OM.

' S E A R LY H I S T O R Y:
M A N T R A , M I N D A N D M U LT I F O R M I T Y
WRITER FINNIAN M.M. GERET Y

The Sanskrit mantra Om . i s a n a n c i e n t s y l l a b l e, d a t i n g b a c k s o m e t h r e e

m i l l e n n i a i n t h e t e x t u a l r e c o r d. F o r s o m e p r a c t i t i o n e r s a n d s c h o l a r s ,
Om . is a pr imal u t tera nce beyond histor y – as elemental as breath,
a c r y o f p l e a s u r e, o r a b a b y ’s c o o i n g . O t h e r s h o l d t h a t O m . is beyond
t i m e, t h e e t e r n a l v i b r a t i o n f r o m w h i c h e v e r y t h i n g – m a t t e r, e n e r g y,
life itself – spr ings.

However we choose to conceive of Oṃ, the Vedic texts, for convenience I will refer to the syllable
challenge of telling its story is daunting: with a generically as “Oṃ,” while using specific variants for
rich legacy of text, ritual and iconography in Indian particular examples.)
religions, Oṃ defies timelines and textbooks.
What can we learn from the history of Oṃ? In what Recited, sung, muttered, whispered and meditated
follows, I use the methods of Indology – the study upon – in this ancient period, Oṃ is fluid and
of pre-modern Indian culture through close readings multiform. The power of Vedic Oṃ resides
of texts – to show how the past can help us better precisely in its openness to new approaches and
understand this sacred syllable in theory and in interpretations. In ancient India, priests chanted
practice. Our oldest sources for Oṃ’s history are the Oṃ so often and in so many different ways that
Vedas, texts about sacrifice (yajña) composed in the syllable came to dominate the soundscape
archaic Sanskrit in the first millennium BCE. I focus of sacrifice – Oṃ was all-encompassing. In the
here on texts of the early to middle Vedic period, well words of one text: “This syllable is just this whole
before Oṃ’s status as a sacred syllable has been world.”2 (The ubiquity of Oṃ in Vedic ritual is a fact
established in the Upaniṣads. The prominence of even today, as I can attest from visiting sacrifices
Upaniṣadic teachings on Oṃ has largely eclipsed the performed by Nambudiri Brahmins in Kerala.3 J.A.B.
remarkable contributions of these earlier sources. Van Buitenen, who observed a sacrifice in Pune in
1955, puts it well: “...Generally, the cry ‘Oṃ!’ is the
1. Not one Oṃ, but many commonest sound heard at the sacrifice.” 4 )
In Vedic texts before the Upaniṣads, Oṃ is central
to the chanting of mantras, with dozens of different 2. The oldest Oṃs
applications. Oṃ is a way to say “yes” or to correct Three Vedas are relevant here: The Ṛgveda (RV),
a ritual mistake; it marks the beginnings and ends of with its metrical “verses” (ṛc); the Sāmaveda (SV),
recitation; it substitutes for other syllables and obscures with its “melodies” (sāman); and the Yajurveda (YV),
their meanings. Depending on context, Vedic OM may with its “formulas” (yajus). (The fourth Veda – the
be pronounced as a “pure” (śuddha) unvoiced sound Atharvaveda, with its spells and sorcery – does not
(o), as a voiced labial (om), or as a nasal (oṃ, om̐). play a big role in sacrifice). We can consult different
In chanting, Brahmin priests articulate the syllable as a textual layers and genres of these three Vedas to
single beat (om), or extend it anywhere from three beats construct Oṃ’s early history.
(o3m) to fourteen. Collectively, Oṃ’s many forms make
up “the om-sound” (om iti; oṃkāra), a loose category The mantra collections (Saṃhitās, ca. 1200-1000
that includes everything Oṃ-like in the early Vedas.1 BCE) contain the earliest attestations of Oṃ in
(Since it has so many pronunciations and spellings in Indian culture. The oldest Oṃs ever recorded ᐅ
