WYSIWYG

What You See Is What You Get. This is a journal blog, an explore-blog, a bit of this and that blog. Sharing where the mood takes me. Perhaps it will take you too.

Men-OM-nipotent

A.U.M. The primordial sound. "O"rigin.

मृ॒त्युरा॑सीद॒मृतं॒ तर्हि॒ रात्र्या॒ अह्न॑ आसीत्प्रके॒तः।
आनी॑दवा॒तं स्व॒धया॒ तदेकं॒ तस्मा॑द्धा॒न्यन्न प॒रः किञ्च॒नास॑॥२॥
Then there was neither death nor immortality
nor was there then the torch of night and day.
The One breathed windlessly and self-sustaining.
There was that One then, and there was no other.

को अ॒द्धा वे॑द॒ इ॒ह प्र वो॑च॒त्कुत॒ आजा॑ता॒ कुत॑ इ॒यं विसृ॑ष्टिः।
अ॒र्वाग्दे॒वा अ॒स्य वि॒सर्ज॑ने॒नाथा॒ को वे॑द॒ यत॑ आब॒भूव॑॥६॥
But, after all, who knows, and who can say
Whence it all came, and how creation happened?
The gods themselves are later than creation,
so who knows truly whence it has arisen?

इ॒यं विसृ॑ष्टि॒र्यत॑ आब॒भूव॒ यदि॑ वा द॒धे यदि॑ वा॒ न।
यो अ॒स्याध्य॑क्षः पर॒मे व्यो॑म॒न्त्सो अ॒ङ्ग वे॑द॒ यदि॑ वा॒ वेद॑॥ ७॥
Whence all creation had its origin,
whether it was fashioned  or whether it was not,
He, who surveys it all from highest heaven,
He knows - or maybe even does not know.
( excerpts; Rg Veda 10;129)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.
In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
(John 1 KJV)

All languages of the planet have a sound, and most have a graphic form (letter) for 'a'. Sound is formed in the larynx and can only ever start with this expression. "A" represents the spark, the beginning. As sound moves through the mouth, it reverberates in the palate and becomes more of the 'oo' sound. This is the sustenance of sound, the continuation of the universe. As the sound exits the mouth, the lips close gently around and cut it off. The lips cause the sound of 'mm' and represent the destruction of that sound, leading into the fourth state, which is an apparent silence (turiiya), during which the inwards breath is taken for the renewal of sound to take place.

Made up of the movement of sound in the mouth, given three letters, the sound is homogenised as OM.

In Hindu philosophy, it is accepted that the Rsis of ancient times, in their enormous capacity for meditation, heard the sound of the universe, the reverberation of shrishti - that which we perceive as creation. In recent times, the 'silence' of the cosmos has been broken, as science catches up. The Rsis understood physics, the unseen particles which modulate, coagulate, create, remain, disintegrate and recycle. They understood the importance of sound in the process of generation.

There are many ways to view the power and substance of the cosmos. Many refer to That as 'God'. It's as good a word as any but comes with the inherent problem of keeping that power and substance separate from us. The majority of the population who subscribe to spiritual faith do so with a view of 'God' as something other (dvaitam/dualism). In what form is not relevant. The point is that it is challenging to comprehend a Formless, Immutable, Eternal Presence with which we are integrated. Our limited selves need the comfort of form and circumscribed function. Mankind, therefore, created the 'gods later than creation'.

That, from which all this arose, had-has-will never have form. That which 'breathed' and created the first sound and, by default, vibration, set in motion this which we call creation. OM was the first sound, the opening word, and that word became 'God'.

OM is still not That; it is only the breath of That. That sits in the turiiya, the silence beyond the breath. All this (us, world, cosmos) sits there also. The purpose of meditating upon the OM is to find our way to turiiya and then to moksha. Re/Union with the Self - Realisation of The One, (advaitam/non-dualism = singularity).

What's that you say? Can't do it? Fearful? All tosh?

No worries. I was there once. Secure in what I knew. Then came the time where what I knew couldn't help me. The time comes when one is stripped so naked inside, the universe opens and swallows - and everything 'known' becomes nothing. As it says up top, the problem with 'knowing' is we block ourselves from growing. The jiiva, separated from That, keeps manifesting physical forms until it reconnects.  Thus it might, in one life, completely deny anything beyond the physical, what can be seen and touched. In another life, it may start to comprehend something a little more, but it will be 'charismatic' and filled with a level of dream and fantasy. Then there will be lives of seeking, but still missing the connections… then will come the life where all the dots get joined. All lives, all paths are valid to the jiiva on its journey back 'ome.

