“OM,” AND ITS PRACTICAL SIGNIFICATION.

BY N. C. PAUL, G.B.M.C.^[1]

Theosophist. 1882. 3:131-133.

I shall begin with a definition of Oṃ, as given by the late Professor Theodore Goldstücker:^[2]—

“Oṃ is a Sanskrit word which, on account of the mystical notions that even at an early date of Hindu civilization were connected with it, acquired much importance in the development of Hindu religion. Its original sense is that of emphatic or solemn affirmation or assent. Thus, when in the White Yajur Veda the sacrificer invites the gods to rejoice in his sacrifice, the goddess Sāvitrī assents to his summons by saying ‘Oṃ’ (i.e. be it so); proceed!”

Or, when in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka-Upaniṣad, Prajāpati, the father of gods, men and demons, asks the gods whether they have understood his instructions, he expresses his satisfaction with their affirmative reply, in these words, “Oṃ, you have fully comprehended it;” and in the same Upaniṣad, Pravāhaṇa answers the question of Śvētakētu, as to whether his father has instructed hint, by uttering the word “Oṃ” “i.e., forsooth (I am).”

A portion of the Ṛgveda called the Aitarēya-Brāhmaṇa, where, describing a religious ceremony at which verses from the Ṛgveda, as well as songs called Gathas, were recited by the priest called Hotṛ, and responses given by another priest, the Adhvaryu, says: Oṃ is the response of the Adhvaryu to the Ṛgveda verses (recited by the Hotṛ) and likewise tathā (i.e. thus ) his re-posse to the Gathas, for Oṃ is (the term of assent) used by the gods, whereas tathā is (the term of assent) used by men (the Ṛgveda verses being to the orthodox Hindu of divine and the Gathas of human authorship).

In this, the original sense of the word, it is little doubtful that Oṃ is but an older and contracted firm of the common Sanskrit word evam [एवम्] (“thus”) which coming from the pronominal base ‘a’ in some derivations changed to ‘e’—may have at one time occurred in the form avam when, by the elision of the vowel following ‘u’ for which there are numerous analogies in Sanskrit,—evum would become aum and hence, according to the ordinary phonetic laws of the language, Oṃ. This etymology of the word, however, seems to have been lost even at an early period of Sanskrit literature; for another is met with in the ancient grammarians, enabling us to account for the mysticism which many religious and theological works of ancient and mediaeval India suppose to inhere in it. According to this latter etymology, Oṃ would come from a radical ‘au’ by means of an affix man when Oṃ would be a curtailed form of auman or oman [ओमन्] and as ‘au’ implies the notion of “protect, preserve, save,” Oṃ would be a term implying “protection or salvation;” its mystical properties and its sanctity being inferred from its occurrence in the Vedic writings and in connection with sacrificial nets, such as are alluded to before.

Hence Oṃ became the auspicious word with which the spiritual teacher had to begin and the pupil to end each lesson of his leading of the Veda. “Let this syllable,” the existing Prātiśākhya or a grammar of the Ṛgveda, enjoins, “be the head of the rending of the Veda, for alike to the teacher and the pupil, it is the supreme Brahman, the gate of heaven.” And Manu ordains: “A Brahmin at the beginning and end (of a lesson on the Veda) must always pronounce the syllable Oṃ; for unless Oṃ precede, his learning will slip away from him; and unless it follows, nothing will be long retained.”

At the time when another class of writings (the Purāṇas) were added to the inspired code of Hinduism, for a similar reason “Oṃ” is their introductory word.

