The Ultimate Reality: After hinting the method, the Guru takes up the issue of the discovery of truth and its nomenclature by this method. The truth is the negation of the unknown because when the unknown is negated, it becomes known. The knowledge of the known belongs to the philosophical category of truth. In ideal terms, when the truth is known, it is substantially confirmed and finally ascertained that nothing remains to be further known and added to it to make its reality more real. However, the unknown becomes known only through a process of scientific inquiry, which for long used to be modeled after the science of mathematics, the mother of all sciences. The truth” known through non-scientific means is not pure because of its vulnerability to subjective impurities. It can be obtained in crystalline form only through rigorous cleaning by the objective methods of science which incorporate mathematical logic. So the outcome of the fundamental human quest which the Guru formulated as truth of the ultimate reality, lies at the end of the precise scientific investigations denoted by the symbolic code ੴ.
The Method: In the text, the Guru writes the words "Sat-naam' after the methodological code ੴ. It suggests that the name of the ultimate reality or truth be found by this method. He does not assign a name as such to the ultimate reality, but assigns a method to discover it. The symbols of the code do not constitute a name but they point to a procedural action aimed at knowing it. The name of the reality would not be revealed until it is subjected to the method denoted by the symbolic code. In other words the name of the reality is dependent on its characteristics which have to be logically and systematically discovered. It may be stretched to mean that the knowledge of the nature of the ultimate reality, which would determine its name, is hidden behind the method suggested by the code ੴ. To say it differently, the end-product of the scientific procedures symbolized in ੴ is the real name of the truth. Using this symbolic code as a metaphor, it may be reduced to stating that ੴ is the tentative name of the truth i. e., the ultimate reality.
The Underlying Assumption: It comes down to saying, "Apply mathematically precise method to know the nature of the ultimate reality and to determine its name. Let the outcome of the research into the manifest reality and its creative cause be tentatively denoted as the symbol of its method i. e., ੴ. Or "let this symbol be the ad hoc name of the truth, i. e. the reality of the universe, until its real name discovered through scientific investigation." It is well within the domain of science if this supposition is used with the rider that it is an "ad hoc" assumption only, but to stretch it to the point of reality, as many Sikh scholars and traditional interpreters tend to do, would be a gross distortion of the view-point of Guru Nanak.
The Real Name: According to Guru Nanak, the real name of the ultimate reality would emerge from the multiple layers of falsehood, which presently obscure it, after many rigorous phases of sustained research. The truth is not yet known; all that is known about it is a pile of opinions. The term "naam" is not the real name of the truth or of the ultimate reality for it is a common name. Its true name would be a specific or a particular name which will usher in after the real nature of the reality becomes known through objective research governed by logical rigor of mathematical design.
The Commonsense and Referential Names: Thus, both the tentative common name (ਨਾਮੁ) and the ad hoc referential name (ੴ) of the truth will be replaced by its actual or proper name after the scientific research has been conclusively accomplished. The Guru clearly reiterates and vividly elaborates this point in a pauri at the end of the text.
Unfair Substitution: As discussed above, most scholars of Sikhism tend to equate the symbol ੴ (the method), sat (the truth) and naam (the name) with “God” and frequently substitute them with the latter. This is not a viable interpretation. The Sat is the scientifically determinable reality, which is not yet known, so it lacks a name. It has been tentatively described as ੴ for this symbol signifies the method that would ultimately lead to the actual name of the reality through research. Naam is the common name of the ultimate reality which will be actualized after epochs of rigorous research.. Describing any one of these terms as ‘God’, is a subjective preference of tbe over-zealous interpreters which distorts the obvious message of the Guru by over-simplification. If it were that straight, the Guru himself would have simplified the job by writing the word “God” or some other similar word for these terms. He would have done it voluntarily for he wanted to deliver his message to the masses in their own language and idiom. However, he did not do so for it was inappropriate.
Mystery Unveiled: It appears that the interpretations of all those scholars who read "God" in ੴ or ਸਤਿਨਾਮੁ, are based on the assumption that the Guru belonged to an age when the concept of God and other forms of its nomenclature did not yet exist and that his philosophy, therefore, needs to be updated now when all these terms have become known. However, they are mistaken, as all these “updates” existed in his time too, and long before that, as constituents of the “wall of falsehood” which he sought to demolish. The context of the use of the term sat in the moolmantra shows that it is not a substitute for ‘God’ but it is the real nature of the ultimate reality to be revealed through the symbol ੴ. The symbol ੴ in turn stands for the method, and metaphorically for the truth, as it is understood in scientific terms. The statement "Discover the Truth in a scientific way and call it by the reported results", defines the connotations of 'ੴ sat-naam' in a plain, short, undisputable and verifiable way. These connotations are beyond the domain of opinion and subjectivity.
The Scientific Method: It may be observed that the Guru adopted the basics of scientific method in the exposition of his formulation. He first coined the expression ੴ for the method and then delineated the need for nomenclature of the ultimate reality after discovering it with this method. He even metaphorized the symbolized method as a tentative name of the reality to facilitate the research. According to him true knowledge about this reality would usher in only through the corporate application of different branches of science like mathematics, the scientific method. He understood that the inference of the rational inquiry into this matter, after all the techniques of the scientific method have been fully exhausted, would be the only true knowledge that may be called the truth. Its true or real name will emerge only at that stage which will replace tentative one.
The Observed Attributes: After stating the correlation of method, truth (ultimate reality) and naam the Guru proceeds to make a general statement about some observed attributes of this reality. This statement describes the ultimate reality or the the truth, by mentioning some of its attributes without giving any helping verbs or supporting arguments. This statement is like a bunch of general hypotheses based on objective observation and validated by the practical experience of generations of stalwarts in the field. These preliminary hypotheses have been taken as confirmed because anybody can observe the phenomena they allude to and verify their correctness. The Guru, however, acknowledges the method denoted by ੴ to be his source of information and confirmation.