MOOL MANTAR
„Mool‟ means the root and „Mantra‟ means the incantation.
In the Sikh context, this term has been wrongly used, by some writers, for the first verse of Guru Granth Sahib: Ikk ongkaar, sat naam, kartaa purukh, nirbhau, nirvair, akaal moorat, ajooni, saibhang, gur pasaad. [Literal translation: One Formless God, True Existence, the Creator Being, beyond fear, without animosity, not subject to birth and death; Self-existent; Grace of Guru].
It is no mantra (incantation); it is invocation which is written by poet in the beginning of his composition. It means: “One Ongkaar (Formless God), (who is) True Existence (the Eternal Being), the Creator Being, beyond fear, without animosity (He is all love); not subject to birth and death; Self-existent. (I begin writing this verse) by the Grace of (that) Guru (i.e. God)].
Either complete or a part of this invocation appears at the beginning of each verse in Guru Granth Sahib.
This invocation is not any incantation or spell or some magical power. It is not esoteric and is open (and the same) for everyone. Sikhism rejects all so-called incantation, spell, charm and magic, and, in the Sikh ideology, no verse in Gurbaani can be used for any type of occult activity.
Bhai Gurdas has used the word mantar in one of his poems; “vahiguru gur mantar hai jap haumai khoi”. Here, mantar (as part of gurmantar) is not any magical apothec, but it means “(meditation of) God is the great incantation by meditating which one get rid of ego”.
(Dr Harjinder Singh Dilgeer)