PHILOSOPHY OF SYMBOL OM

The Eternal Highest Being, the abiding place of all that lives and moves, is beyond name and class, AUM is His name. The Vedas have ventured to give a name to Him, in order that man may recognize and call Him. A new-born child has no name, but on receiving one he will answer to it. Men who are troubled by the afflictions of this world run to the Deity for refuge, and call Him by the name, that which is hidden is revealed to the aspirant.

Om is the name and symbol of God. Om covers all the threefold experience of man. Om stands for all phenomenal words. From Om this sense-universe has been projected. the world exists in Om and dissolves in Om. Om is formed by adding the letters A, U, M. ‘A’ represents the physical plane, ‘U’ represents the mental and the astral planes, the world of spirits, all heavens and ‘M’ represents all the deep sleep state and all that is unknown and beyond the reach of the intellect even in your waking. Om therefore represents all. Om is the basis of life, thought and intelligence. All words that denote objects are centered in Om. Hence the whole world has come from Om, rests in Om and dissolves in Om. As soon as you sit for meditation, chant Om loudly 3 or 6 or 12 times. This will drive away all worldly thoughts from the mind and remove Vikshepa (tossing of the mind). Then take to mental repetition of OM.

The life of all words is vowels. A vowel is that which shines by itself. It can be pronounced by itself. A consonant is that which cannot be pronounced without the help of a vowel placed either before or after it. A consonant can be sounded with the aid of a vowel. Just as thy body depends for its very existence on the soul or the Atman, so also the consonants depend for their very pronunciation on the vowels. ‘A’ and ‘U’ are the parents of all other vowels in Sanskrit. Sanskrit possesses a large number of vowels than any other language in the world. All the letters of the alphabets of all languages are contained in this mysterious, sacred monosyllable-Om (AUM). Therefore it is quite proper to regard Om as the symbol Eternal Highest Being

Watch the breath. When you inhale, the sound ‘so’ is produced; when you exhale the sound ‘ham’ is produced. You are naturally uttering ‘Soham’, ‘I am He’ or ‘He am I’, along with every breath. The breath reminds you that you are in essence identical with the Supreme Self. In ‘Soham’,‘s’ and ‘h’ are consonants. If you delete the consonants‘s’ and ‘h’ you get ‘oam’ or Om. Consonants have no independence of their own. They depend on vowels for their existence. ‘s’ and ‘h’ represent the names and forms, or this universe which has only a phenomenal or relative or empirical or dependent existence. Om only is the solid reality. Om is the soul of your breath.

There is what is called Pancha-santi, five kinds of incarnation, each ending with the word Santi, ‘Peace’. Before each Santi there is the word Om. As such Om gives peace, calmness, tranquility and serenity. This symbol brings the entire universe and all it contains in its span. It means something more, ‘a’ is the first letter of the alphabets and ‘m’ is the last syllable in Sanskrit. Thus ‘a’ and ‘m’ mean everything from A to Z. It is the alpha and omega of everything. It represents everything from beginning to end and since there is the other part ‘u’, Om includes everything we can imagine and something more too. As such it is a fit symbol to be meditated upon. No other symbol can span so much in its embrace.

The sound produced in the flowing , the sound that is heard at a distance and that which proceeds from the bustle of a market, the sound that is produced when the fly wheel of an engine is set in motion, the sound that is caused when it rains, the sound that is produced when there is a conflagration of fire, when there is thunder, it is all Om only. You split any word, you find Om is there. Om is all-pervading like Akasa, like Brahman.

Om is the word of power. It is the sacred monosyllable. It is the essence of all the Vedas. It is the boat to take you to the other shore of fearlessness and Immortality. Meditate on Om with Bhava and meaning. When you think or meditate on Om, you must think of Eternal Highest Being, the thing signified by the symbol.

When you hear the sound ‘tree’, you at once understand that it has a root, stem, branches, leaves, flowers, fruits, etc. Similarly when you hear the sound ‘Om’ it denotes Sat-chit-ananda Brahman-Existence Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, Bliss Absolute. Sabda and Artha are inseparable. All collection of speech or words terminates in one sound Om. All the objects are denoted by sound and all sounds merge in Omkara. The whole universe comes out of Om and is absorbed in Om. Hence Om is very important it should be repeated mentally with meaning and feeling. It should be meditated upon.

