OMMMM ... Listen ... Listen ... Down ... Down with that sound!
WHAT
IS IT? A current of air? Vibrating vocal cords? Your own ear drums?
Something running in your head? It’s all of these. But goes so
deep. This sound is YOU vibrating. And who are YOU?
Don't give me your name, address and occupation ... You know that's
just a mask ... a front ... a big act. Who puts it on? Who puts it
on ... your body? Huh! What an act that is! And who puts that on?
Your father and mother? Did they put you on? Come off it. You know
very well who You are, but you won't admit it. Deep in there in the
middle, middle of your heart, You know it. You've always been around
and always will be. And the You in you is the same as the You in me.
You're
not some sort of tourist just visiting in this world for a short time.
You belong here, like the apple on the tree. And as the apple is the
energy of the tree, you, yes You, are the energy of the world.
You
don't know who You are do you? You can't really get at yourself, just
as the fingertip can't touch itself and the teeth can't bite themselves.
And that's because You ... the far in you ... is what we call Brahman,
the Self of the Universe. The Which of which there is no whicher.
The Heart and Foundation of all that's going on.
You
think you're going to die someday. Yes! That's because every now and
then you have to go off so that you can know you're on. You can't
have an up without a down ... or a back without a front ... or a light
day without a dark night. The whole thing is pulse.
So
what are YOU doing Brahman? You're playing on and off with yourself,
hide and seek with yourself. You're just passing eternal time with
adventure. You forget who you are really. Every now and then You make
like you're just a John Doe or a Mary Smith, or a butterfly, or a
worm, or a star and that you're lost in the middle of a big, big,
outside world that isn't you, that you don't understand and that you
don't control. Of course! There has to be something else ... something
other ... to bring out the feeling that You are you.
And
so that You can feel really you, that outside world has to feel really
strange, different, weird. You old trickster ... deep down in, You
know the whole bit. And therefore, what You want is a surprise.
So
you have to let things get out of control. You have to feel lost and
lonely to know You is you. You play the thing out by inventing lusts
and loves, fears and terrors, gnawing anxieties and screaming meemees.
Also, you can imagine, "It's not really me ... it's IT that runs
the show.
But
our secret is ... as we say ... Tatvamasi ... You Are IT. You are
running the show, by not letting your right hand know what your left
is doing. By making life as a whopping great split between what You
do and what happens to You. And this is what we call Maya,
the great illusion ... and Lila, the play, the big act.
And
You don't just play your game with such simple elements as on and
off, black and white, or life and death. To seem as real as real can
be, this world that You are playing must be so complicated that you
can't figure IT out ... especially if you are using figures to figure
IT. So between black and white, there is a whole range of colors,
between thunder and silence, the whole scale of tones, and between
something and nothing, between a smashing fist on the face, and trying
to touch air, there are all the textures of feeling; burning, throbbing,
pushing, hugging, fondling, tickling, kissing, brushing, and light
wind on the skin. Your world is all these elements of light and sound;
of tastes, smell and touch, woven together in many dimensions on the
fabulous loom of your brain. Your brain ... the most complicated thing
in the world, which you ... Yourself ... grew ... without even thinking
about it.
Your brain...The Hands of God
You
have always been around. For You, I, the Self, is simply what there
is ... and all that there is. All of us are rays from One center,
teats on One sow, sounds on One flute, forever and ever. But it doesn't
get monotonous, boring, because we keep forgetting IT. We keep the
on's on by putting off's between them.
How
big is IT ... and how long is on and how long off? How
big is IT... and how long is on and how long off? DO NOT TAKE THESE FIGURES LITERALLY FOR THEIR PURPOSE IS JUST TO GIVE AN IDEA OF VASTNESS.
We
say that man, human life, is a dance that lasts for 4,320,000 years.
And, of course, there are all sorts of other dances going on at the
same time with their own rhythms. Star dances, rock dances, fish dances,
insect dances, plant dances; and strange animal scenes, like crocodile
dances, elephant dances ... The human dance runs for 4,320,000 years,
a span of time that we call a Kalpa. Before it begins and after it
ends, there is always another Kalpa, or off period of rest during
which the Self is simply the Self and doesn't pretend to be this me
or that you. We call this rest period the Pralaya ... peace, uninvolvement,
pure bliss.
When
4,320,000 years of rest draw to a close, the Lila dance begins again;
though it always seems like the first time. Every day is today. And
then through many centuries, through many pulses of waking and sleeping,
life and death, you stretch your world out through a span of time
that varies in mood like the rainbow; running from purple to red,
from royal delight to destruction and fire. For as there is no purple
without red, there is no pleasure without pain.
