Chinmaya Mission UK held a Ganga Aarti, a Hindu lamp-offering ceremony, beside the Thames at Greenwich on 13 September 2026. The Mission’s report describes ceremonial lamps offered towards the river with music and chanting. It also says that nothing was placed, poured or released into the water. [1]
Sikhs also sing Shabads called Aarti. These Shabads do not endorse the lamp ceremony. Gurbani rejects worship of the carved image and the claim that sacred water removes sin. Those rejections also bind Sikhs. The question is why: if the One is present throughout creation, why is worship through an image wrong, and how is bowing before Shabad Guru Granth Sahib Ji different?
The image and the living Guru
Bhagat Kabir Ji’s Bani is Gurbani within Shabad Guru Granth Sahib Ji. This Shabad confronts a gardener gathering leaves for an image.
The Roman line is only a reading aid, not the translation. The English sentence gives the plain meaning.
The Shabad begins:
ਪਾਤੀ ਤੋਰੈ ਮਾਲਿਨੀ ਪਾਤੀ ਪਾਤੀ ਜੀਉ ॥
ਜਿਸੁ ਪਾਹਨ ਕਉ ਪਾਤੀ ਤੋਰੈ ਸੋ ਪਾਹਨ ਨਿਰਜੀਉ ॥੧॥
ਭੂਲੀ ਮਾਲਨੀ ਹੈ ਏਉ ॥
ਸਤਿਗੁਰੁ ਜਾਗਤਾ ਹੈ ਦੇਉ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
Simple reading: Paatee torai maalinee paatee paatee jeeo.
Jis paahan kau paatee torai so paahan nirjeeo.
Bhoolee maalnee hai eo.
Satigur jaagtaa hai deo.
Plain meaning: The gardener plucks leaves, but every leaf has life. The stone for which she plucks them is lifeless. In this the gardener is mistaken; the True Guru is the living Divine Lord.
Reference: Aasa, Bhagat Kabir Ji, Panna 479. Continuous excerpt: opening stanza and Rahao, the central refrain; read with all five stanzas. [2]
The Shabad calls this worship a mistake. The gardener tears living leaves to serve lifeless stone. Bhagat Kabir Ji questions her through the divine forms familiar to her: the leaves are Brahma’s form, the branch Vishnu’s and the flower Shiva’s. If she destroys these three before her eyes, whose service is she doing?
The Shabad then turns to the carver who placed a foot on the image’s chest while shaping it. If this were the real deity, it would have devoured the carver. The food offering exposes the image’s helplessness. Professor Sahib Singh Ji’s commentary, Darpan, explains that the priest eats it; the image receives none. The Rahao directs the gardener to the True Guru. The closing stanza attributes freedom from this error to the Creator’s grace. [2]
The Swaminarayan organisation BAPS describes murti pratishtha, the consecration of an image, as prescribed prayers and rites through which God is invoked. Its explanation says that divinity enters the image, making it “a living form of God”. [3]
Swami Tapovan Maharaj offers a different explanation in Chinmaya Mission’s archive. Worship through a river or stone image gives the mind a concrete form through which to turn towards the Divine. It prepares the seeker for recognising all as Brahman, the supreme reality. Knowledge of Brahman is the final means of liberation in that account. [4]
Neither consecration nor the promise of preparation answers the Shabad’s rejection. The worshipper is directed away from the image and towards the True Guru. I reject image worship because I receive that teaching from Shabad Guru Granth Sahib Ji. To keep the image as a religious aid and call it a step towards the Guru would reverse the direction of the Shabad. [2]
What cleanses the person?
