Explore Rahrasi, the Sikh evening prayer symbolizing faith over ritual. Learn about its evolution and significance in Sikhs' daily prayers.
SODARU or SO DARU, lit. That Door, implying the entrance to the Lord`s presence, is a hymn by Guru Nanak figuring with slight orthographical variations, at three different places in the Guru Granth Sahib ; it forms part of the Japu (paun27), the morning prayer, and of the Rahrasi, recited at sunset and appears independently in the Asa musical measure. Read in the three contexts, the hymn unfolds three different dimensions of spiritual experience. In Japu which is repeated by the Sikhs as part of their morning devotion, So Daru becomes a means of introvert meditation; in the Rahrasi the introvert God Consciousness gets transformed into a shared experience ; and sung in Raga Asa it evokes feelings of elation and ecstasy. The poem sings in a variety of images the splendour of the Divine Threshold.
