The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1650 page)

di
Granth, form the basis of Sikh theology. The
M
l
mantra encapsulates N
nak's assurance that God is one, the creator of all, and immune from death and
rebirth
. He is formless and immanent as realized in the mystical union to which human
bhakti
(devotion) is directed. To refer to God, N
nak used many Hindu and Muslim names (e.g.
Hari
, R
m, Khud
,
S
hib
), but especially
Sat(i)n
m
, i.e. his Name is Truth, as opposed to illusion.
By meditating upon God's name (n
m japan,
n
m
simaran) the individual can master the wayward impulses of the
man
(mind) and so conquer
haumai
(egoism) and the
five evil passions
. But above all one must trust to the Gur
—the guide to salvation from the karmic cycle of rebirth—who discloses the
abad
(word of divine manifestation). N
nak stressed the irrelevance of
caste
. Inner purity was what counted—not
asceticism
but purity amid impurity, spiritual detachment while shouldering the family responsibility of a
grihasth
(householder).
The