AUM YS I - 27

I am fascinated with the word and the sound Om. In this post it is written as AUM. I start all my yoga classes with the sounding or singing of Om. We do it at seven times. I have found out when I conducted classes on chanting that the longer we chant the sound the deeper experience of how powerful AUM is .

Continuing with Pantanjali's Yoga Sutras I - 27 TASYA VACAKAH PRANAVAH translated as - The word expressive of Isvara is the mystic sound OM. [Note: OM is God's name as well as form.]

Swami Satchidananda elaborates in his commentary that "That if you close your eyes and ears, sit quietly, allow the mind to be completely silent and then listen within, you will hear Him humming. He talks to us always, but we talk so loud we fail to hear His speech." He goes on to say we have to understand why we should give a name to something for which the Sanskrit term is "padartha". Without words, it would be difficult to convey what we are thinking.

Satchidananda states "The Bible says, 'In the beginning there was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God."And the Hindu Vedas say, "The name of Brahman is OM, and OM is Brahman Himself." The Wikipedia defines as the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe.[1]

He continues to explain why OM is so rich, so deep and capable of representing the omnipresent, no beginning or ending God. The A in AUM is the beginning of all sounds. It is pointed out that every language begins with the letter A or "ah". As the sound arises between the tongue and palate up to the lips the U or "oo" sound is made. Then the closing of the lips makes the M sound. In summary the A is the creation, U is the preservation and M is the culmination. OM is the origin, the seed where all other sounds come from.

After the verbal sound ends there is still a vibration. This vibration is unspoken, or anagata, sound that is always in you. This sound vibration can never be eliminated or ended. One can listen to it when one is silent.

To be continued in the next post.