OM or AUM
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'Om' is the most sacred mystic symbol. This single syllable incarnation is the most  powerful and significant of all the Mantras. The available literaure upon the significance of this Vedic Mantra is voluminous. Nowhere in the world can we meet with a more sacred symbol that has got such a vast amount of significance. From vedic 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 logos) connecting man and God. This Holy Word is taught in the Upanishads. It signifies Brahman, the divine ground of existence. It also represents the Atman or the Self.

The sound of 'Om' is also called the 'Pranava', meaning that it is something that pervades life, or runs through Prana or Breath. This cosmic sound is heard in deep meditation.Sound is vibration, which , as the modern science tells us, is at the source of all creations. God is beyond vibration, but vibration, being the subtlest form of His creation, is the nearest we can get to Him in the physical world.

Speaking of 'Om', Thaittiriya Upanishad says " Thou art the sheath of Brahman "- that is, Om is the container for the Supreme. So, invoking Om is invoking the Supreme. It is a sacred Mantra and is to be chanted constantly .

The very central theme of Mandukya Upanishad is the syllable 'Om', through which the mystery of Brahman is gathered to a point. The text of this Upanishad first treats 'Om' in terms of the Upanishadic doctrine of the 3 states of Waking, Dream and Sleep, but then passes on to the fourth 'Turiya', thus transporting us beyond the typical Upanishadic sphere, into that of the latter classic "Advaita-Vedanta ".

In 'Om' there are 3 aspects:
  1. The mere sound, the mere Mantra as pronounced by the mouth.
  2. The meaning of the syllable, which is to be realized through feeling.
  3. The application of 'Om' to our character, singing it in our acts and so through our life.
Om represents the Self, which is the Supreme non-dual Reality. The Self is known in 4 states- namely, the Waking state, the Dream state, the Deep-Sleep state and the fourth state called the 'Turiya'. All these are represented in the 3 sounds of Om ( A, U and M), and the silence that follows and sorrounds the syllable.
Sl.No.
Sound
State
1
A
First sound of Om.
The very first of the letters of the alphabet-
in all languages
Waking
First state of Consciousness
2
U
The Middle sound
Dream
The Middle state
3
M
The Final sound
Deep-Sleep
The Final state
4
Silence
The inevitable between two successive Oms
Turiya
The state of Perfect Bliss

The Importance of Turiya

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 3 states, there must necessarily be a single common factor, which was a witness of all the happenings in all the 3 states. There must be some entity within us, 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 3 realms. This entity , conceived as the fourth state 'Turiya', is the Real, the Changeless, the Intelligent Principle.

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

If properly pronounced, this Om will represent in itself the whole phenomenon of sound production.No other word can do this. As Om is the nearest 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 experiences.

To every Mantra, 'Om' is added on. Without 'Om', no sacred-chant has its power. A Mantra has no life in it without the addition of the Pranava  'Om'.

The Shloka 13 in Chapter 8 of the Bhagavat Gita (starting thus "Om iti ekaksharam Brahma--") explains the importance of 'Om'. The meaning of the Shloka is : " Anyone uttering the indestructible mono syllable 'Om', the transcendental sound vibration of the Ultimate Truth, remembering me continuously; thus relinquishing his body in this way achieves the Supreme Goal". Bhagavat Gita-Chapter 8 .


Om...Namasivaya..Sivaya...Nama...Om..


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