Guru Nanak Dev Ji And Satnaam
SatNaam is comprised of two words "SAT" (Truth) and "NAAM" (Name). Humans have giving countless names to God that describe his characteristics eg the Almighty. But according to the Guru the original name God chose for Himself was "SAT" meaning "TRUTH".
kirtam naam kathay tayray jihbaa. Sat naam tayraa paraa poorbalaa.
With my tongue I describe You with the praise names.
But, the name "SAT" is Your perfect, primal one.
SGGS - 1082
With the blessings of the Guru, it is the one word that penetrates every heart and pierces through the Universe to take you back to the Source - Truth.
Five hundred years ago, when Guru Nanak Dev Ji went and met the holy men in the mountains tops, they used their supernatural powers to show off how great they were and hoped that the Guru would join them. When Nath, the head man challenged the Guru to show them a miracle too, this is all the Guru said to them:
"O respected Nath! Please listen to the truth that I utter. Without SATNAAM I have no other miracle. I may wear the clothes of fire and build my house in the Himalayas . I may eat the iron and make earth move to my orders. I may expand myself so much that I could push the earth. I may weigh the earth and the sky against few grams of weight. I may have so much power that I push aside anybody just by saying so. But without SATNAAM, all these powers are momentary like the Shadow of the clouds."
(Bhai Gurdas Ji Var 1)
Then the holy men tried to use their Supernatural powers again but they found they had all been taken away by God. They fell at the Guru's feet in humility and humbly asked to be blessed with the greatest gift of Naam - SatNaam.
"I bow before the God-Guru who announced the SATNAAM mantra."
(Bhai Gurdas Ji Var 1 Line 1)
May The One God Named Truth, the SatNaam, Bless You.
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Waheguru and Satnaam are both names of God. By meditating on any name of
God with a true heart and truthful deeds one will ultimately realise the essence of reality - the TRUTH.
WaheGuru is a name of God commonly used by Sikhs in meditation. It is comprised of two words WAHE and GURU. GURU in India means a Master of any subject, eg your music teacher is your Guru. However in divinity GURU comes from GUR, which means God's original spiritual form of Supreme Light Energy. When the Supreme Light manifests inside a pure heart, it is that Light that is called GURU - not the physical person. For example Guru Nanak means "The Guru (God's Supreme Light) resided in Nanak's heart". WAHE is Wondrous. Hence saying WaheGuru is praising God as being "The Wondrous Guru". It is praising God inside every enlightened heart. Repeating it removes the darkness of our ego. By recognising the Lord's Light in every God-conscious being past, present and future regardless of religion, we are truly humbled. Humility paves the way for the Supreme Light to enter our heart too.
SatNaam is also made of two words "SAT" (Truth) and "NAAM" (Name). Humans have giving countless names to God that describe his characteristics eg the Almighty. But according to the Guru the original name God chose for Himself was "SAT" meaning "TRUTH". With the blessings of the Guru, it is the one word that penetrates every heart and pierces through the Universe to take you back to the Source - Truth.
Five hundred years ago, when Guru Nanak went and met the holy men in the mountains tops, they used their supernatural powers to show off how great they were and hoped that the Guru would join them. When Nath, the head man challenged the Guru to show them a miracle too, this is all the Guru said to them:
Guru Nanak said, O respected Nath! Please listen to the truth that I utter.
Without SATNAAM I have no other miracle. I may wear the clothes of fire and build my house in the Himalayas . I may eat the iron and make earth move to my orders. I may expand myself so much that I could push the earth. I may weigh the earth and the sky against few grams of weight. I may have so much power that I push aside anybody just by saying so. But without SATNAAM, all these powers are momentary like the Shadow of the clouds. (Bhai Gurdas)
Then the holy men tried to use their Supernatural powers again but they found they had all been taken away by God. They fell at the Guru's feet in humility and begged to be blessed with the greatest gift of Naam - SatNaam.
"I bow before the Guru who announced the SATNAAM mantra." (Bhai Gurdas)
Mus1k.com - Satnaam Mantra Background
Satnaam - His name is Sat, Ever True
3. Satnaam His name is Sat, Ever True
A name is always given to something that exist, never to that which does not exist. And here the name itself is Sat, which means 'the Eternal, Changeless Existence'.
But let us not be satisfied with just the literal meaning. Rather, in our inquiry let us try to understand what Sat really is, and in our meditation discover that which is indicated as Sat.
