Book I / I – (v)

Naam is the Great Controlling Power

By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them […] He spake and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.

Psalms 33:6,9 

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the Mouth of God.

St Matthew 4:4

Naam or Word is the chief Controlling Power. It is the only support that one can have either in this world or in the next:

I need no obsequies after my death, I depend wholly on Sat Naam, the maker of all, and pervading all, here and hereafter.

Guru Nanak, Asa M1

Naam is beginningless and endless. It is invariable and Unchanging Permanence, ancient and eternal.

Leaving aside all thy learning and cunning, worship the Great Formless beyond Brahm. Except the Naam all others fall away.

Guru Arjan, Asa M5

Excepting the True Naam, the rest is all trash. Four things alone are eternal and lasting: Naam or sound Current; Sadhu or a disciplined soul well established in Word; Guru or Word-personified, with a divine commission to contact others with the Naam; and lastly, Gobind or the Lord God – the Eternally Formless One.

Guru Teg Bahadur, Shalok M9

Everything is within the Controlling Power of Naam:

Naam is just a pure gift from God; he alone may get the gift through the Guru, to whomsoever He may grant it, oh Nanak! All is within the mighty grip of the Naam, he alone is blessed with Word, who may be so ordained.

Guru Amar Das, Asa M3