AUM!
THE most sacred mystic syllable of the Vedas is Aum. It is the first letter of
the Sanskrit alphabet, and by some it is thought to be the sound made by
a new born child when the breath is first drawn into the lungs. The daily
prayers of the Hindu Brahmin are begun and ended with it, and the
ancient sacred books say that with that syllable the gods themselves
address the most Holy One.

In the Chandogya Upanishad 1 its praises are sung in these words:
Let a man meditate on the syllable OM, called the udgitha,2 ...it is the
best of all essences, the highest, deserving the highest place, the eighth.
It is then commanded to meditate on this syllable as the breath, of two
kinds, in the body - the vital breath and the mere breath in the mouth or
lungs, for by this meditation come knowledge and proper performance of
sacrifice. In verse 10 is found:
Now, therefore, it would seem to follow that both he who knows the true
meaning of OM, and he who does not, perform the same sacrifice. But
this is not so, for knowledge and ignorance are different. The sacrifice
which a man performs with knowledge, faith, and the Upanishad is more
powerful.
Outwardly the same sacrifice is performed by both, but that performed by
him who has knowledge and has meditated on the secret meaning of
OM partakes of the qualities inhering in OM, which need just that
knowledge and faith as the medium through which they may become
visible and active. If a jeweler and a mere ploughman sell a precious
stone, the knowledge of the former bears better fruit than the ignorance of
the latter.

Shankaracharya in his Sharir Bhashya dwells largely on OM, and in the
Vayu Purana a whole chapter is devoted to it. Now as Vayu is air, we
can see in what direction the minds of those who were concerned with
that purana were tending. They were analyzing sound, which will lead to
discoveries of interest regarding the human spiritual and physical
constitution. In sound is tone, and tone is one of the most important and
deep reaching of all natural things. By tone, the natural man and the child
express the feelings, just as animals in their tones make known their
nature. The tone of the voice of the tiger is quite different from that of the
dove, as different as their natures are from each other, and if the sights,
sounds, and objects in the natural world mean anything, or point the way
to any laws underlying these differences, then there is nothing puerile in
considering the meaning of tone.

The Padma Purana says:
"The syllable OM is the leader of all prayers; 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."
The celebrated Hindoo Raja, Ramohun Roy, in a treatise on this letter
says:
"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 II, 83.' But when considered as a
triliteral word consisting of (a),(u), (m), it implies the three Vedas, the three
states of human nature, there 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."3 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.

But this sound a, being produced, at once alters itself into au, so that the
second sound u is that one made by the first in continuing its existence.
The vowel u, which in itself is a compound one, therefore represents
preservation. And the idea of preservation is contained also in creation,
or evolution, for there could not be anything to preserve, unless it had first
come into existence.

If these two sounds, so compounded into one, were to proceed
indefinitely, there would be of course no destruction of them. But it is not
possible to continue the utterance further than the breath, and whether the
lips are compressed or the tongue pressed against the roof of the mouth,
or the organs behind that used, there will be in the finishing of the
utterance the closure or m sound, which among the Aryans had the
meaning of stoppage. In this last letter there is found the destruction of the
whole word or letter. To reproduce it a slight experiment will show that by
no possibility can it be begun with m, but that au invariably commences
even the utterance of m itself. Without fear of successful contradiction, it
can be asserted that all speech begins with au, and the ending, or
destruction of speech, is in m.
The word "tone" is derived from the Latin and Greek words meaning
sound and tone. In the Greek the word "tonos" means a "stretching" or
"straining." As to the character of the sound, the word "tone" is used to
express all varieties, such as high, low, grave, acute, sweet, and harsh
sounds. In music it gives the peculiar quality of the sound produced, and
also distinguishes one instrument from another; as rich tone. reedy tone,
and so on. In medicine, it designates the state of the body, but is there
used more in the signification of strength, and refers to strength or
tension. It is not difficult to connect the use of the word in medicine with
the divine resonance of which we spoke, because we may consider
tension to be the vibration, or quantity of vibration, by which sound is
apprehended by the ear; and if the whole system gradually goes down
so that its tone is lowered without stoppage, the result will at last be
dissolution for that collection of molecules. In painting, the tone also
shows the general drift of the picture, just as it indicates the same thing in
morals and manners. We say, "a low tone of morals, an elevated tone of
sentiment, a courtly tone of manners," so that tone has a signification
which is applied universally to either good or bad, high or low. And the
only letter which we can use to express it, or symbolize it, is the a sound,
in its various changes, long, short, and medium. And just as the tone of
manners, of morals, of painting, of music, means the real character of
each, in the same way the tones of the various creatures, including man
himself, mean or express the real character; and all together joined in the
deep murmur of nature go to swell the Nada Brahma, or Divine
resonance, which at last is heard as the music of the spheres.

