Vahiguru ji ka Khalsa Vahiguru ji ki fateh! I just finished writing about the Āratī-Āratā, I put in a eight hours a day for the last week or so, not to boast, but some people don't understand how much goes into just writing forty pages! With Guru Nanak's kirpa, I offer the first full English translation, transliteration, and original text of the Āratī-Āratā, along with a discussion of this devotional bani. Āratī-Āratā is an evening prayer that is a part of the purātan nitnem of the Sikhs. Most Sikhs have heard of the Āratī of Guru Nanak and the Bhagats, but few have heard the full version that includes many inspiring verses by Guru Gobind Singh. The Singh Sabha under the influence of Giani Ditt Singh edited the practice of using lamps or deve, and cut down the length of the piece by removing most of Guru Gobind Singh's bani from it. The unedited version remains the preserve of the Akali Nihang Singh Khalsa. This is discussed in this document, as well as showing that this is one of the only bania to have the writings of Adi Guru, Dasam and Sarbloh within it. Please read at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/183005595/Arati-Arata-by-Dr-Kamalroop-Singh-Akali-Nihang-pdf We will be looking at making some printed copies in the near future, so people can read from them during the ceremony. If you like this document please read my small article on the nitnem, http://www.scribd.com/doc/130906016/The-History-of-the-Nitnem-BĀņiĀ-Akali-Dr-Kamalroop-Singh-Nihang My next article will be on the puratan Rahiras Sahib, as Karen Kaur Bansal requested it! I have not forgotten. Many thanks to Gavin Singh who requested this document, and his initial help with finding files for me, and to Indy Saggu who proof read this document. Could some translate these into Punjabi please? Please pray that I can continue doing your seva, and please share this document so people 1. Read the Bani and understand it 2. So they know how our traditions have been changed. Bhul chuk maffi, das Kamalroop Singh
Āratī-Āratā is an evening prayer that is a part of the purātan nitnem of the Sikhs. Most Sikhs have heard of the Āratī of Guru Nanak and the Bhagats, but few have heard the full version that includes many inspiring verses by Guru Gobind Singh. The unedited version remains the preserve of the Akali Nihang Singh Khalsa.
Thank you for sharing this valuable paper. I particularly appreciated your explanation that the physical Āratī-Āratā represents reverence for the sargun, while the singing of Shabad is devotion to the nirgun Parmatma. Your discussion also demonstrates that Sikh tradition has historically been more diverse than the modern claim that every external ceremony resembling Hindu practice is necessarily contrary to Gurmat.
ReplyDeleteI would, however, respectfully question the description of the Jagannath tradition as having “degenerated to idolism,” and the claim that creating an image of Paramatma is a “grave sin” within Hindu Dharma. Hindu theology does not generally teach that the limitless Divine is trapped inside stone or wood. The consecrated murti is understood as a form through which the devotee encounters the same all-pervading Reality.
This is supported by Bhagavad Gita 12.1–5, which recognises both devotion to the manifest Divine and contemplation of the unmanifest, and by Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 11.27.12, which explicitly describes different forms of the pratimā, including those made of stone, wood and metal. Academic scholars such as Diana Eck, in Darśan: Seeing the Divine Image in India, similarly explain murti worship in terms of divine presence, embodiment and darshan—not the confinement of God within an ordinary object.
This creates an important consistency question. If the physical Guru Granth Sahib, Chaur Sahib, lamps, incense and shastars can direct devotion toward the Formless without limiting Waheguru to those material forms, could the same principle not explain Hindu murti-seva? A Hindu could reasonably say that calling Jagannath merely a “wooden image” is comparable to calling Guru Granth Sahib merely paper and ink: it describes the material but overlooks its sacred meaning.
Guru Nanak’s beautiful Gagan mai thāl undoubtedly universalises Āratī by showing the entire cosmos worshipping the Divine. However, it does not necessarily establish that sincere Hindu ārati is merely empty idol worship—just as the cosmic wind acting as the Divine chaur does not make the physical Chaur Sahib meaningless.
I therefore believe your defence of Sikh Āratī-Āratā is strongest when it demonstrates that form and Formlessness are not necessarily opposed. That excellent insight need not be accompanied by a negative or simplified portrayal of Hindu worship. Sikh tradition can be celebrated on its own spiritual depth without diminishing another Dharma whose informed practitioners also understand that the Infinite can never be confined to a single form.