Synthesis of ॐ (Om)

A 5 minute read on a basic building block of the Vedic literature — the word and the sound of ॐ (Om). I have based this writeup mostly on the interpretation by PadmaShri Dr. Bannanje Govindacharya’s Kannada lectures. This is one of several interpretations — stay tuned for more dimensions of this sound in future posts.

First, we need to break down the ॐ (Om) sound into three syllables :

• अ (aa, like the vowel u in the word cut)

• उ (u, like the vowel u in the word put)

• म (mm, pronounced mm, and not as ‘ma’)

Appreciating this alphabetic synthesis needs us to look at the Vedas. Our heritage is embodied in the scriptures, and the pillars of this heritage are the Vedas. It is universally acknowledged that there are 4 Vedas — Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Saama Veda, and Atharva Veda.

Rig Veda is a set hymns, that is primarily based on poems written to certain meters — or chandas. Yajur Veda is primarily prose based. These two Vedas provide all the basic material for the Vedic literature. Saama Veda, on the other hand, is about adding music and melody to basic text as obtained from Rig Veda and Yajur Veda. To reiterate, Saama Veda does not really add any new text to the Vedic literature — it adds melody (most text comes from Rig Veda).

Let us turn back to our alphabetic synthesis.

The most ancient of all Vedas, the Rig Veda, starts off like this:

अग्निमीळे पुरोहितं यज्ञस्य देवं रत्वीजम | होतारं रत्नधातमम ||

aghnimīḷe purohitaṃ yajñasya devaṃ ṛtvījam | hotāraṃ ratnadhātamam ||

The first hymn is in praise of Agni — the Fire God. Fire represents purity, a symbol that is both formless and with form at the same time, and full of energy. It is important to note the first alphabet in the Rig Veda — अ (aa) — is also the first alphabet in ॐ (Om).

Rig Veda ends with the hymn :

समानी व आकूतिः समाना हर्दयानि वः | समानमस्तु वोमनो यथा वः सुसहासति ||

samānī va ākūtiḥ samānā hṛdayāni vaḥ | samānamastu vomano yathā vaḥ susahāsati ||

Again, this hymn is in reverence to Agni, and ends with the syllable इ (e, the beginning sound of i in India).

Moving on to the second sound in ॐ (Om), the sound of उ (u). To save the suspense, it is sufficient to note that the Yajur Veda starts with the sound of इ (e) and ends with the sound of उ (u).

So, the first two sounds of ॐ (Om) act as bookends of the two major Vedas — Rig and Yajur — and ring fence the majority of Vedic knowledge.

The third sound is म (mm, pronounced as in hmm, and not as ma). While the first two alphabets embody the text of the Vedas and their message, the last alphabet represents the Saama Veda, and adds melody and an unmistakable calming vibration to the basic sound of ॐ (Om).

The picture below summarizes the synthesis of ॐ from the Vedic alphabets.