Om

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Swami Chinmayananda on ‘Om’

Of all the mantras the most powerful and the significant one is the single syllabled incantation called the pranava. This is the Om. The available literature upon the significance of this Vaidika mantra is almost voluminous. Nowhere in this world can we meet with a more sacred symbol that has got such a vast amount of significance.

From Vaidika times until the present day, the word Om has been taken as a symbol and as an aid to meditation by spiritual aspirants. It is accepted both as one with Brahman and as the medium, the logo connecting man and God. The entire history of the syllable is in the revelations of the Vedas and in the declarations of the Upanishads.

There is a verse in the Vedas: ‘prajāpatir-vai idam agra āsit’ (In the beginning was prajāpati, the Brahman); ‘Tasya vāk-dvitīa āsit’ (With whom was the word); ‘Vāg-vai paramam Brahma’ (And the word was verily the supreme Brahman). This sphota has its symbol in the word Om. [The idea belongs to Hinduism, and in the fourth Gospel of the New Testament we read it repeated: ‘In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God’]

Thus in the Maitrayāna-upanişad after it has been said that there is one Brahman without words and a second, a Word Brahman, we are told that the word is the syllable Om. The sound of Om is also called pranava meaning that it is something that pervades life, or runs through prāņa or breath.

The very central theme of Māndūkya-upanişad is the syllable Om through which the mystery of Brahman is gathered to a point. The text of this Upanişad first treats Om in terms of the doctrine of Upanişad of the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep, but then passes on to the fourth (turiya), thus transporting us beyond the typical sphere of Upanişad into that of the later ‘classic advaita-vedānta’. Speaking of Om, Taittirīya-upanişadsays: ‘Thou art the sheath of Brahman’, that is, Om is the container for the Supreme and, therefore, invoking Om is invoking the Supreme.

In every piece of music, there are three aspects, viz, (1) the meaning of the song, (2) The laws of music, and (3) the sound of the song. Similarly, in Om, there are three aspects. The first is the mere sound that is the mere mantra as pronounced by the mouth; the second is the meaning of the syllable, which is to be realised through feeling; and the third is the application of ‘Om’ to your character, singing it in your acts and so through your life.

‘Om’ represents the Self, which is the supreme non-dual Reality. The Self is known in four states, namely, the waking state, the dream state, the deep sleep state and the fourth state called the ‘turiya’. All these states are represented in the three sounds of ‘Om’ (i.e. A,U,and M) and the silence that follows and surrounds the syllable. [Note: In Sanskrit the vowel ‘O’ is constitutionally diphthong, compounded of ‘A’ and ‘U’. OM can also be written as ‘AUM’.]

The sound ‘A’ represents the waking state; the sound ‘U’ represents the dream state and the sound ‘M’ represents the deep sleep state. The waking state is superimposed on the ‘A’ sound because it is the first of the three states of consciousness and so is the sound ‘A’, the very first of the letters of the alphabet in all languages. The dream is but a view within the mind of the impressions that had reflected on the surface of the mental lake during the waking state. Besides, the dream state occurs between the waking and the deep sleep state and comes second among the three states of consciousness. And so, ‘U’ being next to ‘A’ in order of sounds (and also it is between ‘A’ and ‘M’) it is treated as representing the dream state. On the ‘M’ sound of Om is superimposed the deep sleep state. The comparison between the last sound of the Om and sleep lies in that, it is the closing sound of the syllable, just as deep sleep is the final stage of the mind in rest. A short pregnant silence is inevitable between two successive sounds of Oms. On this silence is superimposed the idea of the ‘fourth state’ known as ‘turiya’. This is the state of perfect bliss when the individual self recognises its identity with the Supreme.

