And when he came up out of the Water, immediately he saw the Heavens opened and the Spirit Descending upon him like a dove; And a voice came from heaven, “Thou art my beloved Son; with Thee I am well pleased.” Mark 1: 10-11
Concentration Alone Isn’t the Goal
From a spiritual perspective, the object of meditation is more important than the process. If developing concentration were the only goal of meditation, we could focus our mind on any attractive object. Yogic literature is full of stories about mediators who gained enormous powers of concentration either by practicing trataka (fixed gazing) or by focusing their mind on an object of their own choice. There is no meditation without concentration. For this a one-pointed mind is important, but determining the direction that our concentrated mind will travel is even more important.
The Mantra Behind the Word
Rather, the essence of a mantra is nada (pure, unstuck, eternal sound), what the evangelist John was referring to when he wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Nada contains the entire universe in its unmanifest form. It is the source of all mantras, and it is their true form.
As we practice, first we repeat it mentally, and then we begin to hear it. As our practice deepens, the sound of the mantra neither becomes more subtle and silent, until eventually we neither repeats nor hears it, but rejoice inwardly in its soundless sound. This is the most pristine state of the mantra, one that duplicates the original experience of the mantra’s first seer.
Om: The Seed Mantra of Universal Consciousness
Om is a case in point. One of the most popular sacred sounds, Om is the seed mantra of universal consciousness. It has been expounded in the Vedas, Upanishads, and throughout Tantric literature. According to the Mandukya Upanishad the three basic constituent sounds of Om are a, u, and m; the third syllable m is followed by the sound of silence.
Why Om and “The Word” Describe the Same Truth
The word which expresses Him is OM. This word must be repeated with meditation upon its meaning. The Rig Veda also says the same thing as St. John says” In the beginning was Brahman, with whom was the word; and the word was truly the supreme Brahman.”
Words and ideas are inseparable. You cannot have the idea of God without the word which expresses God. God is the basic fact of the universe, he must be represented by the most basic, the most natural, the most comprehensive of all the sounds. And it is claimed that this sound is OM (or AUM, as it should be properly pronounced).
Swami Vivekananda broke the sound down phonetically: A is the open root sound, U carries it forward through the mouth, and M closes it with the lips sealed — together, as he put it, “the whole phenomena of sound producing.” In his view, no other sound so completely traces the full range of how the human voice is made, which is part of why Om is treated as the seed of all other sounds and mantras.
Om: The Most Sacred Word of All
OM is almost certainly the most ancient word for God that has come down to us through the ages. It has been used by countless millions of worshipers- always in the most universal sense; implying no special attribute, referringa to no one particular deity. If such use can confer sanctity, then “OM” IS THE MOST SACRED WORD OF ALL
Chant Om in Its Living Tradition — Rishikesh
Reading about Om is one thing; chanting it on the banks of the Ganga, where this tradition has been practiced for thousands of years, is another. At Rishikesh Yoga Valley, mantra meditation and pranayama are part of daily life – a chance to experience Om not just as a word, but as the living sound it describes.
