Perceptions

INDIA-2001 encyclopedia

PERCEPTIONS

OM (THE COSMIC SOUND)

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o A compound of the three letters, a, u, m, (A stands for Brahma, U for Vishnu and M stands for Rudra, also Surya the Sun) OM is declared in the Upanishads where it first appears to have a mystic power and to be worthy of the deepest meditation. The Mundaka Upanishad teaches a Upasana (meditation) based on OM. "Taking as a bow the great weapon presented in the Upanishads, fix on it an arrow that has been sharpened by meditation. Then stretching the bow fidly, with a mind wholly absorbed in its thought (i.e. of Brahman) do thou hit the target which is the imperishable reality. The Om is the bow, the mind is the arrow, Brahman is the target. It is to be hit with concentration, and one should become unified with the target just like the arrow." To merge oneself in the Absolute, the one without a second, is the goal of Advaitic spiritual practice. With a view to attaining this unity, a spiritual seeker may practise a method of worship in which the worshipper may identify himself with the object of his worship — God or Brahman or any particu- lar deity. To those who find this process difficult, worship with the help of some ap- propriate symbol is prescribed. The deity is worshipped through the symbol. The Upan-ishadic formula of Om as the mystic syllable proved attractive because its continuous repetition had the effect of bringing about concentration of thought. So it was made the subject of meditation and was also regarded as the most natural expression for Ishwara (God). The earliest form of Om has a point above its crescent. This symbolises the immensity, Brahman. The crescent symbol- ises air while the circles denote sound. The semi-circle below the circle symbolises the first wave of energy. The wave lines at the bottom indicate the primordial waters.

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m OM : Original Mantra

"Trikenu "

In this new symbolism of 'OM' , 'O' indi- cates the origin, as well as the 'point of sin- gularity' or shunya from which this world began. The letter 'M' represents the 'matter' that emerged from this point? It also is a simultaneous representation of particle and wave, indicating an underlying unity. OM is the Original Mantra, which contains life's tantra,

It is only when the sound A' joins 'U' and the sound 'U'joins 'M', that, we get the complete sound of AUM. If the three sounds do not join with each other, we do not get the complete sound of Aumkar

OM is the Original Mystery, which contains life's history,

OM is that Original Moment,

which witnessed the 'big bang' event,

OM is the Original Matter,

which is now widely scattered,

OM is the Original Miracle, manifested both as the wave and the particle,

OM is the Original Music,

whose vibrations are cosmic,

OM is Omnipotent Mother,

representing all goddesses together,

OM is the Original Manas, which has no distortions, in it one can see self-reflection, and measure the degree of one's distortion,

OM is peace and peace is OM It is human's ultimate home.

— "Trikenu "

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