INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

“to do recital” (path karna) and especially to do a “worship-recital” (puja path). The
frequent use of the latter noun compound indicates that recitations are looked upon
as an active mode of action and an exclusive worship entity, since puja is the more
common term used for religious adoration and veneration. 425 To do recitation of gurbani
texts is to do worship and righteous action which both indicates and presupposes
bhakti bhavna ‒ sincere devotion and faith. 426 As a male interlocutor remarked,
the human Gurus provided praises of God and educated the Sikhs on the uses of
sacred verses in worship: “they taught us how to do puja and how to do path” and
thus to recite according to the rules of tradition fulfills the command of the Gurus.
Although it is ideally considered more favorable to conduct recitations from
the Guru Granth Sahib by oneself, local notions give equal importance to oral and
aural activities of puja path. Recitation is a liturgy that includes both the act of pronouncing
words and listening to them in sound. Since puja path should be open for all
and adjusted to individual abilities, listening to the recitals of others is sufficient for
illiterates and others unable to memorize or read the Gurmukhi script. One oft-stated
reason as to why Sikhs recite texts loudly is that people should be able to hear and
benefit from the Gurus’ compositions in sound. When reciting aloud two favorable
activities are fused together into one experience, or as one elderly Sikh woman said:
“if we utter path loudly we get the benefit of hearing and speaking”. With the introduction
of modern media in the twentieth century, recorded recitations on audiocassettes
has become a popular means to do puja path in domestic spaces. “I do path as
much as I can. I play cassettes and by listening I find peace,” an illiterate middle-aged
Sikh woman said. She had purchased cassette recordings of daily prayers and the
Sikh petition (Ardas) to perform complete worship sessions only by listening. The
cassette culture has democratized the access to sacred words and brought about several
changes in lay-practices, in some cases entirely replacing live recitations. Yet, the
popularity of audio media demonstrates that the value of attentive hearkening sustains.
In a prevailing oral culture Sikhs will consider hearing an active action of admitting
Guru’s guidance in sound into the human interior.
Considering that the Guru is the words enshrined in Guru Granth Sahib, recitation,
or puja path, is a sacramental act of “presencing” these words for enduring guidance.
Just as the scripture is physically present in the gurdwara, recitations disclose
the interior of the text. Particularly the unbroken cover-to-cover recitation of the Guru
Granth Sahib (Akhand path) is said to be an act of “inviting the Guru”, not only by
installing the book physically at the shop, the house, or wherever the recitation is to
be conducted, but reciting the complete text takes out the interior of the book and
manifests the true Guru of gurbani in the world ‒ in the space of one’s house, family,
425
A few of my interviewees also compare the recitations, and especially Akhand path, with the
performance of Hindu puja in daily worship or those related to the different samskara.
426
The number of recitations performed is often used as a measure of devotion and religiosity in
humans.
238
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008