———. The Two Traditions of Meditation in Ancient India. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden, 1986. (Alt-und Neu-Indische Studien, 28.)
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———. “Introduction, History and Philosophy.” In Gupta, Hoens, and Goudriaan, Hindu Tantrism, 1–67.
Goudriaan, Teun, and Sanjukta Gupta. Hindu Tantric and Śākta Literature. Wiesbaden, Germany: Otto Harrassowitz, 1981. (A History of Indian Literature II, 2.)
Gupta, Sanjukta. “Modes of Worship and Meditation.” In Gupta, Hoens, and Goudriaan, Hindu Tantrism, 119–185.
Gupta, Sanjukta, Dirk Jan Hoens, and Teun Goudriaan. Hindu Tantrism. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1979. (Handbuch der Orientalistik 2/4/2.)
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Hemacandra. Yogaśāstra. Edited by Muni Jambuvijaya. Bombay: Jaina Sāhitya Vikāsa Maṇḍala. 1977, 1981, 1986.
Jacobi, Hermann. “Eine Jaina-Dogmatik: Umāsvāti’s Tattvārthādhigama Sūtra.” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 60 (1906): 287–325 and 512–551.
Jainendra Siddhānta Kośa. By Jinendra Vaṇī. Parts 1–4. New Delhi: Bhāratīya Jñānapīṭha, 1970–1973. (Jñānapīṭha Mūrtidevī Granthamālā: Sanskrit Granthas 38, 40, 42, 44.)
Kloppenborg, Ria. “The Place of Maitreya in Early and Theravāda Buddhism and the Conditions for Rebirth in His Time.” 30th International Congress of Human Sciences in Asia and North Africa, 1976. South Asia 3 (1982): 37–48.
Kubjikāmata Tantra. Kulālikāmnāya version. Critical edition by T. Goudriaan and J. A. Schoterman. Leiden: E. J. Brill. 1988. (Orientalia Rheno-Traiectina, 30.)
Mahāprajña, Yuvācārya. Cetanā kā Urdhvāropaṇa. 3rd ed. Cūrū (Rajasthan). India: Ādarśa Sāhitya Saṃgha, 1980.
———. Jaina Yoga (in Hindi). Cūrū (Rajasthan), India: Ādarśa Sāhitya Saṃgha, 1978. (2nd ed. 1980).
———. Kisa ne kahā Mana Caṃcala hai. Cūrū (Rajasthan), India: Ādarśa Sāhitya Saṃgha, 1979. (2nd ed. 1981).
———. Mana ke Jīte Jīta. 4th ed. Cūrū (Rajasthan), India: Ādarśa Sāhitya Saṃgha, 1981.
———. Mind: Beyond Mind. Translated by S. K. L. Goswami. Churu, India: Adarsh Sahitya Sangh, 1980.
———. Prekṣādhyāna: Ādhāra aura Svarūpa. Ladnun (Rajasthan), India: Jaina Viśva Bhāratī, 1980.
———. Prekṣādhyāna: Śvāsa-Prekṣā. Ladnun, India: Jaina Viśva Bhāratī, 1981.
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6 KRISTINA MYRVOLD
Nām Simran in the Sikh Religion
When a Sikh friend in India on one occasion wished to communicate what in his view was a sensitive matter regarding his family and himself, he started by reciting vāhigurū—the sacred Sikh formula representing God—and then began to explain the circumstances. A few sentences into the talk, however, he paused and closed his eyes to repeat the sacred formula a few more times, and then again continued with the explanation. In a similar fashion, our conversation evolved, with several shorter intermissions for his low-voiced recitative meditation on the divine. The friend was a khālsā Sikh who routinely dedicated himself to readings from the Sikh scripture, Gurū Granth Sāhib, and practiced nām simran, remembrance and recitation of the divine name. In a moment when he felt distressed for having private matters revealed to someone else, he sought divine support by resorting to repetitions of vāhigurū, believing that this would transform his inner fear into courage and provide peace and calm when feelings ran high.
The Sikh religion does not specify a single meditation technique to be practiced for spiritual gains, but emphasizes the importance of inner loving devotion (bhakti) to a supreme and nonincarnated god. The Punjabi language and Sikh terminology include several words derived from the broader Indian religious culture that can be translated as “meditation” in the English language and often carry wider connotations to devotion and worship.1 What is presented as a meditative practice of the Sikhs in contemporary interpretations, however, is nām simran, which literally means “to remember” or “to hold in mind” (simran) the divine name (nām). Commentators on the Sikh teaching have frequently engaged in discussions on the interior aspects of nām simran from a textual, historic
al, and philosophical viewpoint, while downplaying external and ritual dimensions of the practice. The practice of nām simran has been presented as a “meditation” during which Sikh disciples internally contemplate on the nature and qualities of God and constantly hold the divine name in remembrance. This meditative practice is believed to internally transform humans, who gradually become less self-centered and realize the divine power in all—an experience that eventually leads to liberation.
