Aum

 

 

Question 4

What are the distinctive characteristics of aum for which it has been chosen to represent the seventh plane?

 

 

There are two reasons for choosing aum. One is that a word was sought which had no meaning, which cannot be given any meaning - because if it conveys any meaning it is reduced to the fifth plane. So a word was required which was, in a sense, meaningless. All of our words are meaningful; we make words so that they will convey meaning. If they do not convey any meaning why should they be used? We use them to speak, and the purpose of speaking is to convey some thought.

 

When I utter a word it should strike a certain meaning within you. So when people returned from the seventh plane they felt that if they made any words to express the seventh plane which conveyed a meaning, they would at once be reverting to the fifth plane. Then those words would be added to the dictionary where people will read them and think that they have understood. But the seventh has no meaning. You can say either that it is meaningless or that it is beyond meaning - both of these mean the same thing.

 

So in the context that all meaning is lost, no meaning remains, what sort of a word could be found for this and how was it to be formed? This word was made with the help of great vision and foresight, and in a very scientific way. A root word was to be constructed, a basic word, which was to be made the foundation. So how was this word that should convey no meaning to be found? In what manner was it to be formed? In a deep way it would become a symbol for the original source.

 

The three basic sounds of our speech are a-u-m. All our developments of words are an expansion of these three sounds. They are the root sounds. Now the sounds of a-u-m in themselves carry no meaning, because it is their relationships that decide the meaning. When 'a' becomes a word it carries a meaning; when 'm' becomes a word it carries a meaning. But by themselves they are meaningless. Yet they are the roots, and all our speech developments are extensions and combinations of these three sounds.

 

So these three root sounds were taken and were joined to make the word aum. Now aum could be written, but by writing it one could begin to think that it might have a meaning like any other written words. People would think that aum means that which is in the seventh plane. So no word was coined but a picture of aum was made: no letters were used for it. The three letters a-u-m are only sounds and not letters or words. So aum came into being in a pictorial form in order that it would not be relegated to a dictionary and would instead strike the eye and become a question mark. It came into being in this way so that one would become eager to find out what it means.

 

Whenever a man reads Sanskrit or comes to study the ancient books, this word becomes difficult to explain. Words come within their grasp because they have a meaning - but [Aum symbol] is beyond comprehension. They always ask, "What does aum mean? What is its significance? What does it mean and why is it not written in letters like a-u-m? Why this pictorial form? If you look at its picture carefully, you will see that it is made up of three parts which are the symbols a, u and m.

 

This picture requires deep research; it is not an ordinary picture. Research upon it has been carried out from the fourth body and not from the physical plane. Actually, when a person enters the fourth body and is in the no-thought state, the notes of a-u-m begin to resound within him and their combination makes up the word aum. When there is perfect stillness within, when thoughts are completely lost, then the hum of aum begins to resound within. This sound has been caught from the fourth plane where thought is no more and language is no more. Then what remains is the sound of aum. So in this way the sound was caught.

 

Now as I said before, each word has a pattern of its own. When we use a certain word a particular pattern forms within the mind. If someone meditates on aum, when it resounds on the fourth plane the corresponding picture will begin to manifest within. This is how all seed mantras were discovered.

 

When the resonance of a particular chakra is caught by a meditator in meditation, the seed mantra of that chakra is revealed. This is how these seed mantras have been formed, and aum is the ultimate seed. It is not the seed of any particular chakra; rather, it is the symbol of the seventh which is the infinite or the eternal.

 

So in this way the word aum was hit upon. And when it tallied with the experiences of thousands of seekers who gave it their approval, this word was accepted. It did not come into existence with the approval of a single man or even a group of men. When the same word reverberated in a number of meditators, when millions of them testified to its authenticity, then only was it chosen. Therefore, the word aum is not the ancestral property of any religion or organization. Hence, the Buddhists and the Jainas make use of it freely without any fear. It is not the property of the Hindu religion. The reason is that it has been attained by all sorts of meditators from various paths. Whatever equivalents we find in other countries are also, in a way, fragments of this very word.

