INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

sounds of female and male voices. Depending upon which tape is selected the intensive
repetition under control of the breath may continue for several minutes, to be
repeated at intervals, and eventually relapse into a slower melodious singing. At the
very end of the simran event, one and a half hours later, the lights are switched on
and everyone rises to a standing position for a joint reading of Ardas before they continue
home to their daily duties at daybreak.
The concept of simran refers to a devotional practice of interiorizing the godly
name through remembrance (nam simran) and repetition (nam japna). In Sikh teaching
the divine name (Nam) is an aspect of the Supreme Being and a principal feature of
the doctrine of salvation. By chanting and continually contemplating on the name of
God devotees will attach with the divine from within and acquire divine qualities
that will lead to spiritual progress and eventually liberation. In contemporary worship
the notion of simran refers to a wide range of worship forms and methods with
various degrees of formalization which can be practiced in individual and corporate
ways: the devotee may take up a discipline to repeat and meditate on the divine
name in solitude or participate in the holy congregation to seek and experience mystical
unity with God through singing and hearing praises. The practice is nondiscursive
in the sense that it does not necessarily aim to explore semantic and theological
dimensions of the word but is a means to obtain powers ascribed to the word
and lay down a bridge between the individual devotee and the divine. Similar to
what Tambiah (1968) purports, words are co-substantiated with things they denote
and to name a thing is to make it manifest. 539 To verbally repeat and contemplate
upon the name of God is a devotional device to praise and invoke a divine power
which has capacities to transform the inner of humans and alter outer action to virtuous
deeds. In the widest meaning the term simran may in fact comprise most devotional
practices in Sikh worship, and in a narrower definition it signifies particular
techniques which incorporate verbal repetition and remembrance of God’s name.
Before describing the concept and practice of simran within a local community, we
must first consider how Sikhs may conceptualize the primary object of these actions,
that is, the divine name.
THE NAME OF GOD ‒ VAHIGURU
“In nam simran you recite only Vahiguru,” a younger man in the gurdwara instructed
me, and continued, “If you do that for one and a half hours in the morning, it will
give you peace for the whole day.” Of all epithets and attributive names given to God
in the Guru Granth Sahib, it is primarily Vahiguru, literally “Wonderful Guru”, which
is the object of nam simran practices and considered the medium of spiritual quests for
union with God. 540 According to a popular understanding, based on an scribal pun of
539
Tambiah 1968.
540
Other names for God have also been used in the Sikh tradition. Several janam-sakhis on Guru
Nanak, for instance, prescribe repetition of the name of Ram (McLeod 1980a: 100).
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008