Om Jai Jagdish Hare

The text below gives each stanza in its basic two-line form, following the sanskritdocuments.org aarti collection and checked against Drik Panchang, Bhakti Bharat and the Hindi and English Wikipedia articles (the latter citing Om Lata Bahadur's Book of Hindu Festivals and Ceremonies, 1997). When sung, the second half of each first line is usually repeated with 'Swami' (for example 'svāmī dukh binase man kā'), the second line is often sung twice, and the refrain 'Om jay jagdīś hare' follows every stanza. The opening stanza is repeated at the end.

Some aarti books and websites, including Drik Panchang, end with a further stanza naming 'Shivanand Swami'. The same signature closes the Shiva aarti 'Om Jai Shiv Omkara', which suggests the line was borrowed; it is not part of the text in sanskritdocuments.org, Bhakti Bharat or Wikipedia, and does not name Phillauri.

Pandit Shardha Ram Sharma was born in September 1837 at Phillaur near Ludhiana, in a Punjabi Brahmin family; his father Jai Dayalu was an astrologer. He studied Hindi, Sanskrit, Persian, astrology and music as a boy, and by nineteen could publicly recite the Mahabharata, Ramayana and Bhagavata Purana. He preached Sanatana Dharma across Punjab, co-founded a Hindu school and a Hindu sabha with its own press in Ludhiana, and wrote in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. His Punjabi prose work 'Sikhan de Raj di Vithia' (1865) and his novel 'Bhagyawati', one of the first novels in Hindi, made him an important literary figure. He died in Lahore on 24 June 1881.

Om Jai Jagdish Hare, written around 1870, is the work for which he is most widely remembered. Phillaur still celebrates his birth anniversary, and a statue of him stands near the town's bus stand.

The aarti spread through bhajan mandalis and temples in North India, but its fame grew enormously after it was sung in Manoj Kumar's film 'Purab Aur Paschim' (1970). Ethnomusicologist Peter Manuel described it as a 'film aarti' that entered temple worship, and writers such as Joyce Flueckiger and Paul Brians call it a 'universal aarti', sung for Krishna, Ganesha and Murugan as well as Vishnu, in places as far apart as Delhi, Leicester and Toledo, Ohio. For many diaspora families it is the one aarti everyone knows.

The aarti moves from praise to surrender. It begins by hailing Hari as the Lord who removes his devotees' troubles in an instant, then speaks of him as mother and father, the indwelling Supreme Self, the ocean of compassion. The singer confesses his own failings ('I am foolish, flawed and full of desires') and asks how such a person can reach the One beyond the senses. The answer is grace: 'raise your hand; I lie at your door'. The final stanza asks not for wealth but for freedom from sensual craving, for faith and devotion, and for the chance to serve the saints. The language is simple, which is part of its power: it puts the heart of Vaishnava bhakti into words a child can sing.

Aarti is offered at the end of puja, morning and evening, and at the close of the Satyanarayan katha, Ekadashi worship and most festivals.

1. Prepare a plate (thali) with a ghee lamp or camphor, flowers, incense and a small bell. 2. Stand facing the deity and ring the bell as the aarti begins. 3. Wave the lamp clockwise before the image while singing. A common custom is four circles at the feet, two at the navel, one at the face, and then seven around the whole form, though families follow their own practice. 4. After the last stanza, offer the lamp to everyone present; each person passes their palms over the flame and touches them to the eyes and head. 5. Follow with a prayer of forgiveness and the distribution of prasad.

The aarti is normally sung once in full. Some households repeat the opening stanza several times at the end.

The second stanza itself states the traditional fruit: whoever meditates on the Lord receives the reward, mental sorrow is removed, happiness and prosperity come to the home, and bodily troubles end. Devotees also believe that because the aarti addresses the one Supreme Lord, singing it with faith brings the merit of worshipping all deities. These are matters of devotion, and for most families the aarti is above all a moment of togetherness at the close of worship.