Mulmantra   4

Karta Purukhah

Karta means creator and Purukha means Person, coined together it means Creator Person. This is another attribute of God that will be considered and deliberated. Guru Nanak rejected the theory of Vedic polytheism in which the creation of universe is responsibility of various Gods like Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva were assigned the creation and destruction. Guru Nanak’s belief is that before the creation of this universe there was darkness, there was no sun, no moon, no stars or planets. There was darkness everywhere. The Will of God alone reigned and He was wrapped within Himself but conscious. The creation of the universe was the outcome of the will of this conscious Being when He expressed Himself and His expression resulted in His manifestation of Universe. Will is the fundamental principle of God’s activity. Guru Nanak says the creation of universe is no illusion but true work of God. The process of His work is creating, destroy and create again. This way the creation does not become static and sustains in its new form. This whole activity of God is in birth, death and regeneration in living beings and creation and destruction of world in various ways is a reminder that God is omnipotent, all pervading existence. Read these lines from Guru Granth Sahib page 472 “jmana marna Hukam hai bhane ave jaiye”. Therefore Guru Nanak ji stresses man to understand the divine Will of God and live accordingly. In his long poem Dakhni Onkar Guru Nanak has dwelt upon the attributes of God as Creator person. He says it is the Truth of His Being that world exists and He pervades everywhere and that world is not Maya or illusion.

Purukhah: The literal meaning of Purukhah means a person. In context of human being it is his soul and in context of God it is the Supreme soul that has its own light and it is all pervading. In Guru Granth Sahib this word Purukhah has been used in many contexts such as God, soul, great man and all pervading. In Gurbani the word Purukhah has been used as an adjective to express various attribute of God such as Karta-purukhah or creator person, Akal Purukhah or eternal Timeless Being without beginning or end, Niranjan Purukhah or without the duality of illusions or Maya. The divine reality sustains this world. God as Purukhah is the divine soul and man is part of that soul that means we humans are having part of that Supreme Divine soul. In practical thinking when we die it is our body that is destroyed and the soul leaves and merges back into the Supreme soul. Purukhah therefore is that Being or soul that is omnipresent and all pervading.