Today is Guru Purnima, dedicated to the torch bearer in one’s life - the Guru - in the annular Hindu calendar. Heartfelt salutation to my revered Guru on this solemn occasion. For, he in his own ingenious ways helped me rise over the limitations of mind and emotion, expand my vision, making me worth serving as guiding spirit to many. Also, I greet other Gurus who have been enlightening their disciples. The importance of the word: ‘Guru’ is hidden in its very construct. Guru is made of two syllables – ‘Gu’ meaning darkness/ignorance and ‘Ru’ implies light. Guru, thus, is the one who enlightens to remove darkness/ignorance. Here, it is important to understand the difference between a teacher and a Guru. Teacher is academically aware of a particular subject or discipline, which he carries forward to the students. Guru, on the other hand, who through his intense sadhana, gets over the limitations of mind and emotions, whence he has access to the whole landscape of mind, which knows no limits. He then explores and realises the truths of life – both eternal, which includes even subtle realities operative at unseen level, and living realities of life. Only such realised masters could intuitively comprehend the soundless sound Om.
Now coming back to the subject matter under discussion since the previous issue, we have seen why the sound note Om is also termed as Shabda-Brahman. Shabda in Sanskrit means word - both written and as heard. The word Brahman here means the primal-source and effective cause of all creations.
The Shabda-Brahman concept is laid down in the Vedas as:
Prajapatirvai idam-asit
Tasya Vagdwitiya asit
Vagvai paramam Brahman
In the beginning was Prajapati which is another name assigned to the source and effective cause of all creations. The word Prajapati is made of two words: Praja and Pati, respectively meaning the subjects and their lord, the two when combined means lord of all creations. The word came second – spoken of as second because it was first potentially in and then emerged as the evident power from Him. The word is that ultimate Brahman.
This finds resonance even in the Biblical scripture, the fourth Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word; and the Word was with God; and the Word was God”.
The ‘Om?’ symbol, as we see, is written as the Hindi letter ‘Å¡ ’ (U) towards its main body. On top of it is placed a crescent having a dot within, which is spoken of as Hindi letter ‘m?’. The crescent sign with the dot within symbolises particular action or the stirring at the primal source. The main body - ‘Å¡ ’ (U) reflects what followed thereafter, which eventually culminated in the manifest plural world of name and form.
Supposedly following Pranava (causal stress) at the primal source, arose Nada (sound). The crescent here symbolises the arousal of causal stress. When the causal-stress gathered up and gravitated further, energy streams got released with a bang. Here, the dot within the crescent has two-fold implications. First, it symbolises the dense singular source where from the world process took off. Second, it symbolises centralisation of causal stress and issuance of energy streams there from. The second part, ‘Å’ (U) symbolises the manifest energy as the world experience.
A question will naturally arise in curious human mind: “Why and how the scope for causal-stress at the primal-source, believed to be originally in equilibrated state?” The dictionary meaning describes ‘stress’, as a system of forces applied to a body. Evidently, when two things attract or distract each other, will lead to stress (the resulting force arising thereof). It is therefore possible that mutual attraction/distraction amongst energy particles constituting the primal source, hitherto in equilibrated state, would be subject to stress. This phenomenon being the self-activated cause of all further actions in the world process is termed as causal stress. This, when gathered momentum, and got centralised, found issuance of forces with a roaring ‘Hum’ sound.
Here, a mention about the state of atom, seemingly inactive, becomes imperative to make things clear. At the centre of an atom lies the positively charged nucleus, which apparently remains in an inactive state. Negatively charged electrons circle around the nucleus. The bonding energy between the two provides stability to the atom. If the bonding energy gets any way disturbed, the atom releases enormous energy. Similarly, it is very well possible that stress arising out of mutual attraction amongst the energy particles constituting the primal source would have disturbed the bonding energy, which had earlier held these particles in equilibrated state.
The issue continues………
The writer is an astrologer, vastu consultant and spiritual counsellor. Connect with him at
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