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are meaningless syllables – not unlike the seed according to one text, “is the world of heaven.” 9
(bīja) syllables of later Tantric traditions – found in The Vedic praṇava differs starkly from the later treatment
Sāmavedic songs (gāna.) Take, for instance, these of praṇava in Patañjalian yoga. In the Yogasūtras
lyrics from the Jaiminīya Saṃhitā (ca. 1000 BCE), (1.27-28), the praṇava is a meditative muttering
where Oṃ nestles among other monosyllables and (japa) that draws the practitioner inward towards deep
words, arrayed together like dadaist poetry: contemplation. By contrast, we find in the Vedic sources
a style of chant directed outward to the gods.
om om om āyūr āyūr jyotir jyotir jyotiḥ jyotovā jyotovā
jyotovā jyotovāhāyi jyotovāhāyi jyotovāhāvuvā 4. Oṃ in reflection: a-u-m
Reflections on Oṃ in Vedic prose texts (Brāhmaṇas,
om om om life life light light light light-ovā light-ovā ca. 900-700 BCE; Āraṇyakas, ca. 800-600 BCE)
light-ovā light-ovāhāyi light-ovāhāyi light-ovāhāvuvā5 show an abiding interest in its external sound. The
Aitareya Brāhmaṇa tells how the god Prajāpati
The juxtaposition of Oṃ with “life” (āyus) and “light” (“Lord of the Creatures”) toiled to create the cosmos
(jyotis) anticipates the syllable’s importance in later by practising asceticism. His ascetic heat (tapas)
discussions about immortality and liberation, as we sparked a chain reaction that produced the gods Fire
will see below. (Agni), Wind (Vāyu), and Sun (Āditya), followed by
other entities (5.32):
3. Oṃ in recitation: the praṇava
The ritual codes (Śrauta Sūtras, ca. 800-500 BCE), From these three gods, all heated up, the three
which prescribe how to recite the mantras compiled Vedas were born: The Ṛgveda was born from Fire,
in the earlier collections, recommend that Oṃ be the Yajurveda from Wind, and the Sāmaveda from
added to many mantras that don’t otherwise contain Sun. Prajāpati heated up these Vedas, and from
the syllable. By drawing on the detailed testimony these Vedas, all heated up, the three pure ones
of these codes, we can get a sense of what a Vedic were born: ‘Bhūr’ [earth] was born from the Ṛgveda,
ritual may have sounded like in the middle of the first ‘bhuvas’ [atmosphere] from the Yajurveda, and ‘svar’
millennium BCE. [heaven] from the Sāmaveda. He heated up these
pure ones, and from these pure ones, all heated up,
On the last day of the sacrifice, priests gather to press the three sounds – ‘a’, ‘u’, and ‘m’ – were born.
and consume soma, a psychoactive plant.6 Between He brought these together as one; so that is ‘o3m’.
rounds of soma-drinking, they chant Ṛgvedic verses, And that's why the Ṛgvedic priest utters the praṇava
substituting Oṃ for the final syllables of each one. with ‘om-om’.10
This substitution is known as the praṇava, which means
“humming". Consider this verse about the fire god, Agni: Prajāpati's heat generates a chain of triads, each
one a synthesis of the one preceding: Three gods
gamad devebhir ā sa no yajiṣṭho barhir ā sadat into three texts (RV, YV, SV); three texts into three
words (the mantra bhūr bhuvas svar); three words
Agni will come to us with the gods, and as the best into three phonemes (a, u, and m); and finally, three
sacrificer he will sit here upon the ritual grass.7 phonemes into the three beats of a single syllable
(o3m). This thinking underlies the widespread
In performance, the priest modifies this verse to end conception of Oṃ as the “essence” (rasa) of the
with three beats of –om, like this: Vedas, the distillation of the entire corpus of mantras
– literally hundreds of thousands of syllables – into
gamad devebhir ā sa no yajiṣṭho barhir ā sado3m8 one utterance.11