Based on fieldwork among Sikhs in India, this chapter explores some understandings and practices of nām simran in lived practices among contemporary Sikhs.2 After a brief introduction to the Sikh religion, the chapter exemplifies how the concept and practice of nām simran unfolds in interpretations of the gurus’ teaching and is mentioned in manuals for the Sikh code of conduct. These normative texts are important sources for legitimizing beliefs and practices among the Sikhs today, even if they do not provide detailed instructions on specific meditation techniques. The practice of nām simran is rather presented as a broader spiritual discipline, which includes various mental and physical activities to appropriate and internalize the divine name, such as remembrance, contemplation, chanting, singing, and recitation. An ethnographic description of individual and collective practices among contemporary Sikhs in India further illustrates how nām simran is understood to be both spontaneous and highly formalized methods of reciting the sacred formula vāhigurū, sometimes within restricted time and space and with distinct breathing techniques. From this perspective, nām simran is a discipline that incorporates both mental and recitative meditation practices and that ideally should have a firm base in a sincere devotional stance of the devotee. While interpretations of normative texts present realization of the divine and liberation from the cycle of birth and death as the ultimate goal of the Sikh discipline, local people often find these soteriological discussions remote and consider liberation granted to only a spiritually gifted few. Instead they may ascribe a wide range of spiritual, material, and bodily effects and meanings to contemplations and recitations of vāhigurū that are derived from and adjusted to their own situational contexts.
The Sikh Religion
Sikhism is one of the youngest world religions today, with about twenty-three million adherents. The large majority resides in India (more than nineteen million) and is concentrated in the northwestern state of Punjab, even if Sikhs can be found on almost every continent due to an extensive migration.3 Sikh historiography traces the origin and uniqueness of Sikhism to the first guru, Nānak (1469–1539), who in his late twenties had a mystical experience and set out on extensive travels for two decades to refine and spread his message before he settled in Kartarpur (Punjab) and established a community of Sikhs, meaning “disciples.” Scholarship has frequently approached the beginning of Sikhism from a more contextual perspective to demonstrate that Gurū Nānak was firmly rooted in the Sant tradition of Northern India, which he reinterpreted in light of his own experiences. The Sant tradition flourished in Hindi-speaking areas from the fifteenth century onward and drew its elements primarily from Vaiṣṇava bhakti, the Nāth yogī tradition and Sufism. The tradition was more loosely organized around different Sants or saint-poets of various backgrounds, such as Kabīr, Nāmdev, and Ravidās, who eschewed formalized religious worship, asceticism, and caste distinctions in Indian society and emphasized inner and true devotion (bhakti) to a supreme formless god beyond qualifications (nirguṇa), remembrance of God through the divine name (nām), devotion to the guru, and the importance of a holy congregation (satsang) for spiritual progress.4
In line with these ideas, Gurū Nānak’s teaching was centered on the monotheistic concept of a timeless god who creates and rules the whole universe by a divine order (hukam) and is known to humans through its name (nām) and word (śabad). Like other Indian religions, the Sikh teaching presumes that humans are subjected to the cycle of birth and rebirth and the laws of karma that uphold bonds to life and determine conditions in the present and coming births. A human life provides a unique opportunity to be freed from transmigration and attain liberation by developing a relationship with God that is based on devotion and eventually will obliterate human self-centeredness (haumai) and attachments to the world (māyā). For Gurū Nānak humans do not pursue liberation by renunciation from the social world, but they should cultivate devotion and divine qualities while living a domestic life and actively working for the betterment of society. It is commonly held that Gurū Nānak ensured the preservation of his teaching by committing his devotional compositions to writing in the gurmukhī script (lit. “the mouth of the guru”) and establishing a succession line of human gurus who operated as spiritual leaders for almost two hundred years.
A central event in Sikh history occurred when the tenth guru, Gobind Singh (1666–1708), in 1699 declared the Sikhs as khālsā, “the pure,” and formed a new religious and military community and identity for the Sikhs. Disciples were requested to undergo an initiation ceremony and drink sanctified water over which the hymns of the gurus had been recited while stirring with a double-edged sword. The first five Sikhs who took the nectar were called “the five beloved” (panj pyare) and changed their original names to Singh, “lion.” The initiated were expected to do daily readings of the gurus’ hymns, abstain from intoxicants, and keep unshorn hair, a comb, a steel bracelet, a dagger, and a pair of breeches. The creation of khālsā has been interpreted as a transformation of Sikhism from a pacifist to a militarized community caused by political tensions between the Sikhs and the Mogul administration in the seventeenth century. By declaring khālsā, Gobind Singh initiated the process of dissolving his office of personal guru and shifted the authority to the Sikh community and the scripture.
