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O

O , a contraction of the sounds /a/, /u/, and /m/, is considered in the Hindu tradition to be the most sacred of Sanskrit syllables. In a religious setting that reveres the intrinsic power of sound as a direct manifestation of the divine, a setting in which the hierarchy of scripture is headed by the śruti ("heard") texts and in which oral tradition has preserved the religious language unchanged over millennia, o is the articulated syllable par excellence, the eternally creative divine word. Indeed, the Sanskrit word denoting "syllable" (akara, literally "the imperishable") commonly serves as an epithet for o. Its other epithets include ekakara ("the one syllable" but also "the sole imperishable thing") and pranava (from prau, "to utter a droning"); the latter term refers to the practice of initiating any sacred recitation with a nasalized syllable. The syllable o itself has been associated with the Sanskrit root av ("to drive, impel, animate"; Uadi Sūtra 1.141). It is represented graphically by a familiar mystical symbol combining the syllable's three components.

Articulated at the beginning and end of recitations and prayers, o is a particle of auspicious salutation, expressing acknowledgment of the divine or solemn affirmation, in which latter sense it is compared with amen ("verily, this syllable is assent"; Chāndogya Upaniad 1.1.8). Evidence of its use as an invocation occurs in the gveda; though it appears in a relatively late section (1.164.39), this note dates the practice to at least 1200 bce.

From the sixth century bce, the Upaniads make direct mention of o. One of the oldest Upaniads, the Chāndogya, discusses the syllable at length in setting forth rules for the chanters of the Sāmaveda and states that "one has to know that o is the imperishable" (1.3.4). By sounding o, one intones the Udgītā, the essential canto of the Vedic sacrifice (1.1.5).

In the Kaha Upaniad, the figure Death defines o as the goal propounded by the Vedas, and proclaims that anyone who meditates on the syllable o can attain brahman (1.2.1516). A later Upaniad, the Taittirīya, indicates that o is both brahman and the cosmos (1.8.12): The sound symbol is identical to what it represents.

The first chapter of the Mānkya, one of the latest of the Vedic Upaniads, is devoted to the elucidation of o. The sacred syllable is divided into its four phonetic components, representing the four states of mind, or consciousness: /a/ is related to the awakened state, /u/ to the dream state, /m/ to dreamless sleep, and the syllable as a whole to the fourth state, turīya, which is beyond words and is itself the One, the Ultimate, the brahman. "One should know o to be God seated in the hearts of all" (1.28).

The sixth chapter of the Maitrāyaīya, possibly the latest of the Vedic Upaniads, is devoted entirely to the discussion of the sacred syllable, referred to as the "primary sound" (6.22). The devotee is enjoined to meditate on the Self as o (6.3). When o is articulated, the sound "rises upward." The chapter closes with the invocation "Hail o ! Hail brahman !"

When the Bhagavadgītā a fragment of the Mahābhārata, perhaps contemporary with the latest of the Vedic Upaniadsproclaims that "the imperishable is brahman," it plays on the term akara, which may be read either as an adjective ("brahman is imperishable") or as a substantive ("brahman is the Imperishable [i.e., o ]").

Manu (Manusmti 2.74) echoes the assertion made in the Chāndogya regarding the articulation of o preceding any sacred recitation, and prescribes that it be repeated not only at the beginning but also at the end of the daily recitation of the Veda, under penalty of losing the merit attached to such an exercise. He adds that Prakjāpati, the creator, extracted the milk of three cows (i.e., the three primary Vedas) in order to draw the three phonetic components that make up the syllable.

Through imagery borrowed from archery, the Muaka Upaniad indicates how the articulation of o was integrated into the practice of meditation according to Indian thought: The syllable o is the bow, the ātman (the self) is the arrow, and brahman is the target (2.2.34). One must bend toward the target without diverting the mind; one must make oneself identical to the arrow. (The same image is found in the Bhāgavata Purāa.) The Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali mentions that the various yoga systems all insist on the importance of o as a symbol of the devotee's attempt to unite with the Absolute, a goal that is itself the prerequisite to any practice of meditation.

In later times o stands for the union of the three gods of the Hindu triad, Brahmā (the creative force, or /a/), Viu (the sustaining force, or /u/), and Śiva (the dissolving force, or /m/).

As the primary sound symbol for an Indian tradition maintained continuously from the age of the Vedas into modern times, the syllable o stands charged with an unquestionable religious energy. Its use as a mantra for profound meditation reflects the Vedic teaching that the devotee is one with the sacred sound and all it represents. Through its constant repetition in recitations, prayers, and even recently composed sacred texts it acts as a pitch that tunes the worshiper to the heart of the prayer.

See Also

Music, article on Music and Religion in India.

Bibliography

In the absence of monographical studies on the subject the reader would do well to consult André Padoux's Recherches sur la symbolique et l'énergie de la parole dans certains textes tantriques, "Publications de l'Institut de civilization indiennes," no. 21 (Paris, 1963).

New Sources

Beck, Guy L. Sonic Theology: Hinduism and Sacred Sound. Columbia, S.C., 1993.

A. M. Esnoul (1987)

Revised Bibliography

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