This substitution does not affect the verse’s meaning, Oṃ as the synthesis of the sounds ‘a’, ‘u’, and ‘m’
yet it is key to the effectiveness of the chanting. With the – attested for the first time ever in this Brāhmaṇa
praṇava added, the Ṛgvedic mantra hums with energy, passage – recurs in many Upaniṣadic, yogic,
travelling upwards to attract the gods’ attention. “Oṃ,” and devotional texts. For example, the post-Vedic ᐅ
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Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad analyses ‘om’ as these three sources.16 Before dawn on the day of soma-pressing,
sounds plus a fourth element, silence. In keeping six priests and the sacrificial patron move eastwards
with the work’s emphasis on meditation, this innovation to the main fire altar. Each man stoops and grasps
suggests a preference for contemplating Oṃ over the shoulder of the man in front of him, so as to
chanting it. The fame of the a-u-m analysis has often form an unbroken chain. Jaiminīya authors liken this
outstripped Oṃ itself; teachers and scholars today procession to a group of hikers making a difficult
sometimes claim that ‘aum’ (not ‘om’) is the “original” climb: The priests, they say, are climbing across the
sacred syllable, rather than the other way around. boundary between earth and sky on an ascent to
the sun. Just beyond the altar’s northeastern corner,
5. Oṃ in mantra meditation: from sound three of the priests sit down, cross-legged, in front
to silence of a round pit representing the door of the sun. If
An unsolved problem in Oṃ’s history is accounting their meditation and chanting are successful, the
for the interplay between sound and silence. How sacrificial patron will enter into the light-filled world of
does the sounding of a mantra relate to its silent the absolute (brahman) and attain immortality.
contemplation in Indian traditions? Are these two
sides of the same coin? Or separate practices? The Now comes the yukti proper, a meditative sequence
Mahābhārata distinguishes between the “mantra- to prepare for the chanting of a “praise-song” (stotra).
reciter” (jāpaka) and the “yogi” (yogin), suggesting A single priest takes the lead role, as described in
a disjuncture between mantra and yogic meditation the Jaiminīya Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa (JUB 3.5;
at the start of the Common Era.12 Yet around the ca. 700 BCE):
same time, formative yogic texts such as the Kaṭha
Upaniṣad, the Yogasūtras, and the Bhagavad Then the lead singer saw the praise-song spread out
Gītā show mantra and meditation to be closely in the atmosphere, greatly shining. He also saw its
intertwined.13 The question remains: To what extent union [yukti]. After sitting down for the praise-song,
does recitation of Oṃ in the Vedas foreshadow he should do thus – breathing out – and also thus
meditation on Oṃ in classical yoga systems? – breathing in – with his speech. He should wish to
see with the eyes, he should wish to hear with the chant as cryptic expressions of Oṃ; similarly, they flexible and fluid. With many pronunciations, registers
Historical linguists tell us that the word mantra is ears; thus his mind becomes united [manoyuktam] take the ‘vā’-sounds as references to ‘vāc’ (speech). of speech and ritual uses, it runs the gamut from
derived from the Sanskrit verb man- (‘to think’), a with the song itself.17 In their view, these syllables form a ladder that the sound to silence. Precisely this fluidity has allowed the
root cognate with English ‘mind’ and ‘mental’. In this priests can climb to the door of the sun.19 When the syllable to remain a symbol of authority, knowledge
etymological sense, mantra can be translated as Here we learn why the rite is called yukti – the lead priest sings the praise song, two deities in sonic and transcendence in Indian religions for three
‘instrument of mind’14 – we might even say that mental ‘union’ occurs when the priest unites his mind with form – the ‘male’ melody and the ‘female’ verse – millennia, even against a background of tremendous
activity is basic to the concept of mantra. Against this the song he is about to sing. The activities described have sex in his mouth.20 cultural change. When you use Oṃ in your practice,
background, let’s turn to an obscure Vedic rite called here – visualisation and contemplation of a mantra, try exploring the interplay of mantra and mind – and
the yukti (‘union, yoking’), which emphasises both seated posture, breath control and attention to the There is a further stipulation: As the singer chants this honour the multiformity of the syllable's history.
the sonic and mental aspects of mantra. Significantly, senses – prefigure later practices of yogic meditation. string of syllables out loud with his voice, he should
yukti is cognate with the word yoga – both are derived The Jaiminīya interpretation of the ritual sequence – mentally (manasā) – that is, simultaneously and in "Before daw n on the day of soma-
from the verb root (yuj- ‘to unite, yoke’). This rite offers ascent to the sun to win immortality – also suggests silence – meditate on another mantra. Basically, he p r e s s i n g, s i x p r i e s t s a n d t h e
a Vedic paradigm of mantra meditation, in which Oṃ continuity with classical yoga systems, where ascent must think one thing and say another.21 In this way, sacrificial patron move east wards
serves as the “instrument of mind” that draws the – be it the internal ascent of energy in the subtle the chanting of Oṃ becomes a tool for continuing to t h e m a i n f i r e a l t a r. E a c h m a n
practitioner inward. I am reminded here of Roberto body, or the cosmic ascent of the practitioner to the the meditation begun earlier. The external and the s to o p s a n d g r a s p s t h e s h o u l d e r o f
Calasso’s memorable line: Yoga is “the gesture of the sun – is a central trope. internal, the vocal and the mental, the audible and the t h e m a n i n f r o n t o f h i m, s o a s to
-
mind taking hold of itself.”15 silent, the expressed and the unexpressed – all these f o r m a n u n b r o k e n c h a i n. J a i m i n i y a
Having meditated on the praise-song, the singer now opposites achieve ‘union’ in his performance. a u t h o r s l i k e n t h i s p r o c e s s i o n to a
The yukti is not a common rite; in fact, it’s attested chants it aloud: group of hikers making a dif ficult
only in the Jaiminīya school of SV, active from ca. What can we learn from Oṃ’s past? The history of c l i m b: t h e p r i e s t s, t h e y s a y, a r e
800-600 BCE in a region corresponding to modern- o vā o vā o vā / hum bhā / o vā //18 the sacred syllable demonstrates that from its earliest climbing across the boundar y
day Rajasthan and Gujarat. We can reconstruct known uses, Oṃ has rarely been static and fixed. bet ween ear th and sk y on an
the yukti and its ritual context based on Jaiminīya Jaiminīya authors construe the ‘o’-sounds in this Instead – like breath and sound, life and light – Oṃ is a s c e n t to t h e s u n." ᐅ
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1 Gerety, F. (2015). “This Whole World is Om: Song, 11 See, e.g., Gerety 2015, p. 168-173, 217-219, 225.
Soteriology, and the Emergence of the Sacred
Syllable.” PhD. thesis. Department of South Asian 12 MBh. 12.193.22, cited in Mallinson, J. and M.
Studies, Harvard University, p. 39-97. Singleton. (2017). “The Roots of Yoga.” London:
Penguin Classics, p. 259-260.
dha vā idaṃ sarvam akṣaraṃ / Jaiminīya
2 etad

