INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

protect a newborn from bad spirits during the subsequent forty day period of confinement.
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Sikh women in Varanasi particularly suggested one hymn composed by Guru
Arjan (on page 396 in Guru Granth Sahib) for readings in times of pregnancy and
when the mother wishes for a healthy son. In this hymn the fifth Guru ornately develops
the metaphor of a child’s birth and the affectionate relationship between a
father and son:
The True Satguru has sent the child. The long-lived child has been born
by destiny. When he came and acquired an abode in the womb, his
mother’s heart became very glad. The son, the saint of the world ‒ Lord
is born. The primal writ has become manifest amongst all. Pause. In the
tenth month, by Lord’s command, the baby has been born.Sorrow has
left and great joy has become manifest. The mates sing the Guru’s
hymns in glee. This is pleasing to the True Lord’s heart. The vine has
extended and shall last for many generations. The Lord has firmly established
the machinery of devotion and love. The Satguru has granted
me, what my mind wished for. I have become carefree and have fixed
my attention on one God. As a child takes great pride on its father, so
do I speak as it pleases the Guru to have me speak. It is not a concealed
and hidden matter. Guru Nanak, being mightily pleased has given me
this gift. 593
A middle-aged Sikh woman said the expectant mother should begin reciting this
composition from the first month of pregnancy and continue to repeat it 108 times
daily for a total period of 40 days, in order to determine the sex of the fetus. Furthermore,
the becoming mother should perform the recitation in the morning on an
empty stomach and while seated on the floor with a pot filled with water beside her.
Each morning when the reading is completed, she should drink the water, which has
turned into amrit by the recited words.
These very tangible directives for recitations of a single hymn may also illustrate
how text recitations become attributed with illocutionary and perlocutionary
forces (See Chapter 5) when the sacred utterances of the Gurus are transferred to
performance contexts. As a ritualized speech act, recitations of gurbani hymns are
frequently attributed various bodily, moral, and spiritual effects on the reader which
relate to the semantic content of the text recited. In other words, metaphors and
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Sankat Mochan compiled by Gurcharan Singh.
593
GGS: 396. The same composition makes hymn number 37 in Gurcharan Singh’s edition of
Sankat Mochan and is to be recited to acquire a son with good luck. In the written life-story of
Baba Vadbhag Singh (see below in this chapter) the same hymn is quoted under the heading
“The hymn to get sons”. Pregnant women are instructed to read the hymn 101 times daily and
drink the water-nectar of each recitation from the second month of pregnancy up to delivery
(Jivan Sakhi Baba Vadbhag Singh Ji Sodhi, p. 83).
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008