 

Now if we examine the findings of Roman or Arabic seekers, we find that the note 'm' is invariably mentioned. Some carry 'a' along with 'm', but 'm' is certain. This is because 'a' and 'u' are very subtle, and thus they are difficult to catch. So the first part of the word slips from our attention and only the latter part is heard. Therefore, when the sound of aum begins to resound within, the 'm' in it is easily caught. If you sit in a closed room and chant aum the preceding sounds will give way to the sound of 'm'. Thus, 'a' and 'u' become completely inaudible, and it is the 'm' that resounds everywhere. So meditators then came to the conclusion that the note 'm' is certain, while that which precedes was not quite clear. The difference is only one of hearing, but wherever a search has been made in this direction something or other of this word has been grasped by meditators.

 

When an extensive research is carried out - for example, if a thousand scientists carry out the same experiment and get the same result, then its validity is proved.

 

This country is fortunate in that thousands of years have been spent here in the journey towards the self. Nowhere in the world have people of any country carried out this experiment on such a large scale and in such great numbers. Ten thousand meditators sat around Buddha; forty thousand, both male and female, sat around Mahavira and they carried out mass experimentation. In a small place like Bihar forty thousand disciples of Mahavira were experimenting. Nowhere else in the world has such an event taken place. Jesus, poor fellow, was all alone, and Mohammed had to spend his time futilely battling with ignorant people.

 

In this country a special situation had developed in which people were aware of the fact that these are not matters to fight over. Here things were clear. Mahavira would sit and forty thousand people would practice meditation in front of him. This afforded a great opportunity to observe and verify the experiences of different meditators on different planes. There could be some error where there are only one or two practicing, but when there are forty thousand there cannot be any error.

 

Forty thousand persons were occupied in different meditation techniques. Everything was properly thought out, everything was verified, everything was properly grasped.

 

Therefore, this country has made many more discoveries in the spiritual field than other countries, because in other countries the seeker was all alone. Just as the West is today carrying out scientific experiments on a large scale employing thousands of scientists, in the same way this country had at one time employed thousands of its geniuses, intellectuals, in the science of the soul. The discoveries which they brought back from their journey into the soul are very useful, but on their journeys to other lands this knowledge became fragmented and distorted.

 

For instance, the cross of Jesus: it is a remnant of the swastika. On its long journey to distant lands this is what has remained of the swastika. The swastika was a symbol like aum. Aum is the symbol of the seventh, the swastika is the symbol of the first. Therefore, the picture of the swastika is dynamic. Its branches spread out and give the effect of motion; it is rotating all the time. The ordinary world means that which is moving all the time. So the swastika was made the symbol of the first body, and aum that of the last. There is no movement in aum. It is absolutely still; there is total silence; everything is at a standstill. With the swastika there is movement.

 

In its journey the swastika became a cross by the time it reached Christianity. There is every possibility of Jesus having come to Egypt as well as India. He was in Nalanda, the ancient Buddhist university, as well as Egypt, and so he gathered a great deal of knowledge. One thing was the knowledge of the swastika. But this knowledge turned out to be like the news brought back by a man who had seen many flowers to a place where only one flower existed. The message of Jesus was destroyed and only the cross remained.

 

The upper portion of the aum sign reached Islam. The half moon that they revere is the upper fragment of aum which was separated from the main part during its travel to Arabia. Words and symbols get badly distorted in their journey, and after thousands of years they get so worn out that it is difficult to recognize their original form. New sounds, new words, are added to them as they travel from place to place, and different people with different languages use them. All kinds of changes take place, and then, when something separates from its original source, it is difficult to discern its place of origin, how it came to be and what happened to it.

 

The spiritual flow of the whole world is intrinsically connected with this country, because the basic, original source of spirituality was born here and it is from here that news of it spread far and wide. But the messengers who took the message to other lands and the people who received the message spoke a different language. Therefore, clarity was lacking in the delivering and receiving of the message. Now no Christian wearing the cross around his neck could ever think that it is part of the swastika; no Mohammedan can dream that the half moon he reveres is a fragment of aum.

