Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
274When the Guru Granth Sahib is translated into English, or other languages,
there is a temptation and a need to amplify its terse poetical verses. So, where the
personal pronoun may be missing in the gurmukhi original ‘he’ or ‘him’ is often
inserted. (Women might point out that the existing translations are all made by
men!) This c ustom, together with the inc lination of the Gurus to use suc h names as
Hari, Gobind, and others taken from Hindu mythology and relating to male forms of
deit y, c an easily lead writers into presenting a male c onc ept of God as being Sikh.
The Mul Mantra, whic h is said to have been the Guru’s first poetic utteranc e,
made soon after the Sultanpur experience, is a summary of Sikh beliefs. It reads:
This Being (God) is One; the truth; immanent in all things;
Sustainer of all things; Creator of all things. Immane nt in c reation.
Without fear and without hatred. Not subject to time, formless.
Beyond birth and death. Self-revealing. Known by the Guru’s grac e.The symbol representing ‘Ik oankar’, there is one God, is found on the c anopy
above the Adi Granth in the gurdwara. It is an immediate reminder of the symbol
‘Om’ whic h may be seen in a similar position in Hindu temples, though here the
canopy is placed over pictures or statues of the deit ies. T he c oinc idenc e is
int ent ional. Ik oankar like Om st ands for t he one primal realit y. Of Om t he Kat ha
Unpanishad states:
That whic h the Vedas dec lare, that whic h all austerities utter, that in
desire of whic h men become students, that word I tell you briefly is Om.
That word is even Brahman, the Supreme. (2:15)In the words of Guru Nanak:
The One [oankar] c reated Brahma, The One fashioned the human mind,
From the One came mountains and ages. The One created the Vedas.
(AG 929)This Being may be experienc ed but c annot be known by the mind, and is beyond
c omprehension. The Guru c an only lament his inadequac y when c onfronted with the
ult imat e realit y of t he all-pervading Being:
O mother, the attributes of God c annot be c omprehended, and without
ac t ually seeing one c annot say anything about God. How is the One to be
described, O mother? (AG 1256)Stric tly speaking God is pure being, without qualities (nirguna) and therefore Guru
Nanak uses Sat (truth), ‘Eternal truth is his name’, as some translations of the Mul
Mantra read:
Only your func tional names have I been able to desc ribe. Your oldest
name is Eternal Reality. (AG 1083)