Before the Greenwich ceremony, Chinmaya Mission UK told Asian Voice that Mother Ganga could be invoked wherever a devotee may be, through mantra, or sacred recitation, and devotion. The stated aim was not “to suggest that one river can stand in for another”. The Mission’s later report also describes Ganga as a symbol of the flow of knowledge. [1]
The claim that the Ganga removes sin is set out in Swami Tapovan Maharaj’s The Glory of Sri Gangottari, published in the Mission’s archive. Its English rendering says: “Even a touch of the breeze sanctified by her waters can wash away one’s sins.” [4]
Guru Nanak Sahib Ji’s Shabad on Panna 358 addresses cleansing directly. Darpan explains its setting through funeral practices involving a lamp for the departed and remains taken to the Ganga. In the Shabad, Naam, the Divine Name, is the lamp and enduring support. The soul’s bathing is in praise:
ਗੰਗ ਬਨਾਰਸਿ ਸਿਫਤਿ ਤੁਮਾਰੀ ਨਾਵੈ ਆਤਮ ਰਾਉ ॥
ਸਚਾ ਨਾਵਣੁ ਤਾਂ ਥੀਐ ਜਾਂ ਅਹਿਨਿਸਿ ਲਾਗੈ ਭਾਉ ॥੩॥
Simple reading: Gang Banaaras sifat tumaaree naavai aatam raau.
Sachaa naavan taan theeai jaan ahinis laagai bhaau.
Plain meaning: Your praise is my Ganga and my Banaras, and in it my soul bathes. The true bathing happens only when love for You stays through day and night.
Reference: Aasa, Mahalla 1, Guru Nanak Sahib Ji, Panna 358. Complete stanza 3, read with the Shabad and its Rahao. [5]
The second line explains what makes this bathing true: love of the One continues through day and night. The Sikh is being taught where to turn for support in life and death. Naam is that support. Praise gives voice to love for the One beyond the end of a ceremony. The closing stanza speaks of the One’s gift that never runs out.
Gurbani rejects the claim that contact with the Ganga removes sin. Guru Sahib locates cleansing in praise and continuing love of the One. Treating the river as the source of that cleansing gives water a power the Shabad does not give it. Invoking Ganga beside the Thames does not change the teaching. A Sikh can protect both rivers without worshipping either. [5]
The Aarti Sikhs sing
Guru Nanak Sahib Ji’s Aarti on Panna 663 turns the worshipper from the lamp ceremony to the Creator’s Aarti throughout nature. The sky is the tray; the sun and moon are lamps, the wind is the ceremonial whisk, and all vegetation forms the offering of flowers. The Rahao marvels at the Aarti already taking place. Darpan explains this as a rejection of circling lamps in worship. [6]
The next stanza speaks of thousands of eyes and forms, while declaring the One without eyes or form. The Shabad goes on to name the same Light in all and explain how it is recognised:
ਗੁਰ ਸਾਖੀ ਜੋਤਿ ਪਰਗਟੁ ਹੋਇ ॥
ਜੋ ਤਿਸੁ ਭਾਵੈ ਸੁ ਆਰਤੀ ਹੋਇ ॥੩॥
Simple reading: Gur saakhee jot pargat hoi.
Jo tis bhaavai su aartee hoi.
Plain meaning: Through the Guru’s teaching the Light is revealed. Whatever pleases the One, that is Aarti.
Reference: Dhanasari, Mahalla 1, Aarti, Guru Nanak Sahib Ji, Panna 663. Closing two lines of stanza 3; the preceding lines are paraphrased above. [6]
Darpan explains this through accepting the Creator’s Raza, the Divine will, and walking in it. The presence of the One in creation is not permission to consecrate its objects and worship them. The Shabad joins recognising the Divine Light to learning from the Guru and living in the One’s will. To sing this Shabad while presenting lamp-circling as its teaching contradicts that direction. [6]
Bhagat Ravidas Ji names the offering:
ਨਾਮੁ ਤੇਰੋ ਆਰਤੀ ਮਜਨੁ ਮੁਰਾਰੇ ॥
ਹਰਿ ਕੇ ਨਾਮ ਬਿਨੁ ਝੂਠੇ ਸਗਲ ਪਾਸਾਰੇ ॥੧॥ ਰਹਾਉ ॥
Simple reading: Naam tero aartee majan Muraare.
