The Multifaceted Om

Namaste!!!
A very warm welcome to the second post of my blog. I received very positive comments for my first post 'Namaste' from the online community as well as a few people around me. The positive comments helped me to come up with my second post, and I really hope you find this likeable as well as informative. Thanks once again for liking the earlier post.

When I am bringing up the topic of symbols, and pan-Indian symbols in particular, one can’t help but take up one of the most diverse, sacrosanct, and multifaceted symbols of all times, around the entire world. The diverse faces this symbol takes up, the flexibility it offers, the acceptability it boasts of, and the respect it commands, certainly makes it one of the most divine symbols of the world.

So much has been written and said about this symbol, that to take it up as a topic to discuss certainly has its demerits. And thanks to movies like Koi Mil Gaya, every other person seems to know a bit or more about AUM or OM. Every time I would bring up the topic of AUM, the other person would snap up, "Ohh yes I have seen Koi Mil Gaya, AUM has all the frequencies of the entire Universe". Well aware that most of it is already known, I would like to take up the lesser known and lesser talked about attributes of the symbol.

As per Hindu sacred texts, before the inception of the world, there was nothingness all around, also called Shunyaksha. No wind, no light, no sky, and no realms. Then came the sound of AUM, and from that sound, everything else evolved, a prime reason why every single atom is said to be vibrating with the frequency of AUM.

The symbol thus encompasses whatever has existed in the past, whatever exists in the present and whatever will exist in the future. AUM is also termed as 'Adi Anadi', which has no beginning and which has no end. Needless to say, AUM is said to be the frequency of God.

Literally. AUM is made up of three sounds, where the first letter 'A' denotes birth or creation, the power of Brahma. U denotes preservation, the power of Vishnu, and M denotes destruction, the power of Shiva. Together, the three form up the entire existence cycle of the earth, the divine energy. As per some sacred texts, it represents another important triad, the earth, the atmosphere and the heaven. Another triad which AUM represents is the concept of A-kara, which denotes everything that has form like the trees and the water, U-kara, which denotes everything that is formless like wind or fire, and M-kara, which denotes everything which is neither with form nor without form like the darkness. Needless to say, the prime emphasis is on AUM being the sound of the entire existence.

Symbolically, the symbol consists of three curves together, along with one another semi-circle and a dot. The larger curve(Curve 1) symbolizes the waking state, or the jagrut-awastha of the human mind. The larger size of the curve indicates that this is the most common state of the human mind. The second curve(Curve 2) denotes the deep sleep, or the sushupt-awastha of the human mind. The third curve(Curve 3) denotes the state between the deep sleep and the waking state, the dream state or the swapna-awastha. These are the three states of an individual's consciousness representing the entire physical phenomenon, a fact well exploited by the movie Inception.

The dot denotes the utter quiet, peaceful and blissful state of the human consciousness, the state where all the three other states are illuminated. The semi-circle(Curve 4) denotes maya, and separates the dot from the three states of consciousness. Needless to say, it is maya which separates the consciousness from reaching the highest state of bliss. The maya semi-circle, as can be seen, never touches the dot, it always touches the three states of consciousness.

A more interesting insight would be the way AUM is pronounced, A starts from the back of the mouth, thus encompassing every spoken sound from the mouth. M is shaped or created by the closing of the lips, so M encompasses the completion of all sounds. And U encompasses every sound in between, symbolized by the shape of the lips. AUM thus encompasses all the spoken sounds.

The symbolism would just not stop there, AUM is such multifaceted and such diverse, it represents a number of other important triads, like the time (past, present and future), the seasons (spring, summer and winter), periods (morning, midday and evening)...the list is endless.

The divinity of AUM does not stop at it being a sacred symbol or a mystical sound. AUM has as many scientific and medical significations. According to a number of scientific studies, when AUM is chanted ten times in lower pitch, internalized attention is produced. In simpler terms, the attention of the being turns inwards, thus improving concentration over a regular period of time.  The mind experiences a state of calm and peace, thus decreasing anxiety and depression. Sleep pattern is improved as a result of psychological relaxation.
When one chants AUM, he creates within himself a state of trance. One such scientific study on AUM is given here http://paper.ijcsns.org/07_book/200901/20090151.pdf

Now, let’s take a moment and make a slight assumption. Let’s assume the symbolism, the interpretations, the triads are mere assumptions made by our ancestors and sacred texts. Let’s assume the divinity of AUM or the knowledge of the diversity of AUM, the scientific and medical implications of chanting AUM, were somehow known to our ancient Indian scientists, or was already a widely accepted notion during those times. Maybe the intellectuals of those times saw the potential of AUM, particularly in the field of Neuroscience and in an attempt to bring the chanting of AUM to practice, made it a mandate to pronounce AUM at the beginning of every Vedic Chant. Let’s assume the mystical attributes of AUM were already discovered, the intellectuals of those times only built up its ascendancy attaching it to every sacred aspect of worship.

 I usually walk my way from home to office, and as soon as I am out of my home, I see restlessness and rush almost everywhere. People trying to reach their office as soon as they can, overcrowding the elevators, working for long stretched hours, and then coming back home to complete their quota of sleep. Sooner than later, hypertension and other related malfunctions crop up and all the hard-earned money is paid in the form of medical bills. Chanting AUM won’t reduce the rush of life, but can certainly help in bringing back some peace back into the mind. I accept it’s hard to make a habit out of anything, specially chanting AUM, which is largely held as a religious phenomenon, and a large number of pan-modern Indians shy away from such acts, I would still request everyone to try this out once, it certainly has its benefits. And think of it, AUM may not be a purely religious aspect at all, it may be a purely scientific marvel, designed as religious phenomenon.

With that I would wish to end my second post of the blog. The posts which I have picked up till now may make me appear as a Hinduism-fanboy, but believe me I am not that big a fanboy. I actually am a fanboy of something else, a concept which I would like to touch upon in my next post. Till then, Namaste and keep chanting AUM.

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