Everything in this world of naama, roopa and guna-this world of name, form and quality-is ever-changing. It therefore cannot be Sat. so what is the Reality supporting the world?
It is observed that the seer of the change is something other than the change. If you have seen all the cars that have passed by whilst you were on the road, certainly you were not in any of the moving cars. In other words, you, the observer or seer of the change, are not part of or inside the change, but outside of it a changeless vantage-point.
None of the experiences in the three states, waking, dream and deep sleep, can be the Sat. neither the waker, nor the dreamer nor deep sleeper. So what is the Reality supporting the world, and what is the Truth about myself?
We consider ourselves to be the body and think of ourselves as handsome or beautiful, tall or short, fat or lean, etc. But this body does not exist in our dream or deep sleep. Then how can we say that we are the body? Yet, in spite of the body not being available to us in the other two states, we still exist. Therefore by identifying with the body, I am identifying with the unreal.
The waker is not present in the dream or in deep sleep, nor are the dreamer or sleeper present in the waking state, and still, I, the witness, the saakshi, am aware of all the experiences in the three states. This Awareness or Consciousness, the Atma Chaitanya who is the witness of the three states and therefore of the entire world of experiences, who is the witness of the ever-changing body, mind and intellect, is the Eternal, Changeless Existence, which in philosophy we call 'Truth' and the religion 'God'.
This is the real I, the Atma Chaitanya, who is the one Changeless in all the changes, which is Om and named as Sat. He who knows this has recognized the Truth. Therefore from the many names of God Shri Guru Nanakji has chosen Sat Naam.
The appellation Sat Naam can also be understood in several other ways: One, as already explained, Its name is Sat because It is the Eternal, Immutable Existence.
Two, Sat Naam also means 'His name is true', or, put another way, 'He is true to His name'. Our names are not as per what we are. A man may be named Ram but his actions might be like Ravana's! The name could be Balbeer, meaning 'strong and courageous', but the man might be such a weakling he could be blown away like a feather! Ishwara or the Lord is truly Sat, therefore He is called by exactly what He is, Sat.
Three, His name is 'Truth' because it leads us to Him and reveals the Truth.
Four, when we said earlier that the One Lord Om is Sat, that is, It is Eternal, the reader who did not inquire deeply enough could have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as Sat, for everything in this world is changing. So the compassionate Guru Nanakji says that the Lord does have a name…. Which means that He does exist, for one does not give a name to something that does not exist.
Five, as a name also connotes status, this implies that He, the Lord, has great name and fame. He is the one with the greatest position or status. And it is certainly so, for He is Kartaa Purakh.
Satnaam - His name is Sat, Ever True
Satnaam His name is Sat, Ever True
Shri Guru Nanakji's
IK ONKAAR
Shri Guru Nanakji's IK ONKAAR
Meditation on The One Indivisible Truth
[by Swami Swaroopananda
Courtesy & Copyright Chinmaya Mission ]
The piece is divided into ten chapters namely -
1. Mool Mantra
Fundamental Meanings and Philosophical Implications
Mantras are those mystical sound symbols, or words of deep significance, which serve to protect the person who chants them and reflects upon their meaning. In fact, they are minute "word-capsules" or "phrase-capsules" filled with immense knowledge.
In the term mool mantra, mool means 'root'. Every tree has roots without which it cannot exist. The tree is sustained and nourished through these roots. They constitute the very foundation of the tree from which it grows and expands. In the same way, mool mantra means 'that mantra in which lies the very essence of the Scripture', the entire Scripture being an elaboration, expansion or explanation of that mantra.
Just as Om is considered to be the mool mantra of the Vedas and the name Shri Ram the essence of the "Ramayan", so too Ik-Onkaar Sat-Naam Kartaa-Purakh Nirbhau Nirvair Akaal-Moorat Ajuni Saibangh Gurparsaad is considered to be the mool mantra of the "Granth Sahib". Revealing and expounding on the Truth enshrined in this mantra is the entire "Japji Sahib", and the elaboration of the "Japji Sahib" is the entire "Granth Sahib".
From time immemorial it has been the tradition of all the great Rishis of the Holy Land of Bharat to first invoke the Higher to bestow auspiciousness upon Them before They commence writing or composing any sacred textbook. All such prayers, invocations, and praises are called mangalaacharan.
Through these invocations the Rishis surrendered Their ego, Their sense of limited individuality, so that it would not "contaminate" or influence the sacred task They were about to embark on. All the same time They sought the blessings of the Higher, by whose Grace alone can anything be successfully achieved.