Why Om is taken as the symbol Eternal Highest Being? Can we not have any other word besides Om to represent the solid Reality, the living Truth? Om is a mysterious and sacred syllable. Chant Om to one hour. Chant any other word also for one hour. You will yourself feel the difference. There is a real connection between Om, the symbol and Eternal Highest Being, the thing signified by the symbol Om. Thought and word are inseparable. Om and Brahman are inseparable. When you think of the name of your son or daughter, the name will bring to your memory the picture or image of your son. When you think of the image of Om, the image will bring to your memory of Eternal Highest Being, the thing signified. There is intimate relationship between the symbol Om and Eternal Highest Being

Om is the common symbol. It will represent all the symbols of God, all symbols of religions, all cults and schools. Just as a large-hearted spiritual man who is of catholic, liberal nature without prejudice of any sort, represents all and becomes the supreme head of conference of world religions, so also the common symbol Om, the basis of all sounds and all languages, represents all names and becomes the head of all names of God.

Prana vibrates. Air moves. Heat is generated. The heated air strikes against the vocal cords in the larynx or the sound box. Sound is produced. Sound is modified by its passage through the palate, nose, tongue, teeth, and lips elc. and various kinds of sounds are produced. We have therefore gutturals, labials, dentals, nasals, etc. etc. The larynx or wind box, the trachea or the wind pipe, palate, mouth, nose, teeth, lips constitute the sound producing apparatus in this body. Sound ‘A’ is guttural. This is the root sound. This is key. When this is pronounced, any part of the tongue or palate is not touched. Sound ‘U’ rolls from the root to the very extremity of the sounding board of the mouth. Sound ‘M’ is labial and nasal. It comes from the end or the extremity of the sounding board of the mouth. It is produced by the closed lips. ‘A’ represents the beginning of the range of sound, ‘U’ represents the middle, and ‘M’ represents the end. Thus Om covers the whole field of sounds and words. Om represents the entire range of sounds and words. All words, all sounds are created in Om. Om is a magical, mysterious, divine, gramophonic record of all sounds and words. All words, all sounds, all languages proceed from Om. Therefore, Om is the right representative or natural symbol or womb of all sounds and words. Om is also natural symbol of Eternal Highest Being the source of everything, the source for sounds, words, languages and all objects.
The vibration produced by chanting Om in the physical universe corresponds to the original vibration that first arose from the mouth of Creator (Hiranyagarbha the Karya-braman). Hence Om is very important in your spiritual journey.

You will find in the Bible “in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God.” This is Om or the word of power. Volumes have been written in the Sanskrit language on the significance of Om, the sacred and mysterious monosyllable. All Mantras begin with Om. All Vedas, all Vedanta, all the sacred scriptures of the Hindus are contained in Om. Om is the womb for everything. This world has come out of OM, exists in Om and dissolves in OM during the cosmic Pralaya. The creation itself is set in motion by the vibration of Om.

‘Amen’ is used by Christians at the end of their prayers. ‘Amen’ is used very frequently in their sacred Bible. Muslims use the word ‘Ahmeen’ during prayer. ‘Amen’ and ‘Ahmeen’ are all modifications of Om only. Om is the matrix of all sounds. When you experience acute agony or pain, you utter the long sound of ‘hun’ or ‘hum’ is a modification of Om only. ‘Hum’ is partial utterance of Om which breaks on account of pain. When you suffer from pain you implore the mercy of the Lord by calling Him by His name. Laughter is nothing but a sound of many ‘hums’ repeatedly made.

When a child cries of weeps, it utters ‘un’ or ‘aung’ is a modification of Om only. As the child’s organ of speech is not well-developed it utters Om unintelligibly. Even when the child weeps it repeats God’s name. When the washer man washes his clothes he utters repeatedly ‘hung’ ‘hung’. This gives him relief. He does not feel the exhaustion or fatigue. He unconsciously repeats God’s name and derives power, joy, peace and strength from within. The gurgling sounds produced in the bowels on account of flatulence, the whistling sound of the railway engine, the murmur of the running brooks, the sound of thunder, the howling of jackals, the roaring of the lion, the sound of the mills and factories are Om only. The sound of landslides, heavy rush of wind, the bustle of the city and that of the rainfall are Om only. You will clearly understand now that man utters Om, the name of the Lord fully or partially, consciously or unconsciously at all times. If he utters with Bhava and feeling he will realize quickly his own essential divine nature.

All colures are centered in the eye; all tastes are centered in the tongue; all touches are centered in the skin; all sounds are centered in the ear; all scents are centered in the nose; all senses are centered in the mind; all minds are centered in Om or the Supreme Self, the Support for everything.

