Why do we OM?
Better transliterated as AUM, it's really three separate phonemes: Ah, Oo, and Mmm, representing creation, sustainment, and then dissolution--the expanding and contracting pulse of the universe. All things come and all things go. Change...there's no way around it.
OM is etymologically related not only to the english prefix "omni," meaning all (e.g. omnivore--all foods, omnipotent--all powerful), but also, interestingly, to "amen" (seems kinda obvious once it's pointed out, doesn't it?).
You might be surprised to hear that OM is a sacred sound to Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists, as well as Hindus. Hmmm. That's not all: Christian, Jews and Muslims say amen too, or a slight variation of it (in Hebrew, it's ah-men, and for Muslims, amin).
Nice to have something all religions can agree on!
AUM's three sounds symbolize oneness, the relatedness and unity of all the universe. The A denotes all things of form: the flowers...the birds...us. U represents formlessness: water, fire, the air. And M is something existent, but having neither shape nor shapelessness--like the dark matter in space.
So three are essentially one. The entire AUM sound is an exercise in concentration, a mythic focus on one universal truth: all things manifest and unmanifest, the union of body, mind and spirit. Creation, and all that is/ has been/ will be created.
For Christianity and Islam, the usual translation for amen is concurrence, as in "amen to that" baby! (It's the same root as amenable--agreement.) The Hebrew form is translated as certainty.
So we're all saying--or chanting--the same thing. Truth. Word. Youbetcha.
Even scientists should be able to get behind OM. It's said to be the first sound, and I take that to mean that the Big Bang was actually a raucous Big OM chant, vibrating energy across the universe like one vast and mighty wave.
OM is simply a reminder that the source is one--whatever your idea of "source" is. One Big Bang. One Godhead. One energy. It's a signifier of the underlying relationship, not only between us all, but between us and our world. One love, one heart, as Bob Marley and Curtis Mayfield would sing it.
BTW, when I added up all the Hindus, the Buddhists, the Jains, the Sikhs, and to this, all the Jews, the Muslims and the Christians--guess how many? It's very nearly the entire world population! And here we are, all sounding out One Truth, joining together in this one sound...or its variants.
When we chant OM to begin our yoga, we are reiterating our relationship to one another, our solidarity. We merge the sound of our voices into a single chorus, both listening, and participating--involving ourselves with one another. We sing: One love, one heart. Let's get together and feel all right.
In this sense, OM means we believe in the power of community, of supporting one another in our pursuits, of lending a hand when we can. It's an appreciation that our culture belongs to everyone, that we all have a role to play in creating the reality we live in. We all matter. And together, we harmonize.
OM. It's really pretty cool.
