Vivekananda Mailing List-10/4/03

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Now, as every word-symbol, intended to express the inexpressible

Sphota, will so particularise it that it will no longer be the Sphota,

that symbol which particularises 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 the Om only; because these three letters

(A.U.M.), pronounced in combination as Om, may well be the generalised

symbol of all possible sounds. The letter A is the least differentiated

of all sounds, therefore Krishna says in the Gita  — " I am A among the

letters " . Again, all articulate sounds are produced in the space within

the mouth beginning with the root of the tongue and ending in the lips

— the throat sound is A, and M is the last lip sound, and the U exactly

represents the rolling forward of the impulse which begins at the root

of the tongue till it ends in the lips. If properly pronounced, this Om

will represent the whole phenomenon of sound-production, and no other

word can do this; and this, therefore, is the fittest symbol of the

Sphota, which is the real meaning of the Om.