AUM!
THE most sacred mystic syllable of the Vedas is Aum. It is
the first letter of the Sanskrit alphabet, and by some it is
thought to be the sound made by a new born child when the breath
is first drawn into the lungs. The daily prayers of the Hindu
Brahmin are begun and ended with it, and the ancient sacred books
say that with that syllable the gods themselves address the most
Holy One.
In the Chandogya Upanishad 1 its
praises are sung in these words:
Let a man meditate on the syllable OM,
called the udgitha,2
...it is the best of all essences, the highest, deserving the
highest place, the eighth.
It is then commanded to meditate on this syllable as the breath,
of two kinds, in the body - the vital breath and the mere breath
in the mouth or lungs, for by this meditation come knowledge
and proper performance of sacrifice. In verse 10 is found:
Now, therefore, it would seem to follow that both he who knows
the true meaning of OM, and he who does not, perform the same
sacrifice. But this is not so, for knowledge and ignorance are
different. The sacrifice which a man performs with knowledge,
faith, and the Upanishad is more powerful.
Outwardly the same sacrifice is performed by both, but that
performed by him who has knowledge and has meditated on the secret
meaning of OM partakes of the qualities inhering in OM, which
need just that knowledge and faith as the medium through which
they may become visible and active. If a jeweler and a mere ploughman
sell a precious stone, the knowledge of the former bears better
fruit than the ignorance of the latter.
Shankaracharya in his Sharir Bhashya dwells largely
on OM, and in the Vayu Purana a whole chapter is devoted
to it. Now as Vayu is air, we can see in what direction the minds
of those who were concerned with that purana were tending. They
were analyzing sound, which will lead to discoveries of interest
regarding the human spiritual and physical constitution. In sound
is tone, and tone is one of the most important and deep reaching
of all natural things. By tone, the natural man and the child
express the feelings, just as animals in their tones make known
their nature. The tone of the voice of the tiger is quite different
from that of the dove, as different as their natures are from
each other, and if the sights, sounds, and objects in the natural
world mean anything, or point the way to any laws underlying
these differences, then there is nothing puerile in considering
the meaning of tone.
The Padma Purana says:
"The syllable OM is the leader of all prayers; let it
therefore be employed in the beginning of all prayers,"
and Manu in his laws ordains: "A Brahmin, at the beginning
and end of a lesson on the Vedas, must always pronounce the syllable
OM, for unless OM precede, his learning will slip away from him,
and unless it follows, nothing will be long retained."
The celebrated Hindoo Raja, Ramohun Roy, in a treatise on
this letter says:
"OM, when considered as one letter, uttered by the help
of one articulation, is the symbol of the supreme Spirit. 'One
letter (OM) is the emblem of the Most High, Manu II, 83.' But
when considered as a triliteral word consisting of
(a), (u), (m),
it implies the three Vedas, the three states of
human nature, there three divisions of the universe, and the
three deities - Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, agents in the
creation, preservation, and destruction of this
world; or, properly speaking, the three principal attributes
of the Supreme Being personified in those three deities. In this
sense it implies, in fact, the universe controlled by the Supreme
Spirit."
Now we may consider that there is pervading the whole universe
a single homogeneous resonance, sound, or tone which acts, so
to speak, as the awakener or vivifying power, stirring all the
molecules into action. This is what is represented in all languages
by the vowel a, which takes precedence of all others.
This is the word, the verbum, the Logos of St.
John of the Christians, who says: "In the beginning was
the Word, and the word was with God, and the word was God."3 This
is creation, for without this resonance or motion among the quiescent
particles, there would be no visible universe. That is to say,
upon sound, or, as the Aryans called it, Nada Brahma (divine
resonance), depends the evolution of the visible from the invisible.
But this sound a, being produced, at once alters itself
into au, so that the second sound u is that one
made by the first in continuing its existence. The vowel u,
which in itself is a compound one, therefore represents preservation.
And the idea of preservation is contained also in creation, or
evolution, for there could not be anything to preserve, unless
it had first come into existence.
If these two sounds, so compounded into one, were to proceed
indefinitely, there would be of course no destruction of them.
But it is not possible to continue the utterance further than
the breath, and whether the lips are compressed or the tongue
pressed against the roof of the mouth, or the organs behind that
used, there will be in the finishing of the utterance the closure
or m sound, which among the Aryans had the meaning of
stoppage. In this last letter there is found the destruction
of the whole word or letter. To reproduce it a slight experiment
will show that by no possibility can it be begun with m, but
that au invariably commences even the utterance of m
itself. Without fear of successful contradiction, it can be asserted
that all speech begins with au, and the ending, or destruction
of speech, is in m.
