There are a lot of misconception about the ÔM. Let’s learn for good what it really means.
The ÔM is the universal symbol of Yôga, for everyone, in every century and every lineage of Yôga. Yet, each School adopts a particular way of drawing it that becomes such School’s emblem. Some are more correct, others less, some more elegant, others not so much so, and some are initiatic while others are profane. This can be perceived by the initiated practitioner by simply observing the adopted calligraphy or by paying attention at the moment that the symbol is drawn.
The design that is similar to the number 30 which appears in almost every book and entity of Yôga is one syllable constituted of three letters: A, U and M (phoneme AU + M). It is pronounced ÔM. Drawn in characters, it is a yantra. Pronounced, it is a mantra. There are innumerous ways to pronounce it in order to obtain different physical, energetic, emotional and other results.
The characters that are used to draw the Ômkára appear to belong to an alphabet that is more ancient than Dêvanágarí, which is used to write the Sanskrit language. By consulting Sanskrit dictionaries or grammar books, we are able to note that the Dêvanágarí alphabet is predominantly rectilineous and that the very ÔM in that alphabet is also written according to these tendencies. However, if we leave the ambit of grammar and orthography to consult that of philosophy, we encounter the ÔM written in many different ways, with characters that are exclusively curved, which demonstrates its totally distinct identity. This can also be perceived on the medallions that have some inscriptions in Sanskrit around the ÔM.
ÔM does not have a translation. Therefore, the Hindus consider it as the very name of the
Absolute, its body of sound, due to its ancientness and ample spectrum of effects collected by the person who vocalizes it correctly, or visualizes it with the correct tracing. In the scriptures of ancient India, the ÔM is considered as the most powerful of all the mantras. The others are considered aspects of the ÔM, and the ÔM is the matrix of all other mantras. It is called mátriká mantra, the matricial sound.
The ÔM is also the bíja-mantra of the ájña chakra, that is, the seed-sound that develops the center of force that is situated between the eyebrows and that is responsible for meditation, intuition, intelligence, premonition and hyperesthesia of thought. This is why it is the mantra that produces the best results for the practices of dhyána and samyama, as well as awakens a great number of siddhis.
Being the most complete and balanced mantra, its vocalization does not present any danger nor any restrictions. It is a stimulant and at the same time a soother because it consists of a sáttwic vibration that contains in itself tamas and rajas sublimed.
When it is drawn in ancient characters, it becomes a written symbol called yantra. The science that studies the tracing of symbols is called Yantra Yôga. Within this science, it is known that the ÔM can be drawn in many different ways. Each way of drawing it contains determined classes of effects and determined classes of characteristics or philosophical tendencies.
Each lineage of Yôga adopts a typical design of the ÔM that is related to its objectives and this design becomes the symbol of such lineage. For this reason, one should not use the design adopted by other Schools out of a question of ethics and also to avoid a shock of egregores.
No one can deny that the ÔM is a very powerful symbol. Its strength comes from its yantric drawing itself, from its ancientness, its millions of years of impregnation on the collective unconscious, billions of Hindus that have used and venerated it, generation after generation for hundreds of centuries since long before Christ, before Buddha and before European civilization existed. During this whole time, all of these people strengthened the egregore of the ÔM!
Evidently, carrying such a symbol establishes syntony with a current of force, power and energy that is one of the largest, most ancient and most powerful on Earth.
Because of this, many people associate the use of a medallion, having on it the symbol ÔM, with the idea of protection. Even though we are obligated to recognize certain benefits of this order, we think that such should not be the justification for wearing the medallion, as such actions would make one susceptible to slip into mysticism, against which our lineage of Yôga (Niríshwarasámkhya) is categorical. One should wear it unpretentiously and if it makes us happy; if we identify with what it signifies and with the lineage it represents but not out of superstition nor to reap its benefits.
Article writen by Master DeRose and posted by his disciple Marcello Oliveira, Instructor of SwáSthya, The Ancient Yôga and member of The International University of Yôga.
