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Written and pronounced as Om or Aum. Om as Aum is a three-letter word, called also Pranav. By rule of Sandhi they become Aum or Om. Some say --
A is for Protector - Vishnu
U is for Destroyer - Shiv, and
M is for the Creator - Brahmaa

This explanation is at variance with the Rudra-Yaamal Tantra which says that
A is the letter of Brahmaa,
U for Vishnu and
M for Shiv. But the three are one

amuс╣Б kaс╣Еk─Бla vapuс╣гam jaс╣нilaс╣Б jalaj─Бsanaс╣Б
nam─Бmi naumi dhy─Бy─Бmi samaс╣Б somaс╣Б sabh─Б

We worship with equal reverence - kam (Brahmaa who sits on a lotus and the husband of Vaag Devtaa), Kaal Vapusham (Vishnu of the hue of dark
clouds and the husband of Lakshmee) and Jatil (the matted hair one Shiv and the consort of Umaa or Paarvatee) with the words for Namaskaaram are Namaami A, Naumitaa U and Dhaayaamitaami, here the A is given to Vishnu, U is given to Shiv and M is given to Brahmaa. Hence Omkaaram is the combination of the three supreme Gods Brahmaa Vishnu and Shiv.

Pranav Mantra. Sacred syllable representing God. Normally used by Hindu before and after pronouncing a sacred Mantra and before a prayer. When Brahmaa Jee was meditating to create the world, a sound came out of His heart, and A, U and M (Aum) appeared from that sound. This Aum is the root of all Mantra, Upanishad and Ved. These three letters are three Gun - Sat, Raj and Tam; and are three names - Rig, Yaju, and Saam; and have three meanings - Bhoo, Bhuvah and Swah, and are three situations - conscious, subconscious and unconscious. After this Brahmaa Jee created the alphabet. And with the help of that alphabet He created Ved to tell people about their Dharm. Then He taught Ved to His sons Mareechi etc. When they became expert of them, they taught them to their sons. They found that in the end of Dwaapar Yug people's age, strength and wisdom was deteriorating, then they divided them. Ved Vyaas Jee has contributed a lot in this.

OM is five dimensional and represents Brahm. Brahm is orange colored for energy. Five dimensions are - space, time and energy.
Shiv is white for purity of knowledge.
--From 5-dimensional being (Brahm) came out a 4-dimentional being (Brahmaa) - Brahmaa is a lower order of reality - Brahmaa's four heads represent Brahmaa is 4-dimensional

Origin of Om and Panchaaksharee Mantra
Shiv Puraan, Vidyeshwar Sanhitaa, chapter 10, titled "Five Fold Duties and the Omkaar" narrates the same as follows:  "The permanent cycle of the five fold duties consists of creation, maintenance, annihilation, concealment and blessing. These are also known as Sarg, Sthiti, Sanhaar, Tirobhaav and Mukti respectively. These five activities are also observed in the five elements in earth, waters, fire, wind and the firmament respectively. In order to look after these five fold activities, Lord Shiv has five faces. Due to the austerities, Brahmaa got the first job of creation and Vishnu got the second job of maintenance while the rest three are vested with Lord Shiv only.

To acquire knowledge of Lord Shiv, Omkaar Mantra "Aum" came out of the mouth of Lord Shiv indicating Lord Shiv. The syllable "A" came from his northern face, the syllable "U" came from his western face and the syllable "M" came from his southern face. The Bindu (dot) came from his eastern face and the Naad (mystical sound) came from his middle face. then all of these five united in the syllable "Aum". The two sets of created beings viz name (Naam) and form (Roop) are pervaded by this Mantra indicating Shiv and Shakti.

From "Aum" is born the Panchaaksharee Mantra "Namah Shivaaya" indicating all knowledge. The syllables "Na" "Ma" etc follow the order of the syllables "A" narrated above. From the above, it is suggested that chanting of simple "Aum" is the easiest Mantra for natives. Shiv Bhakt chant either Panchaaksharee Mantra "Namah Shivaaya" or Shadaaksharee Mantra "Aum Namah Shivaya" according to their convenience.

OM is the progenitor sound of all Beej Mantra. Naad (sound) and Bindu are two Shakti (power). Naad is sound and Bindu is dot, or point. Naad and Bindu are the progenitors of Tattwa, the building blocks of the Universe. Naad is Shakti and Bindu is Shiv (Shiv-Shakti); Naad is action and Bindu is static; Naad is white and Bindu is red. Naad (Moon-dot = Chandrabindu or Naad Bindu) over the Aumkaar is the couch, on which Param Shiv is reclining in his Bindu form. Chandrabindu is Naad and Bindu - Shakti and Shiv in one unit.

The crescent moon with the dot is Chandrabindu (Naad Bindu) or the couch of Tripur Sundaree in union with Param Shiv. The icon presents five components: A, U, M, Naad (the Crescent), and Bindu (the Dot). Just imagine the crescent moon being the couch. Nada is Sound, Bindu is the derivative of Naad and the source of the Universe. Naad is called Vishwa Maataa or Mother of the Universe; Bindu is Dukh Haaraa, Pain Killer or remover of pain. All Beej Mantra have three, four or five components: one, two or three syllables, Naad and Bindu. Naad is generally Mother Goddess and Bindu is Shiv, remover of pain.

Beej Mantra has no meaning; it is neither a language, nor a word, nor a character; it is Dhwani (unlettered vocalized sound); it is Dev. Another description of Aum and Naad and Bindu.

A depicts Ahankaar and Brahmaa;  U Buddhi and Vishnu;  M Manas and Rudra;  Bindu Chitta and Sadaashiv, and Naad Ullam (soul) and Eeshwar; the five gods are in charge of creation, maintenance, destruction, grace and obscuration. Bindu is the dot and Naad is the crescent.

