Bani Bhagat Sain Ji

Bhagat Sain Ji

Bhagat Sain is a revered figure and one of the 15 bhagats (devoted beings) whose compositions are included in the Guru Granth Sahib. He reflected on the contradictions and temporality of the physical ritual performance of Arti and composed this Sabad. This composition is set to the musical mode Dhanasari, literally the ‘ultimate wealth.’ Dhanasari denotes contentment and cheerfulness while conveying a sense of fulfillment upon realizing IkOankar (One Creative and Pervasive Force, 1Force, the One) resounds within oneself. Historically, Bhagat Sain is recorded as belonging to the oppressed barber caste. Barred from participation because of his caste background, he witnessed the ritual of Arti from afar, performed by the so-called high-caste priestly class. Though barbers were and are disallowed from attending and holding many dominant religious ceremonies, the connection he was graced with by the One exalted him. The same Bhagat Sain excluded from dominant religious spaces became someone with whom people wanted to be associated and claimed as their own across the Indian subcontinent. Here, he draws us to that which brings inner illumination, the ‘internal Arti’ of the body and mind in devotion to the transcendent Supreme One. 

Through the Pause line, drenched in love and joy, Bhagat Sain shares his inner state: I sing Your joyful song, O Hari, the Remover of suffering! Your joyful song. I sing the joyful song of You King Ram, the Emperor, the all-pervading Sovereign, daily. Bhagat Sain highlights the divine qualities of the One by invoking many synonymous names, such as Hari and Raja Ram Rai. We can understand Hari as 1-Light, the All-Pervasive, and the Fear-Eliminator. This highlights the enlightening and liberating force of the One. Meanwhile, Raja Ram Rai can be understood as the beautiful and just Sovereign ruler. Highlighting the supreme and flawless quality of the One, Bhagat Sain bows down to the One in such sheer devotion that he cannot think of anything else to give beyond offering his entire being. This irrevocable surrender invites emotions of happiness that are beyond explanation and quantification for him. In utter adoration, he resounds with the song of happiness and is filled with the ecstasy emanating from the joy of connection with the all-pervading Sovereign, the One. This paradigm-shifting idea disrupts the monotony of daily life by helping us shed the veils of social constructs and pressure to ask: What is true Arti? The repetition of the loving word mangal, meaning joyful or bliss-giving, surfaces the intensity of the emotion that Bhagat Sain feels. It is instrumental in reminding us that this bliss is entirely different. Popularly, mangal is associated with an energetic celebratory mood often encountered at weddings or birthdays when people sing and dance in fleeting glee. Here, Bhagat Sain reframes the idea of joy entirely and reminds us that true and ultimate inner joy is lasting and enduring. It is not acquired through what we can buy or collect daily, whether things or relations. Rather, it flows when we cultivate a personal relationship and resound with the blissful songs of the all-pervading Sovereign, the One. 

In an intimate conversation with the One, Bhagat Sain says, I devote to You, O Kamalapati, Owner of Maya (“the attachment to transient things and relationships”)! He highlights the divine qualities of the One by invoking many synonymous names – here, Kamalapati. We can understand this name as the transcendent One unblemished by material attachments. This reformative example, viewing true devotion as the only essential ingredient required to celebrate the One, inspires us to reflect on the intention behind our attitudes, beliefs, and rituals. We are drawn in to consider how misguided we may have become. Popularly, Arti calls for ingredients such as candles, incense, bells, lamps, and oil. Practiced diversely, it is part of a global phenomenon of rituals used to find solace, an elated state, or display devotion, prayer, desire, or love for a guest, celebrity, husband, deity, or god. Bhagat Sain changes this narrative by adorning the elements of these ingredients within each of us, modeling for us through earnestly offering himself to the One. We learn that our humble devotion is both the wick and the lamp when we devote ourselves to the One unblemished by material attachments. Etymologically, the word Arti means the one which dispels darkness. Without asking ourselves what can dispel the darkness from within us and remove the negativities of our minds, we continue to indulge in elaborate external rituals. If this Arti is about removing inner darkness, then reflecting on what we can do to remove it is imperative. 

