Mool Mantra
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The Mūl Mantar (, ) is the opening verse of the
Sikh Sikhs (singular Sikh: or ; , ) are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term ''Si ...
scripture, the ''
Guru Granth Sahib The Guru Granth Sahib (, ) is the central holy religious scripture of Sikhism, regarded by Sikhs as the final, sovereign and eternal Guru following the lineage of the ten human gurus of the religion. The Adi Granth (), its first rendition, w ...
''. It consists of twelve words in the
Punjabi language Punjabi, sometimes spelled Panjabi, is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Punjab region of Pakistan and India. It is one of the most widely spoken native languages in the world, with approximately 150 million native sp ...
, written in
Gurmukhi Gurmukhī ( , Shahmukhi: ) is an abugida developed from the Laṇḍā scripts, standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504–1552). Commonly regarded as a Sikh script, Gurmukhi is used in Punjab, India as the official scrip ...
script, and are the most widely known among the Sikhs. They summarize the essential teaching of
Guru Nanak Gurū Nānak (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539; Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; pronunciation: , ), also known as ('Father Nanak'), was an Indian spiritual teacher, mystic and poet, who is regarded as the founder of Sikhism and is t ...
,Eleanor Nesbitt, "Sikhism: a very short introduction", ,
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, pp. 22-24
thus constituting a succinct doctrinal statement of
Sikhism Sikhism is an Indian religion and Indian philosophy, philosophy that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century CE. It is one of the most recently founded major religious groups, major religio ...
. It has been variously translated, with the interpretation of the first two words particularly contested. These are rendered as "There is one god,” "One reality is,” "This being is one,” and others. Sometimes the disagreements include capitalizing the “G” in “god,” or the “R” in “reality,” which affects the implied meaning in English. Some consider it
monotheistic Monotheism is the belief that one God is the only, or at least the dominant deity.F. L. Cross, Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. A ...
, others
monist Monism attributes oneness or singleness () to a concept, such as to existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished: * Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., in Neoplatonis ...
. The general view favors the monotheistic interpretation, but not the
Abrahamic The term Abrahamic religions is used to group together monotheistic religions revering the Biblical figure Abraham, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The religions share doctrinal, historical, and geographic overlap that contrasts them wit ...
understanding of monotheism. It is rather "Guru Nanak's mystical awareness of the one that is expressed through the many." The remaining ten words after the first two are literally translated as true name, the creator, without fear, without hate, timeless in form, beyond birth, self-existent, (known by) the grace of Guru. The verse is repeated in the Sikh scripture before numerous Shabad, or hymns. It existed in many versions in the 16th-century before it was given its final form by
Guru Arjan Guru Arjan (Gurmukhi: ਗੁਰੂ ਅਰਜਨ, pronunciation: ; 15 April 1563 – 30 May 1606) was the fifth of the ten total Sikh Gurus. He compiled the first official edition of the Sikh scripture called the Adi Granth, which later expande ...
in the 17th century. The essential elements of the ''mantar'' are found in Guru Nanak's compositions, the various epithets he used for Akal Purakh (Ultimate Reality).


Etymology

A '' mantar'' means "formula, succinct doctrinal or sacred words with spiritual meaning". The word ''mūl'' means "root, main or "fundamental." The ''Mūl Mantar'' is thus "root formula", or the root statement of Sikhism.


Text

The ''Mūl Mantar'' is: The extended version with the ''Jap'' verse is:


Grammar

The archaic language of the Guru Granth Sahib is highly
inflected In linguistic Morphology (linguistics), morphology, inflection (less commonly, inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical category, grammatical categories such as grammatical tense, ...
; the
suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...
ed short vowels parenthesized above indicate various
declension In linguistics, declension (verb: ''to decline'') is the changing of the form of a word, generally to express its syntactic function in the sentence by way of an inflection. Declension may apply to nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and det ...
s. In the Mūl Mantar, the suffixed -''u'' indicates nouns and adjectives in the
masculine Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some beh ...
singular Singular may refer to: * Singular, the grammatical number that denotes a unit quantity, as opposed to the plural and other forms * Singular or sounder, a group of boar, see List of animal names * Singular (band), a Thai jazz pop duo *'' Singula ...
direct case A direct case ( abbreviated ) is a grammatical case used with all three core relations: both the agent and patient of transitive verbs and the argument of intransitive verbs, though not always at the same time. The direct case contrasts with ...
, though some words ending with -''ā'' (like ''karatā'') can also indicate this case. This suffix can also indicate an imperative when attached to a verb, as in ''japu''. The suffixed -''a'' can indicate the masculine
vocative case In grammar, the vocative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which is used for a noun that identifies a person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed or occasionally for the noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and numeral ...
, as in ''Nānaka'', the masculine singular
oblique case In grammar, an oblique ( abbreviated ; from ) or objective case ( abbr. ) is a nominal case other than the nominative case and, sometimes, the vocative. A noun or pronoun in the oblique case can generally appear in any role except as subject, ...
in compounds as in ''gura prasādi'', and a
feminine Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and Gender roles, roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there is also s ...
singular direct adjective as in ''akala'', as well as the masculine plural direct case and the feminine singular direct case. The suffixed -''i'' can indicate the
possessive A possessive or ktetic form (Glossing abbreviation, abbreviated or ; from ; ) is a word or grammatical construction indicating a relationship of possession (linguistics), possession in a broad sense. This can include strict ownership, or a numbe ...
case in compounds (as in ''sati nāmu''), and the
locative In grammar, the locative case ( ; abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which indicates a location. In languages using it, the locative case may perform a function which in English would be expressed with such prepositions as "in", "on", "at", and " ...
(as in ''ādi'' and ''jugādi'') or
instrumental case In grammar, the instrumental case ( abbreviated or ) is a grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the ''instrument'' or means by or with which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action. The noun may be either a physical object or ...
as in ''gura prāsadi''; these terms would be ''ādu'', ''jugādu'', and ''prasādu'' if taking the direct case. It is also another feminine singular direct case (as in ''mūrati''); ''-a'' and ''-i'' are among the predominant declensions for this case. Adjectives and
modifiers In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...
also agree in number and gender with their dependent element, hence ''ikku oaṅkāru'', ''akāla mūrati'', and the term ''mūlu mantaru'' itself. Most of these cases still exist in the
modern language A modern language is any human language that is currently in use as a native language. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication (such as French and German) and dead clas ...
in slightly different forms; features in the archaic language like the masculine singular direct suffix ''-u'' and feminine singular direct suffix ''-a'' parallel nominal declensions in other related languages. The included
grave accent The grave accent () ( or ) is a diacritical mark used to varying degrees in French, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Catalan and many other Western European languages as well as for a few unusual uses in English. It is also used in other ...
included in the above transliterations illustrates tones and guide the verbal pronunciation of the verse.


