“OM”
Having examined in this second part on the Upanishads the meaning of samsara, moksha, karma, and the Highest Good, we have this last remaining nuance of ultimate reality for discussion. The Chhāndogya Upanishad begins with the Ugditha a hymn beginning with the word ‘Om’ (or ‘Aum’) which is in fact identical to the Ugditha. This hymn discloses “the greatness and power of Om, the essence of all things…and the principal prana, or the vital breath.”21 Om “is the most sacred word of the Vedas and symbol of both the Personal God and the Absolute.”22
The text compels us:
“THE SYLLABLE OM, called the Ugditha, should be meditated upon; for people sing the Ugditha beginning with OM…Om is a symbol and the dearest name of the Supreme Self…the seeker is asked to use Om as a support for meditation…The Ugditha (Om) is the best of all essences, the supreme, deserving the highest place…”23
In the eternal struggle between good and evil desires churning inside humankind, Ugditha offers an exit since it is none other than the supreme Self, and the individual self as well. By meditating on Om symbolically as the sun, or graphically as the letters of the word Ugditha, or abstractly via its character of fearlessness and immortality, all desires can be fulfilled leading to the “highest happiness” and “the most excellent life.”24
Just as ‘Logos’ is the understood as the “Word” of God in Christianity, ‘Om’ is the “sound” of the Absolute in Hinduism. If meditation is the path to enlightenment, Om is the optimal focal point for that meditation permitting the concentration of power particularly through the discipline of Yoga (highlighted in the next section). Om is “the great sound-symbol and sums up all world sounds.”25 And the concentration it facilitates “will bring perfect repose to body and mind…”26
Before I close this post, I offer one last truly remarkable chant from the Chhāndogya Upanishad that sums up its synthesis of Brahman and Om:
“Om. May Brahman protect us both. May Brahman bestow upon us both the fruit of Knowledge! May we both obtain the energy to acquire Knowledge! May what we both study reveal the Truth! May we cherish no ill-feeling toward each other! Om. Peace! Peace! Peace”27
Can there be any invocation greater than this?
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21Nikhilananda, Swami, The Upanishads Volume 2. Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York, 1956. Page 95.
22Ibid., page 403.
23Ibid., page 113.
24Ibid., page 96.
25Beck, L. Adams, The Story of Oriental Philosophy. The New Home Library, New York, 1942. Page 87.
26Ibid.
27Nikhilananda, Swami, The Upanishads Volume 2. Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York, 1956. Page 83.
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