thor of the
Yoga philosophy where, in three short sentences, he says his (the
supreme lord's) name is Pranava (i.e., Om); its muttering (should be
made) and reflection on its signification; thence comes the knowledge
of the transcendental spirit and the absence of the obstacles (such as
sickness, languor, doubt, &c., which obstruct the mind of an ascetic).
But they indicate, at the same time, the further course which
superstition took in enlarging upon the mysticism of the doctrine of the
Upanishads. For, as soon as every letter of which the word Om consists
was fancied to embody a separate idea, it is intelligible that other
sectarian explanations were grafted on them to serve special purposes.
Thus, while Sankara, the great theologian and commentator on the
Upanishads, is still contented with an etymological punning by means of
which he transforms a into an abbreviation of apti (pervading), since
speech is pervaded by Vaiswanara; u into an abbreviation of utkartha
(superiority), since Taijasa is superior to Vaiswanara; and m into an
abbreviation of miti (destruction), Vaiswanara and Taijasa, at the
destruction and regeneration of the world, being, as it were, absorbed
into Prajna--the Puranas make of a, a name of Vishnu; of u, a name of
his consort "Sri;" and of m, a designation of their joint worshipper;
or they see in a, u, m, the Triad--Brahm, Vishnu, and Siva; the first
being represented by a, the second by u, and the third by m--each sect,
of course, identifying the combination of these letters, or Om with
their supreme deity. Thus, also, in the Bhagavadgita, which is devoted
to the worship of Vishnu in his incarnation as Krishna, though it is
essentially a poem of philosophical tendencies based on the doctrine of
the Yoga, Krishna in one passage says of himself that he is Om; while
in another passage he qualifies the latter as the supreme spirit. A
common designation of the word Om--for instance, in the last-named
passages of the Bhagavadgita is the word Pranava, which comes from a
so-called radical nu, "praise," with the prefix pra amongst other
meanings implying emphasis, and, therefore, literally means "eulogium,
emphatic praise." Although Om, in its original sense as a word of solemn
or emphatic assent, is, properly speaking, restricted to the Vedic
literature, it deserves notice that it is now-a-days often used by the
natives of India in the sense of "yes," without, of course, any allusion
to the m