‘’(Ishwara) (Underlying Intelligence) rested in meditation and from those came the three sound..Bhur, Bhuvas, Svar..earth, air and sky. (Ishwara) end rested in meditation and from the three sounds came the sound AUM. Even as all the leaves come from the stem, all words come from the sound AUM. Aum is the whole Universe. Aum is in truth the whole Universe.’
(Chandogya Upanishad).
The word means Humming. The word to be hummed is AUM. Aum is the alchemical process.
AUM is said to be related to Amen, Amin, Amun, Alm.
‘’Aum is the word denoting God (Ishwara).’’
Patanjali’s Sutra 27.
‘’The word Aum should be recited repeatedly while dwelling mentally on its meaning.’’ Sutra 28.
A relates to the world of the body, the conscious mind, the senses, the material world.
U relates to the subconscious mind.
M relates to the Unconscious mind. To the ‘’no-mind’.
Mandukya Upanishad.
http://gnosis.org/library/mandu.htm
Extracts :
OM is this imperishable Word. OM is the Universe, and this is the exposition of OM.
The past, the present and the future, all that was, all that is, all that will be, is OM.
Likewise all else that may exist beyond the bounds of Time, that too is OM.The Waker, Vaishwanara, the Universal Male, He is A, the first letter, because of Initiality and Pervasiveness : he that knows Him for such pervades and attains all his desires; he becomes the source and first.
The Dreamer, Taijasa, the Inhabitant in Luminous Mind, He is U, the second letter, because of Advance and Centrality : He that knows Him for such, advances the bounds of his knowledge and rises above difference : nor of his seed is any born that knows not the Eternal.
The Sleeper, Prajna, the Lord of Wisdom, He is M, the third letter, because of Measure and Finality : he that knows Him for such measures with himself the Universe and becomes the departure into the Eternal.
Letterless is the fourth, the Incommunicable, the end of phenomena, the Good, the One than Whom there is no other : thus is OM. He that knows is the Self and enters by his self into the Self, he that knows, he that knows.
Although Ishwara is formless there are means of approach or description or apprehension. These are mantra(sound) and yantra (geometrical forms/psychic symbols). Just as we cannot ‘’see’’ mathematical processes, we can apprehend them via expressed formulae.
The Shri Yantra is the geometric form of AUM.
Aum is the support for approach to the formless. Repetition is insufficient. There must be concentration on the meaning. It is said for understanding of AUM and thus for liberation, the Mandukya Upanishad is sufficient.
AUM is the vibration that came from Shoonya (the Void) to make manifest all things.
A is Creation.
U is sustaining.
M is dissolving.
It is the primordial sound, said to contain all other sounds, said to be the sound heard by the Rishis in deepest meditation, the song of the spheres. It is the primal seed. It is not a ‘religious’ thing ~ it is a scientific vibration. It does not require belief...just practice. Make the M longer than the A and U sounds. AUM tunes the brainwaves to alpha state.
AUM signifies non-duality. All is one. The purpose of mantra is to make the whole mind flow in the one direction. It is but a faint shadow of the transcendental truth, but it will do to light our way.
“... By dedication (to the practice) comes mental power. From mental power comes sense withdrawal (pratyahara); this makes deep reflection possible. From reflection comes calmness of mind; this leads to illumination or conclusive experience of truth. This illumination intensifies remembrance of truth. This remembrance produces continuous remembrance. Continuous remembrance leads to unbroken, direct realization of truth. By such realization, a person lives in Atman.’’
(Mahanarayana Upanishad)
OM SHANTI
Replies
From a long Source on Om by Abbott George Burke ~ http://d20h0i7z8cvm2o.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/The-Word-Th...
From a shorter Source on Om by Abbott George Burke ~ http://www.ocoy.org/original-yoga/om-yoga/