The word "tone" is derived from the Latin and Greek
words meaning sound and tone. In the Greek the word "tonos"
means a "stretching" or "straining." As to
the character of the sound, the word "tone" is used
to express all varieties, such as high, low, grave, acute, sweet,
and harsh sounds. In music it gives the peculiar quality of the
sound produced, and also distinguishes one instrument from another;
as rich tone. reedy tone, and so on. In medicine, it designates
the state of the body, but is there used more in the signification
of strength, and refers to strength or tension. It is not difficult
to connect the use of the word in medicine with the divine resonance
of which we spoke, because we may consider tension to be the
vibration, or quantity of vibration, by which sound is apprehended
by the ear; and if the whole system gradually goes down so that
its tone is lowered without stoppage, the result will at last
be dissolution for that collection of molecules. In painting,
the tone also shows the general drift of the picture, just as
it indicates the same thing in morals and manners. We say, "a
low tone of morals, an elevated tone of sentiment, a courtly
tone of manners," so that tone has a signification which
is applied universally to either good or bad, high or low. And
the only letter which we can use to express it, or symbolize
it, is the a sound, in its various changes, long, short,
and medium. And just as the tone of manners, of morals,
of painting, of music, means the real character of each, in the
same way the tones of the various creatures, including man himself,
mean or express the real character; and all together joined in
the deep murmur of nature go to swell the Nada Brahma,
or Divine resonance, which at last is heard as the music of the
spheres.
Meditation on tone, as expressed in this Sanskrit word OM,
will lead us to a knowledge of the secret Doctrine. We find expressed
in the merely mortal music the seven divisions of the divine
essence, for as the microcosm is the little copy of the macrocosm,
even the halting measures of man contain the little copy of the
whole, in the seven tones of the octave. From what we are led
to the seven colors, and so forward and upward to the Divine
radiance which is the Aum. For the Divine Resonance, spoken of
above, is not the Divine Light itself. The Resonance is only
the outbreathing of the first sound of the entire Aum. This goes
on during what the Hindoos call a Day of Brahma, which, according
to them, last a thousand ages.4 It manifests
itself not only as the power which stirs up and animates the
particles of Universe, but also in the evolution and dissolution
of man, of the animal and mineral kingdoms, and of solar systems.
Among the Aryans it was represented in the planetary system by
Mercury, who has always been said to govern the intellectual
faculties and to be the universal stimulator. Some old writers
have said that it is shown through Mercury, amongst mankind,
by the universal talking of women.
And wherever this Divine Resonance is closed or stopped by
death or other change, the Aum has been uttered there. These
utterances of Aum are only the numerous microcosmic enunciations
of the Word, which is uttered or completely ended, to use the
Hermetic or mystical style of language, only when the great Brahm
stops the outbreathing, closes the vocalization, by the m
sound, and thus causes the universal dissolution. This universal
dissolution is known in the Sanskrit and in the secret Doctrine
as the Maha Pralaya, Maha being "the great,"
and Pralaya "dissolution." And so, after thus
arguing, the ancient Rishees of India said: "Nothing is
begun or ended; everything is changed, and that which we call
death is only a transformation." In thus speaking they wished
to be understood as referring to the manifested universe, the
so-called death of a sentient creature being only a transformation
of energy, or a change of the mode and place of manifestation
of the Divine Resonance. Thus early in the history of the race
the doctrine of conservation of energy was known and applied.
The Divine Resonance, or the au sound, is the universal
energy, which is conserved during each Day of Brahma, and at
the coming on of the great Night is absorbed again into the whole.
Continually appearing and disappearing it transforms itself again
and again, covered from time to time by a veil of matter called
its visible manifestation, and never lost, but always changing
itself from one form to another. And herein can be seen the use
and beauty of the Sanskrit. Nada Brahma is Divine Resonance;
that is, after saying Nada, if we stopped with Brahm,
logically we must infer that the m sound at the end of
Brahm signified the Pralaya, thus confuting the position that
the Divine Resonance existed, for if it had stopped it could
not be resounding. So they added an a at the end of the
Brahm, making it possible to understand that as Brahma
the sound was still manifesting itself. But time would not suffice
to go into this subject as it deserves, and these remarks are
only intended as a feeble attempt to point out the real meaning
and purpose of Aum.
For the above reasons, and out of the great respect we entertain
for the wisdom of the Aryans, was the symbol adopted and placed
upon the cover of this magazine and at the head of the text.
With us OM has signification. It represents the constant undercurrent
of meditation, which ought to be carried on by every man, even
while engaged in the necessary duties of this life. There is
for every conditioned being a target at which the aim is constantly
directed. Even the very animal kingdom we do not except, for
it, below us, awaits its evolution into a higher state; it unconsciously
perhaps, but nevertheless actually, aims at the same target.
"Having taken the bow, the great weapon, let him place
on it the arrow, sharpened by devotion. Then, having drawn it
with a thought directed to that which is, hit the mark, O friend,
- the Indestructible. OM is the bow, the Self is the arrow, Brahman
is called its aim. It is to be hit by a man who is not thoughtless;
and then as the arrow becomes one with the target, he will become
one with Brahman. Know him alone as the Self, and leave off other
words. He is the bridge of the Immortal. Meditate on the Self
as OM. Hail to you that you may cross beyond the sea of darkness."5
AUM!
Hadji-Erinn
Path, April, 1886
1Khandogya Upanishad, 1st Khanda.
See Vol. 1, Sacred Books of the East. Müller.
return
2Hymn of Praise to Brahm. return
3St.John, Ch. I, v. I. return
4See Bagavad-Gita return
5 Mundaka Upanishad,
II, Kh. 2, (Müller's Tr.) return
Theosophy.org Home | up
| top |