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Let's briefly discuss the holy sound of "Om" and how it's utterance may be applied to personal practice or sadhana. Having done this, we will discuss its applications to consciousness studies and spiritual realization with regards to the four levels of consciousness as described in Mandukya Upanishad.

1. Jagrat: The waking state
2. swapna: The dream state
3. Sushupti: The deep dream state
4. Turiya: The transcendatal state.
Prajna, is achieve in deep sleep as well as meditative absorbtion in the divine oneness and leads to the state known as Turiya. In this state the soul realises the Soul, the true Self. One who is situated in Turiya, or Devekut in Hebrew, achieves the pure, non-dual consciousness that transcends the illusion of duality. In this state the jivatman or individual soulish entity realizes the Truth. The individual continue to exist as a fully enlightened individual who knows (yada and da'at One God intimately.

Anyone can apply the Omkara to the quest for spiritual development in order to achieve self realization, enlightenment, or God consciousness according to one's individual dharma (religious principle) and marga (one's path to liberation: bhati-marga, jnana-marga and so on).

The benefits of the Omkara are immense. Never again will you rely on someone else's vision of reality. Through mindful recitation of this ancient mantra anyone can tap into the Life Force of the universes and attain inner peace, joy and knowledge. In short, like Moses, Jesus, the Buddha, Guru Nanak, Lao Tsu and other realized souls, each of us has within us the ability to perceive the Truth and thus be the Master of our own lives.

Karma, Dharma and Marga may deal the hand, but you will know how to wisely play the cards!

With practice, anyone can soon realize that there is much more to life than they ever dreamed. They experience their consciousness raising and their awareness becoming more keen. Things they had always taken for granted begin to demand a second look. As a result of this, meditators began asking questions about the mantra and those based on the Omkara. How and why do they work? What makes this sound so different from all others? In my quest I read countless books, sat with many swamis and other holy people and gradually developed a real taste for the Omkara's sweet nectar. The omkara isn't simply another sound or vibration. It proports to be the primal sound upon which all other are based. As we will see, there is clear science behind the mantra and as practice will demonstrate, its results are sweeter than sugar cane!

The single letter OM is composed of three sound vibrations (there are so many trinities!). The symbol itself is arguably the most sacred in the Sanatana Dharma:



A-U-M

The Om sound-vibration is said to be the most ancient of all mantras or sacred utterances. It is called the mula, or bija, the seed mantra of all others. OM is 'numinous', meaning that it arouses spiritual or religious emotions; that its nature is mysterious or awe-inspiring and draws all ears to its utterance and to One God it proclaims. All other ancient mantras are based to some degree on the Omkara (such as Om Rama, Om Bhur Bhuvaha Svaha, Om Mani Padme Hum and so on.

In the beginning one gently chants: A-U-M ('ah ooh mm'). Allow the sound to seep into the consciousness and gradually unify the three sounds into the single utterance of OM. Continue to chant OM and allow it to become ever more quiet until the OM produces no sound at all until you Sadhana (means to achieve your goal) carries you into the realm of samadi, devekut.

According to that ocean of nectar the Sri Brahma-Samhita, Om is the sound manifestation of Lord Vishnu [God as the Sustainer of all). It is taught that the Omkara first appeared from the heart of Brahma (God as Creator), the first created being. Brahma's heart was completely fixed on One God. Because he had attained self-realization by fully understanding his relationship with Krishna (God).

By uttering OM properly one enters into direct communion with God (i.e., samadi, devekut). The bliss of Turiya, which I will discuss shortly, is seen as the spiritual presence of One God residing within one's consciousness. The primary was one achieves this is through the practice of Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti Yoga is devotional service to and faith in One God.

For the non-theists, Om is considered the primordial emanation of nirguna brahman into saguna, which is to say, through the power of OM, the Unmanifested Totality (nirguna) becomes manifest (saguna. In other words, Saguna means "with attributes" and refers to the Divine Being with form, qualities, and characteristics, while Nirguna means "without attributes" and describes the formless, absolute aspect of the Divine, considered to be the ultimate reality beyond all qualities and forms by the school of the Mayavadin impersonalists. Essentially, Saguna represents One God with a Name and Image, while Nirguna is the formless, all-pervading consciousness. According to the Mandukya Upanishad, which is primarily a treatise on the Omkara, Om is the primal manifestation of Nirguna Brahman. All existence, both imminent and transcendent, is identical with the Om. In other words, the Unmanifest Reality is first conceived through the Omkara. When Om manifests, it takes on the physical forms of individualized matter. Technically, this existence is known as Prakriti.

The point is: Om is the foundation of everything.

Again, the bija or essence of Prakriti is Om. Since matter according to the Sanatana Dharma, is only a dense form of the sound or sabda Om, through knowledge of the mantra one can vitalize matter and ultimately transcend it. Hence Om is the key to all power, material or spiritual.

The Mandukya Upanishad explains that there are four 'quarters' or aspects of an individual. These manifest through the four states of consciousness. These are listed as follows:

The Omkara

	Individual/Microcosmic	Universal/Macrocosmic
Waking State	Vaishvanara or Vishva =Physical condition ='A' of AUM	Virat =Cosmic manifestation
Dream State	Taijasa I=Mental condition ='U' of AUM	Hiranyagarbha =Universal Mind
Sleep State	Prajna =Intellectual condition ='M' of AUM	Ishvara =First Cause or God
Turiya	The transcendental state which permeates all others. Basis of self-consciousness.	Sum total of the lower three states and therefore both the fourth quarter and the whole =OM as a soundless, single syllable.

By intentionally allowing the consciousness to ascend the embodied soul, the neshama in Hebrew or jivatman in Devenagari script, elevated through the four levels of consciousness from Vaishvanara, to Taijasa, to Prajna and finaaly to Turiya, the awakened state of transcental bliss. The Soul begins by considering, "I am my body, there is nothing else." This equates with the nefesh state where the human lives as if it were an animal concerned only with material pleasure. The Soul realizes, "No, I am my mind! Bodily pleasures are temporary. My mental understandings far surpass my previous wants and desires. Next using the mental faculity the Soul realizes that he can set his mind to greater topics like philosophy and religion. This is a most dangerous level! Through the powers of the intellect the Soul may determine that "All I see belongs to me!" "I know the truth, everyone else is foolish." This level is as high as people, who make it this far, ever get. But a minority realize that their religion and philosophy has failed to bring them into thje Presence of God. They cast away their false egos and make true teshuvah or repentance. They humbly approach the Holy One as a servant who loves the Master and obeys Him. Such people achieve the state of Turiya. Blessed are they!

OmKara

Who Are You?
The Sound of Silence, Part 3

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