by Sri Bimal Mohanty
VOL No. 33
November. 2003

ATTEMPTS TO DESCRIBE BRAMHAN - Part 7

"Based on the lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"

. What name can be nearest to the definition of Bramhan? Here comes a solution which reveals simply the absolute brilliance of a very superior mind that our seers possessed or (who knows?), perhaps it is the work of the Divine itself.

They said
Omiti etat aksharamidam sarvam
Om or Aum, the word, is all this.

This word then is AUM. Every prayer necessarily begins with AUM.

The thoughts behind AUM are fascinating. Nay, fascinating is a gross understatement. It is much much beyond that. The nuances of knowledge interwoven into this single word can never be expressed fully. Many Upanishads and other scriptural texts have explained so much on AUM including some exhaustive thoughts contained in Mandukya Upanishad.

But first let us dwell upon the structural formation of this word, AUM which is ironically an effort to describe an indescribable Bramhan.

In Sanskrt -as also in any language- we have a series of alphabets and adjuncts, with their distinctive sound formations. Using some of these in combination we create a word to describe an object. When we give a name to anyone or anything, as for example Raghunath, Menaka or Champaka or Himalaya, we select only a few alphabets from a list and create a word. But the same exercise will not be appropriate when we are searching for a name to describe Bramhan. If we take a few alphabets only to form a word to describe Bramhan, that would obviously be a limited expression. What about the other alphabets? Are they to be left out from Bramhan? Since Bramhan encompasses everything, then all the alphabets with all the sounds they produce should logically describe Bramhan. So, the interesting idea is to see how all the alphabets and the entire spectrum of sounds produced by them could some how be used to form a very special word so that nothing is left out.

Can there be any word that uses all the alphabetical columns in a language? On the face of it, that is impractical. But now see the ingenuity of the great minds of our seers of the past who were guided by nothing less than the divine grace. In case of AUM, we emphasize on three sounds A, U and M followed by a pregnant silence. ( In actuality we are dealing with the sanskrt equivalent sounds only). The first sound starts from the navel region, the second sound near the throat and the last one ends with the lips. Thus when we utter AUM we cover the entire length of sound producing track in our body. All other sounds connected with other alphabets fall in between this A and M. This means that when we say AUM we encompass all the alphabets and all the sounds in one single word. What could be more appropriate than this? Without uttering all the alphabets, you have indeed covered the entire domain from where the alphabets spring from. Hence you have covered all the alphabets

. After the three alphabets A, U, M, comes the unuttered silence, which is the integral part of AUM. This is where after uttering the word, the mind pauses to comprehend what has been said. Thus by uttering this single word, we have covered the entire combination of instruments by which, all verbal communication is made. In this way it gives the impression that Bramhan can never be described by a part. It has to be the whole and nothing but the whole. In the next issue we shall discuss the esoteric philosophy conceived in this word AUM or OM.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

THIS ISSUE OF AHWAN HAS BEEN SPONSORED BY Pt. Ravinder Nath Watts, (PANDIT VATS) El Cerrito, California USA.

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