Shri Guru Nanak Devji is the Rishi who is the mantra dhrashtaa or 'seer' of the 'Ik-Onkaar….' mool mantra, which means that this mantra was revealed to Him in His meditation.[ I am not sure Of this. the readers may kindly like to establish]
It was with this mool mantra as well that He performed mangalaacharan, praising the lord before starting on the "Japji Sahib".
Saibangh - He is Self-existent and Self-illuminating
That which is the cause of the entire universe has nothing other than Itself as Its cause. So no one created God. He was ever existent and will ever remain.
If we say that someone created God, then the next question would be, "who created that which created God?" And we could go on and on ad nauseam. So logically we would have to conclude that there is one ultimate self-existent cause of the universe, and that cause we call the supreme Reality or God.
This is self-existent Reality; by what can it be known? How can we recognize it?
All the objects in the world are illuminated by the sun or some source of light and are thus perceived by our senses and apprehended by out intellect. But by which light can we perceive the ultimate Reality, and with what instrument can we know or understand It?
The sun cannot illuminate It, nor the senses perceive It nor the intellect know It... for it is the very subject by whose light all objects - including the sun - are illuminated, and because of which the senses, mind and intellect can function. Therefore, Shri Guru Nanakji says, It is Saibangh, which means It is 'shining in Its own light'....It is 'self-illuminating'.
It is of the nature of Consciousness without which even the sun cannot be seen. This Consciousness which lights up the entire universe including the body, senses, mind and intellect, because of which the entire universe is known and in Whose light of awareness, the sun, the moon, the stars, the lightning and the fire shine, what other source is required to illuminate It? It is ever shining in Its own light.
How can such a Reality be gained? It can be gained only through Gurparsaad (the Grace of the Guru).
Saibangh - He is Self-existent and Self-illuminating
Saibangh - He is Self-existent and Self-illuminating
Mool Mantar
The
Mool Mantar (also spelt
Mul Mantra) is the most important composition contained within the Sri
Guru Granth Sahib; it is the basis of
Sikhism. The word
Mool means
main ,
root or
chief and
Mantar means
magic chant or
magic portion. Together the words
Mool Mantar mean the
Main chant or
root verse. It’s importance is emphasised by the fact that it is the first composition to appear in the
SGGS and that it appears before the commencement of most of the
Raags within the Sikh holy scripture.
Manglacharan in the handwriting of Guru Arjan Dev ji from the Kartarpuri Bir
The
Mool Mantar is said to be the first composition uttered by
Guru Nanak Dev ji upon
enlightenment at the age of 30. Being the basis of Sikhism it encapsulates the entire theology of
Sikhism. It is also the most brief & comprehensive composition encompassing universally complex Religious, Social, Political, Logical, Martial & eternaly TRUE humanitarian concepts. Concepts, evaluated & proved as flawless beyond any ambiguity what so ever. The proceeding
Japji Sahib and the rest of the
SGGS totaling 1430 pages, is detailed amplification of the Mool Mantar.
This is the verse that all beginners to
Sikhism have to learn and repeat over and over again until it becomes an automatic process. After learning this short verse and its full meaning, it is common for beginners to awake early in the morning, wash and sit and mediate on the Mantar for 10 to 20 minutes focussing on the sound and meaning of each word. It is said that the rest of the
Guru Granth Sahib is an elaborations of the
Mool Mantar and that this Mantar is an explanation of the word –
Ek Oankaar, which is the first entry in the
SGGS and this Mantar.
"The Mul Mantra, the Root Mantra, is the only cure for the mind; I have installed faith in God in my mind" - SGGS page 675
Mool Mantar - SikhiWiki, free Sikh encyclopedia.
I have posted material on 'waheguru', satnaam' IKonkar,Saibhung and Mool Mantar. I have taken these from various sources as available on net.
Analysis Of Mool Mantar
The
Mool Mantar is said to be the first composition uttered by
Guru Nanak Dev ji upon
enlightenment at the age of 30. Being the basis of Sikhism it encapsulates the entire theology of
Sikhism. It is also the most brief & comprehensive composition encompassing universally complex Religious, Social, Political, Logical, Martial & eternaly TRUE humanitarian concepts. Concepts, evaluated & proved as flawless beyond any ambiguity what so ever. The proceeding
Japji Sahib and the rest of the
SGGS totaling 1430 pages, is detailed amplification of the Mool Mantar.
