The Source of all creation is the Formless One, The Supreme-word: Ong-Kar is His Emanation. He is Eternal, His Name the Eternity Omnipresent, He is the Creator-Almighty Fear-less, enmity-free Timeless Being is He, Into a womb conceivable never, Self-Luminous is He, forever With the Enlightener’s Grace God revealed His Presence.
The Japji is the holy composition of Guru Nanak. It begins with Mool Mantar or Basic formula. It is even called Mangla Charan – remembrance of God – A Vandana, which is followed by a Sloka. Mool means the origin or beginning. Guru Granth Sahib is the extension and elaboration of Mool Mantar. It gives succinctly the concept and most comprehensive definitions of God.It proclaims God has seven facets and the realization of truth or worship of God requires the realization of sevenfold ideal in human living. Numerical ‘Ek’ is the first primal un-manifested Form of the One Nirgun or Transcendent, Formless God. The other two are manifested Forms ‘Ong-kar’ and ‘SATNAM’, from ‘KARTA PURAKH’ to ‘Sai-Bhang’ are the attributes of God. Ek means the One Indivisible Virtual Reality that permeates through all creation and may be understood as the ‘ONE SPIRIT’ remembered as Infinite (Wahe) Wisdom (Guru). Ong-kar means the manifestation of EK in the creation to include all worlds, all humanity, and all human beings with one soul residing within them. It makes us believe that we can experience God through experiencing his creations. It motivates us to recognize the presence of the Divine Light in every living being and discourages the society from profiling people into good and bad by promoting recognition of the same soul that each one carries. Finally ‘Gurprasad’ denoted realization of God as Grace of the Guru.
Guru Nanak says emphatically that, “eyko hY BweI eyko hY ] swihbu myrw eyko hY - He is the One and Only One. He is the One alone. My God and Master is One.” - Guru Granth ang.350.5.The best way to indicate Him is through the sound symbol i.e. Mool Mantar as any evolving theory has its beginning as a vibration from a single membrane or 'string'. 1a> ‘Ek-Ong-Kar’ the sound current of Brahmandh which represents the entire world of polarity, including all the names and forms in the universe and also that which is beyond all names, forms and manifestation.So beside the names and forms of universe, the silence that follows ‘Ong-kar’ represents that permanent factor, the transcendental reality.
Before we ponder on <> Ik-Ong-Kar, let us know the origin of this word and how it descended on Guru Nanak. Since Guru Sahib had no particular preference for any descriptive name out there - the beginning logo signifies exactly that, therefore its understanding is of paramount importance. What this logo signifies and why do we utter it by ong-kar. Gurbani tells us, “Ong-kar ek dhun ekay eikaiy raag allpay." p885. Thus ong-kar signifies that it is the unstruck celestial sound of Brahmand of the ONE God. In Japjisahib Guru Nanak sahib says, “keeta pasau eko kwaho, tis tai hoey lakh daraoyo”. This eka is ong-kar. Guru Gobind Singh Ji further makes it clear in Jaap Sahib too with the sabd, ong-kar aad kathnee anaad - the whole brahmand is being created, sustained and destroyed from the dhuni of this primal word ong-kar. There is a temple 100 Kms away from Indor which is called Ong-kar which is carved in between the mountains and archological surveys estimates it could have been built 4000 ago. So this word could be 4000 old. In order to make clear this unstruck celestial sound, Gur Sahib established a Gurudwara name ong-kar few kilometer away from this temple.
1a> Ik-Ong-Karis a revelation, it is neither prose nor poetry; it is the language of God. This is first facet of God. It is pronounced in three words “Ik-Ong-Kar” means (One Word-One Spirit). Gurbani tells us that this revelation descended on Guru Nanak, “Duin mih iDAwnu iDAwn mih jwinAw - through celestial sound while in meditation.” - Guru Granth ang.879.3. Ik-ong-kar sabd is the sound current of the soundless sound (Anhad Naad) and is “divine light to illuminate this world, which comes to abide within the mind by His grace.” - Guru Granth ang.67.10. Gurbani is the guru of Sikh and guru abides within the baani.
