The Primordial Sound
Question: All things originate from pranava [also known as the primodial sound Om] and all things finally merge in pranava, they say. Then why is it that the very elders who say this declare that some can pronounce this and some cannot?
Answer: What is prakriti [nature], except the commingling of the five elements? The pranava is the very life of all the elements, and so it is the life-breath of prakriti itself. The roar of waters falling down a cliff, the beating of waves on a promontory of the shore, both repeat the pranava only. The sound of inhaling and exhaling breath is itself the pranava, is it not? Whether they know it or not, the heigh-ho of the men who carry along a palanquin on their shoulders, the heave of those who lift weights, the heehoy of those who beat clothes on slabs by the riverside, all resound with the pranava. Repeat it with a full knowledge of its inner significance and you will soon be relieved of the burden of this world’s worry.
The pranava of the breathing process is also the savior from grief. It is meaningless to argue that some have the right to utter the pranava and some have not. Those who do not breathe may not have the authority to utter it; but all who breathe are reciting it already in the process and so there is no sense in denying it to anyone.
When Arjuna asked how one should remember the Lord at the point of death, do you not know the reply that Krishna gave? He said that he should recall to his mind the pranava, which is un-differentiated from Him. Such a bhakta (devotee) will, He said, attain the highest goal. So everyone has the right to this great mantra [formula], the pranava.
Question: How can the goal be reached through the upasana (worship) of pranava? How can the person who meditates become transformed into the thing meditated upon? Please make this unequalled mantra and the way it helps us clearer to me by means of easy illustrations.
Answer: Very good. Pranava is the bow; the atma (one’s divinity) is the arrow; Parabrahmam (universal absolute) is the target. So the sadhaka (spiritual aspirant) must, like the practitioner of the art of archery, be unaffected by things that agitate the mind. He should pay one-pointed attention to the target; then the bowman is filled with the target; he becomes the thing meditated on.
In the Kaivalyopanishad, the Mundakopanishad, and in various parts of the Shruti (all scriptures), the Pranava is extolled in various ways. Therefore, this mantra that liberates man can be recited and meditated upon by all. All can practice the pranava upasana; you need have no doubts on this point.
Source: Prashnottara Vahini
