13. Eternal Truth

God is beyond time and space and so is His existence. He is immeasurable.  Nobody has been able to define Him completely and nobody has been able to realize Him completely.  Nobody has known Him completely and nobody will be able to in the present or in the future. His (Mahima) description is beyond words.  It can’t be described or inscribed in words.  It can’t even be felt and experienced in its totality.  Even a bit of His description is beyond description. 

 

We cannot fully describe even the smallest detail of the Undescribable Lord, all we can do is take a moment to praise Akal Purakh, the One who is  :

 

  • Dhan Dhan Paar Braham Parmesar (Great Great Supreme Transcendent Lord)
  • non-perishable,
  • everlasting,
  • ever present,
  • omni present,
  • eternal truth
  • the Param Tatt (Supreme Essence),
  • the Sat Tatt (Essence of Truth),
  • the Ik Rus Amrit (One Amrit – One Immortal energy in everything)
  • the Atam Rus Amrit (The Spiritual Amrit inside us) 
  • the Nirgun Saroop (The Form of God beyond the physical Creation i.e

– the Param Jyot (Supreme Light)
– the Puran Parkash (Fully Bright).

 

At the very beginning of Siri Guru Granth Sahib ji, is the most important Shabads.

 

The verse

 


aad sach jugaad sach
True In The Primal Beginning. True Throughout The Ages

 

hai bhee sach naanak hosee bhee sach. ||1||
True Here And Now. O Nanak, Forever And Ever True. ||1||

 

SGGS 1

 

 

follows the instruction;

 


jap
Chant And Meditate

 

SGGS 1

 

 

which follows the Mool Manter

 

ik-oNkaar sat naam kartaa purakh nirbha-o nirvair akaal moorat ajoonee saibhaN gur parsaad.
One Universal Creator God. The Name Is Truth. Creative Being Personified. No Fear. No Hatred. Image Of The Undying, Beyond Birth, Self-Existent. By Guru’s Grace ~

 

SGGS 1
 
The Mool Manter gives a definition of the Akal Purakh. It is the highest Spiritual Manter.  It tells us:

 

  • of the vital qualities and unlimited spiritual powers of Akal Purakh, and

 

  • the Origin of this universe and from where the entire creation has emanated

 

The next Shabad is the “JAP” which is an instruction to recite.  Recite what?  Recite the Name of Eternal Truth “SatNaam” which is known as the Naam Amrit. 

 

“SAT” means Eternal Truth.  “SATNAAM” means God’s Name is Eternal Truth.
 
By doing recitation (JAP) of the NAAM we are getting in tune with the “SAT”, the Eternal Truth inside us.  Recitation is a form of “Simran”.  Simran means:

 

  • carving “SAT” into our memory,
  • inscribing “SAT” into our mind (Surat)
  • remembering “SAT” with love in our spiritual heart centre (Hirda)
  • absorbing “SAT” into every bit of the body – into every single cell.

 

The next Shabad is

 

“AAD SACH
JUGAAD SACH
HAIBHI SACH
NANAK HOSI BHI SACH”.

 

This means the entity defined in the Mool Manter and whom we should “Jap” upon continuously, is the only Eternal Truth that existed from unknown beginning, throughout the Ages, right now, and in the future. 

 

“AAD”

 

From the unknown beginning, God existed before the inception of the universe; Gurbani says that Akal Purakh was in deep meditation (Sunn Smadhee) for 36 Ages.  Meaning for an unknown time because the length of the 36 Ages is unknown. 

 

The Shabad “AAD” means the beginning, and there is no definition of beginning of His existence, being unlimited; Beyant; Anant; Aprampaar.

 

“JUGAAD”

 

God existed through all four Ages so far and all Ages to come in future.  There is no definition of all the Ages as far as timing is concerned (can be hundreds of thousands of years).  The creation of a JUG (Age) is based on the following qualities of the human race:

 

  • behavior,
  • prevalent thoughts,
  • religious beliefs,
  • character, and
  • deeds.

 

When there is a major drift in these attributes the Age changes.  So any Age can’t be defined accurately in terms of the time.  The meaning here is that the existence of the Eternal Essence of the Truth (Param Tatt Paar Braham Parmesar) has been existent for all times in the past, present and will remain so in future. It is believed and is said so in Gurbani that there have been four ages so far from the inception of the universe. But the existence of Akal Purakh has been beyond these four ages.

 

“HAIBHI”

 

This Eternal Truth described in the Mool Manter is existent now.

 

“HOSI BHI”.

 

 God will remain existent during all ages to come.

 

This means that Akal Purakh: 

 

  • is the only Eternal Truth that has existed before Creation at the unkown beginning (AAD)
  • has existed from the beginning of the creation (JUGAD)
  • is the only Eternal Truth at the present time (HAIBHI)
  • and is the only Eternal Truth that will remain forever (HOSI BHI).

 
The rest of Gurbani is the detailed description of this Eternal Truth described in the above Shabad.  It is the “Mahima” meaning that Gurbani is:

 

  • the description and the praise of the Mool Manter
  • description and praise of the vital qualities of the Eternity (God),
  • tell us what happens to us when we follow this Eternal Truth,
  • tell us what happens to those souls who get absorbed in this Eternal Truth,
  • tells us that those souls are the Temple of Truth,
  • tells us that such souls

– have full access to the Braham Gyan (Divine Wisdom),
– reach the Sach Khand (God’s Realm Of Truth),
– become one with the Eternal Being,
– and become His very own Form (Roop).

Dassan Das