INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

while melodiously chanting “True Name, Oh Guru” (Satnam Vahiguru) in chorus.
Occasionally the congregation will sing stanza 19 of the composition Asa di var or
Ashtapadi 4:8 of the beloved hymn Sukhmani Sahib during the ceremonial conveyance
(See Chapter 3). Once the granthi has reached the bedroom and put the scripture to
bed under blankets, he exhorts all participants to exclaim the Sikh jaikara (Jo bole so
nihal), whereupon all respond by shouting Sat Sri Akal. The salutation is a verbal
marker that announces the end of the Guru’s court, and, if the gathering is not immediately
dispersed, it generally entails a striking change in behavioral patterns of the
worshippers. As long as the scripture is enthroned people will act in a discreet and
graceful manner inside the gurdwara: they carry out matha tekna and calmly take
seats without chitchat or magnified body gestures. With the closing signal the disciplinary
behavior is immediately replaced by a jumble of people moving in different
directions, some are rushing home, while others exchange greetings and engage in
conversations. People maintain order of conduct as long as Guru Granth Sahib is
present, and revert to behavioral patterns of the ordinary social life when the scripture
is removed from the courtly room. This presence and discipline of conducts are
only spatialized in the inner sanctum. Outside the gurdwara hall people may sit or
hang about at some landing, socializing and chatting with friends or just observing
people, while the children are playing cricket or some other game in the courtyard.
THE LOGIC OF MINISTRATION
The rule-governed acts in Sikh ceremonies definitely underscore the ethos that the
Guru Granth Sahib should not be treated as just an ordinary book. As the previous
section examined, many Sikhs believe the human Gurus of the past embodied the
same “spirit” and agency of a personal Guru which the Guru Granth Sahib now inhabits
and manifests. By tradition the Sikhs have come to attribute their scripture
habits and needs that presumably were actualized in the domestic and courtly life of
the human Gurus and selectively perpetuated into the future life of the Guru enshrined
in a text. A consequence of having the Guru Granth Sahib conceived as a
personal Guru in the social world is that the relationship between devotees and the
scripture takes on the quality of a social relationship. For believing Sikhs the spiritualized
text becomes a “social other” which/who is entitled to receive appropriate ministration
that corresponds with devotional services that disciples rendered to the human
Gurus in the past.
At the local level this ministration is contained in the emic notion of gurseva, or
selfless service to the Guru. In concept and action gurseva encompasses a wide range
of actions directed to the Guru Granth Sahib and the congregation of Sikhs. In fact,
most activities which employees share with visiting devotees inside a gurdwara are
talked of as seva and include all forms of ritualized acts in the daily liturgies to practical
duties of keeping the Guru’s house tidy and clean. To dust and polish the scriptural
throne at night, scrub the gurdwara floor, or offer new scriptural robes, are
understood as gurseva in the guise of oblation to the Guru Granth Sahib. More organ-
174
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008