Therefore Supreme Word <> ‘Ek-Ong-Kar’ is His Emanation and as Gurbani tells us form of formless, “siqgur kI bwxI siq srUpu hY gurbwxI bxIAY ] - the Word of the True Guru's Bani is the embodiment of Truth; and through simran of Gurbani, one becomes perfect and merges with the Truth.” - Guru Granth ang.304.16. God of Nanak is preceded by the digit “1” that is the first thing to remember and that only has been represented by sound symbol indicating the being of God, which is Ong-kar. Further the digit one (1) before “Ong-kar” reveals a subtle philosophical concept. Briefly, it may be accepted to reflect that there is only One God for whole humanity. There are, of course, many different names assigned to Him, but there is not different God for different faiths. I consider use of numeral one before ‘Ong-kar’ as deliberate because a numeral is free from all cultural associations and it is an affirmation that it is ONE only. This is revealed in order to avoid any other interpretation. It was a statement to those who claim that only their God is the One, Guru Nanak says what is One can't be yours or mine but One for everyone. By this statement Guru Nanak tells us that ‘The Almighty’ is One indivisible entity and we should not make any attempt to perceive it through human faculties. Numeral one indicating and uncompromisingly stressing. the oneness of reality. One and Ong-kar have been used together and also separately at many places in Gurbani. “Ong” a Sanskrit word– means “Brahm” the cosmic sound symbol, the vibration that is prevalent alike in each and every bit of Creation and it is from this vibration that entire universe has manifested. What we call creation, in reality spells only the transformation of God Himself first into the jewel of Naam and then into the material world. One can raise a legitimate question here: what impelled God to manifest Himself into form of a universe; or from the human viewpoint, what makes Him create? According to the Sikh doctrine, God being Love, wanted to dispense out His Love. Hence He ‘created’ the great universe out of Himself to shower His Love upon it. Guru tells us, “To dispense His Love, He created the cosmic expanse.” - Guru Granth ang.463.5. “Kar (>) ” means the changeless and uniformly pervading in everything and all over (zry zry ivc iek rs, ijs ivc qbdIlI nw Awvy).Question arises, how can it be same in each and particles. It is “just as light permeates the rays of the sun, so does God permeate in every being through and through.” - Guru Granth ang.1177.14. Hence Ek-Ong-kar is the symbol of God. Further use of the numeral ‘one’ is to stress that all have to worship only One God, who is everlasting Entity and none else. Before Guru Nanak, ancient Indian faith believed in Trinity-Trimurti-Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva as the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer respectively. But Nanak says that “Ek-Ong-kar” is the Creator meaning thereby that “He Alone” is the Creator, Preserver and Destroyer. And we have to discover One in His infinite manifestation. Like, “guru guru eyko vys Anyk ] - teacher of teachers is the One, who appears in so many forms. With this declaration the very concept of trinity was dismissed. In addition, ancient rishi’s believed in millions of other deities, gods and goddesses and their miracles.
During the ministry of Guru Nanak it was a general belief that Ganesh is Sidhi Datta (donor of supernatural power) and Sarswati is Budhi Datta (donor of spiritual knowledge), which are the two main requirement of mankind. Guru Nanak says if these two powers can be obtained from anyone other than the God, then there is no need to worship God. Guru Nanak declared that Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesh, Saraswati and Indra etc. all are the creation and Will of One Supreme God and they are subject to birth and death. They can be the object of veneration but not object of human worship. He further clarified that none of these deities have independent authority and thus are not attribute or aspect of God. He says, “It is God alone who is the Doer of deeds. There is none else.” – Guru Granth ang.276.18. Hence the creation has to worship the Creator – the Almighty God in His abstract form i.e. baani. Never ever was this beauty so disclosed in the hearts of humans as in these heart piercing words.“nwnk eyko psirAw dUjw kh idRstwr ] - The One is All-pervading; where is any other to be seen? There is only one Thakur who is doing it all. It is all an expanse of this ONE IK ONG-KAAR.His creativity is infinite as well as beyond relativity and His method of self creativity is a real wonder when we look at the creation and growth of living organisms. All this is to say that dualities are creation of we humans; the ‘Ultimate Reality is only One and we should not get entangled in the complications created by the dualities.
