Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji · Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji · Ang 1 · Jap
Mool Mantar: the opening statement
These lines open Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji and are repeated, in full or in part, at the head of every major section of it. Sikh tradition treats the first line as the compressed statement of the whole teaching: one reality, defined by what it is not (fearful, hostile, mortal, born) as much as by what it is.
The second and third lines, a salok, are Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji's gloss on the first: the one reality is not a thing that happened once but the constant against which time runs.
- 1ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥ikOankaar sat naam karataa purakh nirabhau niravair akaal moorat ajoonee saibhan gur prasaadh
There is one God, and the Name is Truth. God made everything and is present in everything. God has nothing to fear and no one to hate. God is untouched by time, never born, and exists of itself. You come to know God through the Guru's grace.
Note. ੴ (ik oankar) joins the numeral 1 to the syllable oankar. 'Karta purakh' is the creator present within creation, and 'akal murat' is the form beyond time.
- 2ਆਦਿ ਸਚੁ ਜੁਗਾਦਿ ਸਚੁ ॥aadh sach jugaadh sach
God was true before anything began, and has been true through every age.
- 3ਹੈ ਭੀ ਸਚੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਹੋਸੀ ਭੀ ਸਚੁ ॥੧॥hai bhee sach naanak hosee bhee sach
God is true now, says Nanak, and will always be true.
Our line is a reading of the intent. For the Gurmukhi source text and reference translations seeSikhiToTheMax and SikhRI's Guru Granth Sahib Project.[DB][EoS][EoS]