2. Ik Onkaar - The One God, the Absolute Reality

[Guest guest]

2. Ik Onkaar - The One God, the Absolute Reality

 

Traditionally it is always Shri Ganeshji and Mother Saraswati who are

invoked first, because Shri Ganesh is Siddhi Dhaataa and Mother

Saraswati is Buddhi Dhaatri. Man's basic needs are these two: siddhi

and buddhi. Siddhi refers to all the things and gains that can be

achieved in the world, while buddhi refers to all the knowledge there

is in the universe. The hunger for things is of the body while the

thirst for knowledge is of the intellect. Because man is an

intelligent being, he is not satisfied with merely things, he also

wants to know and understand everything. Thus we seek fulfillment of

our actions in the form of results as well as fulfillment of our need

for knowledge, and accordingly Shri Ganeshji and Mother Saraswati are

worshipped before one embarks on any task or project.

 

But where do the various deities or devtaas get their respective

powers from? Is it not from that one Ishwara who is the almighty Lord

of the universe, Himself the one infinite Reality, the Para-Brahma

Parmaatmaa indicated in the Vedas as Om? Indeed, it is from that one

Lord alone that all the devtaas get their different powers to bestow

various benedictions. Therefore Shri Guru Nanak directly invokes that

one almighty Lord called Om and seeks blessings from the original

source, the one powerhouse of the universe.

 

Om is the essence of the Vedas. The Upanishads and the Geeta glorify

It. It with this one sacred syllable all Vedic mangalaacharans are

considered done. By remembering and invoking the Lord as Om, Shri

Guru Nanak Dev dutifully maintains the Vedic paramparaa

or 'tradition', for that new philosophy which disregards age-old

wisdom can never bear fruit.

 

When new thoughts or ideologies are based upon the wisdom of the

ancient, they have not only the fragrance and freshness of the new

but also the strength and tenacity of the old. Saints never come into

this world to destroy the link with the ancient; rather, they come to

fulfill the wisdom of the past. Shri Guru Nanakji did the same. The

approach was new, but the knowledge was not. The language was

different, but the essence the same.

 

Shri Guru Nanakji added the word Ik before Om to indicate that this

Om alone is the One. God can be only one. There is neither a Hindu

God nor a Muslim God nor a Christian God separate from a Jew God. The

names of God in various religions are different, but He as such is

one.

 

The word Ik has great depth and meaning on another level: that not

only is there just one God and not many Gods, but also, whatever

there is in this universe consists in that One alone. There is only

one Reality; the plurality does not exist. All sense of distinction

and differentiation is born of ignorance.

 

Not only do we think of ourselves as being different from one other,

but also, we have divided our " Gods " : your Allah, my Christ, his

Buddha, their Krishna! Thus we quarrel amongst ourselves. It is to

remove this sense of separation and divisiveness, and to remind us

that other than that Reality there is nothing, that Shri Guru Nanakji

has at the very beginning of the mool mantra used the word Ik.

 

The Upanishads declare that there is only one Reality; if we see

anything other than That, it is unreal. This very same fact is echoed

by Shri Guru Nanakji in one of His shabads (sayings): " NANAK KAHAT

JAGAT SUBH MITHYAA, JNU SUPNA RAHENAAIE. Nanak says, 'This world is

an illusion, like the dream at night.' " We think Ishwara, jeeva and

jagat, that is, God, man and the world, are three different entities.

But in reality they are one. The wave is neither distinct nor

separate from the ocean. Vedanta reiterates this eternal truth in the

statement, " BRAHMA SATYAM JAGAT MITHYAA, JEEVO BRAHMAIVA NA APRAAH.

Brahma Satyam: Brahman, the Infinite, alone is real. Jagat mithyaa:

Jagat, or the world of experiences, is an illusion. Jeevo Brahmaiva

na apraah: And jeeva, or the individual ego, is that Infinite alone,

not something other than It. " The same eternal Truth is what is

indicated by Guru Nanakji in the use of the word Ik.

 

There is only the One; there is nothing other than That. But what is

That? It cannot be described in words. Then how are we going to know

it? Surely It must have some name or description?

 

We can describe a thing if it has some attributes, some form,

qualities or functions: for example, the sun is called Amshumaan

because it has rays, and river is called Sarita because it flows.

Thus a thing is recognized or known by its attributes. But

Parmaatmaan has no attributes. How then can we name or describe the

Truth? What words can we use to describe this Truth we call God?

There is only one God, there is none like Him and there is nothing

apart from Him. This whole universe has been created out of him, so

whatever there is in the universe is Him alone. As such He has no

name. But if He has to have a name, then all names are His for He

alone appears as all the forms around us.

 

All names, or words, are made up of syllables or alphabets. The

Rishis indicated the Truth through the one syllable Om, which

contains the three sounds AAA, UUU and MMM. All other sounds are

located within the compass of these three basic sounds.

