Bhubaneswar: Odisha Tourism, on Friday shared a tweet opening up a lesser-known chapter of Lord Jagannath. It says the Sikh Arti, written by the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, was influenced deeply by the Lord of the Universe.
It is said that Guru Nanak had visited the Jagannath Temple in Puri in 1506 CE and it was then that the Arti was written.
In an article written by noted researcher Anil Dhir, he mentions the story which reads as follows:
“Guru Nanak was a saint of the Bhakti Cult and its exponents had the goal of uniting the human race through true devotion to God and emphasised the oneness of God. He, along with other exponents of the Bhakti Cult like Ramananda, Kabir, Chaitanya, Namdev, Tukaram and Ramdas had all originally believed in the formless worship of the Lord. But the symbolic image of Lord Jagannath was neither of any “Akar” nor was it “Nirakar”. The perplexed Nanak seeing this “Kimkar” (of which form?) image, was simply astonished and was overwhelmed with deep reverence. He understood the universalism of Jagannath and started the ‘Namakirtan’ of the Lord in his own way. Basically, Nanak believed in the formless worship of ‘Nirakar’ – Brahma, and his motto was ‘Ek Omkar Satnam’. It means that he believed in ‘Onkar’ or ‘Pranava Brahma’ which has no form and stressed on the ‘Satnam’ or the true Namakirtan of the Lord.”
The story further says, Guru Nanak observed how priests attached more importance to the rituals than to true faith in the Lord. However, after witnessing the unfathomable aura of the lord, he was transfixed. While the rest of the priests and devotees stood up, he was sitting still charged with ecstasy while tears rolled down his cheeks. Some orthodox priests marked the same and took it as disrespect to Lord Jagannath and questioned him for not having stood up.
Guru Nanak stood there as a silent spectator for some time and then said, “Dear brothers! Does our Jagannath exist only here and in this wooden image? Is he not dazzling in the aura of his own greatness, inside all creation? Cannot his Mahima be felt and experienced without the accompanying rituals?”
Carried away by his emotions, Guru Nanak started singing a few stanzas from a Sikh composition. He then spontaneously composed a song, in praise of the Lord describing how the sky is a platter on which the Sun and Moon are lamps for worship. The Arti he sang was:
(The sky is the platter, sun and moon are lamps)
tarika mandal janak moti,
(Stars and planets are jewels)
dhoop malyanlo pavan chavro
(The wind, carrying sandal-wood fragrance, is a celestial fan)
kare saal banray phulant joti,
(Flowering fields and forests are radiance)
kaisi arti hoye
(Oh! How wonderful is this Arti!)
bhav khandna teri arti.
(You, are a destroyer of fear)
Anhata Shabad Vajanta bheree
(The subtle sound of your name, goes unheard, resounds endlessly)