That the mysterious power which, as the foregoing quotation from the law book of Manu shows, was attributed to this word, must have been the subject of early speculation, is obvious enough. A reason assigned for it is given by Manu himself.^[3]

“Brahma,” he says, “extracted from the three Vedas the letter a, the letter u, and the letter m (which combined result in Oṃ) together with the (mysterious) words Bhūḥ (earth), Bhuvaḥ (sky) and Svaḥ (heaven)” [2:76]; and in another verse: “These three great immutable words, preceded by the syllable Oṃ, and (the sacred Ṛgveda verse called) Gāyatra, consisting of three lines, must be considered as the mouth (or entrance) of Brahman (the Veda)” [2:81]—or, as the commentators observe—the means of attaining final emancipation; and “The syllable Oṃ is the supreme Brahman. {Three} regulated breathings accompanied with the mental recitation of Oṃ, the three mysterious words Bhūḥ, Bhuvaḥ, Svaḥ and the Gāyatrī, are the highest devotion.” [6:70.]

“All rites ordained in the Veda, such as burnt and other sacrifices, pass away; but the syllable Oṃ must be considered as imperishable, for it is (a symbol of) Brahman (the supreme spirit) himself, the Lord of Creation” [2:74]. In these speculations Manu bears out, and is borne out by, several Upaniṣads. In the Kaṭhopaniṣad, for instance, Yama, the god of death, in replying to a question of Nāciketas, says: “The word which all the Vedas record, which all the modes of penance proclaim, desirous of’ which the religious students perform their duties, this word I will briefly tell thee, it is Oṃ. This syllable means the (inferior) Brahman and the supreme (Brahman). Whoever knows this syllable obtains whatever he wishes.” And in the Praśnopaniṣad, the saint Pippalāda says to Satyakāma: “The supreme and the inferior Brahman are both the word Oṃ; hence the wise follow by this support the one or the other of the two. If he meditates upon its one letter (a) only, he is quickly born on the earth; is carried by the verses of the Ṛgveda to the world of man; and, if he is devoted there to austerity, the ditties of a religious student, and faith, he enjoys greatness. But, if he meditates in his mind on its two letters (a and u) he is elevated by the verses of the Yajur Veda to the intermediate region; conies to the world of the moon and, having enjoyed these power, returns again (to the world of man). If, however, he meditates on the supreme spirit by means of its three letters (a, u, and m) he is produced in light in the sun; as the snake is liberated from its skin, so is lie liberated from sin.”^[4] According to the Māṇdūkya-Upaniṣad the nature of the soul is summarized in the three letters ‘a’ ‘u’ and ‘m’ in their isolated and combined form—’a’ being Vaiśvānara, or that form of Brahman which represents the soul in its waking condition; ‘u’, Taijasa or that form of Brahman which represents it in its dreaming state; and ‘m’, Prājna or that form of Brahman which represents it in its state of profound sleep (or that state in which it is temporarily united with the supreme spirit ); while ‘a’, ‘u’, ‘m’ combined (i.e., Oṃ), represent the fourth or highest condition of Brahman “which is unaccountable, in which all manifestations have ceased, which is blissful and without duality. Oṃ, therefore, is soul; and by this soul, he who knows it, enters into (the supreme) soul.”^[5] Passages like these may be considered as the key to the more enigmatic expressions used; for instance, by the author of the Yoga philosophy where in three short sentences he says His (the Supreme Lord’s ) name is Praṇava (i.e. Oṃ); its muttering (should be made ) and reflection on its signification; thence comes the knowledge of the transcendental spirit and the absence of the obstacles” (such as sickness, languor, doubt., etc., which obstruct the mind of an ascetic ). But they indicate, at the same time, the further course which superstition took in enlarging upon the mysticism of the doctrine of the Upaniṣads.” For, as soon as every letter of which the word Oṃ consists was fancied to embody a separate idea, it is intelligible that other sectarian explanations were grafted on them to serve their special purposes. Thus, while Śaṅkara, the great theologian and commentator on the Upaniṣads, is still contented with an etymological punning by means of which lie transforms d into an abbreviation of āpti (pervading), since speech is pervaded by Vaiśvānara; ‘u’ into an abbreviation of utkarṣa (superiority ) since Taijasa is superior to Vaiśvānara; and ‘m’ into an abbreviation of miti (destruction), Vaiśvānara and Taijasa, at the destruction and regeneration of the world, being, as it were, absorbed into Prajña—the Purāṇas make of ‘a’ a name of Viṣṇu: of it a name of his consort “Tṛ” and of ‘m’ a designation of their joint worshipper; or they see in ‘a’, ‘u’, ‘m’, the Triad,—Brahmā, Viṣṇu, and Śiva; the first being represented by a, the second by ‘u’ and the third by ‘m’—each sect, of course, identifying the combination of these letters or “Oṃ” with their supreme deity. Thus, also, in the Bhagavad Gītā, which is devoted to the worship of Viṣṇu in his incarnation as Kṛṣṇa, though it is essentially a poem of philosophical tendencies, based on the doctrine of the Yoga, Kṛṣṇa in one passage says of himself that he is Oṃ; while in another passage he qualifies the latter as the supreme spirit. A common designation of the word Oṃ—for instance, in the last-named passages of the Bhagavad Gītā—is the word Praṇava which comes from a so-called radical ‘nu’ “praise “ with the prefix ‘pra’ amongst other meanings implying emphasis, and, therefore literally means “eulogium, emphatic praise.” Although Oṃ, in its original sense, as a word of solemn or emphatic assent, is, properly speaking, restricted to the Vedic literature, it deserves notice that it is now-a-days often used by the natives of India in the sense of “yes,” without, of course, any allusion to the mystic properties which are ascribed to it in the religious works. Monier Williams gives the following account of the mystic syllable Oṃ:^[6]—