The humming of bees, the sweet melody of the nightingale, the seven tunes in music (Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni and Sa), the sound of the Mridanga and the kettle drum, the lute and the flute, the roaring of the lion, the singing of the lover, the neighing of horses, the hissing of the cobra, the clasping of the audience when an orator delivers his peroration-all are emanations from Omkara only. Om is the embodiment of the Vedas.

All languages and sounds come out of Om. The essence of the four Vedas is Om only. A, U, M cover the whole range of sound vibrations. ‘A’ starts from the root of the tongue. ‘U’ proceeds from the middle. And ‘M’ comes from the end by closing the lips. He who chants or repeats Om really repeats the sacred books of the whole world. Om is the source or the womb for all religions and scriptures of different parts of the world. Om, Amen and Ahmeen are all one. They represent the truth, the one Existence. There is no worship without Om. Om is both Saguna and Nirguna, Sakara and Nirakara. The greatness of the Omkara cannot be described by anybody. Even the great sages failed to describe the greatness of Pranava. There is Om in every sound.

Om is an auspicious trade mark of Sannyasins and Vedantins who deal with the trade of dissemination of spiritual knowledge to the world at large. It is written on the front wall of every Ashram of a Sannyasin. Om is used in the form of invocating or addressing prayer or supplication. Om is the formula of imperative prayer which transmits a certain grace or virtue to the person over whom it is pronounced. Votaries of Om write Om first before they try to start a letter.

Rishis and sages of yore who have attained Self-realization have experienced the mysterious effects of repetition or chanting Om. They having made long researches and experiments on Om and its vibrations, meditated on OM for a considerable period and have then given to the world Om as the right symbol of the process of realizing the Immortal Self. They declare that Om, and the Atman are one and the same.

Thought of Om elevates the minds of all. The Christians, the Hebrews end their prayers with ‘Amen’ which is a modification of Om. The muslims end their prayers with ‘Ahmeen’ also a modification of Om. Om is a common Mantra. Om is the common property of all. All the various significances are centered in Om. Om represents the Deity or the Soul of all religions and faiths, cults and schools. It should be accepted by everyone.

COMPOSITION OF OM

‘A’, ‘U’, ‘M’ are the life of all articulate words. ‘A’ and ‘U’ when connected together coalesce into ‘O’. Therefore the right way to write Om is ‘AUM’. ‘A’ of the sacred monosyllable AUM is a symbol Virat aspect (gross manifestation), ‘U’ of Hiranyagarbha, Karya-brahman (subtle manifestation) and ‘M’ of the Isvara aspect, Karana Brahman, (unmanifested state of Brahman). Om is called the Sat-Nam or (EK) Omkara by the Sikhs, Jehovah by the Jews, Allah Hoo by the Muslims, Ahuramazda by Zoroastrians, Hanovn by the Persians, Elohem by the Christians, Tao by Chinese and Monad by the Greeks. Om is called the Pranava, because it runs through Prana or the vital force and pervades life.

As already stated Om is split into ‘A’, ‘U’, and ‘M’. ‘A’ signifies the waking state (Jagrat Avastha), ‘U’ the dreaming state (Svapna Avastha) and ‘M’ the deep sleep state (Sushupti Avastha), while the Om is taken as a single unit, stands for the fourth state Turiya which transcends the above three states. The hypnotic rhythm of repetition of Om causes stillness in the mind. Chanting of Om, and meditation on Om set up harmonious vibrations in the mind or subtle body, elevates the mind to magnanimous heights of divine splendor and eventually raises the consciousness to the state of Turiya wherein the meditator loses his individual consciousness and merges himself into the Supreme Soul, the all-pervading Brahmic Consciousness.

That which is Om is the imperishable, immutable Neumann, the Supreme Brahman. Om includes the experiences of man in the three states, viz., waking state, dream state and deep sleep state. Om stands for all the manifested and unmanifested planes. ‘A’ represents the physical plane and waking state, ‘U’ represents the astral plane or mental plane and the dreaming state, ‘M’ indicates all that is beyond the reach of the intellect, all that are unknown and the deep sleep state.

In AUM, the letter ‘A’ stands for the masculine principle the Father; the letter ‘U’ stands for the female principle, the Mother; and the ‘M’ stands for the Son. It may also be said that ‘A’ stands for ‘I’, ‘U’ for ‘This’ and ‘M’ for ‘not’. So Om would mean ‘I this not’ aham etat na. It means neither ‘I’ nor ‘this nor ‘not’. It signifies the one Self beyond names and forms, that which is, was and will be forever.

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