Ek Oankaar |ੴ
There is only One God
Ek | One
Mool Mantar Poster
There is but one God, the Sole Supreme Being, the Ultimate Reality. The number one denotes that God is non-dual (advait). Bhai Gurdas writes, "By writing 1 (one) in the begining, it has been shown that EkOnakar, God, who subsumes all forms in Him is only One (and not two or three)" The number one also affirms His being a personality and not merely
Shunya or void.
The negation of duality implies Absoluteness of God's Being. Being Absolute, God cannot be comprehended by the mind. The mind is capable of knowing only those things, phenomena, facts and concepts which are bipolar or relative. God being Non-Dual and Absolute, is Unknowable to man's mind. A simple example of this is in imagining distances: one could quite easily indicate that a metre in height is so high; even two or three metres. However when it comes to large distances, one mile, or two miles it cannot be imagined by the mind, or fully comprehended and so a standard is used for comparison: this mountain is x miles high, this tree is so high etc
Oankaar
The word 'O-ankaar' denotes that God manifests Himself ceaselessly throughout His Creation in diverse forms, features and colours, and in this way becomes knowable to man. But, in spite of manifesting Himself diversing, God remains One; He remains Immanent in His Creation, while at the same time remaining Transcendent. This God is at once One and Many implying Unity in Diversity. Kapur Singh suggests Oan = Transcedent, -kar = Immanent. The Mandukopanishad defines the word as: "That which was, is, will be, is all Onkar. And that which triple transcends is Onkar too."
Satnam | ਸਤਿਨਾਮੁ
His Name is TRUTH
Sat | ਸਤਿ
In Sanskrit there are two words which have this root:
Sat which means beingness, existence and
Satya which means truth, validity. There is a great difference between the two. Satya is the quest of the philosopher who seeks truth. What is this truth? It lies in the rules whereby two plus two always equals four, and never five or three. So Satya is a mathematical formula, a man-made calculation, but it is not Sat. It is logical truth but not existential reality. Sat is that which just is, always was, eternal. God is both Sat and Satya, existence as well as truth. Being both He can neither be fully attained through science, which probes truth, nor through arts, which explores existence. Both are incomplete in their search, because they are directed only towards one half of Him. Where both meet, where the mind and heart meet, religion begins. If the mind overpowers the heart, science is born. If the heart overpowers the mind, the realm of art is entered: poetry, music, song, sculpture. Science and Art are dualities, religion is the synthesis.
Giani Jagtar "Jachak", past head granthi in Harmandar Sahib teaches that God is the only, stable origin of creation. He creates, and He constantly touches up His masterpiece creation, like an artist who caringly touches up his work. The universe will eternally follow the plan of His "hukam" all the natural laws of the universe. Creation is the results of God's hukam which never ceases. All things in the unviverse are contstantly being recycled or changing in molecular structure.
Naam | ਨਾਮੁ
Naam literally means,
the Name. A fuller definition of the word can only be found within the SGGS itself.
Naam is God’s
Word, or the Divine Essence. Etymologically, the word has a striking resemblence with the Greek
neumena or the Bright Essence as opposed to phenomena. Naam is not merely the ‘Name of God’ as is commonly believed; it symbolises the Being of God filling all Creation. Naam is also referred to as Sabad in the SGGS.
Where there was no creation, there was nothing in existence – no air, light, water, earth or space. God existed alone in deep meditation and self absorption. When God willed for the manifestations of his values, He created universes, worlds and all material and other living beings by uttering a single
Word. His
Word is all pervasive and the sole source of all Creation; the
Word created the universes and supports and sustains all things within them. The Sri Guru Granth Sahib further enlightens us that God’s Word turned into waves of light, rays of which are present in all creatures and all other parts of His creation. This is consistent with a fundamental principle of physics that sound vibrations, when increased several fold, change into waves of light.
This Essence / Naam / Sabad / Logus is formless, colourless, and featureless but, as said, is present in all creation. There is no plant, no creature, in what it is not. The Earth and other heavenly bodies exist because there is Naam in this universe and when God withdraws this Naam from this Universe, their is natural calamities (Parloh / Mahaparloh) all over the universe and this is the time that the universe perishes and all the living creatures perish. Being so, the Essence can’t be seen or visualised by the mind. We can see only the physical dimension of Reality in God’s Creation – mountains, plants, trees, creatures etc. Thus the Outer Shell of Reality holds us (the appearences delude us) and we cannot penetrate deeper to experience the all pervading Reality. The physical dimensions of Reality (the outer shell) is always in flux; it keeps changing. While birth, death, creation, destruction etc. occur in the physical dimensions of creation, the Essence, being
Sat (Sat-Naam) never changes, it transcends space and time.
