Om

Om]] Om or Aum (also Auṃ, written in Devanāgari as and as , in Sanskrit known as [lit. "to sound out loudly"], Omkara, or (also as Aumkāra) (lit. "Auṃ form/syllable"), is a sacred/mystical syllable in the Dharma or Indian religions, i.e. Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism.

Aum, pronounced as a long or over-long nasalized close-mid back rounded vowel, ) though there are other enunciations adhered to in received traditions. It is placed at the beginning of most Hindu texts as a sacred incantation to be intoned at the beginning and end of a reading of the Vedas or prior to any prayer or mantra. The Māndukya Upanishad is entirely devoted to the explanation of the syllable. The syllable consists of three phonemes, a Vaishvanara, u Hiranyagarbha and m Iswara, which symbolize the beginning, duration, and dissolution of the universe and the associated gods Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, respectively. Aum is pronounced in three sounds - A (aaa) , U (ooooo) and M (mmmmm) and signifies Right (A) and Left (U) Sympathetic Nervous Systems (SNS) and (M) Parasympathetic Nervous System. Right SNS (controlled by Left part of brain) looks after the actional aspect where as the left SNS looks after the emotional aspect of human beings.

The name Omkara is taken as a name of God in the Hindu revivalist Arya Samaj.

Name, phonology and written representation

The Sanskrit name for the syllable is , from a root "to shout, sound", verbal being attested as "to make a humming or droning sound" in the Brahmanas, and taking the specific meaning of "to utter the syllable aum" in the Chāndogya Upanishad and the Shrauta Sutras. More rarely used terms are (lit. symbol, character) or (lit. one symbol, character), and in later times becomes prevalent.

Phonemically, the syllable is , which is regularly monophthongized to in Sanskrit phonology. It is sometimes also written with pluti, as (), notably by Arya Samaj. When occurring within a Sanskrit utterance, the syllable is subject to the normal rules of sandhi in Sanskrit grammar, however with the additional peculiarity that after preceding a or ā, the au of aum does not form vriddhi (au) but guna (o) per Pāṇini 6.1.95 (i.e. 'om').

The aum symbol is a ligature of Devanagari + (, encoded in Unicode at U+0950 , the Tibetan script variant at U+0F00, and the Chinese version 唵 at U+5535 or 吽 at U+543D).

In Hinduism

The syllable aum is first described as all-encompassing mystical entity in the Upanishads. Today, in all Hindu art and all over India and Nepal, 'aum' can be seen virtually everywhere, a common sign for Hinduism and its philosophy and theology. Hindus believe that as creation began, the divine, all-encompassing consciousness took the form of the first and original vibration manifesting as sound "AUM". Before creation began it was "Shunyākāsha", the emptiness or the void. Shunyākāsha, meaning literally "no sky", is more than nothingness, because everything then existed in a latent state of potentiality. The vibration of "AUM" symbolizes the manifestation of God in form ("sāguna brahman"). "AUM" is the reflection of the absolute reality, it is said to be "Adi Anadi", without beginning or the end and embracing all that exists.

The Katha Upanishad has: :"The goal, which all Vedas declare, which all austerities aim at, and which humans desire when they live a life of conscience, I will tell you briefly it is aum" :"The one syllable [, viz. aum] is indeed Brahman. 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)

The Chāndogya Upanishad (1.1.1-1) states: : :"The udgi:tā ["the chanting", that is, the syllable om] is the best of all essences, the highest, deserving the highest place, the eighth."

The Bhagavad Gi:tā (8.13) states that: :Uttering the monosyllable Aum, the eternal world of Brahman, One who departs leaving the body (at death), he attains the Supereme Goal (i.e., he reaches God).

In Bhagavad Gi:tā (9.17): Lord 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 Oḿ. I am also the Ṛig, the Sāma and the Yajur Vedas."

The Bhagvad Gi:tā (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 sūtra it emphasizes, "The repetition of Om should be made with an understanding of its meaning".

In the book Om Chanting and Meditation Amit Ray states:

Pauranic Hinduism

in Pithoragarh district. Its snow deposit is said to resemble the Aum symbol.]] is sometimes identified with the Aum]] In Purānic 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 Māndukya 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 Srīmati Rādhārāni and M jivas. According to Srīdhara Svāmi the pranava has five parts: A, U, M, the nasal bindu and the reverberation (nāda). 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

's forehead]] In Advaita philosophy it is frequently used to represent three subsumed into one, a triune, a common theme in Hinduism. It implies that our current existence is mithyā 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, samādhi) 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.

In proper names

When Aum is a part of a place name (for example Omkāreshwar), 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 अ(Ah), ऊ(ooh) and म(ma) 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 (). The Dravyasamgrah quotes a Prakrit line: : : :"Aum" is one syllable made from the initials of the five parameshthis. It has been said: "Arihanta, Ashiri, Acharya, Upadhyaya, Muni" .

Thus, () 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 dhāranis. As a seed syllable (bija mantra), it is also considered holy in Esoteric Buddhism.

The syllable is often written with the Chinese character (pinyin ) or (pinyin ) in Buddhist texts of East Asian provenience.

A key distinction should be made here between Buddhism as it arose in India and Buddhism after the migration of the teachings to Tibet under the guidance of Padmasambhava. Buddhism in India was characterized by the OM bija (syllable) and can be understood roughly to represent the unity of all. Buddhism in Tibet after the merger with Bon Shamanism is now characterized by the AH bija and can be roughly translated as representing pure spirit (the fifth element in the Tibetan system).

Paying close attention to the calligraphic representation, the Vedic or Indian OM is what most Westerners are used to and the Tibetan script OM is less widespread in popular culture. Even Tibetan handicrafts made in Nepal tend to use the Indian OM for recognizability.

"Onkar" in Sikhism

Ik Onkar (Punjabi , , iconically in Gurmukhi script, a combination of the numeral one and the letter ūṛā with the vowel marker hōṛā, from Sanskrit "one ,") is a symbol of the unity of God in Sikhism, Guru Nanak having used the Sanskrit-based term to portray the unique theological conception of One God. The Ik Onkar ligature is encoded as a single character in Unicode at U+0A74 (). The term onkar is found in Sikhism, expressed as Ik Onkar (One God), and emphasizes monotheism, in contrast to the multiplicity of "om". The Sikh concept of God (Waheguru) is summarized by the first composition of Guru Nanak, the Mul Mantar. In the Mul Mantar, Guru Nanak writes "One God, the true name, the creator, without fear, without hatred, timeless, self-existent" The singularity of God is expressed in the saying, Ik Onkar ("There is one God").

References

External links

Meaning of the word OM

Aum in the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Yoga Su:tras

Collection of Om Graphics (Devanagari type)

Aum in the Mandukya Upanishad

Category:Brahmic graphemes Category:Hindu symbols Category:Jain symbols Category:Mantras Category:Sanskrit words and phrases