ik oankar

IK OANKAR!
GOD IS ONE!

My very clever dad designed this symbol. So all you guys remeber this is patented! ;o)

It is based on the Sikh religious symbol – ik oankar…..meaning God is one. A strong and fundamental principle – emphasising unity of the Primal Being. It marks the beginning of the Guru Granth Sahib – the living guru.
Dad had absolute faith and deep set beliefs in the Sikh religion. His religion was a very private and personal endeavour. More about this later!

It also encompasses the Chinese Yin Yang symbol. This describes two primal opposing but complementary forces found in all things in the universe. The black and white shapes within the circle represent the interaction of two energies, called "yin" (black) and "yang" (white), which cause everything to happen. They are not completely black or white, just as things in life are not completely black or white, and they cannot exist without each other.

While "yin" would be dark, passive, downward, cold, contracting, and weak, "yang" would be bright, active, upward, hot, expanding, and strong. The shape of the yin and yang sections of the symbol, actually gives you a sense of the continual movement of these two energies, yin to yang and yang to yin.

The concepts of Yin and Yang and the Five Agents provided the intellectual framework of much of Chinese scientific thinking especially in fields like biology and medicine. This is of particular importance to Dad as he was a doctor! The organs of the body were seen to be interrelated in the same sorts of ways as other natural phenomena, and best understood by looking for correlations and correspondences. Illness was seen as a disturbance in the balance of Yin and Yang or the Five Agents caused by emotions, heat or cold, or other influences. Therapy thus depended on accurate diagnosis of the source of the imbalance.

These two symbols are enclosed in a circle – a circle has no beginning…….no end. A symbol of unity and eternity, just like the kara (steel bangle worn by all Sikhs). The Kara being circular in shape, symbolises wheel which itself, when viewed in the background of Indian heritage, simultaneously stands for Dharma and Chakarvarti Raja (universal monarch). Therefore Kara manifests two meanings, eternal and temporal and the Khalsa is enjoined to imbibe both.

Clever my Daddy was, eh?!
Let me know if you can see any other hidden messages in this symbol.