“When by means of repeating the syllable Oṃ, which originally seems to have meant ‘that’ or ‘yes’ they had arrived at a certain degree of mental tranquility, the question arose what was meant by this Oṃ and to this various answers were given according as the mind was to be led up to higher and higher objects. Thus, in one passage, we are told at first that Oṃ is the beginning of the Veda, or as we have to deal with an Upaniṣad of the Sāma Veda, the beginning of the Shams. Veda; so that he who meditates on Oṃ may he supposed to be meditating on the whole of the Sāma Veda.

“Oṃ is the essence of the Sāma Veda which, being almost entirely taken from the Ṛgveda, may itself be called the essence of the Ṛgveda. The Ṛgveda stands for all speech, the Sāma Veda for all breath or life; so that Oṃ may be conceived again as the symbol of all speech and all life. ‘Oṃ’ thus becomes the name not only of all our mental and physical powers, but is especially of’ the living principle of the ‘pran’ or spirit. This is explained by the parable in the second chapter, while in the third chapter that spirit within us is identified with the spirit in the sun.

“He, therefore, who meditates on Oṃ, meditates on the spirit in man as identical with the spirit in nature or in the sun, and thus the lesson that is meant to be taught in the beginning of the Chāndōgya Upaniṣad is really this: that none of the Vedas with their sacrifices and ceremonies could ever secure the salvation of the worshippers. That is, the sacred works performed, according to the rules of the Vedas, are of no avail in the end, but meditation on ‘Oṃ’ alone or that knowledge of what is meant by ‘Oṃ’ alone can procure true salvation or true immortality.

“Thus the pupil is led on step by step to what is the highest object of Upaniṣads, namely, the recognition of the self in man as identical of the highest soul.

“The lessons which are to lead up to that highest conception of the universe, both subjective and objective, are, no doubt, mixed op with much that is superstitions and absurd. Still the main object is never lost sight of This when we come to the eighth chapter, the discussion, though it begins with ‘Oṃ.’ ends with the question of the origin of’ the world and the final answer, namely, that ‘Oṃ’ means Akas, ether, and that ether is the origin of all things.”

Dr. Lake^[7] considers electricity as the ‘akas’ or the fifth element of the Hindus.

I shall now give my own opinion on the mystic syllable Oṃ.

Breath consists of an inspiration termed pūraka, an interval termed kumbhaka, and an expiration called recaka. When the respiration is carried on by the right nostril it is called the piṅgalā; when it is carried on by the two nostrils it is named the suṣumṇā and when it is carried on by the left nostril it is called Ida.