OM waits for those ready to return. Even if they never knew they'd departed.


11 comments:

  1. Dearest YaYa I will read this several more times to fully absorb but you know what caught my eye "The time comes when one is stripped so naked inside, the universe opens and swallows - and everything 'known' becomes nothing." This sounds a lot like the aging process for me.
    I'm learning so many things of late age related and I'm having to let go of what used to be and accept what is.

    Like the eyes I finally have a diagnosis, chronic dry eye syndrome.
    I thought it started with the debris that was in the air when we were walking in the mall.
    My eyes water all the time...can't be dry eyes but alas it is. They water because the tear making ability is less now. In the morning they water so much I can hardly see and this has been going on for months. Anyway I have drops for dry eyes now.
    This is all okey dokey fine. I can deal with it now that I know.
    Hugs HiC

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    1. Hari OM
      Yes, dry-eye is what I have also, hence the saline drops and the cucumber... they get worse if excessively tired had have too long at the screen!

      You touch upon an interesting part of life process in your first part of comment; I have not gone into 'ashramas' here, but we start life as brahmacharya (childhood and studentship), move into gRhasta (householder, child-producing), then into vana prastha (retirement from business and passing on to our youngers) and then sannyasa (after 70 yrs). This period of life, traditionally, is when the elders would retreat to the forest or the mountains and spend their time only on study of shaastra (scripture) and meditate with a view to being fully prepared for leaving the body... it is a time of opening up and emptying. Yxx

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    2. That part struck me, too. When I had to quit work, after entering a depression, it was such a change. I was too young to retire, but I didn't think I had a choice. It took me so long to wrap my head around the next stage of my journey.

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  2. It is the sound of silence with a slight human touch we do leave a stamp in everything.
    Merle................

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  3. 'om waits for those ready to return. Even if they never knew they'd departed.'
    indeed.
    om the first affirmation of our existence it is connecting unifying and deeply ... no words - you have laid it all out really beautifully - all I know is I love when we om together and I love when I aum alone and I love being held within the vibration...

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  4. There were a lot of thoughts in that post Yam. I'm not sure I agree with all of them, but maybe I haven't had to delve as deeply as you to come to terms with life. I believe in one God and one path up the mountain, but I'm also okay with others believing what they feel comfortable with.

    Leanne | www.crestingthehill.com.au
    O for Open Your Eyes

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    1. Hari OM
      There is indeed only One, Leanne... but like a statue in open room, there are many ways to view That One. Only by becoming the statue could we ever hope to know it in its entirety, thus must accept the many points of view which share their parts of it. Yxx

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  5. I start my meditation and yoga session by chanting OM. The vibration of this word is so powerful.
    I loved this informative and enlightening post. It resonated with me deeply.

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  6. Whence all creation had its origin,
    whether it was fashioned or whether it was not,
    He, who surveys it all from highest heaven,
    He knows - or maybe even does not know.

    I count myself spiritually among the highly clueless, know nothing about whether I'm coming or going, or where. But the rgveda does resonate deeply.
    Except I have some reservations about that 'He' - surely it should be a genderless 'It'? Why does all source of power automatically reside in the male, or is that just due to the translation?

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    1. Hari OM
      Nilanjana - had exactly that question myself! Learning Sanskrit, I hoped to find that "It" or "That" was a better translation - but no... and my own aachaarya explained that in the Upanishads, gender-neutral teaching is present, but these hymns of the Samhita portions of Vedas are acknowledged to have been written by men and thus carry the frailty of the species. In this verse, in the whole hymn till here, it is made clear that there is something beyond, which is without gender (by the reference to 'it'), but that our limitation is such that we require the "GOD" (great overseer divine) to hold on to and help us climb... and if even "He" cannot properly tell then we must not feel failing in our attempts.

      This hymn is particularly of interest to Vedantins because despite being in the ritualistic and 'earthy' early scriptures, it shows early reach towards the possibility of concepts such as Maya, Advaita and, actually, a Divinity without gender or form... it just fails at the last hurdle! This is true of most seekers also. Advaita is for the jiivas who are reaching the end of their long journey... Yxx

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  7. Very powerful and motivating post. Thank you for sharing these inspiring words. :) have a nice week.

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