328.The Man in Blue – Lunar & Solar Days

From : Bilawal M 1, lunar days, 10^th house, drumbeat jat, page 838
1.ékam 2. dújai 3. tritíá 4.chauth 5.panchmí 6.khastí 7.saptmí 8.astmí 9.naumí 10.dasmí 11.ékádmí 12.a.duádas 12.b.duádmí 13.téras 14.chaudas 15.amávasiá – the night of the new moon.

The above are the days of the lunar fortnight as found in Rág Bilawal. Most of the names of the days are easy to understand. Only ‘khastí’does not sound like anything to do with six, the names of the other days are clearly linked to their number. I do not know why there are two different days 12.

The first fortnight of the lunar month runs from full moon to no moon, the second from no moon to full moon. The Vikramí year is a lunar year, but the Vikramí Calendar has extra days to come near the solar year of 365.25 days.

The Muslim calendar (Hijra) is a pure lunar calendar, and the seasons move across the calendar every year. In the Middle East and South Asia, where the difference in the length of the days in summer and winter is only small, this has only limited effect on the length of the fasting during Ramzam. In Scandinavia the fast will be very long when Ramzam falls in July. Anybody with more knowledge of lunar calendars, please share !

From : Bilawal M 3, seven days, 10^th house, page 841
1.ádit vár 2.somvár 3.mangal 4.budvár 5.vírvár 6.sukrvár 7.chhanichharvár.In this sabad Guru calls Sunday ádit vár and Tuesday mangal, without ‘vár’. The sat vár (seven days) sabads suggest that in the days of our Gurus there was also a solar calendar in use. Equally I am under the impression that there were more lunar calendars than just Al Hijrá and Vikramí.

I read on a Hindu website that Vikramí did not start with Chet as in the two Twelve Months sabads in the Guru Granth. Or are the Twelve Months sabads based on another lunar calendar ?

To add to calendar confusion we will end with the ‘Christian’ (Anno Domino = the Year of our Lord) or Common Era Calendar. The last four months are September, October, November and December. That means 7^th, 8^th, 9^th and 10^th Month, which suggests strongly that at some time in the past this year must have started with March. 

For Vahiguru it all makes no difference, every day is God’s day, or maybe I should say that we have to make every day into God’s day by our godly behaviour. From the spiritual point of view there is no Sikh year, Christian year or Muslim year. I am grateful to Pal Singh Purewal because through his efforts most of our Gurpurabs now fall on the same CE date every year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

329.The Man in Blue – Ardas (1)

You might remember my articles about my recent visit to Ieper where I recited a special ardás written for the occasion. This made me think about the standard ardás, and this article is the result of that.

 

In my personal routines I very rarely recite the standard ardás. I do regularly speak to God, usually asking Her/Him to help me to stick to Guru’s path, and to give me peace of mind if I am upset or overexcited about something.

 

As God is ‘antarjamí’ (All Knowing), my prayers are usually short. The wording might change slightly, but the message is simply ‘God please help me’. When I ask for something more specific, which is mostly when I pray for somebody else, I add ‘whatever is your will’ or words to that effect.

 

There are two more general thoughts I want to add. Why is it that everything ‘freezes’ in the Gurdwara, even outside the divan hall, while we do ardás. When the Granthí recites the hukamnámá people start moving around again and pay respect to the Guru Granth Sahib, while in the langar the sevadars start serving again.

 

Similarly, when you sit outside the divan, you are still supposed to get up when the ardás is recited. This is not an issue of vital importance to the panth, but things that seem illogical bother me.

 

Looking up the meaning of ‘ardás’ in the dictionary I find the following meanings : request, prayer, supplication, representation, offering to a deity. Our ardás is a request, but the first two sections of the ardás are a request to the sangat, and not to God.

 

The first section is where sangat is asked to remember God and the ten Gurus, each one of them getting a special mention. The line about remembering the Guru Granth Sahib does not belong to the first part, which comes from what is now known as the Dasam Granth. The line referring to the Guru Granth ends with ‘bolo jí Vahiguru’, just like the three lines.

 

The next section starts with the Guru Granth, the light of the ten Gurus, and then deals with those who gave their lives in the struggle against injustice. The final line in this section refers to the five Takhats and all Gurdwaré. As far as my understanding goes there is only one Takhat, Akál Takhat.

 

Having four ‘Takhats’, each in places where Guru Gobind Singh lived, makes no sense to me. The Akál Takhat (which originally was not a building) was there to represent together with Harmandr Sahib the idea of Miri and Piri, and I cannot see why there is a need for further Takhats.  

 

In the next article I will have a detailed look at the rest of the ardás.