The right respiration is called the solar respiration from its heating nature, while the left respiration is termed the lunar respiration from its cooling character. The suṣumṇā respiration is called the Śambhu-nāḍī. During the intermediate respiration the human mind should be engaged in the contemplation of the supreme soul.

The breath takes its origin from the “Indiscreet” or unreflecting form and the mind from the breath. The organs of sense and action are under the control of the nund. The Yogins restrain their mind by the suspension of breath. Breath is the origin of all speech. The word soham is pronounced by a deep inspiration followed by expiration carried on by the nostrils ... This word means—”God is in us.” There is another word called haṃsa. This is pronounced by a deep expiration followed by inspiration. Its meaning is—”I am in God.”

The inspiration is saki or strength. The expiration is śiva, or death.

The internal or Kumbhaka is a promoter of longevity. When the expiration is not followed by inspiration death ensues. A forcible expiration is always the sure and certain sign of approaching dissolution or death.

Both these words soham and haṃsa cause the waste of the animal economy as they permit the oxygen of the inspired air to enter the lungs where the pulmonary charges of the blood occur.

According to Lavoissier, a French adult inhales daily 15,661 grains of oxygen from the atmosphere at the ride of 10.87 grains nearly per minute.

The word oṃ is pronounced by the inspiration of air through the mouth and the expiration of the slime by the nostrils. When a man inspires through the mouth and expires through the nostrils the oxygen of the inspired air does not enter the lungs where the pulmonary changes of the blood take place. The monosyllable “om” thus acts as a substitute for the Suspension of the breath.

The waste of the body is proportionate to the quantity of oxygen token into the system by the respiration. The waste of man who breathes quickly is greater than that of one who breathes slowly. While tranquility of mind produces slow breathing and causes the retardation of the bodily waste, the tranquil respiration has a tendency to produce calmness of mind. The Yogins attain to Nirvāṇa by suspending or holding the breath. The Vedantists obtain “moksha,” or emancipation of the soul, by holding the mind (mental abstraction). Thus “om” is the process of separating the soul from the body. It is the product of the gasping breath which precedes the dissolution of our body. The ancient Hindus utilized the gasping breath of the dying man by discovering the syllable “Oṃ.”

The syllable oṃ protects man from premature decay and death, preserves him from worldly temptations, and saves him from rebirth. It causes the union of the human soul to the supreme soul. “Oṃ” has the property of shortening the length of respiration.

Śiva says in his work on Svarodaya (an excellent treatise on Respiration)^[8] that the normal length oldie expiration is nine inches. During meal and speaking the length of the expiration becomes 13.5 inches. In ordinary walking the expiration is lengthened to eighteen inches. Running lengthens the expiration to 25.5 inches.

In sexual intercourse the extent of respiration becomes 48.75 inches.       During sleep the respiration becomes 75 inches long. As sleep causes a great waste of the body and invites disease, premature decay and death, the Yogin tries to abstain from it. He lives upon the following dietary:—

He consumes daily

Under this diet he is ever watchful and spends his time in the contemplation of “oṃ.” From the small quantity of nitrogen contained in his diet he is free from anger. The Yoga next subdues his carnal desire or sexual appetite. He diminishes day by day his food until it reaches the minimum quantity oat which existence is maintained. He passes his life in prayer and meditation. He seeks retirement. He lives in his little cell; his couch is the skin of tiger or stag; he regards gold, silver, and all precious stones as rubbish. He abstains from flesh, fish, and wine. He never touches salt, and lives entirely on fruits and roots. I saw a female mendicant who lived upon a seer of potatoes and small quantity of tamarind pulp daily. This woman reduced herself to a skeleton. She led a pure chaste life, and spent her time in the mental recitation of “oṃ.” One seer of potatoes contains 3600 grains of solid residue, which is exactly 7½ ounces Troy.

The solid residue of one seer of potatoes consists of the following ultimate ingredients:—

I saw a Brahmin (Brahmacarya) who consumed daily one seer of milk, and took no other food.

Analysis of one seer of cow’s milk by [Jean-Baptiste] Boussingault.

