By Gurnam Singh | Opinion |
One of the great gifts that distinguishes humans from all other living organisms is our capacity to think about time and space. We have evolved the remarkable ability to conceptualise temporal realms, that is to look beyond the immediate moment and wonder about beginnings, endings, and eternity. Our astonishing brain allows us to contemplate the profound question: Where did we come from?
From the earliest humans, whose awe is still etched in cave paintings and ancient monuments such as the pyramids of Egypt, our gaze has turned instinctively to the heavens in search of an answer to this fundamental existential question. As the cosmologist Carl Sagan once observed, “Exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still… We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars.”
This single question of origin and destiny cuts across the boundaries of science, philosophy, literature, art, and religion. From poetry to physics, from scripture to space science, the human quest for meaning is constant and compelling.
The Scientific Pursuit of the “First Cause”
Science, through patient observation and the rigour of reason, has given us extraordinary insights into our origins. The theory of evolution, for instance, explains how life diversified from simple forms into the vast complexity we see today. There is every reason to believe that the theory of evolution, not only governs the emergence of complex life forms on Earth, but across the entire universe.
If Darwinian evolutionary theory offers a compelling explanation for the origins of life on Earth and perhaps beyond, then modern cosmology, has without serious detraction confirmed the universe’s expansion from a super-dense state nearly 13.8 billion years ago to the expanding universe we see today. There is no dispute that science has given an accurate measurable starting point for the beginning of the universe in time.
Yet, when it comes to the ultimate beginning, the very moment of creation, science encounters a profound limit. The question, “What was before the beginning?” or rather “What caused the Big Bang?” takes us to the edge of known physics, where our most reliable laws begin to collapse.
At this frontier, scientists wrestle with what is known as the singularity or a point of infinite density where space and time as we understand them cease to exist. Theories such as Loop Quantum Cosmology (LQC) suggest that the Big Bang may not have been a beginning at all, but rather a “Big Bounce” or a rebirth from a prior, contracting universe.
Stephen Hawking went further, proposing that if one traces time backwards, it gradually transforms into space, much like how travelling south eventually leads to the South Pole, beyond which there is no further “south.” In this model, the universe has no boundary in time; it simply is!
In essence, currently science points toward a self-contained, cyclical, or boundary-less cosmos, one where time itself may lose meaning. It is here that Sikh philosophy offers a remarkably complimentary perspective.
Sikhi and the First Cause
If modern cosmology removes the need for a temporal beginning, Sikhi transcends the very concept of temporality itself. The Sikh understanding of creation begins not with time, but with Timelessness.
In Sikh thought, God is referred to as Akaal Purakh (ਅਕਾਲ ਪੁਰਖ). The name itself holds the key: Akaal (ਅਕਾਲ) means “beyond time” (A- meaning “without,” and Kaal meaning “time”) and Purakh (ਪੁਰਖ) means “Being” or “Pervading Spirit.” Thus, Akaal Purakh (ਅਕਾਲ ਪੁਰਖ) is the Timeless Being, the Eternal Reality that exists beyond the reach of time and space.
Creation, as we ordinarily understand it, is a process bound by time. Every act of making, from a star forming to a house being built, requires a sequence: a before, a during, and an after. Scientific explanations, whether of the Big Bang or of evolution, all describe processes unfolding within the dimension of time.
But if a Being exists outside time, that is, if It is Akaal (ਅਕਾਲ) , then the notions of “before,” “after,” or “beginning” simply do not apply. By defining God as Akaal Purakh (ਅਕਾਲ ਪੁਰਖ), Sikhi does not describe a deity that appeared first in time, but rather the Source from which time itself arises. God is not one more object within the cosmos; God is the timeless foundation upon which the cosmos, incorporating everything the existed before time, duting time and beyond time. As Guru Nanak proclaims ਆਦਿ ਸਚੁ ਜੁਗਾਦਿ ਸਚੁ॥ ਹੈ ਭੀ ਸਚੁ ਨਾਨਕ ਹੋਸੀ ਭੀ ਸਚੁ॥੧॥ True in the beginning, True throughout the ages, True here and now, O Nanak, forever and ever True.
The Self-Existent Reality
The opening verse of the Guru Granth Sahib (ਗੁਰੂ ਗ੍ਰੰਥ ਸਾਹਿਬ), known as the Mool Mantar (ਮੂਲ ਮੰਤਰ), describes the nature of this Divine Reality:
ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ ਕਰਤਾ ਪੁਰਖੁ ਨਿਰਭਉ ਨਿਰਵੈਰੁ ਅਕਾਲ ਮੂਰਤਿ ਅਜੂਨੀ ਸੈਭੰ ਗੁਰ ਪ੍ਰਸਾਦਿ॥
Ik ōaṅkār sat nām kartā purakh nirbhau nirvair akāl mūrat ajūnī saibhaṅ gur prasād.
Here, Saibhang (ਸੈਭੰ) means self-existent, self-created or self-illuminated. Guru Nanak makes it clear that the Divine does not require a creator, for the Divine is the ground of all existence.
When we ask “Who created God?” we are applying temporal logic, that is the logic of beginnings and endings, to a Being that exists beyond time. In doing so, we impose a limitation that the very definition of Akaal (ਅਕਾਲ) transcends.
Akaal Purakh (ਅਕਾਲ ਪੁਰਖ), then, is the ultimate philosophical and metaphysical stopping point. It is the end of the infinite regress of causes. The Divine is not an event within creation but the timeless essence behind it. God did not come from somewhere or sometime, but simply is, eternally and boundlessly.
Conclusion: Two Languages of Wonder
Science and Sikhi, though speaking different languages, are united in their reverence for mystery and truth. Science seeks to describe how the universe came to be; Sikhi contemplates why it exists at all.
Where science reaches the boundary of time, Sikhi points beyond time itself. One looks outward, tracing the universe’s expansion; the other looks inward, toward the Eternal Presence that pervades all.
In the end, both paths are expressions of the same human impulse, to understand our place in the grand design. Whether through observing the Cosmos through a telescope or meditation and contemplation, we continue the same ancient journey: the quest to know what it means to be part of this vast, wondrous, and timeless cosmos.
Gurnam Singh is an academic activist dedicated to human rights, liberty, equality, social and environmental justice. He is an Associate Professor of Sociology at University of Warwick, UK. He can be contacted at Gurnam.singh.1@warwick.ac.uk
* This is the opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Asia Samachar.
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