The Mool Mantar (literally, the root verse; the first hymn composed by Sri Guru Nanak) sums up the basic belief of the Sikhs.
Sri Guru Granth Sahib(living Guru of Sikhs) begins with the Mool Mantar. it is the foundation upon which the subsequent verses, hymns, and prayers of the Sri Guru Granth Sahib (which amounts to about 1430 pages) elaborate
Every Sikh is expected to recite it daily for meditation.
Mool Mantar:
ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
The Gurmukhi-English translation is given below:
ੴ
Ik Oankaar
ਅਕਾਲ ਪੁਰਖ ਇੱਕ ਹੈ
One Universal Creator God.
There is one God, the sole Supreme Being, the Ultimate Reality. There is one God, the sole Supreme Being, the Ultimate Reality. Bhai Gurdas writes, "By writing 1 (one) in the beginning, it has been shown that Ek Oankar, God, who subsumes all forms in Him is only One (and not two or three)." 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 us.
ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ
sat Naam
ਜਿਸ ਦਾ ਨਾਮ 'ਹੋਂਦ ਵਾਲਾ' ਹੈ ਜੋ ਸ੍ਰਿਸ਼ਟੀ ਦਾ ਰਚਨਹਾਰ ਹੈ
His Name Is Truth
Sat is that which just is and always has been, eternal. Naam means, literally, the Name. Naam is also referred to as Shabad in Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Naam is God’s Word, or the Divine Essence. When God willed 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 Essence/Naam/Shabad/Logos is formless, colourless, and featureless but, as said, is present in all creation. There is no plant, no creature, in which it is not present. The Earth and other heavenly bodies exist because there is Naam in this universe, and when God withdraws this Naam from this Universe, there are natural calamities (Parloh/Mahaparloh) all over the universe. This is the time that the universe perishes and all the living creatures perish. Being as it is, the Essence cannot 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 appearances delude us) and we cannot penetrate deeper to experience the all-pervading Reality. The physical dimensions of Reality (the outer shell) are always in flux; they keep 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 five words (which are the names of five supernatural heavenly places along the soul's journey toward the SACHKHAND) which only a true Guru can give to his disciples. All who receive 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 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 remembrance of God (DHYAAN). This Dhyaan, in turn, results in complete absorption of our consciousness to 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 the Essence of God pervading throughout His Creation.
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 five words (which are the names of five supernatural heavenly places along the soul's journey toward the SACHKHAND) which only a true Guru can give to his disciples. All who receive 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 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 remembrance of God (DHYAAN). This Dhyaan, in turn, results in complete absorption of our consciousness to 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 the Essence of God pervading throughout His Creation.
ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ
Karta Purakh
ਜੋ ਸਭ ਵਿਚ ਵਿਆਪਕ ਹੈ,
Creative Being Personified: Doer of everything
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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 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 the 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. Purakh means a male or husband who leads his female compatriot. So karta purakh meanS doer of everything who cannot be followed by anyone.
In the Sankhya system of Hindu philosophy, Purusha (the Universal Spirit), eternal, indestructible, all-pervasive, is without activity or attribute, and 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 the 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. Purakh means a male or husband who leads his female compatriot. So karta purakh meanS doer of everything who cannot be followed by anyone.
ਨਿਰਭਉ
Nirbhao
ਭੈ ਤੋਂ ਰਹਿਤ ਹੈ,
He has No Fear.
Bhao translates as fear, and Nir translates as without. God is without fear: fear always involves the other, and such fear is possible only if there is another being besides Him. If someone can take something away from you it destroys your security. But, as God is Absolute, Himself immanent in all His Creation, whom should He fear? A corollary to this attribute, stated positively, is that God is all Bliss.
ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ
Nirvair
ਵੈਰ-ਰਹਿਤ ਹੈ,
He has No Hatred
Vair translates as enmity or hostility, and Nir translates as 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.
ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ
Akaal Moorat
ਜਿਸ ਦਾ ਸਰੂਪ ਕਾਲ ਤੋਂ ਪਰੇ ਹੈ, (ਭਾਵ, ਜਿਸ ਦਾ ਸਰੀਰ ਨਾਸ-ਰਹਿਤ ਹੈ),
Image Of The Undying; Timeless
Akaal translates as "not subject to time or death" and Moorat translates as form, shape, or 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; everything 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 would drop away, and then time would stop; it would cease to exist.
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; everything 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 would drop away, and then time would stop; it would cease to exist.
ਅਜੂਨੀ
Ajuni
ਜੋ ਜੂਨਾਂ ਵਿਚ ਨਹੀਂ ਆਉਂਦਾ,ਅਜਨਮਾ
He does not come in birth cycles
Joon is a feminine noun and translates as birth or existence; the A- suggests 'Beyond'. So he is beyond birth-cycles. God is Uncreated, Beyond Incarnation: He Himself, being the Primal Being, no being prior to Him can be conceived.
ਸੈਭੰ
saibhan
ਸਵੈ-ਪ੍ਰਕਾਸ਼ਵਾਨ ਹੈ,
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.
ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥
Gur Prasaad
ਜੋ ਸਤਿਗੁਰੂ ਦੀ ਕਿਰਪਾ ਨਾਲ ਮਿਲਦਾ ਹੈ।
He is met by Guru's Grace ~.
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Gur stands for Guru: Master, Spiritual Teacher, Guide. Prasad translates as favour, grace; thus He is attained by the Grace of the Enlightener.
