Patanjali Yoga Sutra — tasya vācakaḥ praṇavaḥ||1.27||
तस्य वाचकः प्रणवः||
īśvara’s is also called praṇava or AUM.
ॐ (AUM) is also called Praṇava. ‘Pr’ refers to ‘Prapañca’ born out of ‘Prakṛti’; ‘na’ is ‘No’; ‘vaḥ’ is ‘To you’. That means, ‘This Prapañca is not there to you’ — ‘for the one reciting ‘ॐ’ there is no world — he is liberated. ANOTHER way of understanding is, ‘Pr’ refers to ‘Prapañca’ born out of ‘Prakṛti’; ṇāva comes from nāva meaning a boat. Thus, ‘Praṇava’ is to cross over the Prapañca’ in a boat (nāva). It can also be understood as: pr-prakarṣeṇa, n-nayet, vaḥ-yuṣmān mokṣaṃ iti vā praṇavaḥ — ‘this can forcibly lead you to the mokṣa’.
Bhagavān pronounces:
महर्षीणां भृगुरहं गिरामस्म्येकमक्षरम्।
यज्ञानां जपयज्ञोऽस्मि स्थावाराणां हिमालयः॥१०.२५॥
Maharṣīṇāṃ bhṛgurahaṃ girāmasmyekamakṣaram|
yajñānāṃ japayajño’smi sthāvarāṇāṃ himālayaḥ||Gītā 10.25||
I am Bhṛgu Maharṣi among the honored Rṣis, revered one syllabled AUM (ॐ) among the sounds, venerated japayajña among the hosts of yajñas, celebrated Mount Himalaya among the static matter.
Why is AUM (ॐ) such an illustrious sound? Vedic literature highly regards ॐ. But why? It is said to be the sound symbol of the entire infinite universe. Hence, it is also called śabdabrahma or Nādabrahma or Akṣarabrahma (That which cannot be destroyed). Having 3 seed sounds embedded in ॐ, namely: A, U, M, representing the trinity of Gods: Brahma (Creator), Viṣṇu (Sustainer) and Maheśvara (Destroyer), it symbolises everything in the universe, all-inclusive in creation (sṛṣṭi).
Why do we need a symbol? Can we not do upāsana (worship) without a symbol?
1. When revered object/person of worship is unattainable (Example — departed parents), we may do upāsana of our departed elders by keeping their pictures — which represents our departed elders and we worship with equal reverence.
2. The original is incomprehensible owing to vastness (Example, My country — Motherland). In that case, we worship a flag, which is proxy for the motherland and I bow to the National Flag with equal reverence.
3. When we are not aware of the form, but still want to pay our homage. In that case, we worship an idol, which is representative of ‘that original’.
In all these cases, though we worship something other than the ‘Original’, we never feel so. When we stand before an idol of Almighty in a temple, we never feel we are standing before a piece of rock. Instead, we feel we are standing before the Lord. That means, instead, in these proxies, we see the original, which we wanted to worship. When we salute National Flag, we never see the fiber, the material out of which the flag is made of; we never see the stone by which the idol is made of; we never see the paints and other materials used for making the picture of our elders or departed souls. We go beyond these materials and see the original, whom/which we want to worship.
If so, when I see divinity in the entire universe and say, ‘this universe (or Brahman) itself is my object of worship’, should I not need something to represent this infinitely vast universe? Our Upaniṣads symbolized ‘AUM’ to represent Brahman, the Omni Present One; and campaigned for meditation on that ॐ.
On these lines, Bhagavān says,
ॐ तत्सदिति निर्देशो ब्रह्मणस्त्रिविधः स्मृतः।
ब्राह्मणास्तेन वेदाश्च यज्ञाश्च विहिताः पुरा॥गीता १७.२३॥
om tatsaditi nirdeśo brahmaṇastrividhaḥ smṛtaḥ|
brāhmaṇāstena vedāśca yajñāśca vihitāḥ purā||Gītā 17. 23||
Om, Tat and Sat, all these three denote the Brahman, the Supreme Lord; and from ‘That’, brāhmaṇa, vedā and yajñā are created at the beginning of creation.
तस्मादोमित्युदाहृत्य यज्ञदानतपः क्रियाः।
प्रवर्तन्ते विधानोक्ताः सततं ब्रह्मवादिनाम्॥गीता१७.२४॥
tasmādomityudāhṛtya yajñadānatapaḥ kriyāḥ|
pravartante vidhānoktāḥ satataṃ brahmavādinām||Gītā 17. 24||
Meaning: That is the reason, the Vedic paṇḍits (scholars) ever start the yajña (sacrifice), dāna (gift to the deserving), tapas (austerities) with the recitation of Praṇava mantra, ॐ.
