Guru.Granth.Sahib.Am.. - Gurmat Veechar

2 GURU GRANTH SAHIB AMONG THE SCRlPTURES OF THE WORLD
names, words describing his attributes and qualities, as against his essence
and substance, which are precisely meant for emulation and for man
(and woman) to bear living witness to.
The theory ofthe name ofGod had also played a central role in the
earliest and non-canonical heterodox writings ofChristianity, where the
etymology ofthe name Jesus, for example, would be rendered, "He
who is saves." In the thirteenth century, there were baptismal rites of
Gnostic sects, corresponding to Indian non-dualism, where the neophyte
"puts on" the mystical "name ofJesus" (EleazarofWorms).
The name is a sign, symbol or symptom ofthe covenant between
God, man and nature, or between the Creator, creature and creation
(unity in plurality). In the Jewish tradition, a rite ofinitiation in the strictest
sense is that simply concerned with the transmission ofthe name of
God from master to pupil. For the Kabbalist Jew the great name ofGod
in his creative unfolding is Adam; and the role ofAdam Kadmon, primal
man, corresponds to that·ofthe perfect cosmic man, man as microcosm,
whom Ibn Arabi later named insan-i-kamil. God who can be
apprehended by man is thus himselfthe first man, Purusha.
In the Islamic tradition it was Ibn Arabi ofSpain (1165-1240) who
had influence in India, where his greatest exponent was Sheikh Aman
ofPanipat(d. 1551). I recommend to you for further consideration the
suggestion ofSA.A. Rjzvi, made in this very hall in 1969, on the occasion
ofGuru Nanak's birth quincentenary celebration, that the object ofthe
Janam-sakhis is to try and present Guru Nanak as just such an insani-kamil
in the precise Sufic sense ofibn Arabi.
In this mystical view, prophets and saints and other spirituals are
regarded as individuations orparticular examples ofthe "perfect man,"
the microcosm, while the universal category or the species "perfect
man" is the complete theophany, the macrocosm, the totality ofthe
divine names and attributes through which the divine essence or the
godhead reveals itselfto itself, its virtualicies in its actuality, manifested
in multiple names and forms, vassals oflove. "The end orgoal oflove is
the unification (ittihad) which consists in the beloved's selfbecoming
the lover's selfand vice versa," It is a variety ofnon-dualism in the
sense ofunity in the duality, reciprocity and dialogue ofthe lord ofthe
name (rabb) and the servant ofthe name tabd) : thus God through