This article is a call to re-orientate our personal and spiritual connection with Sukhmani, via a re-examination of our motivations. In spirituality, motives matter prominently. This article is a call for the discerning Sikh to think in terms of both our actions (wide scale ‘collective’ reciting of Sukhmani as a ritualistic phenomenon) and our motives (why are we really doing it?). While on the surface, the popularizing of Sukhmani may appear to be in line with the Gurmat principle of propagating the reading of banee, a careful analysis of the methods used and the motivations of the propagators are both necessary and helpful. The practice of doing the same during home-based diwans is also commonly observed. The agenda of an Isteri satsang diwan in the Gurdwara is hardly beyond just reciting Sukhmani “collectively”.
But one would readily find Gurdwara diwans that do no more than recite Sukhmani. The SRM specifically states that the maryada of a diwan of a Gurdwara is kirten and Katha. The dera practice of “collective reciting” of Sukhmani has become part and parcel of the maryada of diwans even in mainstream gurdwaras. The Sikh Rehat Maryada (SRM) does not mention Sukhmani as a nitnem banee, but due to the parchar of the deras, a substantial number of Sikhs – especially Sikh women – have made Sukhmani a nitnem banee. Few Sikhs would care to dispute the notion that no institution has played a greater role in popularizing the reciting of Sukhmani amongst modern day Sikhs than our deras and their babas, sadhs and sants. But if our Gurbani reading is reduced to ritualistic reciting and chanting, then there can be no greater folly in the realm of one’s spiritual journey. And enlightenment is, in essence, the anti-thesis of ritual. The basic argument is that if our motives are misplaced, our reading of a banee, even if done on a nitnem basis renders it ritualistic. Why then is there a need to bring about appreciation of banee that is already widely read? The reasons have to do with the motivations underlying our recitation.
This article has two objectives: to bring about genuine appreciation of Sukhmani Sahib within the Sikh reader’s mind and secondly to help remove the plethora of dera-concocted myths and tales that have succeeded in turning Sukhmani recital into a ritual.Īfter Japji and Rehras, the Sukhmani is believed to be the most widely recited banee.
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