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Ik - 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 number one also affirms identity.
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 the human mind. A simple example of this is in imagining distances: one could quite easily indicate that a meter 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.
Onkar - The word 'AUNKAAR' denotes that God manifests Himself ceaselessly throughout His creation in diverse forms, features and colours, and in this way becomes knowable to us. But, in spite of manifesting in such diverse forms, God remains One; He is immanent in His creation, while being at the same time 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."
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 has been, 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 art, 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.
Naam - Naam means, literally, the Name. A fuller definition of the word can only be found within the Sri Guru Granth Sahib. Naam is God’s Word, or the Divine Essence. 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 Shabad in the SGGS. Figuritively it also means essense.
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 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.
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 appearances 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.
Karta translates literally as the Doer.
Purukh translates literally as man, husband, basically a male person.
In the Sankhya system of Indic 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.
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 that God is the Creator, one may think that the Creator and His creation are separate. But it is not so.
The relationship that exists between God and His creation is like the one between a dancer and his dance form. When man dances, can you separate him from his dance? Can he return home leaving the dance behind? If the dancer dies, the dance dies with him. When the dance ends, he is no longer the dancer. They are united, one. This is why since ancient times, Indians have looked upon God as the dancer, “Nataraj.” In this symbol the dancer and the dance are one.
A 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.
Nirbhao : 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 : Vair translates as enmity, 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.
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; everything is static.
Ajooni : Joon is a feminine noun and translates as 'birth, existence', the A- suggests 'Beyond'.
God is Uncreated, Beyond Incarnation: He Himself, being the Primal Being, no being prior to Him can be conceived.
Sikhism believes in the physical incarnation of God. The Guru-Saint thus is God-incarnate, even though he has all the attributes of a living, human God and so identified with Him, as is his Word the embodiment of the Gur through which he reveals his God-nature.
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 stands for Guru: Master, Spiritual Teacher, Guide.
Prasad translates as favour, grace; thus He is attained by the Grace of the Enlightener.
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.
Thanks
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