. This one syllable is the highest. Whosoever knows this one syllable obtains all that he desires.
"This is the best support; this is the highest support. Whosoever knows this support is adored in the world of Brahma." (1.2.15-17) [4]
''
class="Unicode" style="white-space:normal; text-decoration: none">om ity etad ak?aram udgitham upasita / om iti hy udgayati / tasyopavyakhyanam''
"The udgitha
["the chanting", that is, the syllable om] is the best of all essences, the highest, deserving the highest place, the eighth."
The
Bhagavad Gita (8.13) has:
Uttering the monosyllable
Aum, the eternal world of Brahman, One who departs leaving the body (at death), he attains the superior goal.
The
Bhagavad Gita (9.17)has:
Krishna says to Arjuna - "I am the father of this universe, the mother, the support and the grandsire. I am the object of knowledge, the purifier and the syllable O?. I am also the ?g, the Sama and the Yajur Vedas."
The
Bhagvad Gita (17.23) has:
om tatsatiti nirdesho brahmanstrividhah samratah
"OM, tat and sat has been declared as the triple appellation of Brahma, who is Truth, Consciousness and Bliss."
In the following
sutra it emphasizes, "The repetition of Om should be made with an understanding of its meaning".
[5]
Puranic Hinduism
thumb in
Pithoragarh district
In Puranic Hinduism,
Aum
is the mystic name for the Hindu
Trimurti, and represents the union of the three gods, viz.
a
for
Brahma,
u
for
Vishnu and
m
for Mahadev which is another name of
Shiva. The three sounds also symbolize the three
Vedas (
Rigveda,
Samaveda,
Yajurveda).
According to Hindu philosophy (see
Mandukya Upanishad), the letter A represents creation, when all existence issued forth from
Brahma's golden nucleus; the letter U refers to
Vishnu the God of the middle who preserves this world by balancing
Brahma on a
lotus above himself, and the letter M symbolizes the final part of the cycle of existence, when Vishnu falls asleep and
Shiva has to breathe in so that all existing things have to disintegrate and are reduced to their essence to him. More broadly, Aum is said to be the primordial sound that was present at the creation of the universe. It is said to be the original sound that contains all other sounds, all words, all languages and all mantras.
Dvaita
Vaishnava Dvaita philosophies teach that 'Aum' is an impersonal sound representation of Vishnu/Krishna while Hari Nama is the personal sound representation. A represents
Krishna, U Srimati
Radharani and M
jivas. According to Sridhara Svami the pranava has five parts: A, U, M, the nasal bindu and the reverberation (nada). Liberated souls meditate on the Lord at the end of that reverberation. For both Hindus and Buddhists this syllable is sacred and so laden with spiritual energy that it may only be pronounced with complete concentration.
Advaita
In
Advaita philosophy it is frequently used to represent three subsumed into one, a common theme in Hinduism. It implies that our current existence is
mithya
and
maya
, "falsehood", that in order to know the full truth we must comprehend beyond the body and intellect the true nature of infinity. Essentially, upon
moksha (
mukti,
samadhi) one is able not only to see or know existence for what it is, but to become it. When one gains true knowledge, there is no split between knower and known: one becomes knowledge/consciousness itself. In essence,
Aum
is the signifier of the ultimate truth that all is one.
Examples of Three into One:
- Creation (Brahma)- Preservation (Vishnu)- Destruction (Shiva) into Brahman the Atman
- Waking- Dreaming- Dreamless Sleep into Turiya (transcendental fourth state of consciousness)
- Rajas (activity, heat, fire) - Tamas (dullness, ignorance, darkness) - Sattva (purity, light, serenity/shanti) into Brahman
- Body, Speech and Mind into Oneness
- Generate(Brahma-Saraswati), Operate(Narayan-Lakshmi), Destroy(Shiv-Shakti)as GOD within
In proper names
When
Aum
is a part of a place name (for example
Omkareshwar), or is used as a man's name, it is spelled phonetically using ordinary letters of whatever Indian alphabet is used in the area. The adherents of
Arya Samaj always use the ordinary letters ?, ? and ? to write Aum.
In Jainism
In
Jainism, Aum is regarded to be a condensed form of reference to the five
parameshthis, by their initials
A+A+A+U+M
(''
oplutim''). The
Dravyasamgrah quotes a
Prakrit line:
?? ??????? ????????????????????? ????????? ??? "??????? ?????? ?????? ?? ???????? ???????"
''
class="Unicode" style="white-space:normal; text-decoration: none">oma ekak?ara pañca-parame??hi-nama-dipam tatkabhamiti ceta "arihata asarira ayariya taha uvajjhaya mu?iya"''
"Aum" is one syllable made from the initials of the five parameshthis. It has been said: "Arihanta, Ashiri, Acharya, Upadhyaya, Muni" .
Thus,
?? ??? (
o? nama?) is a short form of the
Navkar Mantra.
In Buddhism
Buddhists place om at the beginning of their
Vidya-Sadaksari
or mystical formulary in six syllables (viz.,
om mani padme hum) as well as most other mantras and dharanis. As a seed syllable (
bija mantra
), it is also considered holy in
Esoteric Buddhism.
The syllable is often written with the
Chinese character (
pinyin an
) or (
pinyin weng
) in Buddhist texts of
East Asian provenience.
"Onkar" in Sikhism
Guru Nanak dev ji writes that, "From Onkaar, the One Universal Creator God, Brahma was created. He kept Ongkaar in his consciousness. From Ongkaar, the mountains and the ages were created. Onkaar created the Vedas."
[6] Khushwant Singh writes that, "The concept of om, which is somewhat elusive in Hinduism, is crystallized in Sikh theology and is given a status of symbol - the symbol of God." The singularity of God is expressed in the saying,
Ek Onkar
("There is one God").
[7]
Guru Nanak's teaching about God is summed in the Sikh
Mool Mantra.
[8]
om is the symbol for sisters
Notes
- Wazir Singh, ''Aspects of Guru Nanak's philosophy'' (1969), p. 20: "the a, u, m of aum have also been explained as signifying the three principles of creation, sustenance and annihilation. ... Onkar in relation to existence implies plurality, ... but its substitute Ekonkar definitely implies singularity in spite of the seeming multiplicity of existence. ..."
- Ishar Singh, ''The Philosophy of Guru Nanak'', p. 129
- ''Satyarth Prakash by Swami Dayanand Saraswati''
- :''{{IAST|sarve veda yat padam amananti / tapam?si sarva?i ca yad vadanti / yad icchanto brahmacarya? caranti / tat te pada? sa?grahe?a bravimy / om ity etat}} //''
:''{{IAST|etad dhy evak?ara? brahma / etad dhy evak?ara? param / etad dhy evak?ara? jñatva / yo yad icchati / tasya tat}} //''
:''{{IAST|etad alambana? sre??ham / etad alambana? param / etad alambana? jñatva / brahmaloke mahiyate}} //''
- Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, English translation by Bon Giovanni. (sacred-texts.com)
- Siri Guru Granth Sahib (English Translation)
- The religious traditions of Asia: religion, history, and culture
- Comparative Religious and Philosophies
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