There
are thus four great divisions [seasons] of the Kalpa [cosmic year]. We call each one a Yuga
and name them after the four throws in the Hindu game of dice; Krita,
the perfect throw of four; Treta,
the slightly imperfect throw of three; Dvapara,
the throw of two; and Kali,
the worst throw of one.
And
so the first period, the Krita Yuga ... runs for 1,728,000 years,
during which the whole world is as perfect as a fresh flower and as
unblemished as the skin of a young girl.
The
second period, the Treta Yuga ... is a little shorter. It runs for
1,296,000 years, during which a small element of evil and decay comes
into life and the tips of the petals are very slightly browned.
The
third period is the Dvapara Yuga ... running for 864,000 years. The
syllable Dva in Dvapara means two, double or dual, so that in this
age, the powers of good and evil are equally balanced.
The
fourth period is Kali Yuga ... running for only 432,000 years in which
the power of evil and destruction takes over. At the end, your eternal
Self takes the form of Shiva, the Lord of renewal through death; blue
bodied and ten armed with a necklace of skulls. BUT with one hand
in the gesture called "fear not" as a reminder that all
this is in illusion and play. And then Shiva dances the Tandala dance,
the dance of fire in which the material world is destroyed and the
Self returns to the state of Pralaya ... of peace, uninvolvement,
and pure bliss. (See More Kali Yuga. See The 12 Signs of Kali Yuga. Hear OM by The Moody Blues. See Hindu Cosmology.)
Shiva, Lord of Renewal
All
this goes on forever, through Kalpa after Kalpa after Kalpa ... and
not only in this visible world that we call the universe, for this
universe that we know is only a speck of dust in another universe.
And all the specks of dust in this universe that we know contain minute
universes without measure; boundless inward in the atom, boundless
outward in the whole.
However
vast, however incomprehensible, however terrifying this entire display
may seem to be, all of it is at root, your own inmost Self; the Self
which you cannot touch, or see, or pin down or control because IT’s
too close, too new, right in the middle of everything. Because IT'S YOU!... OMMMM. Go to Side
2. 
EK ONG KAR
 OM, this WORD is the whole universe.
It is explained that everything past, present, and future
is the sound OM. And whatever
is beyond these three divisions of time, that also, indeed,
is OM. In the beginning there
was only the Self ... like a person alone. Looking around,
IT saw nothing other than Itself. IT first said "I AM".
And so there came the Name, I. Thus, to this day, when one
is asked, "Who is there?", he replies: "IT
is I", and then gives what other name he may have.
The
Self was afraid as one who is alone is afraid. But IT thought,
"Since there is nothing beside Myself, of what am I afraid
?" Where at the fear vanished. For what could IT have
feared? Fear can come only from something other ... But the
Self had no delight as one alone has no delight. IT desired
another. IT expanded to the form of male and female in tight
embrace and then fell into two parts. Thus it is that everybody
is one half ... like one of the halves of a split pea. And
the missing half is filled by a spouse.
Then
He coupled with Her and produced all human beings.
She
thought, "How can He have intercourse with me, having
produced me from Himself? I will hide". She became a
cow. But He became a bull and coupling with Her produced all
cattle. And in turn, She became a mare and He a stallion;
She a female donkey and He a male donkey; She a she-goat and
He a he-goat; She a yew and He a ram. And thus were born from
their union, all beings that exist in pairs down to the very
ants.
He
knew. I am in fact this universe, for I have produced it all.
In this way, He became the universe ...
By
whose direction is the mind aware of objects? By whose command
does life first move? By whose will is this speaking uttered?
And what god empowers the eye and the ear? IT is the Hearing
of the ear, the Awareness of the mind, the very Sound of speech,
the Life of the breath and the Sight of the eye. Therefore,
the wise surrendering themselves, go beyond this world and
are immortal.
But
IT is beyond the reach of sight, speech and thought and we
neither know nor understand how IT can be taught. IT is other
than the known, and beyond the unknown. Thus we have heard
from the wise. IT is that which cannot be spoken, but by which
we speak. IT is that which cannot be thought, but by which
we think. IT is that which cannot be seen, but by which we
see. IT is that which cannot be heard, but by which we hear.
IT is the breath which cannot be held, but by which we breathe.