In this invocation each word is combination of two words, like ‘Sat-Naam’. “Sat,” means ever Living Truth being its identity, existing reality and ‘Naam’ – essence of God. Contrary to the belief of others and as per the interpretation of ‘satye maive jayteh’, i.e. ‘Sat’ is Truth, Gurbani tells us both sides of it, “siq siq siq pRBu suAwmI ] gur prswid iknY viKAwnI ] scu scu scu sBu kInw ] koit mDy iknY ibrlY cInw ]- True, True, True is our Ever Living God and Master. By Guru's Grace, few present Him in one or other form. True, True, True is the Absolute Creator (who is anubhav prakash) but out of millions, hardly any have recognized and realized Him.” – Guru Granth ang.279.9. So itdenotes, “inrgunu Awip srgunu BI EhI ] - nirgun is His existence whereas sargun is His presentation. He is without attributes and with attributes. One Reality, nirgun, noumenon, not visible, without physical form like truth that possesses only virtues. The same Reality evolved to become visible, sargun, phenomenon, the matter and all its forms, thus by evidencing His power He fascinates the entire world.” - Guru Granth ang.287.17. Even location of the Golden Darbar Sahib in a pool of water is symbolic of the confluence of nirgun and sargun. Water being “formless” representing nirgun and the Darbar Sahib representing sargun. Thus the pursuit of Truth is the pursuit of God.
The third aspect is infinite creativity ‘Karta-purakh’ – ‘Karta’ means Creator. ‘Purakh’ which means intelligent conscious specifically implies that not Nature, but God is the Creator, Protector and Destroyer. Thus that which provides intelligence and spiritual quest in creation is the unconditioned consciousness, the ‘pursha’. Therefore He is not only the infinately but is pervading in each and every particles of universe or in other word not only the Creator of whatever is seen or unseen but is present in all of His creation. It is one of the aspect of God. All matter and space is Him. Guru Nanak further made clear, “Twkuru eyku sbweI nwir ] - there is only one ‘pursha’ the creator God and the rest all are His followers or His form.” - Guru Granth ang.933.12. So all have to worship the God only.
The fourth aspect is ‘Nir-bhau’ - total fearlessness. In my humble opinion fearless is the one, who has already conquered on emotions like greed, lust, attachment, envy etc. Such a person is not worried about emotions like greed, lust, anger or attachment. And there is no body higher than Him and beyond God there is nothing. Gurbani declares, “He alone is without any fear, other numerous deities (who are called gods) like Rama, are just dust (nothing) before Him.” Guru Granth.464.17. He is the Creator of entire universe so how can He be afraid of anything and or has attachment. God’s next attribute is absence of animosity ‘Nir-vair’. He is without enmity as enmity give rise to equality and, “iqsih srIku nwhI ry koeI ] - no one is equal to Him or He has no other.” - Guru Granth ang.1082.4. We are all part of Him. Can He hate any part of His body? God is all love and forgiveness hence ‘Nir-vair’. He is also mentioned in the scriptures as Sat (Truth), Aadi Shakti, Bhagoutee, Celestial Dancer, Grace, Pure Love, Spaceless, Causeless, Formless, Light, Energy, Spirit, Knowledge, Bliss, Pure Awareness, Divine Consciousness, Infinite, Original Source, Self, Absolute, Ultimate Reality, Primordial Being, and so on, by whose Light and Dynamic energy the entire Universe is created, sustained and withdrawn.
