An Analysis of ‘Om’

By: Er. Shoaib Mohammed

Extracted from -
The Sequel To The Dialogue
‘Understanding, Vedic-Dharm & Islam, In the Light of the Sacred Scriptures’
Between Dr. Harish Chandra & Er. Shoaib Mohammed

The Dialogue
Topic: Understanding - Vedic-Dharm and Islam, In the Light of the Sacred Scriptures
Venue: Kala Mandir, Kolkata, India
Date: 29-Mar-2009
Between: Er. Shoaib Mohammed and Dr. Harish Chandra

The Sequel
Venue: Great Hall, Kolkata
Date: 16-Aug-2009
By: Er. Shoaib Mohammed

Dr. Harish Chandra on God’s own name (In the Dialogue)

During the second round of the dialogue, that is during the response session, Dr. Harish Chandra
commented that, ‘God’s own name as I understand is Om.’

Er. Shoaib Mohammed’s analysis of Om (In the Sequel)

Let us try to have an in depth analysis of Om.

Om is a mystic syllable of the Hindus.

Georg Feuerstein states in ‘The Meaning of Om’, “There is no question that Om is the oldest mantra, or
sound of numinous power, known to the sages of India. Its origin, however, is somewhat obscure.”

The sacred syllable Om is said to be the quintessence of the Vedas.

The Hindus hold the Vedas in great honour and esteem; and of these the Rig Veda commands the
greatest superiority and pre-eminence. The Vedas are considered by majority of the Hindu scholars to
be approximately 4000 years old, or slightly older.

However, no trace of Om, the secret syllable, is to be found in the Rig Veda.

It is mentioned in the Rig Veda 1:164:39,

“All the mantras of the Rig Veda are in the high heaven, where all the gods reside. They are condensed
and concealed in a secret syllable; what good will the Veda do to him, who has no knowledge of that
syllable: and those who know it are happy and prosperous in this world.”

This translation is from Nirukta, which is considered to be the most authentic commentary on the Veda.
[Nirukta 13:10,12]
Commentators in spite of considerable effort, have not been able to discover any clue to this syllable.

An ancient commentator states: “It is the human soul.” The Vedic rishi who composed the Mândûkya
Upanishad utilized the age old mantra Om to expound the metaphysics of Advaita Vedanta. He
explained the three constituent parts Om, a + u + m, symbolizing past, present, and future, as well as
waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. He also spoke of a fourth part that transcends the other three and
concluded his esoteric observations with the statement that Om is the self or the human soul (âtman).

Swami Sankarananda believed that, the sacred syllable Om represents the Sun. This seems to be
confirmed by the Aitareya Brâhmana (5:32), “That which glows [i.e., the Sun] is Om.”

Now we know that the Sun is not God.

It is mentioned in the Glorious Quran, Surah Fussilat 41:37,

Among His Signs are the Night and the Day, and the Sun and the Moon. Adore not the sun and the
moon, but adore God, Who created them, if it is Him ye wish to serve.

That the Sun is not God is also mentioned in the Hindu Scriptures.
Surya Deva Sahastranso.
Sun is worshipping God.

It is not Surya Deva, Sun God. But it is Surya, Deva Sahastranso.

Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia.

Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia.

If Sun is worshipping God, why do you worship Sun.

A third reviewer however states: “That mystic syllable is ‘Om’, wherein all the angels have come
together and assembled.”

That the word used in the verse is angels, is also the opinion of such prominent Hindu scholars as Swami
Dayanand Saraswati and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.

According to the three opinions the mystic syllable denotes either the human soul, or the sun, or the
angels, none of the three interpretations indicate Om refers to God.

That Om is not a primitive explanation is proved by its comparatively late appearance in the literature. It
does not appear at all in the Rig Veda, and it is equally wanting in the Atharva Veda.
[Hastings, Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Volume-9, Page-490]

Also, no graphic representation of Om has so far been found in the excavated Indus towns.

Om is first named or written out in such Vedic scriptures as the Yajur Veda.

In authenticity and authority the Upanishads come next to the Vedas. Scholars such as Raja Ram Mohan
Roy, S. Radhakrishnan, Max Muller have acknowledged the importance of the Upanishads. Since Om is
not present in the early Vedic texts some scholars believe that, in fact the Vedas have borrowed it from
the Upanishads.

The early Upanishads often still refer to Om only indirectly as the udgîtha (“up sound”) and the pranava
(“pronouncing”).

The Mundaka Upanishad 1:1:3-5 states, “The higher knowledge is that by which the akshra is
apprehended.”

It is mentioned in Kath Upanishad 1:2:15, “That word is Om.”

As far as the meaning of Om is concerned, it is mentioned in Taittiriya Upanishad 1:8:1, “Om means
Brahman, Om means all this, Om means obedience. When a Brahman begins his lecture, he says, ‘Om.’”

According to Chandogya Upanishad, Om means to give orders and command.

Om is prefixed or suffixed to numerous mantras. The Atharva Veda 10:8:10 seems to hint at this. And
the recitation of the Vedic hymns commences and concludes with Om and Om shanti, i.e. Om-peace (or
Islam).

As I said, the word Om does not appear in the Rig Veda. However if you open the Rig Veda you find the
first shloka begins with Om. This is because as I said the reading of the Vedas commences with Om. But
the word itself is not part of the Rig Veda. And all the Hindu scholars including Dr. Harish Chandra, agree
that Om does not appear in the Rig Veda.

Dr. Harish Chandra does make a passing reference of Om in Yajur Veda Chapter 40, he does not give the
reference, the reference is Yajur Veda Chapter 40 Verses 15 and 17.

