Book I / I – (ii)

Various Names of God

The sages and the Saints have described God in innumerable terms, as for instance Swami or Soami, meaning Lord God; Nirala – peerless or without a compeer; Anami – the nameless; Har Rai, Agam or Alakh – the incomprehensible or the ineffable; Ram Rai or Sat Purush – the eternal Truth or unchangeable permanence; Ek Ankar – the one life breath or live principle; Puran Chetan Purush – complete consciousness; Akal – timeless or the deathless one.

All these are just attributive or qualitative names – names signifying one or another of God’s attributes. Such names simply describe any one aspect or fact of God as appealed foremost to someone’s individual liking.

Thousands of such names appear in holy scriptures: Ram – all pervading; Rahim – gracious or merciful; Girdhari – encompassing; Murari, Allah, Khuda, Wah-i-Guru, and the like. The Jews call Him Yahweh or Jehovah. All these names are worthy of our adoration for each one of them tries to single out some aspect of the Beloved.

I revere each one of Thy names, oh God!

Guru Nanak, Basant M1