Fifth aspect is eternal, changeless entity ‘Aa-kaal-murat’. Murat means the Life-giving Entity. Akal means deathless and formless. Thus Akal Murat means that God’s Living Entity, which is formless and never dies, an image of eternal. It is clear that God is independent of time. It is so, we all can understand. What is time after all? It is an entity, which elapses between two events. For ‘the Supreme’’ there is no event, naturally time is not an entity for God. Time has meaning only in world where things change; it has meaning for us mortals, not for God. Thus God is a timeless beauty. God is the beauty that finds best expression in beautiful thoughts, words and deeds. Further He is not an imagination, but His presence is felt all over and always through His manifestation. His form, existence is beyond time. He is ageless: He is ancient, yet the beauty is, “swihbu myrw nIq nvw ] - my God and Master presents Himself with new blessings every now and then.” - Guru Granth ang.660.4.
As statement of His existence or form may not be mistaken that He is born or created by someone, thus the sixth aspect straight away says ‘Aa-juni’ that He is beyond cycle of births. Guru Nanak’s God is eternal thus, “Awie n jwvY myrw pRBu AibnwsI - my God does not take birth and dies.” - Guru Granth ang.562.17. It is a general religious belief that God is a human being and is subject to birth and death hence numerous people address Ram and Krishan as God ‘Bhagwan’ or ‘Prabhu’ and worship them who were born and died. But Guru Nanak Ji warned, “so muKu jlau ijqu khih Twkur jonI ] - let that mouth be burnt, which calls anyone God and Master, who is subject to birth and death.” - Guru Granth ang.1136.4. Gurbani reaffirms and tells us, “iliK Aru mytY qwih n mwnw ] - I do not believe in those whom He created and destroyed. I only know the One God who is from the beginning and is not created by anyone but is enlightened by Himself.” - Guru Granth ang.340.8. reincarnation of God into anthropomorphic formsvarious gods and goddesses), Further it may be observed that wherever the Guru has been described by such words as ‘Gobind Rup’ - Guru Granth ang.1272.17, this means that the Guru possesses all the attributes of God and has merged into His baani. It does not mean that he is the incarnation of God, thus Guru rup is not any human form but is exclusively the Guru-Sabd, as it is the Sabd which ultimately remains and not the body (Thus the Sabd which merges or mind has to link during meditation is Guru-Sabd). Further, “Word is the embodiment of the God and the God is in the Word.”- Guru Granth ang. 982.10 and the revealed Word of God is not meant, to be worshiped as ritual but read, listened to and acted upon as the wise counsel of the GURU.
Then it comes ‘Sai-bhang’ means enlightened by itself implying that all that exists emanates from Him while He does not originate in anything else, “AwpIn@Y Awpu swijE AwpIn@Y ricE nwau ] - He is enlightened by Himself and shines in His own Light and Himself created Jewel of Naam, an extension of God.” - Guru Granth ang.463.4. Since He is enlightened by Himself hence He does not need the help of any woman to take birth. He is uncarnated and transcendental. To make it more clear Gubani further tells us, “nwnk BMfY bwhrw eyko scw soie ] – there is only One God who is not manifested with the help of a woman.” - Guru Granth ang.473.10. Thus Guru Nanak wants to give the message if God also has to come through same route and suffers the pain in the womb then what is the difference between Him and us.
The invocation ends with the Word, Gur-parsad. The Guru is in fact the Shabad (Word). So before we start, let us understand that in Sikh teachings, the concept of Guru also plays a major role in interpreting Gurprasad (by the grace of the Guru, He is known). The meaning of grace (Nadar) in Guru Nanak's teachings is to be determined by examining his own personal experience. For Guru Nanak, grace meant something peculiar as a result of his own experience and is to be regarded as God's sovereign act of self-disclosure. God, the only source and totality of power and grace expresses Himself in Word and God Himself as Guru bestows the gift of grace. But again for grant of grace one has to pray and align the ground to seize. The basic mantra is to bring the consciousness in tune with the Sabd of Satguru.