 

According to some Catholic scholars, amen is only a far deviated form of aum. At the end of all Christian prayers the word amen is used to offer obeisance to the divine. It is also the belief of researchers that in The Bible, where it says, "In the beginning there was the word and the word was with God," aum is the word implied. Amen is referred to as the alpha and the omega - the beginning and the end. It is also said that Jesus has told the apostle John, "I am Amen." In other places amen has been used to mean absolute truth or "So be it."

 

Many Latin words are utilized in the Catholic mode of worship, and in all of them a deviated form of aum is present. For instance, per omni secula seculorum, etcetera. It is also in the English words omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent.

 

Nowadays many churches in India have begun to use the word aum in their prayers, and they have also carved it on their main doors. For instance, St. Mary's College in Darjeeling has the symbol [Aum Symbol] carved on the entrance of the main altar of its temple of worship.

 

- Osho, "In Search of the Miraculous, #17"

 

 

 

 

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Question 1

 

IN THE CONTEXT OF THE SEVENTH BODY, YOU TALKED ABOUT AUM YESTERDAY. THERE IS STILL A SMALL QUESTION ON THE SAME SUBJECT. WHICH CHAKRAS DO A, U AND M INFLUENCE, AND HOW IS THIS HELPFUL TO THE MEDITATOR?

 

Yesterday I told you a few things about aum. There are a few more things worth knowing in the same context. In the first place, aum is the symbol of the seventh body, an indication of the seventh plane. It is a symbol of the seventh state which cannot be explained by any word. No word can be associated or utilized in connection with it. Thus, a meaningless word was found - a word which has no meaning. This I told you yesterday. The search for this word had been carried out through the experiencing of the fourth body.

 

This was not an ordinary search. Actually, when the mind is totally empty, without any clamor of words, without even a ripple of thought, even then the sound of the void remains. The void also speaks; the void has its own sounds. Go and stand in a very secluded place where there is not a single sound and you will find that emptiness has its own music. Seclusion has its own kind of sound, and in this silence only the basic notes remain - a-u-m. All our melodies and tunes are developed by permutations and combinations of these basic notes. When all words, all sounds are lost, these basic notes remain.

 

So aum is the symbol of the seventh state, the seventh body, but this sound has been grasped in the fourth plane. In the emptiness of the mental body the resonance of aum is captured. If the meditator makes use of this aum there can be two results. As I told you before, all planes have two possibilities. The repetition of aum can bring about a state of sleepiness, a state of sleepy trance, and this state can be brought about by repetition of any word. The modulated repetition of any word has the same impact on the mind as gentle strokes on the head that produce drowsiness and sleep.

 

If this state is brought about by repetition of aum you become lost in a world of dreams and imagery which is the natural potential of the fourth body. It will then be a hypnotic sleep in which you can see whatever you want to see. You can travel to heaven and to hell or have a vision of God, but all this will be in dreams. You can experience bliss, you can experience peace, but all in a dream; nothing will be real.

 

This usage of aum happens more often, because this is easy. To produce the sound of aum loudly and be lost in it is very easy and enjoyable like pleasant dreams. The quality of the mental plane, as given by nature, is that of imagination and dreams. If the mind wishes to dream it can dream; this enjoyment is possible for it. The other possibility is that of willpower and visions of the divine.

 

If aum is used only as repetition upon the mind, its impact brings hypnotic sleep. What is called yoga tandra is brought about by the repetition of aum. But if aum is pronounced with the witness well established within; if you are fully awake and are listening to the sound without drowning in it, without getting lost in it; if the sound is on one plane and you are standing on another as the listener, the observer, the witness; if you are fully awake to the sound - then only can work on the second possibility of the fourth plane begin. Then you will not go into yoga tandra, but into yoga jagriti, wakefulness.

 

I strive constantly to keep you away from using mantras. I always advise you not to use any mantra or any word, because the chances are ninety-nine out of a hundred that you will go into an imaginary trance. There are reasons for this. The fourth plane is vulnerable to sleep; it knows only sleep. Its dream track is already there. It dreams every day. It is just as if we were to throw water into this room. After some time the water will dry up, but it will leave a mark on the floor. Then if we throw water again on the floor, this water will flow along the same tracks as previously.