We cannot focus our mind or attention on God, who is Absolute, the invisible Essence. The Naam (SHABD), the Name of God is the only medium available to us for approaching Him. The Naam actually is a combination of 5 words (which actually are the name of 5 supernatural heavenly places which fall on the way when the soul is starting towards the SACHKHAND) which only a true Guru can give to it's disciples. All who get Naam from the Guru have to concentrate at one point in their mind and recite the Naam in their mind without actually uttering it. When we recite Naam, our soul starts responding to it. It actually starts to shrink and starts moving towards the the point in our body called the THIRD EYE. When a person practices it for a very long time he/she reaches the SACHKHAND. Thus, it is through the Naam that we are able to think of Him, to remember Him. In other words, the Naam is God Himself, adopted to our limited powers of perception and thought, adopted to the capacities of our body and mind. Because we are endowed with the capacity to utter and attentively listen, the continuous recitation of and attentive listening to the Naam focuses our mind on the object of invocation, resulting in a ceaseless rememberence of God (DHYAAN). This Dhyaan, in turn, results in complete absorption of our conciousness on the thought of God, who responds to our earnest invocation and reveals Himself in our inner being.
The revelation of the Essence of Reality within us is the revelation of Naam. When the revelation of Naam occurs within, the devotee sees His the Essence of God pervading throughout His Creation.
Gurus have tought that their teachings are for all the religion (varnas)and all have the right to get the teachings of the Gurus. To Initate our soul so that it starts towards the ultimate goal (SACHKHAND) a person has to repeatidly and continuously recite the Naam, and to cherish it in the heart all the time – this is the essence of prayer and devotion to God.
In Gurbani, the word Gursabad or Sabad is synonymous with Naam. Without ceaseless recitation of Naam the God cannot be realised.
Karta Purakh | ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ
The Creator
Karta translates literally as the Doer, the Creator.
Purukh translates literally as man, husband, basically a male person.
In the Sankhya system of Hindu philosophy,
Purusha (the Universal Spirit), eternal, indestructible, all pervasive, is without activity or attribute, and if it is left to
Prakriti (primal nature), itself an uncaused cause, and an ultimate principle, to bring the phenomenal world into being.
The Sikh doctrine, however, while making use of the word, emphasizes Purusha being Himself and only Creator. As in Sufi and Vaishnavic lore, He is the only He, His creatures being females longing to go out and Unite with Him.
Dr.Santokh Singh says: God, the Supreme Being, Himself is the Creator (Kartaa), and being immanent in His Creation, is All Pervasive and fills all (Purakh). He is thus Omniscient, knowing each one's inner mind, and Omnipotent, doing everything everywhere - evoluting, sustaining, and involuting.
By stating God as the Creator, one may think that the Creator and His creation to be separate. When man sculpts an idol and the idol is completed, the sculptor and the sculpture are no longer one; they are separate. And the sculpture will remain long after the sculptor is dead. If the image fractures, the sculptor is not also broken, because the two are separate. There is no such distance between God and His creation.
What kind of relationship exists between God and His creation? It is like a dancer with his dance. When man dances can you separate him from his dance? Can he return home leaving the dance behind? If the dancer dies, so the dance dies with him. When the dance stops, he is no longer the dancer. They are united. This is why since ancient times, Hindus have looked upon God as the dancer, “Nataraj.” In this symbol the dancer and the dance are one.
The poet is no longer related to his poem, once it is finished. The sculptor is separated from his sculpture as soon as it is completed. A mother gives birth to a child, and they are separate; the father is always distinct from the child. But God is not distinct from His creation; He is contained in it. It would be more accurate to say: the Creator is the creation, or the creator is nothing but creativity.
This is essentially the reason why Guru Nanak Dev ji says there is no need to renounce or run away from the world. Wherever you are, He is. Guru Nanak Dev ji gave birth to a unique religion in which the householder and sannyasin are one. He alone is entitled to call himself a Sikh who, being a householder is yet a sannyasin; who, being a sannyasin is still a householder. It is difficult to be a Sikh. It is easy to be a householder OR a sannyasin, but as a Sikh you are to be both. You have to remain in the house – but as if you’re not there, as if you are in the Himalayas. Keep running the shop, but maintain the remembrance of His name ever throbbing within; you can count your cash but take His name along with it.
