Concept of God

God has been defined, as mentioned earlier, in the invocation and repeatedly explained in the hymns. God is the Creator, Who evolves out of His Absolute Self (Formless) and becomes manifested in creation. (Note: Sikhs do not believe that God is either male or female but limited human language must use one term. In the Guru Granth Sahib, God has been referred to by both genders.)

In the beginning, there was none else but Him in the absolute, un-manifested form. There was no creation, no world, no humans, no sin, no virtue. When God willed, He became manifest. He made the universe, wherein He has His Seat and is diffused everywhere in all directions in the form of love.

God is neither an abstract idea nor a moral force, but One with Whom a personal relationship can be realised. None else but God Himself is the Generator (Creative Agency), the Operator (Nourishing Agency) and the Destroyer (Ending Agency).
Apart from being immanent in the world, He is the Ocean of virtues, i.e., He is of Attributes. In defining the fundamental nature of God, the Guru says,

"Friends ask me what is the mark of the Lord? He is all Love,
The rest? He is Ineffable (incapable of being expressed in words)."

Thus, the key to understanding God is that He is Love; Love has four clear facets :

1. It is dynamic,

2. It is the mother of all virtues and values,

3. It is directive, or has a will, and

4. It is benevolent towards life in which it is immanent.

Thus it generates neither a dialectical movement, nor a class war, nor suicidal competition or struggle.

God, according to Gurbani, is both immanent and transcendent. Therefore, people who come with preconceived notions to study Sikhism often blunder in offering its interpretation. If, however, we were to study Sikhism as a new organic growth to meet the needs of a newly evolving humanity, we would find no difficulty in recognizing Sikhism as a revelation, an original distinct system of thought.

Guru Nanak describes God as the "In-dweller of Nature." He is not an impotent mechanic fashioning pre-existing matter into the universe. He does not exclude matter, but includes and transcends it. The universe, too, is not an illusion. Being rooted in God, Who is real, it is a reality; not a reality final and abiding, but a reality on account of God's presence in it.

His Will is above nature as well as working within it. In spite of its immanence, it acts not as an arbitrary force but as a personal presence working "most intelligently." God is the Highest Moral Being, Who has inscribed all humans with His Name or Moral Presence. He does not belong to any particular people, (Sikh, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, or others) believers or non-believers, but is the dispenser of life universal.

The way to realise Him is not knowledge, formalism, or meritorious actions, which establish a claim to reward, but love and faith, the aim being to obtain the Grace of God. The only way to worship Him is to sing His praise and to meditate on His Virtues. In worldly life, to worship means to carry out His Will, i.e., to practice love, justice and equality for all creation.

God, Soul and Matter

Philosophers differ regarding what is Reality or Truth - something which is everlasting, without beginning and without end. They may believe in one, two or three Realities:

1. God (Parmatma)

2. Soul (atma)

3. Matter (prakriti)

According to Gurbani, there was nothing but ONE in absolute form in the beginning. When He Willed, He became manifest in the creation we call the universe. It is continuously undergoing change according to His Will and will vanish when He so Wills. Creation or matter is not a Reality. Only ONE, who was there before creation, is Reality or Truth. He alone is never born, nor will He grow old or vanish. There is none else but Him in visible or non-visible (absolute) form.

The soul (atma) in us is a reflection of the Super-soul, God (Parmatma). Gurbani describes the soul as a tiny molecule of "water" from the Sea (God). It has also been explained by using the analogy of multiple images of the same person in different mirrors. Each mirror (human being) carries a reflection of the Person, God. The soul is there because of God, it is not an independent reality without God.

God and satan

Gurbani does not believe in the existence of any good or bad gods (satan, who mis-guides people). The Lord Himself is the only cause of all that happens - appearing to be "good" or "bad." This can be explained by a simple analogy of heat and light, the two natural forms of energy.

Cold and heat appear to be two opposing conditions, actually they are the expressions of two aspects of the same one "force", temperature. When it is more than what we can tolerate, we call it "hot." When it is less (lower) than what we like, we call it "cold." In the same way, when we revel in His Virtues, we enjoy them and feel happy. When we ignore virtues and indulge in vices (ego, lust, anger, greed), the outcome is sorrow. It is not caused by satan, but by the absence of love for God.

One more example can be drawn from our daily experience. Knowledge of light exists only because we experience darkness. In other words, light and darkness, apparently two opposing conditions, always go together. Similarly, happiness and sorrow (pleasure and suffering) are the two extremes of the same emotion. A person cannot have the perception of one without the other. The source of evil is not satan, but one's ego, which is present in all of us and leads us away from the path of God (Virtues) to sorrow and trouble.

Sikh worship

A devotee is advised to worship only the Creator and not the creation. The sun, moon, mountains, rivers, animals, trees, etc., being creations, are not worshipped.
Further, Gurbani does not accept the sanctity of any particular lunar or solar dates. Neither does it consider any particular day of the week to be sacred for prayer or for any other ritual. God simply made days and dates, not good or bad days for a particular activity. Everyday is a good day when one loves and remembers the Lord. It is a bad day if one forgets the Lord, He Who loves everybody. Sikhs, are therefore, directed to recite Gurbani hymns regularly everyday, year round and throughout life to enjoy this linkage with the Lord.

In Gurbani hymns, many names having their origin in different faiths - Islam, Hinduism, Yoga, Vedant, etc. - have been used for God with the same sanctity. No word (Name) has been described to be superior or inferior because all address the same Father, God, whose virtues, and hence Names, are innumerable.

God loves us all, whatever Name we may use to love Him. The Guru Granth Sahib has thus made a unique contribution in developing mutual love among people of different faiths by giving new meaning with a wider sense to the traditional terminology used by them. One may love (address) God by any and every name. For example, the Hindus consider Ram as the name of their God. While the Muslims believe God's name is Allah. The Guru told them that both Names, Allah and Ram, are for the same God, just as we use papa and dad, two different names, for our father.