Om Tat Sat

January 14, 2005

Here is commentary on some of the Bhagavad Gita from Swami

Satchidananda Saraswati. I hope you find in interesting and useful.

Jayadeva

om tat sat

from The Living Gita by Sri Swami Satchidananda

Chapter 17

23. The three words that represent the Absolute (Brahman) are: OM

TAT SAT. Out of this (mantram) arose the spiritual wisdom

(Brahmanas), the scriptures (Vedas) and self-sacrifice (Yajna).

24. Students of scripture repeat the word OM when undertaking

spiritual disciplines, making devotional offerings, and giving

charity (danam).

25. Students of scripture who seek enlightenment (moksha) also

repeat the word TAT to ensure that the undertaking of spiritual

disciplines, devotional offerings and giving charity will have no

taint of personal reward-seeking.

26. SAT means reality (that which is) and indicates goodness.

Therefore, its use, Arjuna, blesses an undertaking with

auspiciousness.

27. SAT also describes steady and continuous self-sacrifice, self-

discipline, and selfless giving. SAT is also anything you do as part

of these three, which in fact is serving God.

28. However, any sacrifice offered, gift given, duty performed or

spiritual discipline taken on without shraddha (whole-hearted

sincerity, belief, faith) is not worthwhile, because it is asat, not

truth.

Commentary by Swami Satchidananda:

OM TAT SAT: OM, that is the Truth. TAT means that. SAT means truth:

OM that's the Truth. The first manifestation of the absolute truth

takes form as the unspoken sound, OM. That's why OM is sometimes

called pranava, the one that hums. The true OM in the hum: "mmm."

when people repeat their mantras they should stress the mmmm, the

humming part of the mantram. That hum is the very first sound, or

first word, which is God.

The Bible says: "In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with

God and the Word was God." And it still is God. Don't worry about

grammar. The spirit of scriptural wisdom is more important than

taking every letter literally. The word itself is God. The word and

God are not two different things. Name and the one denoted by the

name are not two different things at all. The name itself becomes

the form. If you keep repeating the name, it becomes solidified and

creates a form.

Sprinkle a few sand particles an a thin piece of glass; put a

speaker below, then continually repeat a sound. Sound creates

pattern. So it is with everything. All the forms are created by

names, by sound. If you look at a person and constantly call him a

monkey, in one sense, he'll become one. You can make a monkey out of

him.

As we think and speak, so we become. We take on the qualities of

what we talk about. That's why if we keep talking about others'

problems, we will be filled with problems. Sometimes we don't see

the best in others. Instead we constantly think terrible things

about them. Too seldom do we praise people. But what happens? The

more we think and talk of undesirable things, the more we become

that. At least for our own safety, we should not constantly be

speaking ill of others. Everybody has a little weakness. But if we

keep talking about it, we become that ultimately.

It all goes back to sound vibrations, which are all variations of

the ultimate sound that creates everything. That hum is the truth

behind everything. Modern science is also coming to a similar

conclusion: everything is sound. The atoms are actually humming. God

named the first man Adam. That humming became Adam. The scientists

are humming atom. And underneath the atom or Adam is the humming,

the OM. Is it a coincidence that even our electricity is measured

in ohms today? They use an ohm meter.

Who lives in the hOMe? OM. Who's around the OM? He. And that's the

truth. All trinities are products of that OM. The basic sound

expresses itself as a trinity: Sat-Chid-Ananda. "OM TAT SAT," the

three-fold designation of the Absolute, is saying that the truth,

OM, takes expression so we can recognize it and know of it. There's

existence, which is truth(Sat), and realization of truth is

knowledge (Chit). Then, by recognizing it, you enjoy its benefits,

which is bliss ( Ananda): Sat-Chid-Ananda. The very basis,

Existence, is the Father (Sat). The expression of the Father,

Knowledge, is the Son (Chit). And then through the Son, you get the

holy spirit. Sometimes it's called the Holy Ghost, which is joyful

(Ananda). All of this is another three-fold designation of Brahman

(the Absolute).

The sloka continues: Out of that (mantram) arose the old Brahmanas,

the Vedas and Yajna. Yajnas are sacrifices; Vedas are the

scriptures; and the Brahmanas are the spiritual aspect of the

Upanishads. The jnana, or wisdom portion of the scriptures, that

speaks of absolute spirit; the portion that speaks about ritual; and

even the very act of the ritual devotion which is the yajna - all

three parts of this trinity - come out of the hum, the OM, which is

the original sound.

January 14, 2005

Hurray for “the threes”!

on 1/14/05 7:17 AM, Jayadeva at omjayadeva wrote: