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The primordial sound of Om has profound internal and external implications. Though unmanifest in its original state, it possesses the potential for infinite manifestation. From its formless essence are born the forms which shape our universe. Yet, as the human being uses the body/mind mechanism to produce its various needs, but is not the body/mind complex, likewise does Brahman utilize Om for creating the many worlds, while being distinct from it. This is how Brahman remains inactive and untouched while still being able to create, preserve and destroy.

Om is effective as a tool for the seekers of mystic experience which is unsurpassed, for when intuited it quickly loosens all the knots of ignorance in the mind, dissolves impeding thought formations, and draws the aspirant towards moksha or spiritual emancipation. The Prasnopanishad illustrates this by stating:

“What is peaceful, undecaying, immortal,
free from all fear and supreme,
the sage attains it by means of this Om.”

Its inherent power to shape vibratory energy has been likened to a clear, calm pool of water which supports multifarious waves springing to life on its surface, allowing them to sport there while all the while absorbing them back into its liquid expanse after their play of energy is complete. This analogy is a microcosm view of the entire universe. As cloth, when analyzed, is seen to consist of thread, thread of strands, and strands of fibers, etc., so too does this universe consist of ever-changing fragmentary formations of increasingly subtler degrees — atoms, molecules quarks, neutrons and smaller particles constantly in motion. This motion manifests at different degrees of vibratory rate, from slow and dense to fast and subtle. The finer thought vibrations of the human mind, those vibrations which science cannot measure with instruments, are more subtle than matter but are dense compared to the primal vibration of Om. Om is the matrix for the Uncaused Cause, the sportive tool of the Unmoved Mover. When activated it provides numerous life heavens and stellar systems and all the objects contained within them, supports the animating power that creates them, and withdraws them into its boundless expanse for dissolution. All of this it accomplishes without ever changing its essential nature. Truly, that is why the Mandukyopanishad states:

All this world is the syllable Om.
Its further explanation is this:
the past, present, and future — everything is just Om.
And whatever transcends the three divisions of time,
that, too, is just Om.


Om, the creative instrument of Absolute Reality, is used by the Supreme Being to manifest the universe. About this unstruck sound and the Master Musician who wields it, the Rig Veda, the most ancient scripture in recorded history, declares:

The word of knowledge,
the sound of Truth itself
is the sustainer of creation.
I alone utter the word of Truth,
the sound that brings enjoyment
to gods and human beings alike.


When the Supreme Being utters the Word of divine origin across Ekarnava, the quiescent waters of potential existence, waves of vibration-energy rise there and universes, subtle and gross, with innumerable galaxies, spring into being, each sporting countless planetary configurations.

This Om Eternal possesses all possibilities for creation and growth and is the background substratum over which all names, forms, thoughts, words and actions get superimposed. It is therefore the cosmic garden where the primordial Mahashakti, the Goddess presiding over creation, gives birth to all creatures, along with the seed-sounds (bijas) which make possible all systems of knowledge and learning. It is She, who, in conjunction with Brahman, activates the powers of creation, preservation and dissolution of the universe, using this illimitable yet inconspicuous tool. The Great Shakti contemplates the universe into existence by activating this great key of creation, impregnating every word with meaning and associating the entire garland of alphabets — varna-mala — with corresponding names and forms. In this way She formulates and defines languages, arts, social sciences, religion and philosophy, abiding in them all as their inherent essence. Thus does the primal Word, its initial vibration, its meaning, sound, name, and the object produced all get connected and manifested.

This flow of perfect unity, arising from the immutable sound vibration and returning to its source without ever becoming affected, represents the very heart of Ultimate Reality. The divine origin of sacred sound springs from this magnificent and enthralling verity. The Mundakopanishad beautifully explains:

That One in whom the heaven, earth
and interspace are centered,
together with the mind and all life-breath —
know that One as the indivisible Self of all.

Where all the arteries meet
like the spokes of a chariot wheel in the hub -
there within the heart It moves, becoming manifold. Meditate on that Self as Om.

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