Emphasizing the same thought, Bhagat Sain repeats, You alone are the supreme lamp, the pure wick. While participating in different ceremonies in life today, we are so busy orchestrating a perfect social media picture that our entire focus on ‘what’ we ought to celebrate has shifted. The desire to apply the best filter and design the best aesthetics for our online lives supersedes the emotions and experiences of our offline lives. Logistics and PR have taken over, and the focus has completely shifted away from the actual experience. These habits seem to have become ingrained and today translate into how we celebrate the One. We want the most glorified prayer ceremony while the glorified and unblemished Supreme One is forgotten. For Bhagat Sain, the most steady and pure wick is the One. We may not have the most pricey prayer candle in the temple, but our priceless devotion and invaluable remembrance of the One make us authentic. In a world where we are busy assigning titles and identities to humans, Bhagat Sain says there is only One to seek Identification, or Nam from, the unblemished Supreme One.

Bhagat Sain states, Through the devotion of Ram, the all-pervading Sovereign, that being realizes the bliss of union with the Sovereign, who utters Ram, the embodiment of complete Supreme Bliss. Ram is synonymous with the One, or more precisely, the all-pervasive, beautiful, charming One. We learn that the beautiful, charming One is not interested in the most lavish and grand ceremonies. If that were true, then only the wealthy would have access to and rejoice in the love of the One. But we know this has never been true. Bhagat Sain clearly reminds us that any individual who realizes the beautiful, charming One experiences the ultimate bliss and sings of the beautiful, charming One. We humans discriminate, hierarchize, and gratify ourselves with brutal othering. The charming One graces all without any discrimination, and the ones who have known the devotion of the One know the One. In the age of concerts and retreats, we may try to manipulate the roadmap to happiness, but ultimate bliss is only something we can imagine tasting without a connection to the One. To experience it, we ought to be faithfully honest about our intentions for the actions we participate in. We learn that nobody can create the criteria to love the One; this love is intimate and universally accessible. It is not something we can imitate or gain by manipulation – only a genuine connection with the One can lead us there. 

Bhagat Sain says, Sing praises of that Ram, the rapturous Sovereign, the Supreme Bliss. All religious or otherwise communities practice rituals to display or communicate their devotion, gratitude, prayer, or offering. By recognizing this human tendency, Bhagat Sain tenderly implores us to become aware of the inner and lasting Arti by living in the remembrance of the One. Enamored with the One, Bhagat Sain invokes the synonymous name Gobind, or the One who knows creation, the Earth-Knower. When we sing the praises of the Earth-Knower, the One, we realize the everlasting internal Arti. When we recognize this internal shift, bliss resounds within every fiber and rejoices in connection with the One. We are moved to contemplate and reflect on the Earth-Knower, for that is the only lifeboat we have in the ocean of fears and insecurities of the world. In singing the praises, we find ourselves emptying our lives of the blind rituals, whatever form they may take, and instead fill ourselves with the everlasting divine-experience, love with the One. With this love, we become internally and externally illuminated. 

Bhagat Sain’s social context tells us he was prohibited from accessing many religious and social spaces that were centers of power. His observation of the rituals from a distance gave him the perspective through which he reimagined Arti for himself and all of us. His experience with the One, born from a personal connection, decentralizes the authority for public benefit. This reframing urges us to question our performative patterns and reminds us that the all-pervading Supreme is accessible to all. We often measure our relationship with the One based on our external practices. We think the more times we bow our heads in a place of worship or the more money we put in the donation box, the more pleased the One will be with us. But Bhagat Sain makes it very clear that if the essence, devotion to the One, is missing, then none of these external practices will make us feel anything. Love of the One is about feeling, living, and experiencing. If we wish to experience ultimate everlasting bliss, we ought to check ourselves and ask: What is our Arti? Who are we being charmed by? Are we being genuine in our daily practices to connect with the One? And are these practices dispelling or increasing the inner negatives of our minds?