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| Man, lately I've been hearing so many blasted definitions of the word OM that I really have no idea what it really means. At my last yoga workshop the instructor said it simply means "One." So does that mean in Sanskrit I can count by saying OM, then the number for two, or does it mean a lot more? |
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| Dear MrD:
What does it mean by knowing a meaning of something? All the meaning of anything comes out of what you already know. Contemplate on this. Suppose I say X to you, then you will try to know that in terms of what X relates to you in your past knowledge. If it does not, then you will say, I do not know what that means, and I should explain further. Now, I shall tell you other things than just X. Then all those other things you shall try to relate to what you know. And, so on, until what I say relates to what you know.
What I told you is applicable only in the material world.
In terms of spiritual world, the above process goes on but only in a limited way. Because, in the material world, your knowledge is that of perceptible things. Whereas in the spiritual world, the the phenomenon becomes subtler and subtler. For example, it is easier to feel body than mind than intellect than ego than soul, etc. Therefore, in the True Spirituality, one ultimately has to depend on the Word from the Previously Realized Person. This is called Vedas = Knowledge from the Original Source, not obtained by Studying books.
Now, when you first know it from Vedas, you try the practice towards that knowledge and you find that all statements come true as said there. At one time, you find that all material universe comes out of Vibration. That vibration is ONE, the first vibration, a Primal One.
That primal vibration is called OM or pranava. However, to practice it one starts with loud or mental cchanting of OM.
In other words, when one tells you the word OM, it is not possible to know its meaning, similar to the meaning of for example word Cat.
Neel Kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
  
Location: A Blue State | Very well put, Brother Neel.
There are descriptions of Om in terms of three parts...A-U-M, creation-preservation-dissolution,
and so on. I'm not sure that these are meanings, so much as symbols.
Edited by Bay Guy 2005-02-28 9:42 PM
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| MrD - 2005-03-01 4:40 AM
Man, lately I've been hearing so many blasted definitions of the word OM that I really have no idea what it really means. At my last yoga workshop the instructor said it simply means "One." So does that mean in Sanskrit I can count by saying OM, then the number for two, or does it mean a lot more?
That's curious. I wonder what different definitions you've heard?
Which one do you think is nearest the meaning? |
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| I think the Neel has hit the nail on the head with the meaning of Om. I feel that this same primal vibration is what theorists call the big bang. I do wander if the big bang is also impermanent and if there have been countless other big bangs in the past and if there will be countless other big bangs inthe future. If so, then all of these primal vibrations could possibly have slightly different vibrations from one incarnation to another, yet still be the same vibration. Could this also explain the difference in our beings in this universe (i.e. the variety of the multitude of living beings just on this planet--yet we know deep inside that we are all one)??
What do you think??
Namaste |
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| Dear BG: OM has nothing to do with A U M. But, one can interpret it the way you heard it, without any harm.
Dear redtail: Bigbang theory is wrong as far the experience of Yogis go. I must admit that I am not expert in the knowledge of Big Bang. But, there is nothing Big and it is not banging in terms of the sound we know. OM is a very divine sound and very soothing, not Big Banging as Brother Bruce heard in his Power Yoga Class.
Neel Kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org |
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| It is certainly the primal vibration.
A friend of mine was an usher at the Queen Elizabeth theatre in Vancouver. One show that she worked had an orchestra that was imitating real world sounds for an audience of school kids. They were doing bumble bees and all sorts of things.
Then the conductor explained that scientists had recorded the sound of space from one of the space missions and they would now play that sound.
It was unmistakably Ohm.
L |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
 
| I teach near an airport. When the big planes take off, I hear it as a big OM  |
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| tourist:
That is wonderful and without any doubt, that will help you a lot in your yoga practice, I meaning bringing the OM sound in what you hear.
Neel Kulkarni
www.authenticyoga.org |
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| Now that you mentioned it I think I have also heard that scientifically recorded sound on an edition of Earth and Sky (with Block and Bird on NPR). Thanks for the reminder, Lavteal. BTW, I love your avatar image: the Alex Grey painting entitled "Theologue." The rest of his stuff is also mind-blowing to me!!  He has a quite unique style and, apparently, vision of the universe that we live in. Incase you haven't seen any more of his work, you can go to www.alexgrey.com and check it out.
Namaste |
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| sivaram - 2005-03-01 6:58 AM
That's curious. I wonder what different definitions you've heard?
Which one do you think is nearest the meaning?
