GURBANI
Arti
A scene of luminous cosmic grandeur
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A Traditional Arti
Soon after the poignant opening message of the night-time prayer, Kīrtan Sohilā – recalling that, somewhere on the horizon, the night of our own life will inevitably arrive – we are transported to a scene of luminous cosmic grandeur, in a verse often known as Guru Nanak’s ārtī prayer.
In India, ārtī is the lamp-lit ceremony which remains a vibrant devotional practice in Hindu homes and temples around the world, performed before an object which is the focus of devotion or goodwill prayers. Traditionally, it takes place before a mūrti, an image or statue of a deity, which is reverentially fanned with a chavar (or chaur, as it is known to Sikhs), made of yak hair secured to a decorative wooden or metal handle.
The name given to the customary earthen lamp used in India, with a wick soaked in clarified butter or ghee, is dīpak or dīva. For the ārtī, such lamps are placed in a thāl or platter, that might be specially decorated, along with burning incense and flowers. This thāl is then raised and lowered in a circular motion before the revered focal point of worship. As the incense wafts from these cyclic gestures of veneration – and the flickering lamps light up the features of the worshipped deity – chanting takes place, traditionally to the sound of temple bells and drums.
Guru Nanak Dev Ji's Arti
Such a ceremony was witnessed by Guru Nanak on an early udāsī, or great journey, towards eastern India, when he visited the famous Jagannath Temple in Puri, Odisha.
Observing how easy it was, in any faith, for ritually worshipped representations to narrow our habitual view of the Divine as well as our spiritual purpose, Guru Nanak broadened the frame. This was by singing a verse which transferred the ārtī ceremony from hands of human worshippers to the hands of nature, in a celestial service of praise to the Luminous Creator, whose Divine light gives life to all creation.
Here, the star-studded sky becomes the decorated thāl or platter and the sun and moon are the worship lamps. The sandalwood-scented breeze becomes the incense and flowers are offered from the botanical richness of the forests. Instead of temple instruments, there is a celestial sound, which is the ‘unstruck melody’ of the Divine word and its infinite and eternal vibration.
In this expanse, there is no physical mūrtī with facial or bodily features; the Divine is paradoxically ‘Akāl Mūrat’, Timeless in form, as the Mool Mantar explains, yet expressed in the myriad forms of creation. True worship is to learn from the Guru’s teachings to live in harmony with the Divine, so the latent spark within us may shine forth and our thirsting spirit may be revived through God’s grace.
ਗਗਨ ਮੈ ਥਾਲੁ ਰਵਿ ਚੰਦੁ ਦੀਪਕ ਬਨੇ ਤਾਰਿਕਾ ਮੰਡਲ ਜਨਕ ਮੋਤੀ ॥
ਧੂਪੁ ਮਲਆਨਲੋ ਪਵਣੁ ਚਵਰੋ ਕਰੇ ਸਗਲ ਬਨਰਾਇ ਫੂਲੰਤ ਜੋਤੀ ॥੧॥
ਕੈਸੀ ਆਰਤੀ ਹੋਇ ॥ ਭਵ ਖੰਡਨਾ ਤੇਰੀ ਆਰਤੀ ॥
ਅਨਹਤਾ ਸਬਦ ਵਾਜੰਤ ਭੇਰੀ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
The expanse of the sky is the platter, adorned for worship,
Studded with shimmering, pearl-like stars with their radiant orbs.
Within it are placed the glowing lamps of the sun and the moon.
The sandalwood-scented air is the drifting fragrance of incense,
And the swaying of the breeze is the celestial fan.
Flower-offerings are made by the lush and fruitful forests –
All this in worship of You, Oh Luminous Creator,
What a beautiful lamp-lit ārtī ceremony this is!
Oh, Destroyer of Fear, this is your cosmic ārtī ceremony,
Where the unstruck Divine word is the playing of devotional music.
Thousands are Your eyes, yet You have no eyes.
Thousands are Your forms, yet You have no single form.
Thousands are Your pure lotus feet, yet You have none.
Having no nose, You have yet thousands of them.
This paradoxical play of Yours is so fascinating!
In all beings is the Divine light, and that Divine light is You.
By its illumination, its radiance also rests in all beings.
Through the Guru’s teachings, the Divine light shines forth.
To live life in harmony with whatever is pleasing to the Creator,
That counts as the true ārtī, the true devotional worship.
Drawn to the sweetness of Your dewy lotus feet,
I thirst for the uplifting power of this devotion.
Says Nanak, I am like the sarang bird, gazing up, awaiting rain drops;
Please revive my parched spirit with the waters of your kindness,
That I may come to dwell in Your Name.
– Guru Nanak Dev Ji, Sri Guru Granth Sahib, ang 13
A Continuous Boundless Expanse
Every subsequent Guru emphasised this same boundless view of the Creator, which reached a crescendo in the Jāp Sahib composed by Guru Gobind Singh. The ten Gurus likewise expanded other horizons, where people’s sense of self and of life’s possibilities was bound down to long-ingrained social hierarchies and prejudices.
Alongside the saintly figures known as bhagats, the Gurus saw past barriers of religious and caste identity. Lifting predominant views of women as low, they also lifted the wall separating otherworldly religious life and the everyday lives of lay people. Through them, even weapons viewed as instruments of aggression and tyranny became honoured as defenders of the downtrodden and galvanisers of inner wisdom and courage.
Rather than representing religiosity or narrow tradition (as people may tend to see it today), the Khalsa then exemplified a newly configurated identity, integrating the roles of ruler, knight, merchant, householder, and servant, as well as virtues often differentiated as masculine and feminine. Evocatively inspiring this expansion of horizons, we can imagine, was Guru Nanak first singing of the ārtī prayer, to the music of Bhai Mardana’s stringed rabāb, under a night sky, against a coastal breeze.