ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>&#256RAT&#298</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="RAT*"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279&#256RAT&#298, from Sanskrit <i>&#257r&#257trik</i>, meaning the light or the vessel containing it which is waved before an idol, generally in the clockwise direction, accompanied by the chanting of <i>mantras</i>. This is also the name given the ceremony which for the Hindus is a mode of ritual worship to propitiate the deity. In the Sikh system, which totally rejects image worship, there is no sanction for this form of worship. An incident in this regard is often summoned from the Janam S&#257kh&#299s, traditional accounts of Gur&#363 N&#257nak's life. During his travels across Eastern India, Gur&#363 N&#257nak accompanied by the minstrel, Mard&#257n&#257, stopped near the temple of Jagann&#257th, Lord of the Earth, which is the title of Lord Vi&#7779&#7751u, second god of the Hindu Triad. Gur&#363 N&#257nak and Mard&#257n&#257 stopped near the shrine upon which sat centuries of history mute and immobilized. The notes from Mard&#257n&#257's rebeck touched the devotees' hearts with fresh fervour. Several of them came to hear the Gur&#363's word. The temple priests felt angry and held the Gur&#363 guilty for not making adoration to the deity within the sacred enclosure. The local chief whose name has been described as Krishanl&#257l one day visited the Gur&#363 and invited him to join the <i>&#257rat&#299</i>, or the evening service of lights, in the temple. The Gur&#363 readily offered to go with him.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;As dusk fell, the priests lighted the lamps and the sumptuous ritual for which the devotees had been waiting began. Twinkling lights fed by ghee were placed on a jewel-studded salver, amid flowers and incense, and worshipfully swung from side to side by the priests in front of the enshrined image to the accompaniment of the chanting of hymns, blowing of conches and the ringing of bells. The priests had a complaint as they concluded. The Gur&#363 had remained seated in his place and not participated in the ceremony. The Gur&#363 burst into a song :</p> <blockquote class="C1"><p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The sky is the salver</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And the sun and the moon the lamps.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The luminous stars on the heavens are the pearls.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Scented air from the sandal-clad hills is the incense,</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The winds make the fan for Thee,</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;And the vast forests wreaths of flowers.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The unstruck music of creation is the trumpet.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Thus goes on the <i>&#257rat&#299</i> (adoration) for Thee,</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;O Thou dispeller of doubt and fear!</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</blockquote></p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Gur&#363 N&#257nak taught the hearers how Nature's tribute to the Creator was superior to any ritualistic oblation offered before images.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In spite of such depreciation of the ritual, <i>&#257rat&#299</i> was performed in some of the Sikh temples under Br&#257hma&#7751ical influence. But in the Sikh case the <i>&#257rat&#299</i> was performed in front of the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib. Wherever the word <i>&#257rat&#299</i> occurred in the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib, the hymn was pressed into service. For instance, there was a chain of <i>&#347abdas</i> culled from the compositions of Ravid&#257s, Sai&#7751, Kab&#299r and Dhann&#257. Ravid&#257s's hymn begins with the line, "Lord, Thy Name to me is the <i>&#257rat&#299</i> and holy ablutions. All else is false show" (GG, 694). Says Sai&#7751, "May I be a sacrifice unto the Lord : that for me is the <i>&#257rat&#299</i> performed with lamps, ghee and incense" (GG, 695). Kab&#299r's hymn is in the same vein. It says, "Brothers! that is how the Immaculate Lord's <i>&#257rat&#299</i> is made. . . . Let Divine essence be the oil, the Lord's Name the wick, and enlightened self the lamp. Lighting this lamp we invoke the Lord" (GG, 1350). Dhann&#257's hymn is simply a prayer for the common needs of life (GG, 695).</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;It is clear that these hymns reject the <i>&#257rat&#299</i> ritual and lay down loving devotion shorn of all formal practices as the path of true worship. The reformists of the Si&#7749gh Sabh&#257 school as well as those of the more strident Ak&#257l&#299 school discarded the ritual waving of the lighted lamps placed in a tray before the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib. There could, however, be no objection to the singing of the <i>&#257rat&#299</i> hymns occurring in the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib. The <i>Sikh Rahit M&#257ry&#257d&#257</i> or religious code of the Sikhs issued under the authority of the Shiroma&#7751&#299 Gurdw&#257r&#257 Parbandhak Committee, a statutorily elected body representative of the entire Sikh community, lays down that <i>&#257rat&#299</i> with incense and lighted lamps and ringing of bells is not permissible. Although <i>&#257rat&#299</i> ritual is prohibited and no longer practised in Sikh places of worship, the continuous singing of the five Scriptural <i>&#257rat&#299</i> hymns, often supplemented by some verses from the <i>Dasam Granth</i>, by the holy choir or by the entire <i>sa&#7749gat</i> in unison, is still practised at places as part of the concluding ceremonies for an <i>akha&#7751&#7693 p&#257&#7789h</i>, end-to-end unbroken reading of the Holy Book, or at the close of the evening service at a <i>gurdw&#257r&#257</i>.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"><i>Sikh Rahit Mary&#257d&#257</i>. Amritsar, 1975<BR> <li class="C1"> Kohl&#299, Surindar Si&#7749gh, ed. , <i>Janam S&#257kh&#299 Bh&#257&#299 B&#257l&#257</i>. Chandigarh, 1975<BR> <li class="C1"><i>Shabd&#257rth Sr&#299 Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib</i>. Amritsar, 1969<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Major Gurmukh Si&#7749gh (Retd.)<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>