Week 6 · Gurbani by meaning · Day 36

The Mool Mantar — the first words

Welcome to Week 6 — a week of exploring Gurbani, the sacred words of the Guru. We begin at the very beginning: the Mool Mantar, the opening lines of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji, composed by Guru Nanak Dev Ji. These few words describe the Creator — One, True, Fearless, without hatred, beyond time, self-lit. Sikhs have held these words in their hearts for five hundred years because they answer life’s biggest question: what is the Creator like?

Today's idea

The very first words of the Guru Granth Sahib Ji tell us everything we need to know — One Creator, Truth, Fearless, Timeless.

Pick two or three — there's no wrong way to do a day.

Read a Sakhi or story Gurbani and the Questions Children Ask Make & colour Colour a Gurbani quote sheet Watch together Baba Farid and The Sweetness of the Naam
Go & do it Say the Mool Mantar together slowly, word by word, pausing after each word to think about what it means.
Today's Gurbani

ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ ॥

Ik Onkar Sat Naam Kartaa Purakh Nirbhau Nirvair Akaal Moorat Ajoonee Saibhang Gur Prasaad

“One Creator. Truth is the Name. The Maker of all. Without fear. Without hatred. Timeless. Unborn. Self-lit. By the Guru's grace.”

— Guru Nanak Dev Ji · Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji · Ang 1
Talk together

Ask: 'Nirbhau means fearless and Nirvair means without hatred — how would the world be different if everyone lived this way?'

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