Ek 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 religious philosophy.

are the first words of the Mul Mantar and also the opening words of the Sikh holy scripture Guru Granth Sahib. The first symbol "ik" is actually not a word but the Punjabi symbol for the number 1.

() is interpreted as "one and only one, who cannot be compared or contrasted with any other", the "unmanifest, Lord in power, the holy word, the primal manifestation of the Godhead by which and in which all live, move and have their being and by which all find a way back to Absolute God, the Supreme Reality."

has a distinct spelling in the Gurmukhi script and the phrase is found in many Sikh religious scriptures and inscribed in places of worship such as gurdwaras.

In Mul Mantar

is also the opening phrase of the Mul Mantar, present as opening phrase in the Guru Granth Sahib, and the first composition of Guru Nanak and the final salok is by Guru Angad. Further, the Mul Mantar is also at the beginning of the Japji Sahib, followed by 38 hymns and a final Salok by Guru Angad at the end of this composition.

Description

is the statement of oneness in Sikhism, that is 'there is one God'.

According to Wendy Doniger, the phrase is a compound of ("one" in Punjabi) and , canonically understood in Sikhism to refer to the "absolute monotheistic unity of God". Etymologically, the word denotes the sacred sound " om" or the absolute in a number of Indian religions. Nevertheless, Sikhs give it an entirely different meaning. Singh, Pashaura. 2014. ''The Oxford Handbook of Sikh Studies'', editors by P. Singh and L. E. Fenech. Oxford University Press. . p. 227. Pashaura Singh writes that "the meaning of Oankar in the Sikh tradition is quite different in certain respects from the various interpretations of this word in the Indian philosophical traditions", and the Sikhs "rather view Oankar as pointing to the distinctively Sikh theological emphasis on the ineffable quality of God, who is described as 'the Person beyond time,' the Eternal One, or 'the One without form'." is, according to Wazir Singh, a "variation of Om (Aum) of the ancient Indian scriptures (with a slight change in its orthography), implying the seed-force that evolves as the universe." Guru Nanak wrote a poem entitled Oankar in which, states Doniger, he "attributed the origin and sense of speech to the Divinity, who is thus the Om-maker".

Pashaura Singh goes on to state,

He also considers the process of reification of the concept of as having begun with the writings of Guru Nanak and Guru Arjan themselves, with the numeral ੧ (one) as emphasizing the unity of Akal Purakh in monotheistic terms.

Other common terms for the one supreme reality alongside , dating from the Gurus' time include the most commonly used term, '' Akal Purakh'', "Eternal One," in the sense of '' Nirankar'', "the One without form," and '' Waheguru'' ("Wonderful Sovereign").

Depictions

In 2019, Air India launched a direct flight from London to Amritsar with the phrase printed in golden colour with a red background, on the tail of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. The plane was launched ahead of and in honour of the 550th anniversary of Guru Nanak’s birth.

The Gurmukhi symbol ੴ is registered under just three TLDs as verisign supports gurmukhi letters in these TLDs:
ੴ.com

ੴ.net
and
ੴ.cc

See also

*Tawhid
* Waheguru
* Om

References

External links

Discussion On Ek Onkar Translation
(archived)

{{Names of God

Shabda
Sikh symbols
Singular God
Names of God in Sikhism