Om, the sacred syllable: from the Upanishads to the ॐ symbol

No sound has played a role in the religious history of India comparable to that of the syllable Om. Uttered at the beginning and end of Vedic recitation, carved over temple entrances and written with an unmistakable sign, it is also called pranava, a term often explained as «that which resounds forth» or «praise». Its history makes it possible to follow the evolution of Indian thought from Vedic ritual to the philosophy of the Upanishads.

The syllable in the Upanishads

The Chandogya Upanishad, one of the oldest, opens precisely with the invitation to revere the syllable Om as udgitha, the liturgical chant of the singing priest. The Taittiriya Upanishad identifies it with brahman, the absolute principle, while the Katha Upanishad presents it as the word that all the Vedas proclaim. From a simple ritual exclamation, Om thus became the sound name of supreme reality.

The most famous text is the very short Mandukya Upanishad, which opens by stating that all this is the syllable Om. It breaks the syllable down into the three elements a, u and m, and links them to three conditions of consciousness: waking, dreaming and deep sleep. The silence that follows the syllable corresponds to the fourth state, turiya, which transcends the other three and coincides with the Self.

From the Bhagavad Gita to the Yoga Sutras

In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna declares that among words he is the single syllable. The poem also recalls the formula om tat sat, regarded as a threefold designation of brahman, which priests uttered during sacrifices, gifts and ascetic practices. In this way Om entered daily religious life for good as the seal of every sacred act.

The Yoga Sutras attributed to Patanjali, probably composed in the first centuries of the common era, state that the pranava is the expression of Ishvara, the Lord. Later commentators developed this passage at length, making Om the centre of many philosophical reflections on the relationship between a name and what it designates. The oldest commentary, attributed to Vyasa, insists on the eternal bond between the word and its meaning.

A symbol shared by many religions

The syllable does not belong to Hinduism alone. In Buddhism it opens many sacred formulas, the best known of which is om mani padme hum, linked to the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and omnipresent in the Tibetan world. In Jainism Om is interpreted as a contraction of the initials of the five supreme beings revered by the tradition. In Sikhism the Guru Granth Sahib opens with the expression Ik Onkar, «One is the Creator».

The written sign has its own history too. The ॐ symbol, now extremely widespread, began as a ligature of the Indian letters for o and m, with the nasal dot and crescent placed above. In the various scripts of the subcontinent, from Tamil to Bengali, the syllable takes different forms, and some traditions have given symbolic value to the individual strokes of the design.

Om is therefore at once a sound, a letter and an idea. Its long history bears witness to the conviction, shared by many cultures of India, that the highest reality cannot be fully described in words, but can be evoked by a single syllable followed by silence. For this reason it is still found today both in philosophical texts and in the religious life of millions of people.