The Hum of the Universe: Decoding the Mantra Om, The Three Sounds, the Fourth Silence & the Nine Stages

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IN THIS EPISODE

If you had to pick the most important syllable in the entire tradition of yoga (one sound that contains everything) what would it be? In this episode, Aaron and Paige open the June series on mantra and bhakti by exploring Auṃ, the syllable chanted at the beginning and end of every yoga class, painted on every mat, stuck to the back of every car, and yet very rarely understood for what it actually is.

We unpack why Patañjali never calls it Om in the Yoga Sūtra (and what he calls it instead), why the texts describe it as the sound of Īśvara, and why every other mantra in the tradition begins with this sound. We map the three syllables A–U–M to the three states of consciousness, sit with the fourth state  (turīya) that lives in the silence after the M, and then walk through the nine stages of that silence as taught in the Nāda Yoga and Kashmir Śaivite tradition.

What You'll Learn

✦ The meaning of bhakti and why mantra is inseparable from devotion

✦ The difference between a mantra and an affirmation (and why one points to something while the other is the thing itself)

✦ Why Patañjali codifies Om as Praṇava in the Yoga Sūtra and the aesthetic superstition behind the name change

✦ The three syllables of A–U–M and the three states of consciousness they express: jāgrat (waking), svapna (dreaming), suṣupti (deep sleep)

✦ The fourth state, turīya, that arises in the silence after M

✦ The Maṇḍūkya Upaniṣad teaching of the bow, the arrow, the string, and the target, and why the release is the part you can't practice

✦ The nine stages of silence after Om as taught in Nāda Yoga: bindu, ardha candra, nirodhinī, nāda, nādānta, śakti, vyāpinī, samanā, unmanā

✦ How the syllables of A–U–M map to the doṣas - and how to use mantra to work with the mahāguṇas (sattva, rajas, tamas)

✦ The distinction between japa (mantra you repeat) and ajapa (mantra that repeats itself)

✦ Why Om is described as the hum of the universe and how to actually hear it

Textual References

Patañjali's Yoga Sūtra (Samādhi Pāda)

✦ Tasya vācakaḥ praṇavaḥ - "The expression of Īśvara is the syllable Praṇava."

✦ Taj-japas tad-artha-bhāvanam - "Repeat that mantra while contemplating its meaning."

✦ The following sūtra: through this practice, the awareness turns inward and the obstacles to yoga fall away.

Maṇḍūkya Upaniṣad 

✦ All twelve verses of this short Upaniṣad are dedicated to the syllable Auṃ, mapping its sounds to the four states of consciousness. The bow-and-arrow analogy referenced in this episode is drawn from the Upaniṣadic teaching tradition.

Bhagavad Gītā

✦ Kṛṣṇa: "The one who utters the single syllable Om Brahman and remembers me departs from the body and reaches the supreme destination."

Kashmir Śaivism / Nāda Yoga tradition

✦ The nine progressive stages of the silence after Om (some traditions list seven, others twelve).

Ayurveda and the Mind by Dr. David Frawley

✦ Referenced for the application of mantra to the mahāguṇas.

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HARI OM