What Does Om (Aum) Mean? The Mantra and Its Symbol

What does Om really mean? People say Om, Umesh Guruji explains, but basically it is A-U-M: three sounds that make the universal sound. It is the sound that comes by itself when you are truly silent inside, and the sound with which every Hindu mantra begins.

A, U and M: the three sounds behind every word

When you say "aaa", Umesh teaches, you feel it low, down to the navel; "uuu" vibrates where the lips meet, at the solar chakra, the navel or solar plexus chakra; "mmm" rises higher, into the head. One syllable vibrates the lower, the heart and the upper level of the body. Every word in every language, he says, is made from these three sounds, the way every colour on a TV screen is made from three basic colours. The same sound returns in other faiths: Christians say Amen and Muslims Amin, and without the "n" Aum comes by itself. Chanted every day, he teaches, it makes body, mind and spirit stronger and cleaner, and it helps a restless mind become calm.

The Om symbol

ॐ

Written in Sanskrit, Om is the sign ॐ, one of the best known symbols of India: it opens sacred texts and stands on temples and home altars. In the Mandukya Upanishad, A, U and M are waking, dreaming and deep sleep, and the silence after them is a fourth state beyond all three. Popular explanations read the curves of the symbol in the same way, with the dot above as that silence.

Nada, the inner sound

Yogis, Umesh says, hear this sound all the time: they call it nada, the universal sound. We do not hear it because we are not silent, outside and inside. In deep silence it can be heard without chanting it, and then, he says, you understand you are connected with the whole universe: "when you find this sound inside, you find yourself". Om opens the Gayatri Mantra too, and the power of sound is the subject of the lesson on the mantra.