a sikh prayer

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Tapovan Prasad 62 November 2009

A Sikh PrayerSWAMI SWAROOPANANDA

A prayer is a submission. Itis an offering in humility,gentleness, and completesurrender, expressing servitudeand love. It is verily a whisper

from the soul. It reaches out inconfidence, with faith – thefaith of a child who puts hislittle hand into that of hisparent and wills himself to beled.

A prayer must therefore‘know’ the One Being prayedto. We want to know who it isin whose hand we are placingours, who it is whom we trustto lead us.

Our prayers, worship, andour conversations with theLord are quite often requestsfor something – be it an object,a feeling, or resolution of aconfusion within. We go toHim with a petition.

Generally, our attention isfocussed on defining verycarefully what we want, thanin visualising, knowing, andestablishing the One to whom

we are offering our prayers.This is verily like taking greatpains to write a long letter, but not knowing well therecipient of the letter or hisaddress.

More important than thecontent, our prayer needs to bewoven with the fabric of faith.In short, we need to knowhow to pray.

And this we learn througha beautiful, spontaneous out-pouring of Guru Arjan Dev, Tüöhäkuru tuma pagi aradäsi,whichforms the last part of thefourth stanza of his famedcomposition, the SukhmaniSahib.

The following excerpt is from a new book ‘ Tu Thakur Tum Pe Ardaas: Lord, Receive My Prayer’ that has not yet beenpublished. We are very grateful to Swamiji for allowing us toreproduce this excerpt in Tapovan Prasad.

The Editor


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who has provided us with allthat we do have. It is an offer-ing of our gratitude to the Lordfor all that we have received.

When we forget the verysource of all, then ego, prideand arrogance come into ourlives and create the sense of separateness. From the sense of separateness arises the feelingof incompleteness, then desire,then hatred, and from hatredare born all our sorrows.

When we remember ingratitude that everything wehave has come from the Lord,there will be no ego. Wherethere is no ego, there is nosorrow. Even at a moment of

crisis, we should rememberand rejoice at all the blessingswe have received. We shouldfeel happy at not having to facedifficulties that perhaps othershave had to face. We shouldalways remember the timeswhen we received happiness.If some things are taken awaynow, we must remember thatwe still have a lot left. If we

constantly look at the blessingsin our life, there will be onlyhappiness, and no sorrow.

What can you do for the

Lord who provides you witheverything? You can only lovethe Lord. Love manifests inremembrance and expressesitself in service or sevä. Peoplego to saints in difficult times,seeking help and solutions fortheir problems. Many ask fora mantra, and some for know-ledge too. At the end of themeeting, when it is suggestedthat they spend five minuteschanting the mantra, or tenor fifteen minutes performing püjä or worship, the seeker

gets restless, and his invariableresponse is, “There is no time.”When we remember the

Lord daily, and offer ourprayers from the innermostdepths of our hearts, it is ardäs.There is no better method of expressing our love for theLord. The real power of prayeris when it is done with theright attitude and with the


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right means. Guru Arjan Devshows us how.

tU Qak…é tum pig Ardais,

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the father, and we are yourchildren ( bärika).” God is thevery source of our being.

Tumaré kripä mahi sükha ghanere: “Your grace, wisdomand compassion ( kripä) encom-passes great ( ghanere) comfort,pleasure and happiness(sükha).”

Koi na jänai tumarä antu:“You are the Infinite. No oneknows your totality.” ‘ Antu’literally means ‘end’ or ‘bound-ary’, or ‘limit’, but in this con-text it means ‘totality’.

Üce te ücä bhagavanta: Higherthan the highest, greater thanthe greatest, the ultimate, ispersonalised here as Bhagavan.

Sagala samagré tumarai sütridhäré: “All of Creation ( sagalasamagré ) is held together byyou, just as a string ( sütra)holds together the pearlsstrung on it.”

Tuma te hoi su ägiäkäré:“Ev-erything has come from you(tuma te hoi). Therefore every-thing is subservient to you andfunctions in accordance withthe laws you yourself haveestablished.” Ägiäkäré literallymeans ‘obedience’.

Tumaré gati miti tuma hé jäné:

“Those laws ( gati miti - state,conditions) are known andunderstood by you alone.

Nänaka däsa sadä kurabäné:“Nanak is your slave uncondi-tionally and offers himself everin your service. You are his

Master, his Lord.”It should be noted that in

the Gurbänéthe compositions of the Gurus follow the style set by the first Guru, Guru NanakDevji, who spoke of himself inthe third person. We know thatthe Sukhmani Sahibwas com-posed by Guru Arjan Dev, yetthe last line is ‘ Nänaka däsa…’This could be interpreted asGuru Arjan Dev, payinghomage to Guru Nanak Devjihimself as the first Guru. Or,more likely, it indicates a com-

plete lack of ego or separate-ness from the lineage, and thehomage is to the tradition of the Guru, the Guru-paramparä,through which the disciple ac-knowledges his indebtednessto his Guru and to the sourceof all wisdom. That source isnone other than the Master ( Tüöhäkuru) acknowledged in thefirst line.

A disciple is one who hasmerged himself with the Guru.He acknowledges he is noth-ing and the Guru is all. It is in

that state of surrender that itis possible to receive the graceand wisdom of the Guru.

a sikh prayer

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