introduction
This Sabad, revealed by Guru Nanak Sahib, is recorded under the title ‘Arti’ on page 663 of Guru Granth Sahib. It has a total of four stanzas. Another stanza of ‘rahau’ (refrain or pause) is separately added to it.
Regarding ‘Arti,’ it is also said that once the celebrated Panjabi actor Balraj Sahni asked the famous Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore [Nobel Laureate], you have already composed a national song for the country [India], why don’t you write a global song, common for all of humanity? Tagore replied that a song even greater in scope than a global song, written for the entire creation, had already been composed in the sixteenth century by Guru Nanak in the form of ‘Arti.’ Tagore has also translated ‘Arti’ in the Bengali language.
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