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The Padma Purana says: "The syllable OM is the
leader of all
prayers. It is the pranava mantra and is the first word heard by Lord
brahma who is the creator. Let it therefore be employed in the beginning
of all
prayers," and Manu, in his laws ordains: "A Brahmin, at the beginning
and end of a lesson on the Vedas, must always pronounce the syllable
OM, for unless OM precede, his learning will slip away from him, and
unless it follows, nothing will be long retained."
OM, when considered as one letter, uttered by the help of one
articulation, is the symbol of the Supreme Spirit. 'One letter (OM)
is the emblem of the Most High, Manu 11,83.' But when considered as
a triliteral word consisting of a, u, m, it implies the three Vedas,
the three states of human nature, the three divisions of the
universe, and the three deities - Brahma, Vishnu and Siva, agents in
the creation, preservation and destruction of this world; or,
properly speaking, the three principal attributes of the Supreme
Being personified in those three deities. In this sense it implies,
in fact, the universe controlled by the Supreme Spirit.
Now we may consider that there is pervading the whole universe a
single homogeneous resonance, sound, or tone, which acts, so to
speak, as the awakener, or vivifying power, stirring all the
molecules into action. This is what is represented in all languages
by the vowel a, which takes precedence of all others. This is the
word, the verbum, the Logos of St. John of the Christians, who
says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and
the word was God." This is creation, for without this resonance or
motion among the quiescent particles, there would be no visible
universe. That is to say, upon sound, or as the Aryans called it,
Nada Brahma (divine resonance), depends the evolution of the visible
from the invisible.
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