Ever wondered what all the Om chanting is about? Here you may find some explanations about the Om and its meaning.
Anyone who has ever been to a yoga class knows that almost every class starts and ends with 3 times of ” Om Chanting”.
In fact, the Om is the so-called primal sound of the Divine, the universal tone, that reconciles body, mind and soul.
The Om stands for all three units and connects them to something bigger. Thus the Om symbolizes also the three Indian deities Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma, who in turn stand for conservation, destruction and creation. Om means birth, life and death; the past, present and future and everything that happens beyond.
It also symbolizes our three states of consciousness: the lower curve of the om stands for the waking state, the curve above it symbolizes the dream state, and the curve to the right symbolizes the state of sleep. There is also Turiya, which is symbolized by the point. Turiya stands for the highest consciousness that the half arc of Maya (obstacles) separates from the other three states of consciousness. It is important to overcome these obstacles during meditation and through the chanting of the Om.
The Om is a seed mantra, one of the highest mantras in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism and is part of most mantras of these religions and serves meditation.
At the same time, however, it has all the greater spiritual significance. For when the Om is chanted, the body and mind are placed in harmonic vibrations that help to overcome depression, as well as one can experience happiness and completeness. The vibrations start in the area around the navel and continue through the heart chakra in the chest, over the throat chakra, on to the Ajna chakra at the third eye to the crown chakra. The chakras are thus positively stimulated and the prana expanded, so that one experiences deep connection and compassion with all living beings in this universe.
Om is sometimes known to us as Aum. However, this is just a different spelling. In Sanskrit, the “O-Sound” is equivalent to the combination of the two vowels “A” and “U”.
“O” is the initial letter of the Sanskrit alphabet, and the “M” is the last letter. Thus, the Om contains all Sanskrit sounds and thus all sounds of the universe and which can be generated by us:
The “A-Sound” is created in the throat, while the “M” is generated by the lips. The “U” in between arises at the root of the tongue and rolls up to the tip of the tongue.
Between the chanting of the individual Oms, is teh silence, the Turiya. An important part of the Om. Surely one must pratice to feel and enjoy the silence.
We chant Om to learn from God, remove obstacles and experience peace.
In this sense,
Om Shanti.
