Mool Mantar, the morning prayer of the Guru Granth Sahib (GGS), the Sikh Holy Book. This morning prayer is on the very first page of the GGS.
Ik Onkar (oneness of existence)
Satnam
Karta Purkh (brings this oneness into motion, where all else of the GGS unfolds from this centre)
Nirbhau
Nirvair
Akal Murat
Ajooni Saibhang
Gur Prasad.
The opening words of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Mool Mantar, are like the seed from which the entire scripture unfolds. Every word that follows is the flower and fruit of that seed. The first line, Ik Onkar, establishes the oneness of existence, the indivisible source that holds all forms and all formlessness together. The second line, Karta Purkh, brings this oneness into motion — the moment where the still source becomes the creative act without ever leaving its stillness.
Karta means the doer, the maker, the creator. Purkh means the person, the being, the essence of consciousness that acts. When joined, Karta Purkh does not describe two separate things — a creator and a creation — but the inseparability of doing and being, of movement and stillness. It is the point where the fountain of life begins to flow from its own centre, yet never departs from it. In that sense, Karta Purkh is the living centre of the Guru Granth Sahib — the heartbeat within its still silence.
All that the Guru Granth Sahib expresses, the hymns, the metaphors, the reflections on truth and illusion, can be seen as the continuous unfolding of that centre. The Guru’s voice is the fountain, flowing outward in words, returning inward in realisation. The Mool Mantar is not a preface but the entire map: the unfolding of divine self-awareness from its own silence. When the seeker recites Karta Purkh, they are not merely remembering God as creator; they are aligning with that creative stillness within themselves, the source from which thought, action, and breath arise.
To understand Karta Purkh is to sense that the act of creation never ended. The world continues to emerge in every moment from that centre, through stars and rivers, through consciousness and awareness, through every act of love, compassion, and knowing. The second line of the Mool Mantar is thus not a statement but an instruction: it reminds us to stay at the centre of the fountain, where doing happens without the doer. From there, the rest of the Guru Granth Sahib becomes an endless meditation on this truth — that the universe itself is the hymn of Karta Purkh, the song of stillness moving in eternity.
When compared to the traditions of Hindu philosophy, the distinction becomes luminous. Hinduism, even in its highest Vedantic insight, often circles around the self, using story, mythology, and the cycles of time to point back toward the centre. The seeker begins from the self and journeys inward through the layers of form, symbol, and remembrance. The movement is centripetal: from the outer to the inner, from the many to the one.
The Guru Granth Sahib moves in the opposite way. It begins at the centre itself and unfolds outward as living presence. It does not circle toward the truth; it speaks directly from it. Its verses are not stories told about the past but manifestations of the now, the eternal Akal Purakh — timeless being. This is why the Guru Granth Sahib is not time-based: it has no mythology, no beginning or end, only the continuous pulse of the present moment. It is not a scripture of remembrance but of revelation — of consciousness unfolding from its own source in every instant.
In that sense, Karta Purkh is both the origin and the ever-present act of creation. The Guru Granth Sahib is its living breath, the unfolding of the eternal now. Each verse, each sound, is the fountain of the centre expressing itself again and again, reminding us that creation is not a past event but the continual awakening of being within itself.
Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh.
ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕਾ ਖਾਲਸਾ, ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ ਜੀ ਕੀ ਫਤਿਹ।
Meaning: The Khalsa belongs to the Divine, and victory belongs to the Divine.
A greeting and a declaration — a living reminder that the creative act, Karta Purkh, and the fruit of all action belong to the same still centre.
