INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

T H R E E
FROM MANTRAS TO UNBROKEN READINGS
WAYS OF ENGAGING WITH THE GURU
This chapter will focus on the formal features of Sikh performances and worship
forms which in different ways involve uses of the Guru Granth Sahib and the engagement
in gurbani ‒ the words and teaching of the Guru. Based on indigenious or
emic typologies I have divided a broad spectrum of devotional practices into six main
categories: recitation (path), singing (kirtan), exegetical narrations (katha), chanting and
remembering (simran), praying (Ardas), and selfless service (seva) to the Guru, congregation
and the society. To religious Sikhs these worship forms are seen as key
practices in the spiritual teaching, institutionalized by the human Sikh Gurus. They
are the devotional measures to make the divine relevation vividly alive and implement
the Gurus’ teaching in the social life of humans. In the following I will describe
the ways in which Sikhs have organized these worship forms in the local community.
What are the techniques and structure of performances that involves recitations,
expositions, and singing of gurbani? What modes and conventions govern the performances
and what are the frameworks and material with which the specialists and
laity use? Illustrations of the formal features will include descriptions of the structure
and organization of separate linguistic and para-linguistic acts carried out within the
framework of performances, patterns of behaviour, and culture-specific notions related
to the worship forms and separate gurbani texts. Although the conceptual dimension
is analytically distinct from the domain of behavior (and normative prescriptions
are not practices) there exists a dialectical relationship between the two. Access
and appreciation of emic conceptions underlying the idioms of texts and performances
can be used to shed light on the behavioral unfolding, that is, what local Sikhs
are actually doing in their religious life.
3.1. PATH ‒ RECITING SACRED VERSES AND THE SCRIPTURE
Reciting gurbani is undoubtedly the most salient feature of Sikh religious life. Each
day of the year, local Sikhs in Varanasi generally dedicate one to four hours, and
some considerably more, to the activities of hearing and reciting passages from Guru
Granth Sahib. At private houses individuals regularly repeat the mulmantra, the
“root-mantra” and opening verse of the scripture, and recite single stanzas or hymns
according to personal choosing. Apart from the prayers included in the “daily rule”
(nitnem), which Amritdharis are obliged to read, individual Sikhs may take use of the
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008