In Taitteria Samhita (Krishna Yajur Veda), it does not occur in any mantra passage, but it is alluded to
once as pranave, in which (3.2.9.6) it clearly denotes the sound at the end of the offering verse uttered
by the Hotri. So in the Vajasni Samhita (Shukla Yajur Veda).

The opening hymn of the Shukla Yajur Veda 1:1, begins with Om. According to Scholars this could be a
later addition, for the Taittirîya Samhitâ 5:2:8, which is appended to the YajurVeda, still cryptically
speaks of the “divine sign” that is written threefold.

Prashan Upanishad 5:2-5 states about the three letters of Om.

Atharva Shikhâ Upanishad states that Om consists of three parts a-u-m, signifying earth-atmosphere-
heaven or in other words the universe.

If Om is really the name of God there seems to be no need to keep it hidden and concealed. It could be
clearly stated that it was the holy name of Paramatma.

Chandogya Upanishad 1:1 states, “In pronouncing ‘ma’, it predominates over all places.”

Prashn Upanishad 5:1:2:7 states, “Meditation upon Ma gives deliverance.”

A signifies that the Divine Revelation began with the first man, Adam; O continued and kept it on; and it
came to a close on M. All this secret relates to the letter M. By the M of Om is meant the man whose
name begins with the letter M.

According to the most authentic Sanskrit-English Dictionary by Monier Williams (New edition, 1899,
Oxford), (M) is the name of the personification beginning with M.

It will now be a sin to hide and conceal the truth. This name is Muhammad, which begins with the letter
ma; and it is this holy name, whereon Divine speech or prophetic revelation came to a close as the
Upanishad has emphasized.

Om is the essence of all speech. Allah (swt) says in the Glorious Quran about Prophet Muhammad (s), “A
Messenger from Allah, reciting pure pages, wherein are all right books.” [Quran, Baiyina 98:2-3]

Swami Sankarananda proposed that Om derives from the Vedic word Soma, which appears in several
places in the Vedas including Rig Veda 10:85:3. Through the influence of the Persians, who did not
pronounce the letter s, the word soma was changed to homa and subsequently was shortened to Om.

According to Shatpath Brahmana, the meaning of Om is, yes (1:4:1:10), or no (10:6:1:4), or be-it-so
(amen) (11:6:3:6).

Vihari Lala Mitra, in the introduction to his translation of the Yoga-Vâsishtha, equated the Greek word
on (“being”) with Om. He also made the link between Om and Amen.

According to Max Müller, Om is a contraction of the word avam, which means that, and it also means
‘Yes, I agree’ or ‘Yes’ or ‘Amen’.

That Om means ‘Yes I agree’ is supported by Brihad Âranyaka Upanishad 3:9:1, and Chândogya
Upanishad 1:1:8.

Swami Dayanand mentions in his book Satyarth Parkash in Chapter Names of God, O means that.

Om would thus mean that Muhammad. It is strange that by reciting Om the Hindus in fact declare ‘That
is Muhammad’ but they don’t realize it.

I know that one of the meanings of M is ‘this’. But then in this context Om would mean ‘that this’, which
does not make sense.

One of the meanings of Om is protector. Prophet Muhammad (s) has been prophesized in Bhagvata
Purana Khand-12 Adhyay-2 Shloka- 19, as Jagatpati which means protector of the world.

Om is not God’s name.

If Om had been the personal name of God, it would have been somewhere defined as an object
qualified by His attributes, but it is not so anywhere in the four Vedas.

Om is singular. However, we find the usage of Om in the Vedas in dual and plural form, which indicates
that it cannot possibly be used to refer to God.
Every day by both Om’s by your help get food supply.
[Rig Veda 7:69:4; Nirukt 6:4]

All ye gods who give Oms (protections).

[Rig Veda 1:3:7; Nirukt 12:40]

John Small says, "Om is a sound."

"According to the Hindu view of creation, it was sound and not light that appeared first. In Vedic
parlance it is called Nada Brahma or the Sound Celestial. Vedic rishis believed that the evolution of the
Brahmand or universe was caused as a result of Bindu Vsphot or an atomic explosion, that produced
infinite waves of sound, which represent cosmic ascent and expansion.

The sound was a monosyllable: Om.

Most spiritual authorities regard Om as the vocalization of an actual “sound,” or vibration, which
pervades the entire universe, this is known as “the music of the spheres.” The Indian sages also speak of
it as the shabda-brahman or “sonic Absolute”, which, in the words of the Chândogya Upanishad (2:23:3),
is “all this (idam sarvam).” What this means is that Om is the universe as a totality, not a conglomerate
of individual parts, as we experience it in our ordinary state of consciousness.

Om is mentioned in several places in the Hindu Scriptures. It is stated that it is important, and most of
the times it is referred to as sound, subtle sound, vibration, recitation or mantra. It is mentioned in
Taittirîya Upanishad, Brihat Samnyâsa Upanishad, Yoga-Shikhâ-Upanishad (2:21), Hamsa-Upanishad (16),
Amrita-Bindu-Upanishad (4), Amrita-Nâda-Upanishad (2ff.), Dhyâna-Bindu-Upanishad (22), Nâda-Bindu-
Upanishad (49), Nârada-Parivrâjaka-Upanishad (8.1ff.), Yoga-Sûtra (1:27), Patanjali (1:28), Shâradâ-
Tilaka-Tantra (1:108), Kirana-Tantra, Mahânirvâna-Tantra (3:13), Tantra-Yoga, Hatha Yoga Bîja (156).

Since Om is related to the beginning of the universe. It refers to all that it manifest and beyond.

Since Om originated with the creation of universe, and since God created the universe, that is since God
existed prior to the creation of the universe, it is very clear that Om cannot refer to God.