Well one national instructor at a worksship said "It's simply a sound." He had us sound out all of the vowels in a chant fashion. AAAAA, EEEEE, IIIII, OOOOO, and UUUUU Then he did OM. |
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| What I heard about OM is that it is the sound the yogis hear when they are in deep meditation and do not hear outside sound. The om sound comes after bee sound.
Om is also the word that was with God as bible mentions. John in the bible begins, " In the beginning there was word and word was God and God was the word."
This word (OM) is that primodial sound that was with God. |
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Expert Yogi
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| I love the word "primordial". In a very large room full of people all chanting OM I have often felt like it was the first sound of the world. a mix of male and female voices helps, too. |
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| Something I've noted about Om is that when I attend a large class full of relative strangers (though faces may be somewhat familiar) is that when we chant Om prior to asana practice it sounds like an absolute discordant mess and there's always the one person in the front of the room who holds the "mmm" part forever in a magnificient display of breath control. But after asana, when we chant it again, the voices all blend together in tone and measure. It's interesting that we tend to think of yoga as something so personal and individual, but practicing in a group like that truly can affect the energy of a room. |
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Expert Yogi
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| Lora - that has often been my experience but have also had the opposite. Harmony to start and discord at the end and no obvious reason why. I figure there MUST be grant money available somewhere to study this!  |
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Expert Yogi
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Location: A Blue State | LoraB - 2005-03-05 10:40 AM
and there's always the one person in the front of the room who holds the "mmm" part forever in a magnificient display of breath control.
I always feel a little guilty when I'm the only one dragging the "mmm" out.
This NEVER happens when I do Om at Kirtans (which have lots of singers, who cultivate
that kind of breath control), but it often happens with yoga class Om's. Sometimes
I simply stop b/c I feel as if I am being out of step.
I recall that Dharma Mittra can hold Om almost forever.
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| That WOULD be a great topic for a possible grant--Why is there a difference in the harmony/discord before or after the group chants the Om??
I am digressing back to the original post here. I found this meaning for Om in the Cologne Sanskrit Lexicon:
Entry: om
originally, which may be derived from, a word of solemn affirmation and respectful assent , sometimes translated by `" yes , verily , so be it "' (and in this sense compared with Amen ; it is placed at the commencement of most Hindu works , and as a sacred exclamation may be uttered [but not so as to be heard by ears profane] at the beginning and end of a reading of the Vedas or previously to any prayer; it is also regarded as a particle of auspicious salutation [Hail!]; Om appears first in the Upanishads as a mystic monosyllable, and is there set forth as the object of profound religious meditation, the highest spiritual efficacy being attributed not only to the whole word but also to the three sounds {a}, {u}, {m}, of which it consists; in later times {om} is the mystic name for the Hindu triad, and represents the union of the three gods Vishnu, Siva, and Brahma; it may also be typical of the three Vedas; {om} is usually called praNava, more rarely akSara, or ekAkSara, and only in later times oMkAra); (Buddhists place {om} at the beginning of their {vidyASaDakSarI} or mystical formulary in six syllables {om maNi padme hUM}]; according to T. {om} may be used in the following senses: {praNave}, {Arambhe}, {svIkAre}, {anumatau}, {apAkRtau}, {asvIkAre}, {maGgale}, {zubhe}, {jJeye}, {brahmaNi}; with preceding {a} or {A}, the {o} of {om} does not form Vriddhi ({au}) , but Guna ({o}) Pan. 6-1, 95.)
I am not exactly sure what some of that means, but there you have it. I think the first two lines pretty much sums it up. Neel could probably help us out with understanding the rest of the definition.
Namaste
Edited by redtail 2005-03-06 9:01 AM
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| Something I have also heard, which I liked, is that it is the root word for all the other words used in spirituality to indicate connection with "God", as in "Amen" or "Shalom." I don't know if that is true, but it made me feel happy to think so.
As with most other things that have no obvious explanation, I take in all the ideas that are available and then follow the ones that feel true to me. |
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| Harmony to start and discord at the end and no obvious reason why. I figure there MUST be grant money available somewhere to study this! 
Playing music for the googols of years I have, and chanting for a gazillion years, I would like to share perhaps not THE meaning, but a musical one that I KNOW FULL WELL.
When you pronounce it something like: e-a-u-o-m clearly, it goes through all the harmonics. It is easier to hear when you do it in reverse, o-u-a-e, all of the harmonics of the tone come through!
