Everything you need to know about Om/Aum
Mantra Meditation
Mantra meditation trains your mind to focus on one thing at a time. The ability to concentrate on one thing at a time helps us to apply our total focus to tasks in our daily life. This makes the doing more enjoyable and allows us to do something well when we are focused on that thing.
Since absolute consciousness or OM is beyond the understanding of the material senses, we can culivate the mind — the centre of all sensory experience — through sound vibration. Sound vibration is necessary to set in motion the process of transcendental realization that thou art that or we are not separate but one with the absolute consciousness.
When chanting a mantra, you keep the mind still and keep focused on perceiving the sound of your own OM. Perceiving your voice means perceiving your true self or nature. Then you and the sound are never separate, which means that you and the whole universe are never separate.
Thus, to perceive our true nature is to perceive universal substance. With regular chanting, our sense of being centred gets stronger and stronger. This not only in meditation but in your daily life.
What is a mantra?
Mantras are repeatable words or phrases. The sound of the mantra is important. It can psychological or spiritual meaning to the person chanting the mantra but it doesn't have to.
man = to think
tra = instrument
Origin - Late 18th century Sanskrit, literally ‘a thought, thought behind speech or action’, from man- ‘think’, related to mind.
The mantra: Om (Aum)
ॐ Om is a sacred sound, spiritual symbol and a mantra. It is the basis of all sounds and considered the celestial sound of creation or primordial sound. A human being does not require a tongue to vocalize AUM. From the three primary sounds of A-U-M all other sounds are formed. It makes sense that the syllabic sound would be used as an incantation since words are insufficient to express the vast, inexplicable and infinite creation – that this sound syllable is said to express. As an incantation, the sound of Om through chanting offers a person the opportunity to connect with the divine self in us, outside of us that permeates everything – the mystery that is unknowable yet known.
When a being harmonizes with the absolute consciousness where there is no inward or outward observation, a person experiences oneness. This as a result of understanding or knowingness that all of creation is made of spirit, thus united through that commonality.
In 2011, a study was undertaken to measure the effects of chanting Om. Does it simply relax the brain, does it stimulate the vagus nerve? What about the positive effects similar to another method used in the treatment of depression? There was some conclusive evidence that chanting Om does, in fact, have positive effects and that further study is warranted and necessary to help find how it may treat ‘disease.’
Om Mantra How-to
Simply allow the OM Mantra to come and go with each inhalation and exhalation. Allow there to be no gap, no space, no pause between inhalation and exhalation, or between exhalation and inhalation. When the word OM is heard, what is the concept and object that comes to mind? What is that thing that goes along with that word, OM? The concept that goes with OM is the one-ness or entirety of the universe. The object that goes with the word OM is the entire universe, as a single unit. When you chant the mantra OM you tune your heart to the same frequency as creation (the divine).
108x
OM or AUM (Sanskrit: ॐ) is repeated 108 times in our audio. So, are you wondering why 108 times? The ancient Indians from the East figured out approximately, 8000 years ago or perhaps before then that the diameter of the sun x 108 times gives you the distance from the Earth to the Sun, and the diameter of the Moon x 108 times gives you the distance from the Earth to the Moon. 108 is a cosmic ratio of the 2 celestial bodies that affect the Earth and make life possible. Based on this data, mantras were to be repeated 108 x to ward off any negative planetary influences.
Forming the sound of OM: ah-uh-m
The concrete sounds of A-U-M form an envelope of sound which has three stages: birth, life, and death.
Creation
Ah is the beginning of the sound made with the throat, no lips or mouth movements.
Ah
Creation, birth, physical nature, waking state
preservation
U(h) extends the sound.
uh
Preservation, life, mental nature, dream state
dissolution
M is with lips closed as it is the culmination of the sound.
m
Dissolution, death, dreamless sleep, ignorance
Aum/Om meditation
Listen & download the mp3
DOWNLOAD THE MP3
Click on the small arrow in the upper right hand corner undernearth the soundcloud logo
Aum/Om meditation Watch & listen
WATCH AND LISTEN: You can also add this video on your watch later list on your VIMEO account by clicking on the small clock in the upper right hand corner.
The four aspects of A-U-M & Om
A
Waking State - physical Nature - Jagrat
Conscious state - awake we experience reality through our senses. This is creation and is our conscious waking state that is represented by the A.
creator
Physical Nature, the collective symbol of created beings. the universal person is awake and is only conscious of external objects.
Jagrat
Jagrat is the Sanskrit word for the waking state and is a state of consciousness where the mind identifies with the physical body and perceives the world through the senses.
U
Mental Nature - Dream State - Swapna
This is the dreaming, our unconscious experience of the world without being fully awake or fully asleep. It is the preservation or U.
preserver
Mental Nature of the universal person is dreaming and is only conscious of his dreams.
swapna
Swapna is the Sanskrit word for the dream state and is a state of consciousness when a being is dreaming in sleep. In this state, the external universe cannot be perceived with the senses, yet the senses are aware.
M
Dreamless Sleep - Ignorance - Sushupti
Unconscious sleeping state where there are no desires and no dreams. It is dissolution, the death and signifies the M.
transformer
The origin of all and the end of all. The visible world disappears.
Sushupti
Sushupti is the Sanskrit word for deep dreamless sleep or ignorance since this is a state of consciousness characterized by the dissolution of the activities of all the sense-organs and the mind.
O
M
Unutterable & Beyond Mind - Turiya
There is only one consciousness - the background that underlies and pervades the three common states of consciousness. This is the Absolute Consciousness that which cannot be expressed by sound. It is the infinite state - the silence, the state of consciousness that does not involve any inward or outward observation - state of oneness.
creator
Physical Nature, the collective symbol of created beings. the universal person is awake and is only conscious of external objects.
Turiya
Turiya is the Sanskrit word for pure consiousness and it is not separate from the other conscious states but the background that underlies and pervades the three common states of consciousness.
Swami Sarvapriyananda from the NY Vedanta Society uses the metaphor of gold jewelry to illustrate the concept. There is one element of gold that we may wear in different forms: a ring, earrings, bracelet etc. You can listen to his full talk here. You can also read the article We are one! here or in the flipbook below.
Read more articles on meditation:
Download the AUM PDF below:
To read the pdf as a flipbook, simply flip through the pages below. To download the PDF click on the icons on the bottom of the flipbook. Scroll down for specific sizes. You can download the PDFs in either A4 or US LTR size.
Subscribe
Share the love and give the gift of a subscription to a friend. For the low cost of $47 per year they'll get meditations, in-depth articles & other subscriber bonuses just like you!