In 1604 the fifth guru, Arjan (1563–1606), compiled the religious poetry of the first five Sikh gurus as well as compositions by like-minded Hindu and Muslim poet-saints of different traditions. A century later, the writings of the ninth guru, Tegh Bahādur (1621–1675), were added to what became the Ādi Granth, literally “the original book.” By the time of Gobind Singh, the scripture had gained considerable status in the community, and this development reached its peak when in 1708 the guru on his deathbed declared the scripture as the eternal guru of the Sikhs. This decision marked the end to a succession line of human gurus, as the scripture, hereafter called the Gurū Granth, with an added suffix of reverence, Sāhib, succeeded to the office of guru and was endowed with the spiritual authority to guide the Sikhs.
Wherever the Sikhs have settled in the world today, the Gurū Granth Sāhib is the focal point of their religious life. A Sikh place of worship—the gurdwārā, or literally the “guru’s door/house”—is by definition a place in which the scripture is ceremonially installed on a throne to receive worshippers. Almost every Sikh ceremony is conducted in the presence of the physical book, and hymns from the text are rendered in recitation (pāth) and devotional singing (kīrtan) and are explicated in oral expositions (kathā). The majority of Sikhs perceive the Gurū Granth Sāhib as a collection of the historical Sikh gurus’ divinely inspired utterances and teachings, simultaneously as the scripture is believed to be their living guru. Given this authority and status of scripture in Sikhism, the Gurū Granth Sāhib is the primary source for Sikh understandings on nām simran.
The Sikh scripture is not a manual providing metacommentaries and detailed instructions on how to perform meditative practices, but rather falls into the category of religious poetry, which over and over again eulogizes the significance and magnitude of devotion (bhakti). The confluence of verbal and musical components in Gurū Granth Sāhib anticipates that it is a “performative” text to be read and performed to music.5 Consequently the text does not offer systematic analyses of Sikh beliefs and practices but presents a rich tapestry of devotional expressions that bear witness of the human gurus’ religious experiences and messages dressed in poetic form. Rather than prescribing particular meditation techniques, the early Sikh sources unveil a much
broader spiritual enterprise comprised of meditative and recitative practices, prayers, praises, and devotion of God that can be summarized in the doctrine and practice of nām.
Nām in the Sikh Tradition
The doctrine of nām is frequently presented as a key aspect of the Sikh teaching enshrined in Gurū Granth Sāhib. Innumerable verses in the scripture eulogize nām and leave little doubt that the gurus considered it a fundamental truth and a way toward liberation.6 Already in Japjī Sāhib, the opening composition of the scripture, Gurū Nānak writes, “Early in the morning [amritvela] utter the True Name and reflect upon God’s greatness.”7 Because of the centrality of nām, Sikh scholars have sometimes termed their religion nām marga, or “the way of nām,”8 and suggested that Sikhism advocates a “science of nām.”9 The oft-quoted credo that states that Sikhs should recite and remember nām (nām japō), work hard and live truthful (kirat karō), and share their earnings with others (vaṇḍ chhakō), attributed to Gurū Nānak, is presented as a main principle in the guru’s teaching and a moral imperative for all Sikhs. Given this importance, scholars and religious expounders of Gurū Granth Sāhib have been preoccupied with explaining how the concept and practice of nām can be interpreted from theological, historical, and psychological perspectives with a firm base in the scriptural verses.10 Although Sikh interpretations of nām differ in details, one can distinguish two general approaches that explain nām as the goal and the method of spiritual progress.
First, nām signifies the divine name, which can be explained as “a summary expression for the whole nature of Akal Purakh [the Timeless One] and all that constitutes the divine being.”11 The Sikh scripture is teeming with more than a hundred individual names of gods in various religious traditions, such as Hari, Rām, Niraṇkār, Gopāl, Gobind, Prabhu, Nārāyan, and Allāh.12 From a Sikh perspective, these attributive names are used for personal gods or for describing aspects of God, while nām signifies the universal divine power that sustains and directs the cosmos and is manifested in the world. In numerous verses of the Gurū Granth Sāhib, nām is presented synonymously with “God,” as an immanent quality of the transcendent divine that existed before the creation and is infused in the creation. Human beings can attain knowledge of the divine name and secure the rewards it confers if they are able to perceive the divine order and harmony that exist within and around all humans.
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