What is an Akhand Path?
“Akhand Path” means “unbroken recitation.” An “Akhand Path” is a continuous recitation or reading aloud of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, the living Guru of the Sikhs, from beginning to end. It takes 48 hours to complete 1430 pages in Gurmukhi. It takes 72 hours to complete an Akhand Path in the English translation volumes.
Akhand Paths can be read in honor of Sikh holidays and Gurpurbs, or major life events like marriages, funerals, birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, births and preparation for or recovery from a medical operation. Or, Akhand Paths can be completed simply to increase one’s feeling of connection to the Guru.
Some Gurdwaras hold a weekly Akhand Path and this gives the congregation (Sadh Sangat) a beautiful opportunity to establish a close relationship with the Guru and the community.
The History of the Akhand Path
It is said that when Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru, had completed compiling the Siri Guru Granth Sahib, he had five members of the congregation (Sadh Sangat) read it to him continuously. He stood and listened to the entire Siri Guru Granth Sahib. People brought him water for his bath and for his meals where he stood. This was the first Akhand Path.
Following this example, the Sikhs started the tradition of dedicating Akhand Paths to various activities. At this particular time in history, there was much religious persecution and Sikhs often fought for their own lives and beliefs, as well as others. Before battles, the Sikhs would arrange and listen to an Akhand Path and then prepare for battle. An Akhand Path was once arranged before the Sikhs set out to rescue 18,000 indigenous women from the Mughals, who had captured them and were taking them as slaves.
What is the Purpose of an Akhand Path?
While reciting, Sikhs are repeating the exact same words that were spoken by the Guru during their Divine communion with the Infinite. For Sikhs, reciting this bani gives that same experience of union with God. Guru Gobind Singh’s own delivery of the Granth to Bhai Mani Singh took exactly two days of continuous recitation. Without standing or stopping, the Tenth Guru recited the entire Siri Guru Granth Sahib to Bhai Mani Singh, as it is today.
In this way, Guru Gobind Singh not only delivered the Granth to his battle worn Sikhs, but he delivered it to the hands of all posterity as well. The Akhand Path re-creates this act by Guru Gobind Singh, and thereby creates the sound current that elevates a person’s consciousness to the Guru’s consciousness. The Sikh comes to the Akhand Path to experience direct communication with the Guru. They speak the Guru’s words, they speak the Guru’s concept of God’s words, and hear them being spoken. Sikhs believe that there is no higher or more sophisticated meditation possible in a human body, within a human lifetime, than to hear one’s own voice reciting the Guru’s words.
The effects of the Akhand Path are not confined to the reader alone. By virtue of the unbroken recitation, Sikhs believe the vibration of the Gurbani comes to permeate all of the surroundings. It creates a unique and auspicious environment of protection and blessings, whereby at any moment a listener or reader may be merged with the sound current of the Infinite, and in this way lives can be changed forever.
What Effect Does an Akhand Path Have?
Sikhs believe that whenever one reads from the Sri Guru Granth Sahib, there is a direct communication between the Guru and the Sikh (or seeker). Thus, a Sikh comes to the Guru and the Guru speaks, and the Sikh understands within what is being spoken. This is the highest meditation, when the Sikh understands the Guru’s words.
When Sikhs read from the Guru during an Akand Path, the vibrational frequency is magnified because the entire Sri Guru Granth Sahib is read from beginning to end through group participation. Sikhs believe that performing an Akhand Path is the most profound prayer and can bring upliftment for the entire planet. For Sikhs, listening to Banis can aid in alleviating depression, negativity and destructive impulses and bring change into positivity and the experience of peace within.
Akhand Paths are typically organized by dividing the total time into one-hour time slots. Readers can sign up for one or more time slots in an Akhand Path. Within that time, the Guru talks to the reader, and the Sikh reading talks to the Guru. That is the purpose. For Sikhs. this experience can bestow an inner experience of blissfulness.
The Meaning of an Akhand Path
The honor and blessing of reading in an Akhand Path has been so important to Sikhs, that there are stories of times where there were battles waging around them, or they were being sieged by the enemy and readers would not stop until they were shot and killed while reading and another would take their place, so as not to break the sound current before the Akhand Path was completed.
Access More Resources on Akhand Paths Here
~Resources: Living Reality (1994) by Bibiji Inderjit Kaur Khalsa and “What is an Akhand Path?” (Sikh Dharma International).
