From vedic times until the present day the 'OM' has been taken as a symbol and as an aid to meditation by spiritual aspirants. It is accepted both as one with Brahman and as the medium, the Logos connecting man and God. The entire history of the syllable is in the revelations of the Vedas and in the declarations of the Upanishads, and this history in the hands of the lager philosophers developed into what came to be known as the Sphota-vada or the philosophy of the word. The perceptable universe is the form, behind which stands the eternal inexpressible, the Sphota, manifested as Logos, or Word. This Eternal Sphota, the essential material basis for all ideas or names, is the power through which God creates the Universe. Iswara - the Brahman conditioned by Maya-first manifests Himself as the Sphota, the inexpressible word, out of which He evolves as the concrete, sensible word. |
There is a verse in the Vedas: "Prajapati vai idam agre aseet" (In the beginning was Prajapati, the Brahman): "Tasya vag dvitiya aseet" (With whom was the Word): "Vag vai paramam Brahma" (And the Word was verily the Supreme Brahman). The idea belongs to Hinduism and in the fourth Gospel fo the New Testament we read it repeated; "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.". This Sphota has its symbol in the word 'OM'. Thus, in the 'Maitrayana Upanashad' after it has been said that there is one Brahman without words, and a second, a Word-Brahman, we are told that the word is the syllable 'OM'. The sound of 'OM' is also called 'Pranava', meaning that it is something that pervades life, or runs through prana or breath. |