Now one seer of cow’s milk requires for combustion within the animal economy 3278.88 grains of oxygen. The Brahmacarya inhaled 2.27 grains of oxygen per minute. This Brahmacarya spent his life in the contemplation of “om,” and led a life of continence. The French adult, who is a fair specimen of well-developed sensuality, inhaled from the atmosphere 10.87 grains of oxygen every minute of his existence.

A retired, abstemious, and austere life is essentially necessary for the pronunciation of “om” which promotes the love of rigid virtue and a contempt of impermanent sensuality. Śiva says: “He who is free from lust, anger, covetousness and ignorance is qualified to obtain salvation, or Mokṣa” or the Nirvāṇa of the Buddhists. The solid residue of one seer of cow’s milk is 1860.48 grains. “In 1784 a student of physic at Edinburgh confined himself for a long space of time to a pint of milk and half a pound of white bread.”

The diet of this student contained 1487.5 grains of carbon and 80.1875 grains of nitrogen. This food required 4305 grains of oxygen for the complete combustion of its elements. He inspired 2.92 grains of oxygen per minute. In this instance the intense mental culture diminished the quantity of oxygen inspired from the atmosphere. The early Christian hermits, with a view to extinguish carnal desire and overcome sleep lived upon a daily allowance of 12 ounces of bread and water. They daily consumed 4063.084 grains of oxygen. They inhaled oxygen at the rate of 2.8215 grains per minute.

According to Mr. Andral, the great French Physiologist, a French boy 10 years old before the sexual appetite is developed, exhales 1852.8 grains of carbon in the twenty-four hours. He who wishes to curb his lust should consume 1852.8 grains of carbon in his daily diet.

Now--6500 grains of household bread contain 1852.5 grains of carbon according to Dr. Edward Smith. This quantity of bread is equal to 14 ounces avoirdupois and 375 grains, but the early Christian hermits who lived upon 12 oz. of bread (avoirdupois) consumed daily 1496.25 grains of carbon. This quantity of carbon was less than that which the French boy consumed daily by 356.55 grains. The French boy consumed 1852.8 grains of carbon in his diet, but the Hindu female mendicant who led a life of continence consumed in her daily ration of potatoes 1587.6 grains of carbon. Hence it is evident that the French boy consumed 26.5.2 grains of carbon more than what was consumed by the female Hindu Yogini. There lived in Vrindavan a Sannyasin who died at the age of 109 years and who subsisted for forty years upon the daily diet of 4 chuttacks of penda and 4 chuttacks of milk. His diet contained 1980 grains of carbon and 90.72 grains of nitrogen. Abstemiousness shortens the length of respiration, diminishes the waste of’ the body, promotes longevity, and engenders purity of heart. Abstemiousness cures vertigo, cephalalgia, tendency to apoplexy, dyspnea, gout, old ulcers, impetigo, scrofula, syphilis, herpes, and leucorrhea.

Cornaro, an Italian nobleman, who was given up by all his physicians, regained health by living upon 12 ounces of bread and 15 ounces of water and lived to a great age.

He consumed less than an ounce of flesh formers in his diet. According to Edward Smith 5401.2 grains of bread contain one ounce of flesh formers.

He who wishes to lead a life of chastity, honesty, meekness, and mercy, should consume daily one ounce of flesh formers in his diet. As an ounce of nitrogenous matter contains 70 grains of nitrogen, one should take such food as yields only 70 grains of azote.

Murder, theft, robbery, cruelty, covetousness, lust, slander, anger, voluptuousness, revenge, lying, prostitution, and envy, are sins which arise from a consumption of a large quantity of aliments containing a higher percentage of azote.

He who intends to be one from every earthly thought, desire, and passion should abstain from fish, flesh, woman, and wine, and live upon the most innocent food.

The following table shows approximately the quantities of various aliments furnishing 70 grains of nitrogen.

Abstemiousness begets suspension of breath. From the suspension of breath originates tranquility of mind, which engenders supernatural knowledge. From the supernatural knowledge originates ecstasy which is the Samadhi of the ancient Hindu sages.

