By Ek Ong Kaar Kaur

When talking about Divinity, sometimes we look outside of ourselves to discuss and define God. The Creator becomes, through our own conversations, everything a human is NOT. All-powerful. All-knowing. All-seeing. All-loving. All-kindness. It is as if we humans have taken certain experiences that give us a sense of comfort, that give us a sense of security on the earth; and projected their most perfect and continual expression on a Divine Being who can do and be everything we would most like to be, but aren’t.

When Guru Nanak talks about Divinity, his language, his perception, his vision is so all encompassing that Divinity intermingles with and provides the foundation for everything in the Universe. It is the secret ingredient that gives rise to our human experience. Every single aspect of being human, whether we ourselves would judge it as “good” or “bad” is embraced as part of the Divine. It’s a union. A yoga – if you can forgive the word – between finite perception and Infinite expression. The duty we have in our human body, Guru Nanak tells us, is to simply allow ourselves to become aware of this truth, and to live in a state of gratitude for it. That’s all.

Guru Nanak gave the Mool Mantra as the essence of the Sikh teachings. Recently, while meditating on it, it dawned on me how inter-dependent the phrases of the Mool Mantra really are. For a long time the Mool Mantra seemed to me a group of adjectives describing the experience of Divinity. But like a seed that breaks open to create roots – what I saw was that the Mool Mantra is not just a description. It defines a process through which we can become aware of the reality of the Divine inside us. Each line describes a state of consciousness. And understanding that state becomes a pre-requisite to developing an understanding of the state of consciousness described in the next line.

Ek Ong Kaar

One Spirit Beyond
Moves within the Creation-
Coordinating
Consolidating
Continually
Creating

To keep the Creator separate from the Creation is not the way of Guru Nanak. To see them in a joyful play, intermingling, evolving, finding new expressions of Itself – that is his gift to us. “God” is not out there somewhere – pulling strings or watching in judgment. The Divine dwells inside every molecule as a Living Force, constantly expressing myriads of forms, though all forms are ultimately unified in the One.

Most people’s search for Spirit begins in an external way – and so Guru Nanak gives us at the beginning a compact definition of the Force that Runs the Entire Universe. It is One – Ek. Is has vibration, sound – Ong – and from sound, from vibration it express itself in form – Kaar. But the Oneness and the sound and the form are merged in every moment, in every thing – continually playing together. A current runs through the entire Creation. And like children playing with paints, Ek Ong Kaar never creates the same picture twice.

Sat Naam

And this Spirit
Within me
Is my True Identity.

If I can accept what Ek Ong Kaar means – then I must also accept the Presence of the Divine within myself. Perhaps –I do not always see or feel that Presence. But Guru Nanak tells us – it is that Divine Presence within us that is our real identity. Our real name. Our real existence. What I see myself as today, “a 38-year-old woman, Sikh, grew up in South Jersey, loves to read, likes chocolate, etc.” is a very temporary thing that will change as I age, or vanish as soon as my breath leaves my body. But beyond these definitions, these stored memories, opinions and tastes of a lifetime – there is a Presence, a Life, a Spirit that will keep going. This Presence is part and parcel of the play of Ek Ong Kaar. And that is my True Identity. Sat Naam.