CHAPTER XI
CONGREGATIONAL
PRAYER
The following is a translation of
congregational prayer of the of the Sikhs :
1. Formless-form, To God, the abiding Victory. (Composition
of the 10th King.)
To begin with, we invoke the Dynamic aspects of God and we remember Guru Nanak
(This One and only God) which inspired Gurus Angad, Amar Dass and Ram Dass.
We invoke the Light that shone through the Gurus, Arjun, Hargobind, and Hari Rai.
Let us invoke the Light that was the blessed Harikrishan, whose Vision heals all pains.
We call upon Guru Teg Bahadur through whom came the Kingdom of Heaven
May, (the God and the Gurus) help us everywhere.2 Tenth
King, Guru Gobind Singh, may he help us every where.
The Spirit of all the Ten Kings enshrined in the visible Body
and the World of the Guru Granth, concentrate on that and say, Sires, “Glory be
to God’ 3
(The Congregation: Glory be to God.)
Five Beloved Ones, Four Princes, 4 Forty Saved Ones, 5
those who have remained steadfast in persecution and suffering, those who have
kept constant remembrance of God, those who refused to be charmed by the
passing sense pleasures, those who have constantly lived in the Divine presence,
those who have loved their neighbours by sharing their possessions with them,
those who have turned a blind eye of charity to the faults and failings of
others, those who have assuaged the hunger and Want of the hungry and the
needy, those who have persevered in their struggles in the cause of Justice,
concentrate your minds on the steadfastness and achievements of those. O,
revered members of the Order of the Khalsa, and say ‘Glory be to God’.
(The
congregation : Glory
be to God.)
The Singhs of both the sexes, Who courted martyrdom in the cause
of Religion and underwent unspeakable tortures and sufferings of being dismembered
alive, scalped alive, broken on the wheels sawed alive and boiled alive, and
those Who made sacrifices in the service of the centres of the Sikh Religion,
the gurdwaras, but never wavered in their faith and remained steadfast
in mind and spirit in the cause of Sikhism to the last hair of their body and to
their last breath, O, revered members of the Khalsa Order, fix your minds on
the glorious deeds of those, and utter; ‘Glory be to God
(The congregation:: Glory be to God.)
First
we pray on behalf of all the creatures of God; 6
May the presence of God be progressively felt in the hearts of all the sentient
creatures, and may in the whole creation become happy, prosperous and transfigured
thereby. (Then) .may God shower His blessings upon
and grant protection to each and every member of the Order of the Khalsa, wherever he or they may happen to be.
May
the Supplies of the . Khalsa
ever remain replenished. May the Sword of the Khalsa be ever victorious.
May
the Royal title of the ‘Khalsa’ be universally recognised and honoured’ 7
May victory attend upon all just endeavours of the Panth, the Khalsa
Commonwealth. May; the
arms and armaments be our constant allies.
May
the Order of the Khalsa achieve everexpanding progress and supremacy.
Sires,
say, ‘Glory be to God’
(The
congregation : Glory be to God.)
May
God grant to the Sikhs, the gift of faith the gift of the uncut sacred hair,
the Keshas, the gift of Discipline, the gift of spiritual
Discrimination, the gift of mutual trust, the gift of self confidence and the
supreme Gift of all gifts, the gift of Communion with
God, the Name, and may Sikhs
freely centre around and dip in the holy lake of Amritsar, the symbol of the
True Revelation of Supreme Truth, granted to mankind· by God through the Guru. 8
May
the Government centres, the Banners, the Cantonments of the Khalsa ever remain
inviolate.
May
the Cause of Truth and Justice prevail everywhere and at all times.
Sires,
utter, ‘Glory be to God,’
(The
congregation: Glory be to God.)
May
the passions in the minds of the Sikhs remain calm and the reason flow clear.
And may Reason always be guided by the Light of God.
God, Almighty, our Protector and Helper ever, restore to us the
right and privilege of unhindered management and free service of and access to
the Nankana Sahib, and other centres of the Sikh religion, the gurudwaras, throughout
the world. 9
God, the Helper of the helpless,
the Strength of the weak the Support of the fallen, the true Father of all,
Lord God.
(Here,
the specific purpose and occasion for the prayer is stated by the leader in
suitable terms and the blessings and aid of God are beseeched.)
God,
forgive us our remissnesses.
Extend
Thy helping Hand to all and every one.
Grant
us the company of those who may help keep Thy name fresh in our hearts.
May
Thy Name, the Religion preached by Nanak, prevail and prosper for ever and for
ever more.
May
Thy will be done wherein lies the good of all.
The Khalsa is of God and to Him the victory, always and forever.
(Here the whole congregation bow to God by touching the ground with their
fore-heads, as is the oriental fashion, and the whole congregation then stand
up and chant in unison :)
“The Will of God hath ordained the order of the Khalsa.
This is the firm· commandment to all the Sikhs : Accept Granth as the
visible Body of the Gurus.
He whose mind is disciplined and
well-oriented shall find confirmation thereof in the Revelation itself.”
The Khalsa shall prevail at the centres of power, and there
shall remain no effective opposite camp.
All must come in, in the end, after bitter frustration, for the
Humanity shall eventually be redeemed through the Way of life which the Khalsa
upholds.”
The
whole congregation then shout a full throated cry :
Sat Sri Akal. “The Existence — joy.” 10
1. Literally, “the Nine Treasures of Life”, which signify spiritual abundance and material
plenty.
2. Dasamgrath. Varsiribhagmutijiki, 1..
3. Literally, “say Sires, Sri Waheguru.”
4. The four sons of Guru Gobind Singh who all gave their lives for
the cause of the Religion.
5. Forty Sikhs who after a momentary wavering of faith, sacrificed
their lives in the cause of Religion in 1705 A.D. at the battlefield of
Muktsar, now in the Indian Punjab.
6. Sarbatt Khalsa signifies the
whole humanity and all the sentient creatures, in the Sikh idiom, in contradistinction
to Samuh Khalsa which signifies all the members of the Order of the
Khalsa. This distinction is vital, though these terms are sometimes used
confusedly.
7. Birad ki paij-birad (Sanskrit, biruda)
means, royal and imperial titles and surnames, regal pretensions and claims.
The title of, Khalsa, is a biruda.
8. Amritsar
9. Literally, ‘Out of which we are expelled’, a poignant reference to historical
and other Sikh gurdwaras, left in Pakistan
10. This translation has been made from the standard Congregational Prayer approved by
the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee, 
No comments:
Post a Comment