Question: Guru, can you tell us what happens when you chant Aum?

Sri Chinmoy: When we chant Aum, we enter into a higher realm of consciousness. Aum embodies God in His three aspects: God the Creator, God the Preserver and God the Transformer. There are many who feel that God is a destroyer, not a transformer. But our philosophy says that God cannot destroy. He can only transform the things that are undivine in us. God has some wisdom. He will not create something just for the sake of fun and then destroy it for the sake of fun. No! He does not destroy us; only He transforms what is undivine in us.

Aum is the mother of all mantras. “Mantra” means incantation. You can realise God just by chanting Aum most soulfully. That is enough, because with this mantra, you are invoking God.

[Sri Chinmoy chants Aum.]