Har ke Naam bin jhoothe sagal paasaare.
Plain meaning: Your Naam is my Aarti and bathing, O Murari. Without Hari’s Naam, all these displays are false.
Reference: Dhanasari, Bhagat Ravidas Ji, Panna 694. Complete Rahao, read with all four stanzas. [7]
Hari and Murari address the One here. The following stanzas make Naam the lamp, wick, oil and garland. The closing offering is Sat Naam, the True Name. Everything we might bring already belongs to the Creator. Even flowers offered as untouched have been visited by bees, as Darpan explains. [7]
Naam is the Name of the One we remember and praise. Bhagat Ravidas Ji offers that remembrance, turning towards the One who has already given everything. A Sikh singing this Shabad is called to make the same offering, not simply to rename the contents of a tray. The prayer remains full of devotion even as the ceremonial materials give way to it.
Bhagat Sain Ji’s Shabad on Panna 695 raises a difficulty because its opening names incense, lamps and ghee (clarified butter). The English translation by Dr Sant Singh Khalsa, displayed at SriGranth, presents the opening as a material offering. Darpan reads the next line’s declaration of devotion as the offering itself, and the One addressed in stanza 2 as the lamp and pure wick. [8]
I follow that reading because the Rahao speaks of joy through the Creator’s grace, and the closing stanza calls for remembrance. Read together, the lines express devotion through the ceremony’s imagery; they do not direct the Sikh to circle a physical lamp.
The same teaching inside the Gurdwara
Darpan’s closing note on the Panna 479 Shabad confronts Sikhs with the same error. Professor Sahib Singh Ji describes a practice being introduced in his own time: bringing a food tray before Shabad Guru Granth Sahib Ji and having bhog performed as a food-offering rite. The note asks whether giving the Guru the status of a murti is disrespectful and calls for vigilance. Treating the Guru as an image that must be fed is not reverence. [2]
Bhog also names the completion of a Paath, a reading of Shabad Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Karah prashad, the sweet food shared with the congregation, is prepared and presented according to its prescribed maryada and distributed after Ardas. The criticism here concerns treating the Guru as an image to be fed. [9]
The Sikh Rehat Maryada expressly rejects lamp-and-incense Aarti and food offerings before Shabad Guru Granth Sahib Ji. Article V(d) permits lamps for light and incense for fragrance; it prohibits their use in the offering ceremony. Where Sikhs perform the prohibited offerings, the practice conflicts with the discipline as well as the Shabad. [9]
Claims about a Sikh sarovar, or pool, must be examined with the same care. In the same English translation, Guru Arjan Sahib Ji’s Shabad on Panna 625 describes bathing in a tank and having sins erased. Darpan reads Ramdaas sarovar as the congregation of the One’s servants, where Naam flows. [10]
I follow Darpan because the Rahao centres on reflection upon Shabad. The closing stanza names Sadh Sangat, the company of those devoted to the One, together with Divine help and remembrance of Naam. A reading that retains a physical sarovar must still explain those lines. To promise that a dip alone removes sin is to leave out the Shabad’s teaching about the Guru, Sangat and Naam.
Why, then, does a Sikh bow before Shabad Guru Granth Sahib Ji? Guru Ram Das Sahib Ji states:
ਬਾਣੀ ਗੁਰੂ ਗੁਰੂ ਹੈ ਬਾਣੀ ਵਿਚਿ ਬਾਣੀ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤੁ ਸਾਰੇ ॥
ਗੁਰੁ ਬਾਣੀ ਕਹੈ ਸੇਵਕੁ ਜਨੁ ਮਾਨੈ ਪਰਤਖਿ ਗੁਰੂ ਨਿਸਤਾਰੇ ॥੫॥
Simple reading: Baanee Guroo Guroo hai Baanee vich Baanee amrit saare.
