Significance of OM (AUM) in Hinduism

Significance and Importance of Om (AUM) : In Hinduism the most sacred words is Om It signifies the super conscious Brahman or the Non dual singularity which occupies the whole "Jagat" or Universe.

The most sacred single syllable in the entire literature of Hinduism is OM.

Those who know the soul, and those who do not know the soul, stand side by side reciting this syllable. But knowledge and ignorance are quite different. Only when it is recited with knowledge and faith, and with awareness of the hidden connections, does it become truly potent.
Chandogya Upanishad 1:1

OM represents the wholeness of the universe and the eternal sound of Brahman (the universal soul) that permeates it. All Hindu mantras generally begin and often also end with OM. It has been frequently mentioned in the Vedas and offer scriptures of Hinduism.

Aum is the supreme symbol of God. Aum is the whole. Aum affirms. Aum is the sound which expresses all truth.

The priest begins worship with Aum. Spiritual teachers begin their lessons with Aum; and their disciples open themselves to those lessons with Aum.

Those in whom Aum resides are unified with God. Taittiriya Upanishad 1:8

The syllable OM, can also be spelled as AUM. According to one interpretation:

• “A” stands for creation,
• “U” stands for preservation, and
• “M” indicates destruction or dissolution.

Om Namah Shivaya! This mantra is considered to be The King of all matras. It was for centuries considered to be a secret. Often a guru would wait for years to disclose this mantra (another mantra) to a devotee until a devotee was considered worthy of such a gift. Further, it was considered to be for the East and was not known to be disclosed, substantially, to the West perhaps at all until around 1970’s.

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As once was translated for this researcher it means: I bow, with great respect to Lord Shiva (God, Christ, the Universal energy, etc., could be substituted here), who is my own Self! Gurumayi Chidvalasananda

As is discussed elsewhere in this paper, it is believed that every sound of this ancient mantra is charged with the vibration of the Universe and that it allows for the connection of God. This same guru and lineage further believes that God dwells within you, as you. This could be something to contemplate. One might believe that this precept greatly deviates from most philosophies the West might offer.

On the other hand, while one is considered a god-self, there is also a long tradition of the Guru-disciple principle, as perhaps had its beginnings in the Bhagavad Gita. This subject alone is one that many have written about voluminously over the centuries and certainly, is best left for another discussion. Quoting the Bhagavad Gita (5.3) Swami Muktananda once discoursed on the subject, “You yourself are your own friend and your own enemy.” Again quoting the Bhagavad Gita, Swami said, “The vision of the Self is obtained through meditation.” (Play of Consciousness p16 and 35)

The perfect symbol of the impersonal aspect of the Godhead is the syllable OM. In Hinduism and Buddhism, many mantrams based on the personal aspect of the Lord begin with OM, so that a single mantram symbolizes the divine presence as both personal and impersonal, manifest and unmanifest.

To explain why OM is such a perfect symbol of the impersonal Godhead, it is necessary to refer to a theory in the ancient Hindu scriptures which has much in common with recent discoveries in modern science. According to this theory, the entire phenomenal world consists of vibrations, just as matter, according to modern physics, may be looked at as a concentration of energy. The physicist will tell you that in the last analysis, this book is not a solid object; it is a structure of vibrating energies temporarily fixed in a particular pattern. In the Hindu theory of vibration, matter is the most rigid, the most “condensed” of vibrations; it is solid and perceptible to the senses… The subtlest of vibrations, according to the ancient sages, is the so-called cosmic sound, the creative Word out of which the entire universe of stars and seas, plants and animals and human beings has evolved. The passage from Saint John – “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” – has an almost exact parallel in the Rig Veda, one of the oldest Hindu scriptures, which speaks of the unmanifested Godhead, called Brahman: “In the beginning was Brahman, with whom was the Word, and the Word was truly the supreme Brahman.”

This Word, the cosmic sound, is not perceptible to the senses, but it can be experienced in very deep meditation. It is most closely approximated by the syllable OM – or AUM, as it is sometimes pronounced. When we utter OM with awareness of its significance, we are to some degree evoking the supreme reality for which it stands. (Easwaran, The Unstruck Bell, pp 53-54)

Hari Om Tat Sat!