Everyone is now familiar with the stereotypical image of a yogi sitting cross-legged chanting the sound, “OM”. But what is the real significance of “OM”?
OM is the primordial sound of the universe, the first sound, the sound that was made at the Big Bang, the beginning of our universe, and it resonates within our being. OM has the power to take us into meditation, to make us one with the universe, to take us into the the silence and the peace that is the vastness and the power of the universe, like the stillness of a bottomless lake that has no ripples.
The sound, OM, was made when matter first started to divide and differentiate and to recombine. OM is actually made up of three separate sounds, A-U-M, that together make the sound, OM. The first is “A” which sounds like “ar” as in “car”. The second is “U” which sounds like “oo” as in “book”. The third is “M” which sounds like “m” as in “man”. These sounds can help to keep us in balance. How?
Human beings have within them a subtle body which consists of three channels and seven chakras. The three channels are connected to our emotions on the left, our physical and mental activity on the right and our integration and balance in the centre. If we are over-emotional we are operating too much on the left side, and if we are thinking and planning too much or are over-active physically then we are using our right side too much. These situations cause the imbalances which lead to physical and mental health problems.
The central channel is generally activated only when we achieve our Self-realisation. This happens when the residual life force (called the Kundalini) which resides in the sacrum bone in every human being rises up through the spine, through the limbic area in the brain and out the top of the head at the fontanelle bone area. It then connects us with the All-pervading Power of the universe, the force that created us, the force that keeps the planets in their orbits and makes the seeds sprout in the Mother Earth.
Once we have our Self-realisation we can go into “thoughtless awareness”, the state of true meditation in which we are awake and alert but we are not thinking. In thoughtless awareness the Kundalini flows through us, balancing our subtle systems and clearing our chakras, giving us good health and feelings of well-being. As we continue to meditate and to strengthen this connection, the Kundalini flows more strongly and we are able to enjoy the silence, the space between the thoughts, to be the pure consciousness, to feel one with the whole of creation.
After our Self-realisation, when we have that connection to the force that created us, the sounds of the OM (AUM) can help to clear and balance our channels. If we use as a mantra the sound, A (“ar” as in “car”), it will help to clear the left channel, the sound, U (“oo” as in “book”), will help to clear the right channel and the sound, M (“m” as in “man”) ,will work on the central channel. As a result, the whole system will come into balance.
The sound, OM, also has the power to clear each of the chakras when sung at the pitch which resonates with the particular chakra, and it can raise the Kundalini when sung up the musical scale.
So, sit comfortably, on the floor or on a chair, hands palm upwards on your lap. Take a few deep breaths, and relax. Now sing, “Aaaaoooommm,” and let the sound take you into meditation, into the stillness and the silence and the peace that is the vastness of the universe where you are at one with the whole of creation and are nothing but pure consciousness. Enjoy!
Kay Alford
(Illustration: affirmations.goingon.com)
We have to understand that life has to be enjoyable. Life should be a blessing. It’s not to be a misery. We create our own miseries by these false ideas, by our own conflictions we have in our mind, mental projections we have in our mind or our own obstinacy, whatever it is.
All these things can be cured if you take to Sahaja Yoga because you become a balanced person, level-headed, wise person and you become a witness. The whole thing becomes like a show, like a drama and you become fearless. You start seeing the whole thing like a drama. And this is what a human being has to achieve.
Shri Mataji, 1986
When the Kundalini energy reaches the seventh subtle centre in the body, at the crown of the head, the yogi realises the single Self, and knows that individual selves are an illusion. This chakra is the Sahasrara – the Lotus of a Thousand Petals. The medieval Italian poet, Dante, saw it in mystic vision as the Sempiternal Rose; “its petals rising in more than a thousand tiers are the thrones of the blessed.”
The Kundalini emerges through a subtle opening known as the Brahmarandhra – the Aperture of Brahma. The word comes from the Sanskrit word, ‘randhra’, which means a slit, split, opening, aperture, hole, chasm, fissure or cavity. It is probably related to the English word, ‘rend’, meaning to split.
This subtle opening also manifests on the physical level. In infants the bones forming the skull are not completely fused and there is an opening called the fontanelle, a word suggestive of the emergence of the fountain-like, upward-springing Kundalini from the top of the head.
Jeronimus
(Illustration from sahajayogacroatia.org)
For previous articles on other chakras:
“…very small and humble, and yet encompassing the world with divinity, was the quiet figure of the great mother.” (p. 91)
“…the hall was suddenly abolished, its walls rendered invisible, and the new space was radiant with the appearance of a summoned being, the tender presence of the great mother, protectress of the island and its secret ways. The swirling energies of this being were everywhere, making the spaces alive with something akin to the electrification of the spirit, and a mighty collective hum of praise now seemed to have lifted off into the air, and the city seemed in flight. Such a splendid weightlessness pervaded everything, and all those in the great hall seemed to be afloat on a silver cloud, spiralling into the sublimity of the great mother. It wasn’t long before he felt that something about him had changed forever in that celestial mood.” (p. 142)
Ben Okri, Astonishing the Gods
Ben Okri won the Booker prize for The Famished Road. Astonishing the Gods is a fable exploring deep metaphysical ideas.