Gur Baanee kahai sevak jan maanai partakh Guroo nistaare.
Plain meaning: Bani is Guru, and the Guru is present in Bani. Within Bani is Amrit, the life-giving nectar of Naam, which the Sikh holds in the heart. The Guru speaks Bani, the servant accepts it with faith, and the Guru assuredly carries the servant across.
Reference: Nat, Mahalla 4, Guru Ram Das Sahib Ji, Panna 982. Complete stanza 5, read with the whole Shabad and its Rahao. [11]
A Sikh comes before the Guru to be taught, not before an image made sacred by a ceremony. Bowing expresses that relationship. It cannot replace listening or accepting correction. Rejecting image worship gives us no reason to reduce the present Guru to a book alone. [11]
Guru Nanak Sahib Ji’s Aarti ends in longing for the sweetness of the One’s lotus feet. Guru Sahib prays in the voice of the thirsty rain bird, asking for grace to remain in Naam. [6]
The Aarti we sing calls us to praise, love and dependence on the One. Teaching image worship or sacred-water cleansing as another way to follow these Shabads misrepresents them. I cannot receive these Shabads as the Guru’s teaching and then commend the practices they reject, whether those practices are performed beside the Thames or inside a Gurdwara.
Sources
The quoted Gurmukhi and complete Shabad contexts were checked at SriGranth with Professor Sahib Singh Ji’s Sri Guru Granth Sahib Darpan on 8 October 2026. The published institutional sources were consulted on the same date. The English meanings follow Darpan and are learning aids. Differing readings of Pannas 625 and 695 are identified above. Errors will be corrected, with a dated note in this section.
[1] Chinmaya Mission, report of the ceremony, 14 September 2026, identifying Chinmaya Mission UK and Totally Thames as partners; Old Royal Naval College programme; Subhasini Naicker, organisers’ explanation in Asian Voice, 2 September 2026. Published accounts, not eyewitness evidence from the author or proof of every attendee’s beliefs.
[2] Bhagat Kabir Ji, Aasa, Panna 479, complete Shabad ending 5.1.14; Darpan, including the closing note on Sikh food offerings.
[3] BAPS, Murti Pratishtha, opening explanation. The organisation’s account of consecration.
[4] Swami Tapovan Maharaj, The Glory of Sri Gangottari, Chinmaya Archives. The quotation follows the archive’s free-flowing English translation; see also “Rewards of Pilgrimage”. The Sanskrit was not independently examined.
[5] Aasa, Mahalla 1, Panna 358, Deevaa meraa ek naam, complete Shabad ending 4.2.32; Darpan, including the funeral-practice context.
[6] Dhanasari, Mahalla 1, Aarti, Panna 663, complete Shabad; Darpan. This essay follows Panna 663, not the parallel text on Panna 13.
[7] Bhagat Ravidas Ji, Dhanasari, Panna 694, complete Aarti ending 4.3; Darpan.
[8] Bhagat Sain Ji, Dhanasari, Panna 695, complete Shabad ending 4.2; Darpan, including the discussion of the lamp-offering objection.
[9] Sikh Rehat Maryada, English reproduction at the Sikh Missionary Society: Article V(d)–(f), worship and reverence; XI(a), conclusion of Paath; XII(a)–(c), karah prashad. For bhog as the conclusion of a reading, see Punjabi University’s dictionary entry at Punjabipedia.
[10] Sorath, Mahalla 5, Panna 625, complete Shabad beginning Raamdaas sarovar naate, ending 2.1.65; Darpan. Both readings discussed above remain checkable.
[11] Nat, Mahalla 4, Panna 982, complete stanza 5, read within the full Shabad ending 8.4; Darpan.
To follow on 15 October 2026: Who Decides What Bhagat Bani Means? This companion study examines the Aarti Shabads and disputed readings.
Strong disagreement is welcome. Contempt is not.
Bhul chuk maaf karni Ji.
Gurjit Singh Sandhu
PanthSeva
London