Mool Mantar is the basis of Sikhism

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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.

Encompases universally complex Religious, Social, Political, Logical,

Martial & eternanaly TRUE humanitarian concepts. Concepts, evaluated

and proved. The proceeding Japji Sahib and the rest of the SGGS

totalling 1430 pages, are efforts to explain that which is contained

within 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.

 

1. Ek Oankaar - There is only One God

 

Ek | One

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

Ek Onakar, 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. "

 

 

2. Satnaam - His Name is TRUTH

 

Sat

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

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.

 

 

3. Karta Purakh - 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 beings (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.

 

 

4. Nirbhao - 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.

 

 

5. Nirvair - 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.

 

 

6. Akaal Moorat - 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.

 

 

7. Ajoonee - 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.

 

 

8. Saibhan - 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.

 

 

9. Gur Prasaad - 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.

 

Mool Mantar

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