OM is the way

I remember when I stepped into my first yoga class that began with the “om'“ chant. By that time, I have already been to quite a few yoga classes at the fitness gyms and studios, but they wouldn’t do any “om” chants to start or end the class, but just the usual hands in prayer. Even in my own classes, till now, I haven’t yet been able to fully integrate the “om” chants as it posses a bit of a challenge when many people still associate it with a religious practice and we as teachers try to be mindful about respecting other people’s beliefs and religious practices. Pardon my digression. I remember feeling quite uneasy and a little awkward saying it, let alone chanting it. But that feeling slowly went away as I began to understand the science behind it.

The word OM is actually pronounced as “AUM”.

The “A” in AUM represents the cosmic creative vibration, and should be pronounced short, as in the first “a” in “afar,” rather than long as in “arm.” When this sound is heard in meditation, it has the highest pitch of the three.

“U” (pronounced “oo” as in “moon”) is the cosmic vibration of preservation. It maintains all creation in a state of equilibrium. This sound, when heard in meditation, is pitched somewhat lower than the first.

“M” represents the vibration of cosmic dissolution, which draws all creation back into the Absolute at the end of a universal cycle. The time allotted to cosmic manifestation is known as a Day of Brahma, and spans a period of billions of years. This vibration of the AUM sound, when heard in meditation, is pitched lowest of all, like a deep rumbling.

So in a nutshell, Aum (ॐ) is the vibration by which the Supreme Spirit brings all things into manifestation: All of manifestation is created, preserved in the created state for some time, then eventually destroyed. Aum, therefore, encompasses the three vibratory energies required to create, preserve, and destroy, and each of these energies vibrates at a different frequency.

Heavy shit. I know.

Even when all this was explained to me, I couldn’t quite connect the dots just yet. I look back now and recognize that my mind or mental consciousness hadn’t expanded to the point that I could just integrate that knowledge. But at least from the point of rationalization, there was a perspective and that became the fertile ground for these ideas to permeate.

What proved to be most transformational was the direct experience of chanting: The more I was able to relinquish the need to fully understand what exactly this would do for me and attach to it all sorts of expectation, the more I was able to remain open to possibilities and just welcome an unknown experience. I got to discover the power of OM through my subjective exploration and developed a sense of knowing rather than an experience preempted by information.

This was fundamental and life changing because I was typically the sort that was very attached to information and knowledge.

Wanted to know how to build muscle and lose fat? Read up on fitness magazines and study the science literature about it. Want to do well in life? study hard, get your degree and it will be yours! I could share many more examples, but I suppose with my upbringing and the culture I’ve been exposed to all my life, it was only natural for me think that way.

We are all, in some way, indoctrinated by the notion that cognitive learning is the best way to understand the reality we operate in.

So for the first time in my life, I was willing to let go of any preconceptions of what I thought I knew about what I was learning and adopted what the Zen masters would call, “a beginner’s mind”.

Through time, I discovered one more method that has been absent in my growth as a human being, which is the Divine knowledge that already reside within each and every one of us. You might be thinking, well, that’s just intuition. I don’t disagree. But how I’ve always experienced intuition is more cerebral than visceral. People always described it as “Feeling it in their bones” or the gut or even the heart, but I’ve never truly had those experiences in the past. Anytime I tried to, my head would get in the way. This knowledge is encoded into our DNA and to access it, will require us to vibrate and resonate at particular frequencies. Our job is to fine tune our consciousness, so we may vibrate in resonance to this field of intelligence, which coincidentally connects each and every one of us on this planet. Many names have been attributed to this phenomena: the matrix, God, the universe, intelligent design, the quantum field, etc. I would say it is all and so much more.

This “source”, is the substance of what our reality is made of. It has infinite energy and information that is not bounded by space and time, but is expressed and manifests itself within it. This is where I feel the chanting of OM really does it thing. Through proper intention and a calm mind, the person who chants OM instantly creates an entanglement between the “inner source”, what most of us would call our soul, with the “outer source”, which is this great Divine intelligence.

The Atman begins to recognize the resonance of Brahman.

By no means I have achieve a permanent state of this realization, but that moment of enlightenment (which I’ve discovered that’s what it is, a moment) has helped pivoted and cause my paradigm to shift, ever so slightly. Over time, it lead to a continued renewal of faith in the inner work that I have pledged to do on my spiritual journey. This direct experience way of learning from a beginner’s mind, feels like being an empty white canvas, and using my own intuition and gut instincts, to paint an entirely new picture.

I believe that to live a meaningful life, we have to paint our masterpiece.

To do this, we must truly know ourselves. Not the egoic manifestations of how we view ourselves through other people’s eyes, but through connecting to the deepest parts of ourselves that we know are true.

We are so conditioned to always seek answers externally that sometimes we forget, the only one who can answer some of the most perplexing questions, lies within.

So even if you don’t necessarily vibe with the esoteric and meta analysis of our existence in relation to the greater cosmos, the fact that there is even the smallest chance of you possessing this source key to all the greatest lessons in your life, wouldn’t you want to harness that power and create the reality that you want to live in? I think that’s worth exploring.

So learn to slow down, learn to be still and learn to tune into your highest intuition. In my experience, the most profound messages I get are usually whispered to me.

This is the essence behind the idea of an Ommosapien. It is the next stage of evolution that we must all embark on, through conscious choice. It is not just the inner or outer pursuit. It is both.

REFERENCE:

https://www.ananda.org/yogapedia/aum/