INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

Satnam Vahiguru in a repetitive manner, all assembled in the gurdwara will know that
a recitation act of gurbani is likely to follow (See Chapter 3). The opening verses and
formulas have become conventional in Sikh worship and have propositional meanings
which can be explained. But in performance they assume a functional role of
providing the interpretative frame and context for what is to come. According to
Bateson (1972), linguistic boundary markers like these frame episodes of actions with
meta-communicative messages, which evoke a mode of interpretation of that particular
action. The messages will announce and instruct listeners that the action or units
of action that is to follow is different from ordinary acts. 758 The technique of embedding
renditions of gurbani with linguistic and non-linguistic markers adds illocutionary
forces to the performance. The formulaic invocations and salutations at the beginning
and end of performances, as well as the performer’s bodily gestures and
choice of pitch and intonation, become contextualization cues that signal how devotees
should orient themselves towards the speech event by isolating gurbani from
surrounding discourses, and emphasize that these words are authoritative in themselves.
The enunciator may explain the short invocations from a religious framework
in terms of a simran to settle the mind and become mentally attuned with the divine.
He or she remains a social person in a here-and-now context and simultaneously
prepares to become a proper medium of the Guru’s speech. 759 In recitations the markers
are strategic resources to entail a clear shift in the animator’s relationship to his or
her words, from ordinary talk towards an authoritative speech form that will activate,
reveal and make manifest the eternal Guru dwelling within gurbani.
Performance features of Sikh worship acts thus forcefully encourage the understanding
that gurbani stem from a source far beyond current human contexts, but yet
are attributed powerful effects and capacities to alter human conditions as the words
are made present in the performance. In discourses local Sikhs will confirm that recitations
from Guru Granth Sahib, and especially complete and unbroken readings of
the whole scripture make the agency of the Guru manifest in temporal and spatial
settings. “When arranging Akhand path, it is like the house became pure and sacred
because Guru Maharaj ji came to the house… gurbani was recited at the house,” a
middle-aged Sikh woman said. She alluded to both the formal installation of Guru
Granth Sahib in one single volume and the recitation acts that would bring out the
total authoritative speech of the scripture without any break.
758
Bateson 1972.
759
For a discussion on the techniques to transform the enunciator’s person into a real supernatural
presence, see the analysis of Severi 2002.
471
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008