 

As we know, all sounds are shaped either in the throat, in the mouth

or at the lips. AAA emanates from the throat, UUU is shaped in the

mouth and MMM at the lips. In most languages, the first letter in the

alphabet has an A-sound. Even the first sound a child starts making

is 'aaa'. The last sound to leave our lips when we close our mouth

is 'mmm'. 'Unn' is in the middle of the two. Together they represent

all the basic sounds from which words are produced, and therefore

these three sounds making up the single syllable Om represent the

entire universe of names and forms. Hence Ik Onkaar means: 'that One

alone appears in different names and forms'

 

'Aaa' being the first sound also represents the Creator,

Brahmaji; 'uuu' signifies the Sustainer, Shri Vishnu; and 'mmm' is

associated with the Destroyer, Mahesh or Lord Shiva. That One

Infinite Reality from which the entire universe appears, in which it

is sustained, and in which it is dissolved, is alone the one Ishwara

who is the Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer-Brahma, Vishnu and

Mahesh. They are not three. Only One is playing the three roles. As

such through Ik Onkaar Shri Guru Nanak is invoking that one Lord who

is Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh simultaneously.

 

A deeper meaning of Om is explained in the " Mandukya Upanishad " ,

taking into account all our daily experiences in order to serve as a

guide in our meditation. This theme may be a bit difficult to grasp

for the beginner, but ponder over it and it will reveal to you the

truth about your own nature. And the discovery will be most

rewarding….

 

The 'aaa' sound in Om represents the waking state, 'uuu' the dream

state and 'mmm' the deep sleep state. The waking state is that in

which we experience the gross world of objects through our five

senses, namely, the eyes, ears, nose, skin and tongue. Dream state is

that in which, during sleep, we see the subtle universe conjured up

by our suppressed emotions and thoughts. And deep sleep state is that

in which there is no experience of any object.

 

When I identify with the waking state, I am, so to speak,

the 'waker'. Identifying with the dream I am the dreamer, and in deep

sleep I am the sleeper. In the waking state I say, " I am Swami

Swaroopananda, I am a man, a sanyaasi, " Last night in my dream I saw

I was a king, with a wife and six children! In the deep sleep state I

am neither. Now tell me, who am I? A sanyaasi or a married king?

 

Janak Maharaj asked the great sage Ashtavakra the same question after

he saw himself in a dream helplessly begging for food and dying of

hunger. While he was dreaming, the poverty, the hunger and the

suffering were all very real. Yet when he was awake, he experienced a

reality of a very different kind. So which was real? The king or the

beggar? The lavish comfort of the palace or the pangs of poverty and

hunger? What was the truth?

 

The sage Ashtavakra answered Maharaj Janak, " Neither is real. Truth

or Reality is that which remains unchanged in the three periods of

time: past, present and future. " Did not Shri Guru Nanakji say

exactly the same thing? " AAD SACH, JUGAAD SACH, HAI BHI SACH, NANAK

HOSI BHI SACH " , meaning, " That which was there in the beginning, that

which was there through all the ages, which is here in the present,

and will always remain, even in the future, is the Reality. That

which is negated or not present at some point in time is not real. "

 

Why do we call that which is experienced in the dream unreal? Is it

not because when we wake up, the dream world is no longer there?

Following that logic, how can we say that this world, which we

experience in the waking state, is real, when it is not available to

us in the dream state?

 

For that matter, both the worlds of experience - the waking and dream

states-are not available in the deep sleep state. Each is negated in

the other state. And even the objects of our experiences never remain

the same; what is here today is not there tomorrow. So, too, is the

waker not present in the dream state or the deep sleep state, not the

dreamer or 'dream ego' available in the waking state or deep sleep

state, and the deep sleeper in any of the two other states. Thus

neither the waking world and one's experience therein, nor the waker

or the 'ego in the waking state', with its identity as man or woman,

king or beggar, is real. The same applies to the dream and deep sleep

states.

 

The great Rishis, saints and sages like Shri Guru Nanak Dev, through

Their keen observation, deep thinking and intense meditation, came to

understand that the entire phenomenal world consisting of objects,

emotions and thoughts, as well as what one considers oneself in the

three states, are all untrue and unreal. The Truth, They found out,

is beyond all these. It transcends everything. This One Truth or God

called Om is something other than all which we experience, for

everything we experience is changing.

 

One may come to the conclusion, then, that It does not exist. Or that

this universe comes from non-existence. But if we enquire further, we

shall discover three very important things: 1) No change is possible

without a changeless substratum. For example, for a river to flow,

there must be a changeless riverbed. 2) Change is recognized only

with reference to the changeless. For instance, if you were on a

ship, you would recognize its movement only with reference to the

motionless lighthouse yonder or some other stationary object. 3) Asat

or 'non-existence' cannot be the cause of all the things we

experience as existing. What if someone told you that the children

playing in the garden were the children of a barren woman's son?

Would you believe that person? A barren woman's son is non-existent,

so how could those children be his?

 

Thus the cause of this world is not asat, it is sat. and so the next

word in the mool mantra is Sat Naam.

 

Ik Onkaar - The One God, the Absolute Reality

http://esamskriti.com/