Brāhmaṇa 2.10; see Gerety 2015, p. 179-180 13 Gerety 2015, p. 363-383.

3 Gerety, F. (2017). “The Amplified Sacrifice: Sound, 14 Mayrhofer,M. (1992-2001). “Etymologisches

Technology, and Participation in Modern Vedic Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen.” Heidelberg: Carl
Ritual.” Journal of South Asian History and Culture Winter Universitätsverlag, s.v. man-; Gonda, J. (1963).
8.4, p. 560-578. DOI:10.1080/19472498.2017.1371505 “The Indian Mantra.” Oriens 31.16, p. 244-297.

4 Van Buitenen, J. (1959, p. 180). “Akṣara.” Journal 15 Calasso,R. (2014). “Ardor.” New York: Farrar,
of the American Oriental Society 79.3, p. 176-187. Straus & Giroux, p. 169.

5 Gerety 2015, p. 48-49. 16 Gerety 2015, p. 253-257.

6 Thebotanical identity of soma remains contested. 17 tato haiva stoman dadarśāntarikṣe vitatam
See Clark, M. (2017). “The Tawny One: Soma, bahu śobhamānam / tasyo ha yuktin dadarśa/
Haoma, and Ayahuasca.” London; New York: bahiṣpavamānam āsadya ṭītra viyi prāṇya iti kuryāt
Muswell Hill Press. ṭītra gṛhitra apānya iti vācā / didṛkṣetaivākṣibhyam
/ śuśrūṣetaiva karṇābhyām / svayam idam
7 RV 3.13.1. Translation after Jamison, S. and manoyuktam /
J. Brereton. (2014). “The Rig Veda: the Earliest Text and translation after Fujii, M. (1989). “Three
Religious Poetry of India.” New York: Oxford Notes on the Jaiminīya-Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa 3,
University Press. Text after Van Nooten, B. and 1-5.” Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies 37.2,
G. Holland, eds. (1994). “Rigveda: A Metrically p. 23-31.
Restored Text.” Harvard Oriental Series 50.
Cambridge, Mass.: Department of Sanskrit and 18 JUB 1.2.3
Indian Studies.
19 JUB 1.3.1-2; see Gerety 2015, p. 264-265.
8 Caland, W. and V. Henry. (1907, vol. I, p. 233).
“L'Agniṣṭoma: description complète de la forme 20 Gerety 2015, p. 299-300.
normale du sacrifice de soma dans le culte
védique.” Paris: Ernst Laroux. 21 The mantra for meditation is customarily a verse
from the RV; see Gerety, p. 70-71.
9 omiti vai svargo loka / Aitareya Brāhmaṇa 5.32.
See Gerety 2015, p. 156-159.

10 tebhyo ‘bhitaptebhyas trayo vedā ajāyanta / ṛgveda

evāgner ajāyata yajurvedo vāyoḥ sāmaveda ādityāt Finnian holds a PhD. in South Asian Studies from
/ tān vedān abhyatapat / tebhyo ‘bhitaptebhyas trīṇi Harvard University and is currently Visiting Assistant
śukrāṇy ajāyanta / bhūr ity eva ṛgvedād ajāyata Professor of Religious Studies and Contemplative
bhuva iti yajurvedāt svar iti sāmavedāt / tāni Studies, Brown University. His book project, “This
śukrāṇy abhyatapat / tebhyo ‘bhitaptebhyas trayo Whole World is Om: A History of the Sacred Syllable
varṇā ajāyantākāra ukāro makāra iti / tān ekadhā in India”, will be published by Oxford University
samabharat / tad etad o3m iti / tasmād om-om iti Press. Finnian’s latest work in a range of media can
praṇaut[i] / See Gerety 2015, p. 156-157. be found at www.finniangerety.com
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