Mool Mantar
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
http://www.sikhiwiki.org/
Guru Granth Sahib: 1. Mool Mantra - Fundamental Meanings
Guru Granth Sahib: 2. Ik Onkaar - The One God, the Absolute Reality
Guru Granth Sahib: 3. Satnaam - His name is Sat, Ever True
Guru Granth Sahib: 4. Kartaa Purakh - The Only Doer, the One Creator
Guru Granth Sahib: 5. Nirbhau Nirvair - Fearless and All-loving is He
Guru Granth Sahib: 6. Akaal Moorat - His Form (Existence) Transcends Time
Guru Granth Sahib: 7. Ajuni - He is Without Birth or Beginning
Guru Granth Sahib: 8. Saibangh - He is Self-existent and Self-illuminating
Guru Granth Sahib: 9. Gurparsaad - The Grace of the Guru
Guru Granth Sahib: 10. Jap - Chant
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