OM represents the Three States of Consciousness

In this short message, Swamiji discusses the auspicious monosyllable ‘OM’. It is a combination of three syllables- ‘A’, ‘U’ and ‘M’. These three syllables put together represent the entire gamut of knowledge articulated by our mouth. It is the symbol of the Supreme Reality called Brahman or Ātma.

A human has three states of awareness-Wakefulness, sleep and dream. In all the three states, the ‘I’ is there as a substratum. We relate all the three states to the ‘I’. We say, “I woke up, I slept, I dreamt and I woke up”. So the ‘I’ is a self-experienced phenomenon or fact.

So, apart from the states wakefulness, dream and sleep, there is a fourth factor which remains unchanged as the substratum of the three states. The symbol OM is a very rational and logical symbol of the Supreme Reality, which is denoted by the term ‘I’.

PR 20180407