Sikh Belief

Basic Belief

Ik Onkaar / Ekankaar == One God – within and beyond all creation,
Satnaam == Truth-Incarnate and Eternal Reality,
Karta Purakh == The Cause of all Causes, the Doer
Nirbhau == Absent of Fear,
Nirvair == Absent of Animosity and Hatred,
Akaal Moorat == Timeless Form,
Ajooni == Neither takes birth nor dies,
Saibhang == Self-illumined (independent),
Gur Prasaad == Realizable by His own Grace, Who Himself is the True Enlightener (no intermediaries)

Ultimate Reality or Eternal Truth is synonymous with God, in Sikhism. Below is Sikh perception of Ultimate Reality i.e. God:

Primarily, He was in His un-manifest state, projecting no attributes or qualities whatsoever, in the meditative void of Himself (the ‘nothingness’). He was contemplating on values He liked most. Then, when He so willed, He manifested Himself as the God of all attributes and qualities, and with One Word (Shabad), brought all Creation into existence (which reflects His various qualities to a limited extent).

His Word is His WIll, His Will reflects His Personality, His Personality is His Name (Naam), His Name is the Light (Jot) that created everything. His guiding Light is the essence of creation, in living beings He is the ‘soul’ (Ru); the En-lightener (Gu-ru) within all Life. This is His Immanent Form wrapped up in the expanse of the Five Elements. Hence, all Life has the same Divine Soul. Waheguru, the Wondrous Teacher (God) is in both Transcendent (un-manifest) and Immanent (manifest) states simultaneously, within and without, in complete perfection, the non duality staging the play of duality. The Creator, although within His Creation, is unaffected by it.

It is therefore our ‘mind’ or the ‘stream of consciousness’ born of the five elements, that is bound to the joys and sorrows of the world, and undergoes various states of heaven and hell in karma and reincarnation. Once the mind submits to the Divine Light within, by His Grace, then the Lord shines forth in that individual heart, and  liberation is thus incidentally attained while yet alive. This direct, unequivocal devotion to God is called Khalsa-ism (under direct proprietorship of Divinity) or Sikh-ism (under Discipleship of God, the Guru)