"It was the experience during those inner recitations and dialogues that led to the fine-tuning of the majority of my paintings," Jyotika added. During those 18 to 20 minutes of ''paath'', I recollected and made sense of various day-to-day experiences of my life, of people and places, about information and imaginations, and so on. "Hence, my mornings again began with the ritualistic recitation of the complete text of the Japji Sahib. In whatever way, reciting the Japji Sahib was the only practice I knew of, to reconnect my presence with my God. I was humbled down by the experience of abounding Grace. "The last 15 years or so, after my marriage and more so after the birth of our daughter, I continuously sensed compelling nearness to the Almighty Creator. However, in later years, after a devastating tragedy where I lost my mother in an accident, I declined all thoughts around that idea," she told IANS. "The image of Guru Nanak ji was my reference of the revered God. Jyotika is the Head, Department of Painting at College of Art in Delhi and her book has been launched to mark the 550th Prakash Purb (birth anniversary) of first Sikh master Guru Nanak Dev that falls on November 12. As I hadn''t learnt to read Punjabi so far, she made me handwrite the text in Hindi to avoid the confusion in pronunciation," writes Jyotika in the preface of her latest book in English "Guru Nanak Dev Ji''s Jap Ji Sahib: Manifestations of the Magnificent". "Later on, after I learnt to read clearly, my mother bought me a Japji Sahib Gutka (a small holy book) in Hindi.
Her mother made it sure that whenever she happened to pray, she was able to recite at least the first few verses of it. For her, Japji Sahib takes one step closer to the almighty creator!Ĭhandigarh, Nov 10 (IANS) For national Akademi award winning painter and writer Jyotika Sehgal, Japji Sahib - the holy scripture of Sikhs - was introduced to her by her mother when she was just a primary school child.