever Sikhs are living in the world they can receive the daily command by
email directly from Amritsar through various web sites on the Internet (See e.g. www.spgc.org,
www.sikhnet.org ).
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008