A further point to note here is that the householder-sannyasin as exampled by Guru Nanak, and further emphasised by Guru Gobind Singh in terms of the Sant-Sipahi (Saint-Soldier), resulting in the formation of the Khalsa, is a formidible being because he cannot be corrupted. He who sits right in your world and yet is not of it can in no way be tempted. The Khalsa is spiritually rich, which cannot be taken from him and also he earns a living and so is not enamoured by the trappings of wealth.
Nirbhao | ਨਿਰਭਉ
Without Fear
Bhao translates as fear, and
Nir translates as without. God is without fear: Origin of fear is possible only if there is another being besides Him. Fear always involves the other: if someone can take something away from you it destroys your security. But, as God is Absolute, Himself immanent in all His Creation, whom is He to be afraid of? A corollary to this attribute, stated positively, is that God is all Bliss.
Nirvair | ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ
Without Hate
Vair translates as enmity, hostility and
Nir is without. God is without rancour or enmity; As God is the Sole Supreme Being, Himself immanent and pervasive in His Creation, against whom is He to have rancour, enmity, hatred or ill-will? A corollary to this attribute, stated positively, is that God is all Love. He is above all fear and is free from all thoughts of enmity.
Akaal Moorat | ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ
Being Beyond Time
Akaal translates as 'not subject to time or death' and
Moorat translates as form, shape, image. God is a Being beyond time: An Eternal, Indestructible Entity.
Time means change. We are aware of time because we are surrounded by change: the sun rises and it is morning, then it is afternoon and then evening; first there is the infant, then the youth, then the old man; a healthy man becomes ill, an ill person healthy; a rich man becomes a pauper, a pauper becomes a king. For God there is no time because He is eternal, perpetual, immortal. He is forever. For Him nothing is changing; everthing is static. Change is the experience of sightless eyes that do not see things in their full perspective. If we could see things from the furthest vantage point all change drops away, and then time stops; it ceases to exist. For God all things are as they are; nothing changes, everything is static.
Ajoonee | ਅਜੂਨੀ
Unborn / Not-incarnated
Joon is a feminine noun and translates as 'birth, existence', the
A- suggests 'Beyond'.
God is Unborn, Uncreated, Beyond Incarnation: He Himself, being the Primal Being, no being prior to Him can be conceived.
Sikhism rejects out of hand the theory of incarnation of God. The Guru-Saint thus is not God-incarnate, even though he has all the attributes of a living, human God and so identified with Him, as is his Word the (disembodied) embodiment of the Gur through which he reveals his God-nature.
Saibhan | ਸੈਭੰ
Self-existent
Saibhan is derived from the Sanskrit
swayambhu and as stated above, is translated as self-existent. The meaning of self-existent is that He is self-creating, He exists by Himself and has no support except His own; He is self-begotten and has no origin.
Gur Prasaad | ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ
By the favour of the 'Shabad Guru' i.e. 'Satgur' ( in short 'Gur' )
Gur stands for Guru: Master, Spiritual Teacher, Guide.
Prasad translates as favour, grace; thus He is attained by the Grace of the Enlightener.
The above translation is that which is given by the majority of Sikhs. Both Macauliffe and Dr.Gopal Singh have suggested that the Mool Mantar was intended as epithets of God - Macauliffe suggest the phrase to mean, "the great and bountiful."
Guru Nanak Dev ji had no human Guru; his Guru was
Satgur.
Sat(TRUE/TRUTH)
gur(In Gurmukhi litteraly meaning IDEA/SOLUTION/KEY to a problem) It was during the spiritual supremacy of his successors the favour of the Guru was invoked, and deemed indispensible for deliverance. Moreover, suggests Macauliffe, though
Gur Prasad does sometimes in the Guru Granth Sahib means the Guru's favour, it more often expressed by
Guru Parsadi.
Dr.Gopal Singh says that "...many Sikh and European translators have joined the word
Gur and
Prasad together to suggest: "By favour (or Grace) of the Guru (is He dwelt upon)". But here Guru Nanak is giving, in monosyllables, the attributes of God. The Guru here, therefore, is Guru-in-God whose Grace is invoked. As such
Guru can only be rendered as "Enlightener" which is also its literal meaning in Sanskrit."
I have just tried to present the analysis Of Mool Mantar and explanation .These are taken from the following pages of SikhiWiki. One may refer to these for a detailed analysis. One may also like to add other material to make the contents richer.