Om, the sacred primordial sound principle. (Glossary for the Vahinis)

The Pranava is the essence of all sustenance, the embodiment o fRasa. Of all creation, moving

and un-moving, the Earth is the Rasa; of the Earth, water is the Rasa; of the Water, food (Aushadha) is the Rasa; of the food, the Human Person is the Rasa; of the Human Person, the

word is the Rasa; of the word, Rig is the Rasa; of the Rig, Sama is the Rasa; of the Sama (Veda), Om is the Rasa. These eight Rasas; of the Earth, Water, Physic, Person, Word, Rig, Sama and Om lead to the ninth, ananda (Bliss). These are the Navarasas, the Nine Essences, the Nine Sustainers. ananda is the goal which man is seeking, the aim of human life. (SSS Vol.11, p. 87)

The ancient rishis crossed the turbulent river of life with ease, with the help of the boat of ‘Pranava’. Pranava has the power of saving the world from Pralaya (great deluge). (SSB 1979, p. 126)

The Pranava Mantra (Om) contains within it, the powers of Shiva and Shakti. These two powers, Shiva and Shakti, correspond to what scientists call electron and proton (the two constituents of the atom). Proton forms the nucleus of the atom. The electron is moving at great speed round the proton. The Veda has described the phenomenon in different ways. It has declared that Shiva and Shakti are inextricably associated with each other. This corresponds to the relationship between the electron and the proton. Anterior to the electron and proton is the particle known as neutron. This corresponds to what the Veda has called sat. In common parlance sat is regarded as something effulgent. This is not correct. Sat, in fact, means darkness. Out of this darkness is born light. Out of the darkness called Ashanti, comes the effulgence of ‘Prashanti’. Thus darkness is called Tama. One meaning of ‘ta’ is nectar. The other meaning is garbha or womb. This womb is called by the scientists as ‘space’. The second syllable ‘mah’ means poison or Time. Thus the word Tamas encompasses space and time, which are the determinants of the human predicament. (SSS Vol.30)

The Pranava recital is one form of such spiritual effort. It is laid down at Prasanthi Nilayam that the early dawn recital of Om should last twenty-one times. This number is not arbitrarily fixed; it has a significance of its own. We have the 5 Karmendriyas and the 5 jnanendriyas; we have also the 5 vital airs, or pranas, to sustain us. Again, we have the 5 koshas, or sheaths, enclosing the divine spark that is the Reality. These total up to 20. So, the recitation of Om twenty-one times purifies and clarifies all these 20 components and makes man the 2lst entity, ready for the final merger with the Reality. The life-principle (jivatattvam), merges with the Para tattvam (Supreme Absolute). The jivatattvam may be pictured as a rider on the 20 component-comprising horse. Finally, you end the Pranava recital with recital of ‘shanti’ three times. That, too, completes the process of clarification and purification, for, the first call for Shanti is for purity of the adhi-bhautika part of the self (the body). The second is for the purity of the second part, the adhi-daivika (the mind). The third is for the purification of the adhyatmic (the Spiritual). This Pranava recital will tone you up and calm all agitations in the mind and quicken the downpour of Grace. (SSS Vol. 10, p. 166)

In the human body there are six nerve centres, all in the form of the lotus-flower. All the six lotus forms have one letter or sound attached to each petal. Like the reeds in the harmonium, when the petals are moved, each one emanates a distinct sound.

The force that moves them is the Anahat-dhwani, the Primeval Sound, the undistinguished indistinguishable Sound, emanating without effort, irrespective of conscious will. That is the Pranava. As beads on a string, all letters and the sounds they represent are strung on the Pranava. That is the meaning of the statement that He is the ‘Pranava of the Vedas’. (GV, pp. 107-108)

How do we cognise the Pranava and hear it? It is not perceivable. It is like something to be absorbed. All that is seen in the visible universe, all that is heard in the realm of sound, all the multifarious experiences of the heart – all of them are subsumed by the Pranava. Even in the state of deep sleep, the process of breathing in and breathing out goes on ceaselessly. That which sustains the breathing process is Omkara, which thus proclaims Its identity with the Brahman and the Atma. (SSS Vol.20, p. 199)

In the Ramayana,Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna exhibit the qualities associated respectively with the three syllables ‘A’, ‘U’ and ‘M’ of ‘AUM’. Aum itself is personified in Rama. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna declares that he is the Pranava (AUM) in the Vedas - Pranavasya sarva Vedeshu. Patanjali has extolled the Pranava as being an apt name for God, tasya vachakah pranavah. In the Hindu religion, there is no Mantra or Shastra that does not have ‘AUM’ as its basis. We should, therefore, try to understand the profound significance of the sacred Pranava, the primordial word. (SSB 1979, p. 125)