"Oo" or "u" is considered a "sine wave," and "ee" a square wave. This means that the oo sound is pure - has none of the harmonics. Quick brief on harmonics: when you play a tone, let's say an "A" on the guitar, if you divide that string into 1/2 you get the "1st harmonic," the A above it. Dividing it into 1/3 you get the "2nd harmonic," the E above that. Here is a graphic of them in "C":
From: http://Inersha.com/class.htm
So if "the word was God, the word IS God" or some such vibratatory=creation type of thinking, saying "om" is like emenating or emoting your body's sound.
ps. RedTail I love your avatar!
May we all be in harmony. Amen and Awomen.
Love and light being, Teo |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | Gee, I don't quite follow you. The note E as a pure tone would be a sinusoid. A square
wave...hmm...I guess you are referring to the vowel "E"? Can you post a proper Fourier
analysis of this vowel? That would be interesting. Are you saying that every square wave is
heard as "E"? That every "E" has a 1/n decrease in amplitude?
So far as the keyboard tone E is concerned, it's not a square wave...the E above
middle C is 329.63 hertz.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
Location: A Blue State | Here we go: the harmonic content of vowels
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/sound/vowel.html
From the spectra posted on that link, you can see that "ee" and "ah" have
more overtones than "oo", as Teo mentioned. (None of them are really
pure tones or square waves, however.) Never thought about this before -- Cool!
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| Bay Guy - 2005-03-08 6:11 AM
From the spectra posted on that link, you can see that "ee" and "ah" have
more overtones than "oo", as Teo mentioned. (None of them are really
pure tones or square waves, however.) Never thought about this before -- Cool!
Hey, then you are one of the FEW other people who think that this is cool TOO!!!
I'm really glad you did your OMWORK and found that great graphic!!!
From an oscilloscope point of view, and I used to have some software on my old Mac 512 (yes 512K!!!) that with a mike input you could literally see the shape of a sound, and "oo" was a "pure" sine wave, as you went to "ee" it would square up! Neato eh? On my synthesizers there were always SINE and SQUARE wave sounds, and some like my ancient Micro-Moog had knobs to experiment with the "shape" of the tone's wave.
But back to what I really mean, and why I titled this reply "OM contains all sounds" is this:
From basic sound construction theory, a low tone (let's say a C1) if it is "pure" or "oo"-like will have no overtones in it, just the low C1. The same pitch, if you "open" it, or square it somewhat, more towards "ee," the OVERTONES will be built into the same sound. The same sound now has the C1 and perhaps the C2, and as you open it more it includes G2, C3, E3, G3, A3, Bb3, going up the "HARMONIC SERIES."
So as you make the sound AUM or oo-aa-ee-aa-oo you are making all of those harmonics come in and out. I would like you to try this: in a very quiet place say "oo" then SLOWLY open to "aa" and notice the octave comes in, and the other harmonics as well.
What this all says to my little musical constructionist theories, is that there is some spiritual power in a well stated Om. When I found out reading a book on Voodoo (properly Vodoun) and realized that they have so many similar things to Kundalini Yoga, and the pillar in the middle of the ceremony is called "Poteoumeter" it just seemed like the word Potential mixed with the ee-oo-uu-m we have been discussing, another verification that the vocal technique of bringing in the harmonic spectrum is mystical! They also have 2 snake deities Aida-Weedo and Dumbala which seem to correlate to Ida and Pingala of Hindu Kundalini and other synchronicities.. but that is another topic entirely!
As a pianist I "run my scales," and practice other techniques just to "keep my chops up." I imagine that the Om sound, or technique, is a way of emenating the body's sonic essense, sort of a tuning up or exercising of it's own vibratory frequencies. That's my jist from a musical perspective of the mystical and magical power in the sound Om. There's no place like Om, there's no place like Om, there's no place like Om! (with heels clicking eh?) "Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore!" he he..
May we all be balanced and in harmony. May we all always feel at Om.
Love and light being, Teo
Edited by Teo 2005-03-09 3:15 PM
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| Thanks TEO for the posting.
Excuse my ignorance, but could you explain what does the harmonic content chart signify? How will this chart look for the sound
SO and Aham?
Thanks again |
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| nathss - 2005-03-09 10:09 PM
could you explain what does the harmonic content chart signify?
The more "round" the tone, SO being pretty round eh? Would have few of the upper frequencies, IE less of the blips or bars in the higher parts of that graph. The Ah in Aham would be nearer the middle one. That explain it?
May we all resonate highest intention frequencies and attract similar vibrations. Amen and Awomen.
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OM! What's the real meaning.