Discourse

The ''Mūl Mantar'' is a widely known part of Sikh scripture, but it has posed a challenge to translators. The first two words
Ik Onkar Ik Onkar, also spelled Ek Onkar or Ik Oankaar ( Gurmukhi: or ; ); literally, "one ''God''", hence interpreted as "There is only one God or one Creator") is a phrase in Sikhism that denotes the one supreme reality. It is a central tenet of Sikh r ...
has been rendered multiple ways. It has been translated as "'There is one god', as 'One reality is', 'there is one God', 'singularity despite seeming plurality,' and 'This being is one,' and asserts the "distinctively Sikh theological emphasis" on "the ineffable quality of God" as "the Person beyond time," "the Eternal One," and "the One without form," and is canonically understood in Sikhism to refer to "absolute monotheistic unity of God". The varying capitalization of "God", "Reality", or "Being" affects the meaning in English. A number of translations erroneously change the ''Mūl Mantar'' from a list of qualities to a statement of facts and possessive adjectives. For example, they may change Satnam from "truth by name" to "His name is truth", which adds a
masculine Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some beh ...
quality to the ''Mūl Mantar'' which does not appear in the original
Gurmukhi Gurmukhī ( , Shahmukhi: ) is an abugida developed from the Laṇḍā scripts, standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504–1552). Commonly regarded as a Sikh script, Gurmukhi is used in Punjab, India as the official scrip ...
. These sacred words of Sikhism do not presume a particular gender. the ''Mūl Mantar'' serves as a "succinct statement which set the Sikh doctrine apart from the philosophical systems of both Indic and Semitic religious traditions." Some Sikh institutions, like the SGPC, consider the ''Mūl Mantar'' proper to end at ''gura prasādi'', arguing that what follows is the name and first line of the ''
Japji Sahib ''Japji Sahib'' (, pronunciation: ) is the Sikh thesis, that appears at the beginning of the '' Guru Granth Sahib'' – the scripture of the Sikhs. ''Jap'' is the original name of the prayer and to show respect, it is called ''Jap ji Sahib''. I ...
'' composition, citing the number of times that the verse appears as such preceding Gurbani compositions. On the other hand, other historic institutions, like some '' taksals'' (traditional Sikh religious educational institutions) and ''gurmat'' schools, hold the ''Mūl Mantar'' to be the full following verse, contending that this form has been used in the Amrit Sanchar baptizing ceremony since its inception. This is in line with the stand taken by the ''
nihang The Nihang (also spelt as Nihung lit. "Crocodiles") or Akali (lit. "Immortals"), also known as '' Dal Khalsa'', is an armed Sikh warrior order originating in the Indian subcontinent. Nihangs are believed to have originated either from Fateh Sin ...
s'' and other groups who stress the recitation of the complete ''Mūl Mantar'', arguing that this tradition has come directly from the time of the Gurus, and there is reliable evidence to support this contention; like the ''kamar kassā'', or waist-belt body armor of
Guru Gobind Singh Guru Gobind Singh (; born Gobind Das; 22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708) was the tenth and last human Sikh gurus, Sikh Guru. He was a warrior, poet, and philosopher. In 1675, at the age of nine he was formally installed as the leader of the ...
, preserved at
Moti Bagh Palace Moti Bagh Mahal (Pearl Garden Palace) is a palace in Patiala. The palace was built by Maharaja Narinder Singh, the great-grandfather of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh, in 1847, at a cost of half a million rupees. The Old Moti Bagh Palace and New Mo ...
Museum in
Patiala Patiala () is a city in southeastern Punjab, India, Punjab, northwestern India. It is the fourth largest city in the state and is the administrative capital of Patiala district. Patiala is located around the ''Qila Mubarak, Patiala, Qila Mubar ...
, bearing an inscription of the long form.


See also

*
Namokar Mantra The Ṇamōkāra mantra is the most significant mantra in Jainism, and one of the oldest mantras in continuous practice. This is the first prayer recited by the Jains while meditating. The mantra is also variously referred to as the ''Pancha ...


References


Further reading

* * * * * * * *


External links


Mool Mantar, Damdami Taksaal

English and Hindi translations

Translation of Sri Guru Granth Sahib in >52 languages
Machine translation of SGGS can be read from linked site by choosing appropriate language in transliterate and translation fields {{Sikhism Adi Granth