INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

social life and mind. As such, recitations become instrumental for positive communications
with God.
When reciting hymns in defined spatio-temporal settings, people say they express
thanks to God or appeal for divine support and protection in the most diverse
life situations. More arduous recitations, of the whole scripture or regular recitals of
chosen hymns over a prolonged time period, are often spoken of as an offering or
sacrifice of resources, such as time and efforts, that humans make to impart their
inner wishes to a divine recipient. Before commencing the chosen path the reciter will
present the Ardas by which he or she will take permission from the Guru to perform a
recitation, and verbally enumerate which type of path is to be conducted for whom
and for which purpose. 427 In this formal petition the reciter may make a conditional
promise or vow to complete the recitation within a given timeframe, and kindly request
God to act favorably or lend practical assistance in return. 428 The promise can
also be formulated like a votive gift for divine help extended when a personal desire
or wish has already been fulfilled. People carry out these manipulative or reciprocal
acts within the framework of mutual human-divine relationship and through the
agency of gurbani. The reciter gives a “gift” of devotion to God by taking out time to
recite the Guru’s words to gain godly favors or express thanks for blessings already
received. At the end of a completed recitation the devout reciter may bring material
offerings, such as money and food, to the gurdwara and again present a petition in
which he or she requests the divine recipient to accept the recitations as an offering
and to excuse errors unintentionally made. Through this speech act, directed to God
while facing the Guru Granth Sahib, the completed puja path is consecrated as an
offering, and in return the reciter will receive food blessed by the Guru (karah
prashad).
As the following sections will illustrate, recitations may be conducted for the
most diverse reasons, and above all for the cause of praising God without any desired
material or spiritual goal in view. Reciting gurbani remains a means of devotion and
communication with the divine through the agency of the Guru, the words enshrined
in Guru Granth Sahib.
REGULATIVE DEVICES
When Sikhs perform puja path there is a set of regulative devices of ethical concerns
that rely on conventions already existing outside the religious setting. These rules are
not necessarily constitutive for the actual recitation, but perceived as regulative in the
sense that they constrain the act of reciting and may affect the expected results of the
427
It is customary to go the gurdwara and let the granthi perform this supplication on behalf of
the family or an individual before the actual recitation starts. In performances of Akhand path, the
granthi in duty may also take permission from the sadhsangat to perform the recitation (by
enouncing the words “sadhsangat ki agya ho”).
428
In Punjabi language the conjunct noun verb sukh sukhni signifies the act of making a promise
or vow to offer something to God.
239
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008