Vahiguru ji ka Khalsa, Vahiguru ji ki Fatih!

A thriving industry informs us which days are auspicious for certain life events. Are we getting sucked into these superstitious beliefs based on the lunar days?

In the Guru Granth Sahib, on pages 296 to 300, the Gauri Thiti composition revealed by Guru Arjan Sahib rests. It is based on the fifteen lunar calendar days and comes immediately after Sukhmani Sahib.

Let’s take a moment to understand the cultural context of Gauri Thiti. Thitmeans a date or fortnight, depending on its part in speech. This composition is set in the paradigm of moon-based calendars and the practice of astrologers and fortune tellers; it is also used to dictate which particular days one should do some things, not others. It is a calculative game that has entered people’s psyches so much that they will or will not do certain things in specific spaces or times. This practice is still quite prevalent in South Asia and globally and dictates the strategy of lenders, spiritualists, and politicians.

In the first stanza of Gauri Thiti, Guru Arjan Sahib says, O my friend! The praise of IkOankar, the Earth-Knower, the 1-Light, should be sung daily. In the company of the Wisdom-oriented virtuous beings, one should always sing praises.

Even before the Guru begins to address each day in the lunar calendar system, the purpose of this composition is clarified. We are being taken on a journey where the moon’s phases are irrelevant. The moon’s waxing and waning in this calendrical system is unimportant.

We pause.
We listen.

Regardless of the day or the moon’s condition, spend your time singing the glory of IkOankar. Sing the praises in the company of the Wisdom-oriented, virtuous ones who are constantly singing praises.

The Guru has graciously extricated us from complicated paradigms of being in the right or auspicious space — performing the right rituals in the right groups or at auspicious times. Devotion matters and not the phases of the moon.

Singing praises of IkOankar at all times, in word, thought, and action, will help us remember the 1. It will eliminate the fear that motivates us to participate in these kinds of systems in the first place.

Will we practice remembrance through praise?
Will we exit our transactional systems and relationships with the 1?
Will we see each day as auspicious?
Will we sing praises of IkOankar daily?

For the Sikh of the Guru, no day is special, auspicious, or inauspicious.
For the Sikh of the Guru, the refuge of IkOankar alone is everything.

May we sing the glory of the 1-Light!
May the Wisdom-Guru guide us!