INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

An account communicated by a Sikh woman in her forties may further demonstrate
how the effects and power of gurbani hymns are sometimes associated with
different degrees of suffering or illness. To mitigate “mild” worries in the everyday
life and seek divine protection for family members the woman used to recite Chaupai
Sahib. As she was very much afraid of the dark she read this hymn after sunset for
mental strength and to remove fear. “Light comes quickly when I do path of Chaupai
Sahib,”she said. The woman was also anxious about her daughter and husband every
time they were outside the house after dark and did not return home in time. Whenever
this occurred, she used to stand at the porch of their house reciting the same
composition, believing that it would protect them and make them come back earlier.
When someone in her family fell ill, she or someone else in her household used to go
to the gurdwara and let the granthi perform an Ardas and make a contract-like promise
to arrange for Akhand path if the sick person would restore health. Simultaneously,
she would sit beside the patient and recite either Dukh Banjani Sahib or Sukhmani Sahib,
depending on how serious the illness was. According to her categorization, the
verses contained in the Dukh Bhanjani Sahib are specifically adjusted to situations and
states of bad health when there is hope for recuperation. The collection of hymns was
to be recited next to and together with the sufferer for 5, 7 or 11 times, or simply as
much as possible. The woman did not believe the verses of Dukh Bhanjani Sahib
would necessarily heal or cure a patient from an illness, but they did have the power
to lessen or even remove pain from a sufferer. In case an illness threatened life and
there was no hope for recovery, she used to read Sukhmani Sahib beside the sick. Recitation
of Sukhmani Sahib was for her associated with deathbeds and was a religious
act to beseech God for final peace for the human soul. Thus, the Sikh woman linked
performances of Chaupai Sahib with protection in the daily life, Dukh Bhanjani Sahib
with subtraction of suffering in surmountable states of infirmity, whereas Sukhmani
Sahib was providing peace to humans near death.
Apart from the above-mentioned compositions, the Guru Granth Sahib is by
many Sikh disciples regarded as a treasure trove of separate utterances of the Guru,
which can, if recited correctly and with sincerity, invoke divine power to intercede in
human affairs. A young Sikh woman illustratively voiced this thinking:
In Guru Granth Sahib ji there are many hymns for all kinds of trouble,
hymns for ghost troubles, hymns for getting rich, hymns for business,
hymns for removing sadness. There are hymns for meeting God, hymns
for removing arguments. The main thing is the devotion. If you have
faith and are determined, if you perform the path [recitation] properly
with confidence, then your work will succeed.
The thread that runs through this and similar statements is the perception of the act
of reciting gurbani verses as a devotional exercise which may generate a number of
effects on the actors involved – people may overcome problems of illness, financial
shortage, solve conflicts with one’s partner and other dilemmas in life.
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008