God in Sikhism

Sikh conception of God

In Sikhism, God is conceived as the Oneness that permeates the entirety of creation and beyond. It abides within all of creation as symbolized by the symbol Ik Onkar. The One is indescribable yet knowable and perceivable to anyone who surrenders their egoism and meditates upon that Oneness. The Sikh gurus have described God in numerous ways in their hymns included in the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhism, but the oneness of formless God is consistently emphasized throughout. God is described in the Mul Mantar (lit. the Prime Utterance), the first passage in the Guru Granth Sahib:

Sikhi is monotheistic and believes that there is only One God. Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhi strongly denounces any type of Pakhand (hypocrisy or duality). Nanak prefixed the numeral "IK" (one) to the syllable Onkar to stress the idea of God's oneness; that the Creator, Preserver, and Destroyer is One. Sikh thought begins with the One Almighty and then universalising God, coming down to the cosmic reality of all pervading creator. While God is described as without gender, God is also described through numerous metaphors, such as:

Some scholars have defined Sikhism's conceptualization of God as a form of panentheism.

Sikhi complies with the concept of Priority Monism, a view point that all existing things go back to a Source that is distinct from them. It is the belief that all that our senses comprehend is illusion; God is the sole reality. Forms being subject to Time, shall pass away. God's Reality alone is eternal and abiding. and would again merge into it just as water merges back into the water, like a drop of water merging with the ocean. God and Soul are identical in the same way as Fire and its sparks; fundamentally same as is stated in SatGuru Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, "Aatam meh Ram, Ram meh Aatam", which means "The Ultimate Eternal Lord is the soul and the soul is the Ultimate Eternal Lord". As from one stream, millions of waves arise and yet the waves, made of water, again become water; in the same way all souls have sprung from the Universal Being and would blend again into it.

There are frequent references to God in the perspective of all the various religions in the Guru Granth Sahib. The Guru Granth Sahib acknowledges perspectives of God in all religions. Guru Granth Sahib teaches that God is one almighty power.

Sikh philosophy believes that the Oneness is the Great Architect of Universe. It alone is the Creator, Sustain er, and Destroyer; Ek. God is Karta Purakh, the Creator Being who created the spatial temporal Universe from their own Self; the Universe is their own emanation. Guru Arjan advocates: “The One is true and true is Its creation [because] all has emanated from God Itself” (SGGS Ang294). Before creation, God existed all alone as Nirgun (attributeless) in a state of Sunn Samadhi, deep meditation, as says Guru Nanak. Then, God willed and created the Universe, and diffused Itself into the nature as Sargun (with attributes).

It is believed in Sikhi that the Universe was created by a single word of the God. As to the Time of Creation, Nanak, in Sahib, recites that:

God, as stated in the Guru Granth Sahib, is Akal Murat, the Eternal Being;It is beyond time and ever the same. "Saibhan(g)", another attribute to God means that no one else but God created the creation. They are, shall be, was not born, and will not die; never created and hence, shall never be destroyed. The phrase "Ad(i) Sach", True in the Primal Beginning, in the Mool mantar proves the notion of the eternalness of God in Sikhi.

Sikhi advocates a panentheistic tone when it enunciates the belief that God is both, transcendent and immanent, or "Nirgun" and "Sargun" (as stated in the Sikh terminology), at the same time. God created the Universe and permeates both within and without. When it pleases God, them become Sarguna (Sanskrit Saguna = with attributes) and manifests Himself in creation. He becomes immanent in His created universe, which is His own emanation, an aspect of Himself.

"God himself is the Creator and the Cause, the Doer and the Deed." Sikh thought is strictly monotheistic and believes that this Universe is creation of God. Its origins are in God, it operates under the Command of God (Hukam), and its end is in God; God is the Omnipotent being, the sole cause of Creation, Preservation, and Destruction. It consults none in creating and demolishing, giving and taking and does everything Itself. The Nirbhau (lit. Fearless) Almighty does not fear anyone and exercises Its unquestionable will.

It is kind and merciful, the Omnibenevolent Lord. The Bestow er of all things (Divanhaar); apart from It, there is no other Giver. It provides the body, the breath, food to Its creations. It is also a great Pardoner; pardoning all our mistakes, they bestows Virtue on the repenting souls and adds Blessedness on the  striving virtuous. The Nirvair (lit. without enmity/hatred) God does not hate anyone and glances their merciful vision on every being, indifferently. All are one Its view. "The Lord is kind and compassionate to all beings and creatures; His Protecting Hand is over all." (SGGS. Ang 300)

The center belief of Sikh thought is the soul would reincarnate in this universe unless it attains the state of mukti (liberation), which is to be achieved through the grace of God. The primal belief of Sikhism is of the Spirit to get merged into the Divinity. The Guru Granth Sahib proclaims human incarnation as a chance to meet God and to enter into the Mystic Reality. It is a devoted meditation (simran) that enables a sort of communication between the Infinite and finite human consciousness. There is, chiefly, the remembrance of God through the recitation of their name and surrendering of the self to God's presence, often metaphorized as surrendering one's self to the Lord's feet. The ultimate destination of a Sikh is to lose his egoism completely in the love of the Lord and finally merge into him.