Instead of walking and running which lengthen the respiration, the devotees of “om” should practice the two tranquil postures termed the padmāsana and siddhāsana described in my mystic tract called “the Yoga Philosophy.” According to Śiva the normal length of expiration is 9 inches. He says that one can subdue his lust and desire by shortening his expiration to 8.25 inches whether by the inaudible pronunciation of “oṃ” or by the suspension of breath (Prāṇāyāma); that one can enjoy ecstasy by diminishing the length of his expiration to 7.50 inches.

One acquires the power of writing poetry by reducing his expiration to 6.75 inches.

When one can reduce his expiration to 6 inches long he acquires the power of foretelling future events. When one reduces the length of his expiration to 5.25 inches he is blessed with the divine eye. He sees what is occurring in the distant, worlds. When the inaudible pronunciation of “oṃ” reduces the length of the expiration to 4.50 inches it enables its votary to travel to aerial regions. When the length of expiration becomes 3.75 inches. The votary of oṃ travels in the twinkling of an eye through the whole world.

When by the inaudible muttering of “oṃ” a man reduces his expiration to 3 inches, he acquires aṣṭa-siddhi or consummations (see “Yoga Philosophy”).^[9] When the expiration is reduced to 2.25 inches, the votary of “oṃ” can acquire the nine precious jewels of the world (Naba nedhi.). Such a man can attract the wealth of the world to him.^[10] When the expiration becomes 1.50 inches long from the above practice he sees the celestial sphere where the Supreme Soul resides. When the inaudible pronunciation of “oṃ” reduces the length of expiration to 75 inches the votary becomes deified and casts no shadow.

“Oṃ Amitaya! measure not with words.

The immeasurable: nor-sink the string of thought

 Into the Fathomless! Who asks cloth err.

Who answers errs. Say nought!”^[11]

“Oṃ maṇi padme hūṃ. Oṃ the jewel in the lotus.”

By the muttering of the above formula the Great Buddha freed himself from selfishness, false faith, doubt, hatred, lust, self-praise, error, pride, and attained to Nirvāṇa.

“And how man hath no fate except past deeds.

No Hell but what he makes, no Heaven too high.

For those to reach whose passions sleep subdued.”^[12]

According to Śiva a man acquires Nirvāṇa when his breathing becomes internal and does not come out of the nostrils. When the breathing becomes internal, that is when it is contained within the nostrils, the Yogin is free from tainting hunger, thirst, languor, disease and death. He becomes a divine being, he feels not when he is brought into contact with fire, no air can dry him, no water can putrefy him, no poisonous serpent can bile him to death. His body exhales fragrant odor, and can bear the abstinence from air, food, and drink.

When the breathing becomes internal, the Yogin is incapable of committing any sin in deed, thought, and speech, and thereby inherits the Kingdom of Heaven which is open to sinless souls.

Notes

^[1] Dr. Paul is the author of the valuable treatise on Yoga Vidyā that was copied into this magazine some time since,—ED. [See A Treatise on the Yoga Philosophy, 2nd Edition. 1883]

^[2] [Literary remains 1:121. Chamber’s Encyclopaedia, 1878, 7:66.]

^[3] [Institutes of Hindu law, or, The ordinances of Menu. See also Coolebrooke, ‘On the religious ceremonies of the Hindus’, Asiatic Research, 1799, 5, Article 22.]

^[4] [M. Müller. The Upaniṣads, Praśnopaniṣad, Fifth Question.]

^[5] [See Hume, The Thirteen Upaniṣads, ‘Māṇdūkya-Upaniṣad’, 1921, 391.]

^[6] [Preface to The Upaniṣads, M. Müller.]

^[7] [Lake. NFI.]

^[8] [Śiva-svarodaya.]

^[9] [Eightfold perfections of mystic power.]

^[10] Supposing he had any care or use for it.-- ED.

^[11] [E. Arnold, The Light of Asia.]

^[12] [E. Arnold, The Light of Asia.]