A for Agni, U for Varun and M for Marut.

Aum is Beej Mantra or Seed Mantra and thus, the progenitor of all other Mantras. All sounds (Phonemes) of all languages, alphabets, morphemes, words, and sentence take their origin from Aum. Aum vibrates in all sounds, syllables and words. The transcendental sound of Aum is audible only to Yogee. Utterance of Aum proceeds from the navel, vibrates and ends in the nostrils, where the final intonation (Anuswaar / after-sound) takes place, which is represented by Chandrabindu ( a dot over a line or crescent). Bindu and Naad find their repose in Chandrabindu. Beeja Mantra, on the surface, does not carry any outward meaning but it is mystic and the body of a Devtaa or god.

Chanting of Namah Shivaaya drives away the fiery snake of Paash - bondage. Shivaaya Namah is the Sookshm (subtle) Mantra, chanting which eight thousand times reveals the subtle path of Sushumnaa, destroys Karm, and gives the bliss of Shiv.

Om - Omnipresent - present everywhere
Om - Omniscient - can see everything
Om - Omnipotent - having all kinds of powers

Elements in OM
Om has 96 elementary Tattwa. Shree Chakram is drawn 96 X 96 X 96 CM ..with Marm and Sandhi with 100 percent accurate.
Any one of you know the names of these 96 elementary Tattwa.
Nearly 40 names of these elementary Tattwa is known. But to know the rest we need supreme knowledge. This knowledge is only from Tamil saints' spiritual scriptures. Can you tell me few names of these elementary Tattwa?

Om in the Mantra have several triads applied to it.
(From bhagavadgitausa.com/Om_Namasivaya.htm)

Entity A U M
Colors Red White Black
Day Morning Midday Evening
Aryan Deities Agni Varun Maruts
Elemental Deities of Aryans Agni (Fire) Aaditya (Sun) Vaayu (Wind)
Functions Creation Maintenance Destruction
Jeev Body Soul Spirit
Kundalinee Chakra Moolaadhaar Anahat Aagyaa / Sahasraar
Meters Gaayatree Trishtubh Jagatee
Modes Rajas Sattwa Tamas
Naadee Idaa Pingalaa Sushumnaa
Phases of Moon Waxing Moon Full Moon Waning Moon
Primary gods Brahmaa Vishnu Shiv
Qualities Kriyaa (Action) Gyaan (Knowledge) Ichchhaa (Will)
Sansaar (life on Earth) Birth Life Death
Seasons Spring Summer Fall / Autumn
Spheres Earth Heaven Atmosphere
States Wakefulness Dream Sleep Deep Sleep
Tattwa Ahankaar Buddhi Manas
Time Past Present Future
Ved Rig Yajur Saam
Worlds Lok) Earth (Prithvi) Heaven (Swarg) Netherworld (Paataal)

Om and Mantra
An imperishable Sanskrit root monosyllable, Om embodies the concepts of origination and dissolution. Everything existent and non-existent can be grasped by uttering, mentally or in a low voice, the syllable Om at the beginning and end of a quest for knowledge. As Manu, in his Code of Institutes of Manu (Maanav Dharm Shaastra ii.74) said, "Without Om before, [the knowledge] slips away; and without it after, it disappears. By uttering Om at the beginning and end of learning, acquired knowledge is retained, and its utterance counteracts errors.

Kaarttikeya on  Om
There are many stories about Kaarttikeya. One is given here to show his intelligence. Once many Devtaa including Shiv Jee, Brahmaa Jee, and Kaarttikeya were sitting in Indra's court. Bhringee Apsaraa was dancing there. Shiv Jee merely raised his eyebrows to stop the dance then looked at Kumaar once, then at Brahmaa. Brahmaa Jee immediately stood up and spoke - "You asked me to start the education of Kumaar, so I did and first I taught him "Om". He immediately asked the meaning of "Om". I said you should not ask the meaning of "Om" before learning it to write. He held my hand and he was about to beat me. Who had killed Taarakaasur at the age of 7 days certainly wouldn't care for me, so I explained him the meaning of "Om" in 12,000 verses but he was not satisfied with that. He said to me "Brahmaa, You don't know anything". He is standing before you. I don't know more than what I have already explained."

Shiv Jee got very happy to know about his son's intelligence. Then Shiv Jee himself explained its meaning in 1,200 thousand (12 Lakh, or 1,200,000) verses. Kaarttikeya said - "It was wrong on my part to say that Brahmaa didn't know."

Shiv Jee understood Kaarttikeya's sarcasm, that he was implying that even Shiv Jee was also ignorant about the meaning of "Om". Shiv Jee got angry at this but was happy too in his heart to see his son's intelligence. He asked - "Then how many meanings are there of this word, Kaarttikeya, you tell me?" Kaarttikeya said - "12 million (1 Crore and 20 Lakh, or 12,000,000)." So many are meanings of Aum.

Yaagyavalkya on Om
यथा पर्ण्णं पलाशस्य शङ्कुनैकेन धार्यते तथा जगदिदम् सर्वं ॐ कारेणैव धार्यते।  याज्ञवल्क्यात्
yathaa parnnam palaashasya shankunaiken dhaaryate
tathaa jagaddidam sarvam Om kaarenaiv dhaaryate.  -  Yaagyavalkyaat

Yaagyavalkya praised Omkaar like this. "Just as the three leaves in a Palaash stalk are held together by a single source (Palaash leaves occur in groups of three, Aak ) the three worlds Bhoo, Bhuva and Swah are also held together only by Pranavam.

 
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Created by Sushma Gupta on 3/15/06
Contact:  sushmajee@yahoo.com
Updated on 08/29/12