 

The greater possibility with chantings and mantras is that your mind with its tendency to dream will at once, by its very mechanical process, fall into dreaming. But if you are fully awake and witnessing inside, observing the sound of aum without merging into it, without losing yourself in it, then it could do the same work as repeating "Who am I?" - which I advocate. Now if you ask "Who am I?" in a sleepy state and are not a witness, the same error can take place here and you will merely be dreaming. But the possibility of this happening with "Who am I?" is less than with the repetition of aum, and there is a reason for it.

 

With aum there is no question asked; it is only a gentle touch. With "Who am I?" there is a question, not a mere pat. There is a question mark after "Who am I?" and this will keep you awake. It is an interesting fact that when there is a question in the mind it is impossible to sleep. If a difficult question revolves in your mind during the day, it spoils your sleep at night also. The question will not let you sleep. The question mark is a helpmate of sleeplessness. If there is any question, any anxiety, any curiosity in the mind, it is difficult to sleep.

 

I suggest "Who am I?" in place of aum because basically it is a question, and since it is a question it is an intrinsic search for an answer. Besides, you will have to keep awake for the answer. In aum there is no question; it has no sharp corners and hence it does not strike you. It is absolutely round and there is no question. Its continuous gentle strokes generally lead only to imaginary trance.

 

Besides, there is no melody in "Who am I?" whereas aum is full of melody. The greater the melody, the more it will hasten you to sleep. "Who am I?" is disproportionate like the masculine form; aum is well proportioned like the feminine form: its gentle strokes quickly make you sleep. Words have forms and their impacts are different, their resonance is different. "Who am I?" has no melody; it is difficult to sleep with it. If we repeat "Who am I? Who am I?" near a sleeping man, he will awaken. If however we repeat "Aum, aum" beside a man who is asleep, his sleep will become deeper because the impact is different. This does not mean that aum is not workable. The possibility is there for someone who stands behind the repetition as an observer, a witness. But I do not advocate the use of aum for meditation. There are many reasons for this.

 

If you utilize aum for meditation, then it will inevitably become associated with the fourth body. Aum is the symbol of the seventh plane but its resonance is experienced on the fourth plane. Once you start the meditation of aum this inevitable relationship of aum with the fourth plane will come about which will prove a barrier to further progress. So there is this difficulty with the word. It is experienced on the fourth plane but it is used for the seventh plane. We have no other word for the seventh body.

 

Our experience of words ends after the fourth plane.

 

We use the last word of the fourth plane as the symbol for the seventh plane. There is no other remedy, because from the fifth starts the wordless state; then the sixth is absolutely wordless and the seventh is the ultimate void. On the last boundary line of words in the fourth state, where we leave all words, the last word heard will be aum. So aum is the last word in the realm of speech and the primal word in the realm of no-word. It is at the boundary line between the realm of words and the no-word state. This word is primarily of the fourth plane, but we have no other word nearer to the seventh plane; all others are far behind. Therefore, this word is used for the seventh.

 

So I prefer that you do not associate it with the fourth body. It will be experienced in the fourth, but it should be kept as a symbol of the seventh. Therefore, there is no need to use it for meditation.

 

For meditation we should use such devices which will fall away with the fourth plane. For example, "Who am I?" - this can be used in the fourth and can be discarded also.

 

The meaning of aum should remain symbolic. There is yet another reason for not using it as a device. That which is the symbol of the ultimate should not be made a means: it should remain the end. The symbol of the absolute should remain only for the attainment. Aum is that which we have to attain, so I am against using it in any way as a means of meditation. It has been used in the past with detrimental results.

 

The meditator who practices the sound of aum takes the fourth for the seventh plane, because the symbol of the seventh is experienced in the fourth. When it is experienced in the fourth the meditator becomes confident that he has reached the seventh plane. He takes this to be the journey's end; thus, great harm is done on the psychic plane. The meditator then stops here.