Meditation on tone, as expressed in this Sanskrit word OM, will lead us
to a knowledge of the secret Doctrine. We find expressed in the merely
mortal music the seven divisions of the divine essence, for as the
microcosm is the little copy of the macrocosm, even the halting measures
of man contain the little copy of the whole, in the seven tones of the
octave. From what we are led to the seven colors, and so forward and
upward to the Divine radiance which is the Aum. For the Divine
Resonance, spoken of above, is not the Divine Light itself. The Resonance
is only the outbreathing of the first sound of the entire Aum. This goes on
during what the Hindoos call a Day of Brahma, which, according to
them, last a thousand ages.4 It manifests itself not only as the power
which stirs up and animates the particles of Universe, but also in the
evolution and dissolution of man, of the animal and mineral kingdoms,
and of solar systems. Among the Aryans it was represented in the
planetary system by Mercury, who has always been said to govern the
intellectual faculties and to be the universal stimulator. Some old writers
have said that it is shown through Mercury, amongst mankind, by the
universal talking of women.

And wherever this Divine Resonance is closed or stopped by death or
other change, the Aum has been uttered there. These utterances of Aum
are only the numerous microcosmic enunciations of the Word, which is
uttered or completely ended, to use the Hermetic or mystical style of
language, only when the great Brahm stops the outbreathing, closes the
vocalization, by the m sound, and thus causes the universal dissolution.
This universal dissolution is known in the Sanskrit and in the secret
Doctrine as the Maha Pralaya, Maha being "the great," and Pralaya
"dissolution." And so, after thus arguing, the ancient Rishees of India said:
"Nothing is begun or ended; everything is changed, and that which we
call death is only a transformation." In thus speaking they wished to be
understood as referring to the manifested universe, the so-called death of
a sentient creature being only a transformation of energy, or a change of
the mode and place of manifestation of the Divine Resonance. Thus early
in the history of the race the doctrine of conservation of energy was
known and applied.

The Divine Resonance, or the au sound, is the universal energy, which is
conserved during each Day of Brahma, and at the coming on of the
great Night is absorbed again into the whole. Continually appearing and
disappearing it transforms itself again and again, covered from time to
time by a veil of matter called its visible manifestation, and never lost, but
always changing itself from one form to another. And herein can be seen
the use and beauty of the Sanskrit. Nada Brahma is Divine Resonance;
that is, after saying Nada, if we stopped with Brahm, logically we must
infer that the m sound at the end of Brahm signified the Pralaya, thus
confuting the position that the Divine Resonance existed, for if it had
stopped it could not be resounding. So they added an a at the end of the
Brahm, making it possible to understand that as Brahma the sound was
still manifesting itself. But time would not suffice to go into this subject as it
deserves, and these remarks are only intended as a feeble attempt to
point out the real meaning and purpose of Aum.

For the above reasons, and out of the great respect we entertain for the
wisdom of the Aryans, was the symbol adopted and placed upon the
cover of this magazine and at the head of the text.

With us OM has signification. It represents the constant undercurrent of
meditation, which ought to be carried on by every man, even while
engaged in the necessary duties of this life. There is for every conditioned
being a target at which the aim is constantly directed. Even the very
animal kingdom we do not except, for it, below us, awaits its evolution
into a higher state; it unconsciously perhaps, but nevertheless actually,
aims at the same target.
"Having taken the bow, the great weapon, let him place on it the arrow,
sharpened by devotion. Then, having drawn it with a thought directed to
that which is, hit the mark, O friend, - the Indestructible. OM is the bow,
the Self is the arrow, Brahman is called its aim. It is to be hit by a man
who is not thoughtless; and then as the arrow becomes one with the
target, he will become one with Brahman. Know him alone as the Self,
and leave off other words. He is the bridge of the Immortal. Meditate on
the Self as OM. Hail to you that you may cross beyond the sea of
darkness."5
AUM!
Hadji-Erinn
Path, April, 1886

http://www.blavatsky.net/theosophy/judge/articles/aum.htm

Om or Aum (Sk.). A mystic syllable, the most solemn of all words in
India. It is “an invocation, a benediction, an affirmation and a promise”;
and it is so sacred, as to be indeed the word at low breath of occult,
primitive masonry. No one must be near when the syllable is pronounced
for a purpose. This word is usually placed at the beginning of sacred
Scriptures, and is prefixed to prayers. It is a compound of three letters a,u,
m, which, in the popular belief, are typical of the three Vedas, also of
three gods-A (Agni) Y (Varuna) and M (Maruts) or Fire, Water and Air. In
esoteric philosophy these are the three sacred fires, or the “triple fire” in
the Universe and Man, besides many other things. Occultly, this “triple
fire” represents the highest Tetraktys also, as it is typified by the Agni
named Abhimânim and his transformation into his three sons, Pâvana,
Pavamâna and Suchi, “who drinks up water”, i.e., destroys material
desires. This monosyllable is called Udgîtta, and is sacred with both
Brahmins and Buddhists.

H.P. Blavatsky in her Theosophical Glossary, p. 239, 240
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