“OM”- The Most Powerful Mantra

OM is known as the most powerful mantra in Hinduism. It is considered as a “beej mantra” (the basis of all mantras) and its use is a must before beginning and after ending any religious ritual in Hinduism and related religions.

The origin of OM is unknown, but its earliest mention is found in Upanishads, the ancient Sanskrit scriptures related to Hinduism. According to Stephen Phillips (Professor of Philosophy and Asian Studies at the University of Texas at Austin), the Upanishads date back to approximately 800 to 300 BCE- which is almost 5000 years ago!

One can now imagine, how strong is the effect of using this single syllable, that tradition of chanting it is still alive after thousands of centuries.  It must have something more to itself, than being just a syllable. It must have some MYSTICAL POWERS.  

Let’s try and understand these powers…..

It is believed that, regular chanting of OM infuses new vigor in our bodies. “Is this really possible?” – was the first thought that came to my mind, when I got to know about this. If yes, how is this possible? Can there be an explanation?

After studying more about this wonderful syllable I can now say that if we try and analyze OM in detail, we can find some inference.

Before explaining the analysis about OM as a word/syllable, I believe, we should be clear about what “words” really are…

Let me put it this way- words are actually a combination of vibrations created by our vocal cords.

So, how is OM different from other words?

 OM is very different from the other words that we recite in our day-to-day lives. You may be astonished to know that when we recite a word/words, only a specific part of our vocal cord is activated, however, when we recite OM, our complete voice box is activated.

Isn’t this simply amazing! A single syllable, with origin dating back to thousands and thousands of years (much before our modern language system was created) has the power to activate our voice box completely.

This fact makes me think, whether the sages who created or discovered this syllable, were ancient scientists, with deep knowledge of human anatomy?  How did they come to know about OM and its importance? What made them create it? Or if it was not created, who introduced this syllable to them?

There are probably too many questions which have no explanations as yet. However, everyone agrees that OM has powers which are beyond explanations.

“The Aitareya Brahmana of Rig Veda, in section 5.32, suggests that the three phonetic components of OM correspond to the three stages of cosmic creation, and when it is read or said, it celebrates the creative powers of the universe.”

“OM ityetadaksharam idam sarvam, tasyopavyakhyanam bhutam bhavat bhavishyaditi sarvam omkara eva.” This is a verse from Mandukya Upanishad. According to it, OM is everything and everything is OM. It cannot be created or destroyed and hence is imperishable.