Hari
Om
Monday is AUM-day; in search of meditation
For the next stage of our investigation on
meditation, we are going to study - and practice! - japa as a means to tame the
mind and we shall investigate the Gayatri Mantra.
The
relevance of OM to the entire world was indicated last week. It is such a basic
principle to the state of existence that it has no boundaries of culture or
creed. The Maitraayana Upanishad, after stating that there is only one Brahman
without words says that there came the 'word-Brahman' and that word is OM. Thus
it is made clear that OM is a manifestation from the unmanifest. It is also
called as 'pranava', that which pervades in the way that breathing pervades
life. Another, more widely known upanishad, the Maanduukya makes its entire
statement upon the syllable of OM. It is in this text that we find the OM
explored in terms of the triavastaaH - waking, dream and deep sleep states,
then moving onto the fourth state of 'turiiya'… this is done by noting that the
sound syllable is made up of A, U and M then some characters which are not so
much letter, but accents. We have explored this in an earlier post.
We
can utilise the OM for meditation purposes by visualising the states as
discussed previously. Our focus in the current series of explorations, though,
is the sound quality - the 'mantra element' - of the symbol.
In
every piece of music we have to take under consideration firstly its sound,
secondly the laws of music and thirdly the meaning to be gained from it. We all
do this when listening to any form of music, however unfocused we are! This is
the magic of music. It reaches us and affects us even when we are not
consciously listening to it. It is this very thing which makes the use of music
in public places, in advertising and so on so very powerful.
Do
not underestimate the power of sound as given out in musical tone!
With
OM there is the sound - the pronunciation via the mouth; the technical -
application of 'laws' upon one's character; and the meaning - the essence
beyond the sound which affects one emotionally. OM is the representative of
that which is beyond sound, the Eternal Self - that Self is indicated by the
turiiya - the silence which surrounds the sound. Where A, U and M, as
individual maatraas (sound elements) clearly represent the waking, dream and
deep-sleep ego-self, OM as a complete symbol also contains that representation
of that which is witness to all. Memory can only pertain to the individual. A
brother cannot have the memories of his sister, nor she his. They may have
similar memories around a shared event, but each will have only their own
memories and these may have variations according to their own subjective
natures. The law of memory is that the rememberer and the experiencer must be
one and the same. This is the entity which knows what happens to the self in
each of the different states and each of those states can only reflect the
experiences of that individual, not of anyone else. That observer entity which
is referred to as 'sakshii' in general usage, is here, in the OM, referred to
as 'turiiya'. This is because there is a 'sound' a vibration, albeit
"silence".
The
A, U, M are as essential to the sound as the silence upon which they are
imposed. Thus we can surmise that silence is ever-abiding and sound,
representing the three states of living, is transient. Yet, by the very fact
that sound can arise, we must say that sound has the potential to be
ever-present in its naked form of silence. It is a part of silence. Without the presence of silence, sound would not
be possible.
Without
the presence of Brahman, we would not be
possible…
SAADHANA
Review
the 'AUM Explorer' posts. … review more! Constantly reinforce understanding,
correct understanding, discover new understanding. This is the process.
