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All 10 Flashcards — Statements of belief
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Question
What is the Mul Mantra?
Answer
The "seed mantra" — the opening words of the Guru Granth Sahib, understood to be a summary of the whole scripture.
Question
What does the Mul Mantra affirm?
Answer
One God (ik onkar), formless (nirguna), the Creator (Akal Purukh), without fear or enmity, beyond birth and death, self-existent, and known through grace.
Question
Where does the guide say Sikh belief and practice are found?
Answer
In the Guru Granth Sahib, which is understood as the living presence of God among God's people.
Question
What is jot, and what happens to it?
Answer
The divine spark within a person. It passes to another living being unless mukti has been achieved, in which case it enters the sach khand.
Question
What are the five khands?
Answer
Five stages: dharam khand (duty), gian khand (knowledge), saram khand (effort), karam khand (grace) and sach khand (truth). A person may reach the third by practice; grace carries them beyond.
Question
What is hukam, and what tension does it create?
Answer
God's will, in accordance with which everything happens. The guide says Sikhs nevertheless have a responsibility to practise nam japna, kirat karni and vand ke chakna and to be gurmukh.
Question
What keeps the jot from being realised?
Answer
Haumai, ego-centredness, and maya, delusion. Doing the three duties is how a Sikh conquers them.
Question
What is the Rahit Maryada, and when was it written?
Answer
The Sikh code of conduct, written over twenty years by a committee of spiritual and knowledgeable Sikhs and published in the twentieth century. The concept dates from Guru Gobind Singh's time.
Question
Who is Akal Purukh?
Answer
God the Creator — the Timeless Being. The universe and everything that happens in it accords with God's hukam.
Question
When can mukti be attained?
Answer
Either during a person's lifetime or at death — and only through gurprasad, God's grace.
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