Om represents God, complete in all aspects embodied as sun present in the outer as well as inner space of every being, writes DR ASHA GOSWAMI

In the Indian tradition a belief goes that in the beginning there was complete void, neither light nor darkness, neither energy nor matter but a vast formless state. Then the aadishakti (primeval energy) with the radiance of hundred suns and uproar sound of her laughter like Om gave birth to the cosmos.

While another Indian philosophic thought holds that Om as a soporific  sound was flashed forth in the mind of Brahma while he was absorbed in meditation. It is also believed that the rhythmic sound Om had exhorted the Almighty to create the world. Hence, Om is considered the original primordial sound when the creation had started, and thus Om should be treated as sound ornaada, and a signature of Brahma.

Om can also be treated akin to ‘amen’ in Christianity and‘ameen’ in Islam. However, in the Vedic times, Om was used as a solemn ‘yes’, implying consent. In the Upanishads, Om is reckoned as a symbol of Almighty and the means of attaining him by meditating  upon it. In the Gita, Om is not only included within the triad title of Almighty vide its famous formula “Om Tat Sat” but also acclaimed as lord Krishna himself when it is said “giraamasmyekamaksharam”.

In the same context, the sphota theory also adds sound note as it holds that the creation process of the world involved such movements which led to produce a sound similar as Om and hence Om is identified as naadabrahma, implying the primordial sound which gave rise to the cosmos.

This proves that Indians from the very beginning realised the spiritual aspect of sound or naada, which enabled them to visualise the supreme God in the form of letters oraksharas denoting that which is immutable and who else other than God as naadabrahma is immutable.

The German expounders of yoga philosophy like Hauer while comparing the sound Om with the sound of bull roarer, treat it as “a numinous primeval sound, purely an exclamation”. While Panini treats it as particle which is to be placed at the commencement of an activity, utterance and writing “Om abhyudaane”.

Hence goes the maxim, “With the chanting of Om, they sing the mantras; with it the priests officiate the sacrifice and with it even the creator began the creation”. Besides, the different derivations of Om assign it different implications. For instance, if derived from the Sanskrit root aap meaning to attain and from avam meaning that, it implies  “that medium which enables the chanter to attain his desired objects”.

Another school of thought believes that Oman is the original form of Om which derived from the root ava with the addition of the suffix man signifies the Almighty. In the yoga philosophy, Om holds a significant place as it is closely connected with the yoga practices. Since in yoga, Om in a symbol form is resorted to by the yogi in the form of support for the mind in its movements of thought and concentration. However, the symbolism of Om which led to its philosophic development started with the time of the later Upanishads when it was first looked upon as symbolic representation of Brahma and secondly as a medium of meditation which directly leads the chanter to attain him. Hence, accordingly in these scriptures “the constituents of Om include man’s inner soul which is identified as soul in space localised in the sun, as well as the deeming rays of the sun encircling and enlightening us”.

Besides, a series of metaphors are also applied to expound its symbolism. It is likened to the bow as it leads the chanter’s conscience to the Almighty. It is also called a boat or a chariot through which the chanter treads over the ether of the heart and attains the proximity of Almighty, and also since its chanting leads all the jivas in the universe in diverse ways to the enjoyment of various objects. Om as a synonym of God in total is also called pranava since it is the primordial sound in the universe and it forms the first utterance of the Almighty, and the original sound when the creation of the world is assumed to have started.

Om is also included among the epithets of lord Shiva in his Naadasvarupa and also thus forms synonymous withshabdabrahma or naadabrahma. It is held that Om embodiment of spiritual power signifies universal formulation of the energy of sound and speech. Since all the sounds and thoughts of the universe constitute the outflow of Om, the eternal sound that  has manifested itself in the form of all sensible objects in the universe.

Om is also looked upon as the sovereign source seed and womb as well as the original supreme  unity of all the things, ideas, forms, names and all the entities in the universe. Besides, this single word representing the supreme God complete in all aspects is also termed ajaikapaada, which denotes the signification “that Brahman definitely denotes the single word Om since the former when endowed with his one portion only has assumed the infinite sentient and insentient forms in this universe and also that since the same forms the monosyllabic name of the divine among  the names of lower and higher Brahma”.

Om is also best called as akshara or immutable and imperishable since it serves a symbol of the supreme who is all pervasive, unique without beginning and unrelated to any effect. Om is also titled as udgeeth as its meditation as symbol of Brahma fetches one with objectives of attaining spiritual ascension and opens chanter’s mind to the experience of higher state. According to Kathopanishad, the meditation of Om even leads one to win over Death God. Split up into three letters ‘a u m’ it turns to be symbolic representative of the three states of Brahma which are known as jaagrata, svapna and sushupti, and are also indicative of perfect state of spiritual consciousness of enlightened individual. When split into four letters ‘a u hum (bindu) m’ it turns to be symbolic representative of Manas Tattva along with five sense organs of speech, seeing, listening, touching and smelling and also signifies five gross elements(panchamahabhutas) with which the cosmos is made and of which each worldly being is a component part.

This all pervasive aspect of Om terms it also as a cosmic God since it signifies that space, fire, wind, sun and heaven all in total form is implied by Om. Another view holds different concept of fivefold Om as representing five fold sheaths present in all beings of the universe, such as ‘subtle or praanamaya,casual or manomaya, gross or annamaya, supercasual or vijnanamaya, blissful or anandamaya.

The writer is a noted Indologist and authority on Krishnaite studies