Why the Om Symbol Is Considered the Most Sacred Sound

The Mandukya Upanishad, one of the shortest yet most discussed Upanishads, is devoted almost entirely to explaining Om. It describes Om as encompassing all of time, the past, present and future, and everything that exists beyond time as well. The Upanishads describe Om as pranava, the primal sound understood as the root from which all other sound and speech is said to arise.

In the Bhagavad Gita too, Krishna tells Arjuna that among words, he is Om itself, pointing to how central this single syllable is considered within Hindu thought. This is why nearly every mantra, whether to Ganesha, Shiva, Devi or Vishnu, traditionally opens with Om before the deity's name is invoked.

The written symbol of Om is generally understood to have three curved parts, a crescent, and a dot. Tradition reads the three curves as representing the states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep, the three everyday conditions of human consciousness. The dot, or bindu, is said to represent a fourth state beyond these three, a state of pure awareness often called turiya.

The crescent beneath the dot is traditionally understood to represent maya, the veil of illusion that must be crossed to reach that highest state. Some traditions also connect the three sounds within Om itself, A-U-M, to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, tying creation, preservation and dissolution into a single syllable.

Om remains the opening sound of most Hindu prayers, aartis and mantras recited at home and in temples. It is chanted at the start of yoga and meditation sessions, inscribed on wedding cards and account books, and worn as jewellery by many who find comfort in keeping it close.

• Chanted as Om alone, slowly and with a long resonant hum, often as a practice in itself
• Placed above the main door or in the puja room of many Hindu homes
• Used at the start of the Gayatri Mantra and countless other stotras
• Taught to children early, often as their first introduction to prayer

Unlike most mantras that are a string of words, Om is sometimes chanted entirely on its own and is still considered a complete mantra. It is often called the pranava mantra, the root sound, precisely because tradition holds that every other mantra is, in some sense, an elaboration of this one syllable.

Om asks nothing elaborate of a devotee, no ritual object, no fixed hour, only a breath and a sound. Perhaps that is why it has travelled so easily from ancient hermitages into modern homes, yoga studios and daily prayer alike. To chant it is to begin, in the simplest way possible, an act of faith and love, not a transaction.