 

There are many meditators who take visions, colors and inner sounds to be the attainment. This is only natural, because the symbol of the ultimate is felt on the boundary of this plane. Then they feel that they have reached the destination. So I am not in favor of prescribing the practice of aum for persons in the fourth body, as this technique will have no effect on the first, second and third bodies.

 

Its effect will be felt only in the fourth. This is why other words are used to cause the necessary impact on the first, second and third bodies.

 

It is necessary to take one more point into consideration regarding the basic notes of a-u-m. Just as an example, The Bible does not say that God made the world; he did not perform the act of creation.

 

It says, "God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light." God pronounced the word. The Bible also says, "In the beginning there was the word" - and many old scriptures testify to the same. At the very beginning there was the word and all else followed afterwards. Now even in India we say, "The word is the Brahman," although this causes a great deal of misunderstanding. Many people tend to believe that the word is enough for the attainment of the Brahman. The Brahman is attained only in the wordless state. "The word is the Brahman" means only this, that from all the sounds we know the most subtle of sounds is that of [Aum Symbol].

 

If we go back, back and back toward the source of the universe until we come to the void from where the world must have started, there also we will hear the resonance of aum. As we reach nearer to the void by entering the fourth plane the sound of aum is heard. From here we begin to fall into that world which must have been in the beginning. From the fourth we go to the spiritual body; from there to the cosmic body, and finally to the nirvanic body. The last resonance, which is heard between the last two, is also that of aum.

 

On one side is our individuality of four bodies which we call the corporeal world, and on the other side is our nonindividuality which we may call the Brahman. The resonance that vibrates on the boundary line of these two is aum. From this experience we come to understand that when the world of matter took form from the Brahman, the resonance of aum must have been ringing continuously. Hence, there was the word. So the belief is that everything came into being through the word. If the word is broken into its basic components we find the three basic notes of a-u-m in it. This combination is aum.

 

So for this reason it is said that there was aum in the beginning and there will be aum in the end. The end means to revert to the beginning, and thus the circle is completed. Yet I always feel that aum should be used only as a symbol and not as a meditation technique. Other things can be employed as devices. A pure sound like aum should not be made impure by using it as a technique.

 

Many people fail to understand me. They come to me and say, "Why do you forbid the repetition of aum?" Perhaps they think that I am an enemy of aum, but the fact is that they themselves are. Such a pure word should not be used as a means of spiritual growth. In fact, our tongues are unworthy of pronouncing it; it is too pure to be uttered by the physical body. It is a word that begins where the tongue becomes meaningless, where the body becomes useless. Therein lies its resonance and this resonance vibrates on its own. It can be experienced; it cannot be created. Therefore, aum has to be experienced and not pronounced.

 

There is another danger. If you use aum as a technique you will never know the basic sound of the word as it arises from the existence, because your own articulation will be imposed upon it. So you will never witness its purest manifestation. Whoever uses the sound of aum as a technique never experiences aum in reality. By continued practice they will superimpose their own nuances on the actual resonance when it comes. Then they will be unable to hear the pure reverberation of aum.

 

They fail to hear the direct resonance of the void because they are filled with their own sound. This is natural, because that with which we are familiar becomes implanted in us. Therefore, I say that it is better not to be familiar with aum; it is better not to make use of aum. Someday it will appear in the fourth body and then it will have some meaning.

 

Its appearance in the fourth body will mean that you have reached the limits of the fourth body. Now you are about to step out of the psyche, out of the realm of words. The last word has come and you now stand at the place where the word started; you stand where the whole world stood at the beginning; you stand at the threshold of creation. And then, when its own melody begins to flow, its charm is inexpressible. There is no way of describing it. Our best music cannot compare with its smallest echo. No matter how hard we try we can never hear this music of silence with the outside ear. Therefore, it is better that we do not have any preconceived ideas about it. Let us not give any form or color to it or else we will be caught by our imagery and this will be an obstacle.

 

- Osho, "In Search of the Miraculous, #18"