Hari
OM
Application - that is what 'Workings-days' are about!
We are now undertaking basic technical
discourse on Vedanta. The text
forming the basis of these posts is 'Kindle Life'. Please do reread previous posts using the labels 'Workings-days' or
'Kindle Life'.
Ch. 28 गायत्री मन्त्र /gaayatrii maantra (cont'd).
Here are words with
which the world is familiar: प्रजपतिर्वै इदं अग्रे आसीत् /Prajapathi
vai idam agre aasiit' - In the beginning was Prajapati, the Brahman: तस्य वाक् द्वित्यासीत् /Tasya vaak dvitiya asit - With whom was the Word: वाग्वै परमं ब्रहम /Vaag vai Paraman Brahma - And the Word was verily the Supreme Brahman. {Krishna Yajurveda Kathaka Samhita 12.5 27.1.}
To say that this is
one of the most hotly debated phrases in the religious world would not be an
overstatement. Sadly, there are many of the Christian faiths, particularly
Catholicism, which are still under the perception (and in which it is actively
taught) that the philosophy of Hinduism is pagan and false. Yet all the truly
great thinkers of that tradition have, at some point, come into contact
with Vedanta, albeit they know not the name, and are influenced by it.
This is said, not to
stir up factionalism, merely to point out the obvious. The fact of the matter
is that these words were written in the Vedas many centuries prior to them
appearing in the Bible. When great and open spirits ponder the Great Truths of
existence, they will arrive at the same conclusions. How they chose to name and
classify those conclusions will vary, but the one, underlying and undeniable fact will always
prevail. Thus, when John 1:1 builds on these very words, we ought not to be
surprised, but glad that there is one thing upon which we all ought to be able
to agree. All came from that one birth-sound. In Hinduism the sound is given as
OM and this OM is a universal mantra.
The very central
theme of the Mandukya Upanishad is the syllable OM through which the mystery of
Brahman is gathered to a point. The text of this Upanishad first treats OM in
terms of the Upanishadic doctrine of the three states of waking, dream and deep
sleep, but then passes on to the 'fourth' (turiiya), thus transporting us
beyond the typical Upanishadic sphere into that of the later 'classic Advaita
Vedanta'. Speaking of OM, the Taittiriiya Upanishad says: "Thou art the
sheath of Brahman.'' That is, OM is the container for the Supreme and,
therefore, invoking OM is invoking the Supreme.
In
every piece of music there are three aspects, namely (1) the meaning of the
song, (2) the laws of
music and (3) the sound of the song.
Similarly, on OM there are three aspects. The first is the mere sound, the mere
mantra as pronounced by the mouth;
the second is the meaning of the syllable, which is to be realized through
feeling; and the third is the
application of OM to your character, singing it in your acts and thus through
your life. OM represents the Self which is the Supreme Non-dual Reality. The
Self is known in four states, namely, the waking state, the dream state, the deep
sleep state and the fourth state called the turiiya. All these states are represented in the
three sounds of OM (i.e., A, U, M) and the silence that follows and surrounds
the syllable. [AV note; do
read the AUMday posts for full exploration of this one-syllable mantra, but here is
Gurudev's precis of it.]
The
sound A represents the waking state; the sound U represents the dream state and the sound M represents
the deep sleep state. The waking state is superimposed on the A sound because
it is the first of the three states of consciousness, so the sound A the very
first of the letters of the alphabet – in all languages. The dream is but a view
within the mind of the impressions that had reflected on the surface of the
mental lake during the waking state. Besides, the dream state occurs between
the waking and the deep sleep state and comes second among the three states of
consciousness. U, being next to A in
order of sounds and also since it is between A and M, is treated as
representing the dream state. On the M sound of OM is superimposed the deep
sleep state. The comparison between the last sound of the OM and sleep lies in
that it is the closing sound of the syllable, just as deep sleep is the final
stage of the mind in rest. A short pregnant silence is inevitable between two
successive OMs. On this silence is superimposed the idea of the fourth state,
known as turiiya. This is the state of Perfect Bliss when the individual Self
recognises the identity with the Supreme. In OM, the sounds A, U, and M are
called मात्राः /maatras or forms; there is
also in AUM the common principle called the अमात्र /amaatra OM, that which signifies
the things in itself, running through and pervading the threefold phenomena
of waking, dream, and deep sleep.
The law of memory is that the rememberer and the
experiencer must be one and the same individual, or else memory is impossible.
So, as we can remember all our experiences in all three planes, there must necessarily be a single common
factor which was a witness of all the happenings in all the three planes. There must be
some entity within ourselves who is present in the waking world, who moves and
illuminates the dream, who is a distant observer in the deep sleep world, yet
who is not conditioned by any of these three realms.
This entity,
conceived as the fourth state (turiiya), is the Real, the Changeless, the
Intelligent Principle.
...tbc...