INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

Most of my interlocutors stressed the importance of “good” inner qualities and
outer behaviors which in these conversations signified a person who is calm, kind,
humble, polite, patient, remains pure in his thoughts, has good intentions, and treats
everyone on equal terms irrespective of social and financial status. Considering that
the granthi interacts daily with community members in various settings and is usually
one of the few persons allowed to enter more secluded spaces to officiate ceremonies,
his moral qualities are of vital concern to the laity. After childbirth, for example, the
granthi is one of the few persons permitted to enter the maternity ward or the private
bedroom to give the baby the first purifying nectar-water (amrit) before it is taken out
in public and shown to relatives. The right to enter these spaces demonstrates how
the relationship between the granthi and community members bears the stamp of
trust and confidence in his pure intentions and high morals.
A few interlocutors also provided comments on a “bad” character, that is, what
a granthi and other performers should not be and desist from doing. As they put it in
different wordings, any of the five Sikh vices – lust (kam), anger (krodh), avarice (lobh),
worldly attachment (moh) and pride (hankar) ‒ are connected with great danger and
must be controlled. The desire for money is especially a powerful lure. Discourses
inside and outside the gurdwara frequently involve morally charged comments on
how religious services should not be motivated by financial gains. The ideal performer
is the one who never demands or bargains over money but accepts the monetary
donation (dan) given to him in charity and devotion by the sangat. Behind this
position lies the idea that all religious activities in the gurdwara should be seva and
not contaminated by human desires or ostentation. The degree of religiosity of people
considered saintly or knowledgeable is often measured by their humble attitude and
disinterest in material gains. If employees in the gurdwara would be under any suspicion
of greediness, telling lies, or behaving invitingly to female visitors they would
not keep their positions very long.
By his continual engagements in devotional practices, the granthi was by many
perceived to have developed a close relationship to the Guru and thereby had purified
his inner self. An elderly Sikh woman expressed this view in the following way:
Those persons who take the name of God are like God. All these people
[working in the gurdwara] are taking the name of God, so they become
like God. In Sikh religion it says that if your mind/heart [man] is
shuddh you do not have to go around to find God, you just look in the
mirror and you will see God. We have to give respect to them [granthis]
because they are taking the name of God.
Any human whose inner mind and heart is filled with gurbani and devotion to God
will conduct pure action. This makes one reason as to why lay Sikhs considered the
granthi suitable for performances of prayers and recitations. He does not merely possess
knowledge to perform readings in a proper way, but his spiritual disposition
obtained from constant recitations and by dwelling in the space of the Guru is be-
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008