Pronunciation And Meaning Of The Very First Symbol In Gurbani

The very first symbol in Gurbani consists of three distinct references -

1. numerical no: 1

2. word OM

3. a curved line indication for the waves

therefore this symbol is represented as:

ੴ

It is very important to know the correct pronunciation and meaning of this symbol. As a matter of fact the whole understanding of Gurbani is related to the correct knowledge of reference meaning of this symbol. Generally we find that this symbol is pronounced as IK-ONKAAR or EK-ONKAAR. We have never tried to verify its pronunciation from within Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji. In pronouncing this symbol we treat numerical no: 1 as separate IK or EK and we combine the word OM with KAAR seperately pronounced as ONKAAR and therefore we get the pronunciation as IK or EK ONKAAR

From Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji we find that there is no such pronunciation as IK or EK ONKAAR. However we do come across a word EKANKAAR in several verses of Gurbani, we must therefore deliberate this pronunciation for the symbol. If we analyse this word EKANKAAR we would find that numerical no: 1 and the word OM are together as EKOM and KAAR is to be referred as EKOM-KAAR.

Meaning Of The Symbol:

From above it is clear that the meaning of the symbol is related to EKOM and KAAR. EKOM is referred as SHABADU and this SHABADU has also been referred as Guroo. So EKOM is Shabadu Guroo and since KAAR is the indication of the waves therefore the meaning of symbol is the waves of the word Guroo or Shabadu Guroo Joti.