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.
Following
on from last week's discussion on sphota, we can now take up a response given
by Swami Vivekananda to the question as to why OM was chosen as the 'thought
concept' out of which the universe became manifest. He wrote:
"This
OM is the only possible symbol which covers the whole ground, and there is none
like it. The sphota is the material of all words, yet it is not any definite
word in its fully-formed state. That is to say, if all the particularities
which distinguish one word from another be removed, then what remains will be
the sphota. Therefore this sphota is called the naada-Brahman, [sound-Brahman].
Now every word symbol intended to express the inexpressible sphota, will so
particularise it that it will no longer be
the sphota. That which particularizes it the least and at the same time most
approximately expresses its nature, will be the truest symbol thereof; and this
is the OM and OM only. These three letters A,U,M, pronounced in combination as
OM, can alone be the generalised symbol of all possible sounds. The letter A is
the least differentiate of all sounds. Again, all articulate sounds are
produced in the space within the mouth, beginning with the root of the tongue
and ending at the lips. The throat sound is the A, the U is the rolling forward
of that sound over the tongue and echoed in the palate, and finally the lips
come together as the sound presses still more forward, giving the vibration of
M.
If
properly pronounced, this OM will represent in itself the whole phenomenon of
sound production and no other word can do this. This therefore, is the fittest
symbol of the sphota and, as the symbol can never be separated from the thing
signified, the OM and the sphota are one. The sphota being the essence of the
manifest universe, it can thus be said that OM represents the creative
principle, the Divine Wisdom…"
By
now, you are grasping the importance of sphota… that part of sound to which we
are mainly deaf but which affects us deeply. Its purest nature is expressed
through OM and thus OM represents the entire universe, manifest and unmanifest
- the Brahman - the substratum which is changeless and upon which all this
world can play.
The
importance and prominence of OM is now revealing itself. It is for the reason
of its representation, that no mantra ever begins without the pronunciation of
OM preceding it. Without OM at its head, any mantra loses its power - these
bodies we inhabit are nothing without the breath we take and OM, as 'pranava',
is the very breath of mantras. Vedantic students do well to meditate upon and
to chant the single-syllable mantra that is OM; it is called pranava upaasanaa.
What was not mentioned in Vivekananada-ji's quote, is the silence which
prevails at the end of the M and before taking up the A once more. Turiiya is
an important part of the chanting, as it represents the unmanifest and also
that to which all returns.
Beyond
this word, though, are the other mantras. We are going to be looking at one in
particular, but before that, there is just a little more to understand; we
shall take this up next week.
SAADHANA
Keep
up your practice of aasana, prana, japa, using OM alone.
