INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

divine writing (likhna). 802 The formless God writes the human fate ‒ including birth,
social status, marriage partner, life span, and so on ‒ and everything to be experienced
in life is contained in the divine script imprinted on the human forehead. 803 At
the time of death the script is carried to a conclusion when the atma leaves the body
and travels to a divine abode. My informants were of divergent opinions concerning
the place at which the atma would reach and the events taking place there. Many
compared the divine place to a court room in which all deeds of the soul would be
scrutinized and reported to God. To illustrate the advanced bureaucracy in this court
some incorporated mythological motives and figures, derived from the Sikh scripture,
into their descriptions. Dharmaraj is the righteous judge who administers justice
on an order of God. He is both reading and judging accounts of people’s deeds. Another
official is Yama, the Lord or Messenger of Death, with his domain in the south
or Yumpur, the city of death. At the time of death Yama grabs people and smashes
their heads with his club. The accountant in celestial service is Chitra Gupt, who
keeps all records and will weigh the good and bad karma of people to be reported to
Dharmaraj. Whether local Sikhs perceive these figures as real or mythological, they
agree that the interlude between death and a new rebirth involves a divine judgement
of one’s actions in the present life. Their explanations are strongly suggestive of
the divine as the cosmic overseer of justice. An elderly Sikh man said:
When a person reaches the court of God his accounts will be checked.
What he has done, how many times he has recited the name of God will
be seen, no other things. According to that he will get another body, another
birth.
The soul appears like a book, collecting action to be balanced after death. The cosmic
judge will read and evaluate all deeds performed within the boundaries of the fate
and then pass a sentence that sets the blueprint of the next rebirth. The human life
becomes a text ordained and written by God. 804
802
In Hindi the verb likhna also means “to ordain (fate, by writing on the brow)” (McGreggor
1997: 895).
803
This is similar to what Daniel has found among Tamils, who talk about a ”head writing” of
God. He writes: “Tamils believe that at the time of birth Katavul [God] writes a script on every
individual’s head and that the course that each individual’s life takes, to the very last detail, is
determined by this script”(Daniel 1984: 4). Likewise, Gold notes that Rajasthani villagers believe
that the human fate is inscribed on the forehead of infants (Gold 1988: 10).
804
It is noteworthy that local Sikhs occasionally use the word bhog, with the dual meaning “ending”
and “enjoyment”, to designate death ceremonies for humans. The same word is also used
for the solemnized reading of the concluding part of Guru Granth Sahib, when family and
friends are invited to enjoy the “fruits” of a successfully completed recitation. The application of
the word seems to suggest an analogy between the ending of human life and the ending of a
recitation from the sacred scripture.
489
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008