A U M

AUM is the soundless sound. It is the vibration of the Supreme. When one hears the soundless sound within, when one identifies oneself with it, when one lives within it, one can be freed from the fetters of ignorance and realise the Supreme within and without.

AUM is called the Seed-Sound of the Universe, for with this sound God set into motion the first vibration of His creation. The teeming universe is sustained perpetually by the creative fruitfulness of the Divine AUM.

The syllable AUM is indivisible, but each portion of it represents a different aspect of the Supreme. The Sanskrit A represents and embodies the Consciousness of the Creator, Brahma; the Sanskrit U, the Preserver, Vishnu; the Sanskrit M, the Transformer, Shiva. Taken together, AUM is the spontaneous cosmic rhythm with which God embraces the universe.

The universal AUM, put forth by the Supreme, is an infinite Ocean. The individual AUM, chanted by man, is a bubble in that Ocean. It cannot be separated from the Ocean and moreover, even the tiniest can claim the Ocean as its very own. Chanting AUM, man touches and calls forth the cosmic vibration of the Supreme Sound.

The unknown embraces ignorance with its self-limitation. The Unknowable embraces AUM with His absolute Self-revelation.

Without birth is AUM. Without end is AUM. Immortality is AUM's universal Identity.

When we are in Ignorance, AUM feeds us. When we are in Knowledge, AUM feeds us. When we are beyond both Ignorance and Knowledge, AUM still feeds us, for it is the nectar which gives life to creation, born and unborn.