It should be noted that in Guru Nanak's teachings, human guru, though considered as messenger to communicate the message (Word) of God to the humanity, is not a least participant directly or indirectly in the power of grace. Guru Nanak used the term 'Guru' clearly in three senses. The Guru is God; the Guru is the Voice of God; and the Guru is the Word, the Truth of God. These three senses (God, Guru and Guru's Word) are ultimately inseparable. The human gurus, the Guru Panth and finally the Guru Granth Sahib forged the Sikh religion. However, in the scriptural teachings, Gurus refers to Guru Sabd.
Thus it means God can be realized or life comes to this state of mind ‘by the Grace of Guru (Holy Book - source of Spiritual Knowledge or Sabd/verse). It denotes that all the foregoing seven principles could be lived only if mankind is enlightened by practicing the teachings. Then how to be competent or eligible enough to get His Grace is described in all the thirty eight Stanzas.The Guru is the symbol of light or knowledge, which is accompanied by sweetness or parsad. He is ever in gratitude of infinite wisdom for realizing one’s real personality. Just as biological processes create favorable circumstances for a seed first to become a tree and then to transform itself into a fruit, meditation on the Sacred Words (Sabd) creates the necessary energy through which an individual human may reach the heights of supreme attributes and merge in eternal union with the Infinite Wisdom. And first such Sabd was Ek-Ong-Kar. This infinite wisdom descended on Guru Nanak from God, which revealed Gurmat is manifested eternally in Guru Granth Sahib. Indeed by meditating on our Divine spirit through the Sacred Words we are worshipping divine itself. As beauty and fragrance is the quality of a flower, similarly baani is the beauty and fragrance of God and is a vehicle to reach Him. Guru Nanak used the word baani for the words he received from God, words which he transcribed in the form of hymns. Perhaps a strict definition requires us to identify Guru not with God Himself, but with the Voice of God, with the means whereby God imparts His message to human kind. Thus baani and Guru show us the path to realization of Akaal Purkh.
Guru Nanak passed this truth to the mankind with following verse “God has revealed to him to know that without the Guru (the source of Spiritual Knowledge i.e. baani), liberation is not attained, so one must follow and adheres to the teachings of Guru.” - Guru Granth ang.864.7. He further says, “siq purKu ijin jwinAw siqguru iqs kw nwau ] - as the one who knows and recognizes the path which leads to His palace, his Name is Satguru and this Satguru is true source of Divine knowledge (truth).” - Guru Granth ang.286.12. Guru Nanak further declares, “siqgur ivic Awpu riKEnu kir prgtu AwiK suxwieAw - He has placed Himself within the True baani (truth); thus revealing Himself, He declares this openly.” - Guru Granth ang.466.8. It is will be useful to note that the term 'Satguru' is for that entity that manifests the “true dispeller of darkness”. The Gurbani tells us numerous characteristics of the Satguru: Satguru is complete, is spiritual, exists forever, has been existing forever, is free from the cycle of birth and death and is divine knowledge (Satguru ki Baani). As a divine word (the Sabd/Gurmantar), is divine spirit (Jyot) with melody, residing in everybody? This is the intermediate link between the devotee and God, as the vehicle/channel to meet God.
The Mool Mantar recorded ahead of the Japji is in full form. This Mool Mantar, which is glorifying or is indicating God also becomes the invocation for us to remember every time we begin a new work. Bhai Gurdas ji wrote that every time you do Mool Mantar you get ten times closer to the Infinite Being, that's how powerful Mool Mantar is. Guru Nanak defines in Gurbani as, “mUl mMqRü hir nwmu rswiexu khu nwnk pUrw pwieAw ] by Chanting the Mool Mantra, and the Name of the God, the source of nectar, I have found the Perfect God.” –Guru Granth ang.1040.19. It is also chanted (in full or short form) not only in the beginning of each set of Guru hymns but also before writing the Bhagat hymns as a prayer to seek blessings of the gracious God.
Regards Sahni Mohinder
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