Symbols: OM

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Dear Friends,

Here is Pranava or OM symbol elaborated. This is fully quoted from the

Vedanta Kesari, a monthly journal of Sri Ramakrishna Order, published

from Chennai (Madras), India. (October 1999 issue). In other issues of

1999-2000 one symbol is elaborated every month.

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Pranava or Om

 

Pranava or Om is the universally accepted symbol of Hinduism. All

sections, cults, and groups honour it and use it. Even Jainism,

Buddhism, and Sikhism have adopted it. It is both an auricular and

visual symbol of Brahman, the Absolute of Hindu philosophy, and the God

of Hindu religion.

 

Pranava or Om has been extolled highly in the Vedas, the Upanishads, and

the Gita as also in other scriptures. The Yajurveda exhorts us to try to

realize Brahman through repeating and remembering Om. The Katha

Upanishad declares that Om is Parabrahman Itself. The Mundaka Upanishad

advises the spiritual aspirant to meditate on the unity of Atman (the

self) and Brahman (God) using Om for japa. Sri Krishna avers in the Gita

that He is Om amongst words and that all religious rites must be

commenced with the repetition of Om. If anyone succeeds in reciting the

word Om at the time of his death, simultaneously thinking of God, he

will attain the highest Truth. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali declare that

Pranava or Om is the symbol of God and that one can get samadhi by its

repetition, and meditation on its meaning.

 

OM, when considered as one syllable, is the symbol of the Supreme

Spirit. But when considered as triliteral word consisting of a, u, m, it

implies 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. Thus OM is the symbol of

the Transcendental as well as the Immanent Supreme Spirit.

 

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