Extract from Sikh Wiki

Bhagauti means Gurmat, A Mind(Buddhi) having Spiritual Intellect and Wisdom. In Gurmat, a body of soul is never regarded a Bhagauti but Intellect and wisdom of soul is Bhagauti. The term Gurmat(i) is feminine term derived from two words Gur(wisdom) + Mat(i)(Mind) = Mind of Spiritual Wisdom. Gurmat contains whole explanation of Soul and Supreme Divine and a soul who bears Gurmat is called Gurmukh(i) or Gurmat(i) or Bhagauti. such soul is always in Hukam – The Supreme Command and away from illusionary world. Adi Granth Sahib cleared term Bhagauti as shown below:

ਭਗਉਤੀ ਭਗਵੰਤ ਭਗਿਤ ਕਾ ਰੰਗ ॥

ਭਗਉਤੀ – The Mind of Wisdom, ਭਗਵੰਤ – God, ਭਗਿਤ – Meditation, ਕਾ ਰੰਗ – Colour

Bhagauti have color of God’s Worship and Wisdom

ਸਗਲ ਤਿਆਗੈ ਦ੝ਸਟ ਕਾ ਸੰਗ ॥

ਸਗਲ ਤਿਆਗੈ – Leaves Totally, ਦਸਟ ਕਾ ਸੰਗ – the Company of Dushat(Manmatt)

It leaves his own mind and adopts Guru Ki Matt (Spiritual Wisdom)

(Page 274, Line 10)

Question : Who is Bhagauti?

Answer  : The Matt or mind Which have Color of Bhagwant’s worship, The Color of Bhagti (ਜਿਸ ਕੋਲ ਭਗਵੰਤ = ਪਰਮੇਸਰ ਦੀ ਭਗਿਤ ਦਾ ਰੰਗ = ਗਰੂ ਕੀ ਮਤਿ ਹੋਵੇ !). The person which have Gurmat also called Gurmat(i) or Gurmukh. He totaly leave the company of Dushat(which is Mann, i.e Manmatt). Gurmat is concept of Spirit not body so Bhagauti term can’t be used for body

ਸੋ ਭਗਉਤੀ ਜੋ ਭਗਵੰਤੈ ਜਾਣੈ ॥

Bhagauti means the one who know Bhagwant(i.e God). The soul who knows Supreme Command. The person have such mind is devotee to god and sublime in Hukam (Supreme Command). From above it is quite clear about Gurmat definition of Bhagauti which comes for:

• Bhagauti = Gurmat
• Bhagauti = Bearer of Gurmat (but applicable to his subtle body only)
• Bhagauti = Gurmat is Will Power(Hukam) of God. As it walks as Supreme Command shows the way

Example: Baba Nanak was Bhagauti because he was bearer of Gurmat and he himself meditated on Bhagauti i.e Gurmat.

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Bhagauti is, it appears, a multifaceted archetypal symbol employed by Guru Gobind Singh to fulfill a multiplicity of functions simultaneously. He perhaps wanted to complement the exclusive masculinity of the Divine image. Until then, God had in Sikhism as in other major traditions by and large a masculine connotation. He had been called Purakh implying masculinity. Although, at times, He had been addressed as mata (mother) as well as pita (father), almost all the names employed for him in Sikh Scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib — Ram, Govind, Hari, Shiv, Allah, etc.— were only masculine names. To widen the conception Guru Gobind Singh may have chosen Bhagauti, a name with a clear feminine implication. It is significant that in the entire Hindu pantheon the warrior Bhagavati, or Durga, is the only goddess without a male spouse, thus symbolizing female independence, strength and valour. This derives further support from Guru Gobind Singh’s autobiographical Bachitra Natak wherein he designated God by a composite name Mahakal-Kalika (Mahakal which is masculine is juxtaposed to Kalika which is feminine). More specifically, what is really meant by Bhagauti (or its synonym Bhavani) is made clear in the following verse of Guru Gobind Singh:

Notwithstanding the fact that names of the deities from many diverse sources occur in the Sikh text, here they mix naturally shedding, after acculturation in the new religious and theological environs, their original nuances and proclaiming one and one identity alone, i.e. God the Singular Being. All other meanings and shades are subsumed into One Indivisible entity. The names Hari (originally Visnu), Keshav (also an epithet of Visnu—one with long hair), Damodar (Krsna who had a rope tied around his belly), Murli Manohar (also Krsna, master of the melodious flute), Raghupati (Rama, the Lord of Raghu dynasty), etc., all came to signify in the Sikh vortex the unitary Godhead. The same applied to Bhagauti.

Says Guru Gobind Singh in the second stanza of this poem, Var Sri Bhagauti Ji Ki, the following about Bhagauti:

• Taihi durga saji kai daita da nasu karaia:
• It was you who created Durga to destroy the demons.

The line establishes beyond ambiguity the contextual meaning of bhagauti. Durga could not be presumed to have created Durga. She like all other gods and goddesses was indeed created by God Almighty.

The nomenclature seems to have been employed to smoothen the gender distinctions when referring to God.

The second archetypal significance of Bhagauti is linked to its other lexical meaning ‘sword’ as exemplified by Bhai Gurdas. Bhagauti where prefixed with the honorific sri (lid. fortunate, graceful) signifies the ‘Divine Sword’ –the Power that brings about the evolution and devolution of the Universe.

http://www.sikhiwiki.org/index.php/Bhagauti