In Om the sounds A, U and Mare called mātrās or forms; there is also in AUM the common principle called the amătra-Om, that which signifies the thing in itself, running through and pervading the three-fold phenomena of waking, dream and deep sleep. The law of memory is that the rememberer and the experiencer must be one and the same individual, or else memory is impossible. So, as we can remember all our experiences in all the three different planes, there must necessarily be a single common factor which was a witness of all the happenings in all the three planes. There must be some entity within ourselves who is present in the waking world, who moves and illumines the dream, who is a distant observer in the deep sleep world, and yet who is not conditioned by any of these three realms. This entity conceived as the fourth state (turiya) is the real, the changeless, the intelligent principle.

The syllable ‘Om’ symbolises both the spheres: (a) the phenomenal, visible sphere of the ‘jagat’ wherein the manifestations of time and space appear and perish, and (b) the transcendent, timeless sphere of the imperishable being, which is beyond, yet one with it. Thus A, the waking state; U, the dream; M, the deep sleep and the . silence, turiya: all the four together comprise the totality of this manifestation of Ātman – Brahman as a syllable. Just as the sound M manifests itself, grows, becomes transformed in its vocal quality and finally subsides into the silence that follows [which must be regarded as forming part of its sound in a latent meaningful state of repose], so too the three ‘states’ or ‘components of being’, ultimately merge into the homogeneous silence of the ‘fourth’ (turiya). The other three states are transformations of the one experience, which taken together, constitute the totality of its modes, whether regarded from the microcosmic or from the macrocosmic point of view.

The A and U are as essential to the sound as M, or as the silence (turiya) against which the sound appears. Moreover it would be a mistake to say that AUM did not exist while silence reigned; for it would be still potentially present even in the silence. The actual manifestation of the syllable on the other hand is fleeting and evanescent, whereas the silence abides. The silence, indeed, is present elsewhere during a local pronunciation of Aum – that is to say (by analogy) transcendentally during the creation, manifestation and dissolution of the universe.

It may be asked as to why this particular word Om should be chosen as the word representative of the ‘thought’, out of which the universe has become manifested. The answer may be given in Swāmi Vivekananda’s own words: “ This Om is the only possible symbol which covers the whole ground, and there is none other like it. The sphota is the material of all words, yet it is not any definite word in its fully formed state. That is to say, if all the particularities which distinguish one word from another be removed, then what remains will be the sphoța. Therefore, this sphoța, is called the Nāda-Brahman, the Sound-Brahman. Now every word-symbol intended to express the inexpressible sphoța, will so particularise it, that it will no longer be the sphoța. That which particularises it the least and at the same time most approximately expresses its nature, will be the truest symbol thereof; and this is Om and the Om only; because, these three letters A, U, M pronounced in combination as Om can alone be the generalised symbol of all possible sounds. The letter ‘A’ is the least differentiate of all sounds. Again, all articulate sounds are produced in the space within the mouth – beginning with the root of the tongue and ending at the lips. The throat-sound is ‘A’; ‘M’ is the last lip-sound; and ‘U’ exactly represents the rolling forward of the impulse which begins at the root of the tongue, continuing till it ends in the lips.” “If properly pronounced, this Om will represent in itself the whole phenomenon of sound production, and no other word can do this, and this, therefore, is the fittest symbol of the sphoța, which is the real meaning of the OM. And as the symbol can never be separated from the thing signified, the OM and the sphota are one. And, as the sphota, being the finer side of the manifested universe, is nearer to God, and is indeed the first manifestation of Divine Wisdom, this OM is truly symbolic of God.”

OM thus represents the entire manifested world and the unmanifest, and also that which lies beyond both the manifest and the unmanifest – the Brahman, which is the changeless substratum for the changing objects of the world of experience.

To every mantra, OM, the Pranava, is added on. And without ‘OM’ no sacred chant has its power. Just as a living body has no vitality when the life-giving breath is not flowing through its veins, so too, a mantra has no life in it without the addition of the Pranava.

By Swami Chinmayananda
This is an excerpt from the book By Swami Chinmayananda ‘Tune in the Mind’ – Japa Gayatri. You can buy it here Tune in the Mind.