The Power of Om
 The crowds at Woodstock I chanted it in hopes the world would give
peace a chance. Paramahansa Yogananda called it “the vibration of
the Cosmic Motor.”
The great father of yoga, Patanjali, advised using it to overcome
the obstacles and distractions in life — all those stones in the
path of enlightenment.
Aum (or as Westerners like to spell it: om) is a vital part of the
science of yoga. It’s a tool, a phenomenon, a mystery. To many
people, aum is just a word chanted in meditation, or as a closing
prayer in yoga practice.
However, translator and Bhagavad Gita scholar Barbara Stoler Miller
notes that “according to the ancient Indian traditions preserved in
the Upanishads, all speech and thought are derived from one sound
aum. It expresses the ultimate reality.”
Aum is considered the
all-connecting sound of the universe — one word interpreted as
having three sounds representing creation, preservation, and
destruction.
Yoga teacher B.K.S. Iyengar
devotes nearly two pages in his book, Light on Yoga, to the various
meanings of aum. “The letter A symbolizes the conscious or waking
state,” Iyengar says, “the letter U the dream state, and the letter
M the dreamless sleep state of the mind and spirit.” The entire
symbol, Iyengar says, stands for the “realization of man’s divinity
within himself.”
Aum became the sacred word hum of the Tibetans, amin of the Moslems,
and amen of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Christians. Amen in
Hebrew means “sure, faithful.”
Paramahansa Yogananda writes of the aum as the “Word” of the Bible,
as the Holy Spirit. In the Christian Bible, Sat-Tat-Aum is spoken of
as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. According to Yogananda, all
aspiring yogis seek to commune with aum and understand it. “Audible
utterance of aum produces a sense of sacredness...however, real
understanding of aum is obtained only by hearing it internally, and
then becoming one with it in all creation.”
Chanting
Aum
Aum is a way of deepening the concentration of the mind, which leads
to realization of the divine. The mantra aum may be sounded aloud,
whispered, or repeated mentally. The correct pronunciation of aum is
to pronounce it om so it rhymes with home. In The Yoga Book, author
Steven Sturgess offers a technique for chanting aum. He suggests
beginning meditation by chanting aum aloud for ten minutes, then
chant aum in a whisper for the next ten minutes, and then mentally
chant aum for ten minutes. Finally, be still and meditate on the
spiritual eye (the point between your eyebrows). Surrender into the
vibrations of aum. “Feel your awareness expanding still further into
the field of pure consciousness, become one with om,” Sturgess says.
Healing with Aum
The Self-Realization Fellowship, founded by Paramahansa Yogananda in
1920, offers instructions on its Web site for using the Yogananda's
aum healing technique. Yogananda noted that everything in the
universe is composed of energy and that the apparent differentiation
between solids, liquids, gases, sound, and light is merely a
difference in their vibratory rates. He maintained that by chanting
the aum, the divine vibration, we can increase the body’s supply of
cosmic energy and even direct it as a healing force to any part of
the body, mind, and soul.
It is said that 12,000 recitations of aum remove all sins, while
12,000 recitations daily for a period of one year bring realization
of the Absolute (brahman). If that seems a little overwhelming,
simple try chanting aum in your daily meditation and let the
incredible power of sound and vibration work for you. Aum will bring
your mind to a singular (yet universal) focus. Or use it during your
yoga class. My yoga teacher always closes the class by leading us in
three long aums. I have come to look forward to those concluding
meditative moments of harmonizing voices — not just because it
signals an end to the torture (as practice seems on some days) but
because it leaves us with a feeling of oneness.
More resources:
You will find more discussions about the power of aum in these
references:
Yoga: Discipline of Freedom by Barbara Stoler Miller
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Yoga by Joan Budilovsky and Eve
Adamson
The Bhagavad Gita and Autobiography of a Yogi, both by Paramhansa
Yogananda
“The Sacred Syllable OM,” an article by Georg Feuerstein, Yoga
Research and Education Center
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