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PERCEPTIONS
Eternal India
encyclopedia
OM
(THE COSMIC SOUND)
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
fully, 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 particular deity. To
those who find this process difficult, worship
with the help of some appropriate symbol is
prescribed. The deity is worshipped through the
symbol. The Upanishadic 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 symbolises 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.
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 : Original Mantra
In this new symbolism of ‘OM’ , 'O' indicates
the origin, as well as the 'point of singularity'
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,
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"