Akal Purakh ( pa, ਅਕਾਲ ਪੁਰਖ) is an interchangeable

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

name used to denote

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

, or the omnipresent

divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine

Meaning

Literally it means "a timeless being who never dies." The first word '' Akal'', literally "timeless, immortal, non-temporal," is a term integral to Sikh tradition and philosophy. It is extensively used in the

Sri Guru Granth Sahib The Guru Granth Sahib ( pa, ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ, ) 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 rel ...

and

Dasam Granth The ''Dasam Granth'' (Gurmukhi: ਦਸਮ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ''dasama gratha'') is a collection of various manuscripts in Sikhism containing compositions attributed to Guru Gobind Singh.

hymns by

Guru Gobind Singh Guru Gobind Singh (; 22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708), born Gobind Das or Gobind Rai the tenth Sikh Guru, a spiritual master, warrior, poet and philosopher. When his father, Guru Tegh Bahadur, was executed by Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind Sing ...

, who titled one of his poetic compositions

Akal Ustat Akal Ustat (Gurmukhi: ਅਕਾਲ ਉਸਤਤਿ) is the name given to the second Bani in the second holy scriptures of the Sikhs called the Dasam Granth. It is composed of 271 verses, and is largely devotional in nature. The word "Akal" mean ...

, i.e. "In Praise (ustati) of the Timeless One (akal)". However, the concept of Akal is not peculiar to the Dasam Granth. It goes back to the very origins of the Sikh faith. The term ''Kāl'' refers to "time," with the negative

prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...

''a-'' added to render the word ''akal'', meaning "timeless" or "eternal." Purakh refers to "being" or "entity." Together, the two words form the meaning "timeless, eternal being." The word Purakh () is the Punjabi variation of

Purusha ''Purusha'' (' or ) is a complex concept whose meaning evolved in Vedic and Upanishadic times. Depending on source and historical timeline, it means the cosmic being or self, awareness, and universal principle.Karl Potter, Presuppositions of Indi ...

().

References

{{Reflist Names of God in Sikhism Sikh terminology

Meaning

See also

References