IT is known to those who do not know IT. To those who know
IT … IT is unknown. IT is not understood by those who
understand IT. IT is understood by those who understand IT
not. There was never a time when I was not, nor you, nor these
others. Nor will there ever be a time to come when we shall
cease.
As
one passes in this body through childhood, youth and old age,
even so is the taking on of other bodies. This does not trouble
the wise. Of the nonexistent, there is no coming to be. Of
the existent, there is no ceasing to be. That by which all
this is pervaded cannot be destroyed. As one casts off worn
out clothes, and puts on others that are new, even so, the
Self casts off worn out bodies, and assumes others that are
new. Weapons cannot cut this Self. Fire cannot burn IT. Water
does not make IT wet, nor the wind dry. IT is eternal, all
pervading, changeless, and unmoved. IT is the same forever.
IT is said to be unmanifest, inconceivable and without change.
Knowing IT thus you should not grieve ... Go to Side
3.
The
Knower, the Central Self, is not born and does not
die. IT is not produced from anything, and produces
nothing apart from ITSELF. IT is unborn, eternal,
enduring, primordial. IT is not slain when the body
is slain ... If the slayer thinks he slays or if the
slain thinks he is slain, neither understand. IT neither
slays nor can be slain. Smaller than the small, greater
than the great, IT is the Self in the heart of all
beings ...
"Bring
here a fruit from that fig tree."
"Here
it is, Sir."
"Break
it."
"Sir,
it is broken."
"What
do you see inside?"
"There
are, Sir, these minute seeds."
"Break
one of them."
"It
is broken, Sir."
"What
do you see there?"
"Sir,
I see nothing at all."
"My
son, that subtle essence which you do not see is the
Self of this whole universe, That is the Real, That
is the Self, and you are IT." (You are IT, I am IT, We are IT.) -- Alan Watts
See My Two Sense. See One Is The Answer. See Much More.
OM versus ONG
 
According
to the rules of Sanskrit grammar, the finite-related (we humans) may not chant OM*, the Creator-Absolute sound. Rather,the
sound current OM must manifest as ONG.
That is to say, by dropping the sound current mm,
substituting nnnng and thereby expressing ONNNNG, we experience a more direct
and noticeably greater stimulation of the pineal-pituitary
reflex zone by virtue of the resultant contact of the tongue
with the upper palate, thereby assisting deep brain
function, cranial-nervous system resonance, the experience
of tranquillity, and the expansion of awareness. Please
see the "Kundalini Yoga" article in the Summer
Solstice 1976 Bicentennial edition of the 3HO
Foundation's 'Kundalini Quarterly' for more details.
See ONG, the Meditation. See
also The Science
of Mantra.
OM is the collective resonant tone of Life Force that fills the
Infinite Living
Universe. But ONG is that
tone impinging on Matter, creating the physical
Universe, which resonates like a gong, from atom to galaxy.
The Cosmos
quivers with sound like an infinite number of leaves quivering
in the breeze.
Out of ONG, and also contained within it, are all the sounds
that make up
the vibrating forms of life. Just as sound when projected
through a liquid
solution, or sand on a metal plate produces geometric patterns,
so does
form result throughout the creative manifestation, including
the human body.
*OM
"The
sound OM, or more correctly, A-U-M, is sung with the whole
range of the voice from the throat to the lips. It is therefore
used in India to mean THAT which is all-inclusive ... the
universal and eternal Self or Ground of the universe. This
is the Brahman, the Godhead from which, and in which, everything
happens, in much the same way that all sounds heard on the
radio and phonograph are vibrations of the diaphragm in the
speaker. OM (ONG) represents,
then, the basic vibration or energy which assumes the myriad
forms and disguises of stars and planets, mountains and oceans,
plants and fish, animals and men, and is also understood as
the central Self, or Atman, in all beings. (See ONG mandala.) The sound OM (ONG) is chanted, or
sung silently in the head, as a focal point for deep concentration,
by means of which the individual finds out that the life-energy
which he calls himself is One and the same as the eternal
energy of the Cosmos. He is thereby set free from anxiety." -- Alan Watts 'The Sound of Hinduism' (See also ONG, the Meditation.)
The
Hindus do not, however, define the supreme Self, or God, as
the personal governor and king of the universe. They would
say, rather, that the Brahman acts or manifests the world
without calculation, much as we grow our hair, circulate our
blood, and form our brains and nerves. The world is not made,
like an artifact, but performed, like a play -- and the one
basic Actor plays all the parts.
"Thoughts
reflect and affect our mood, our attitude and our general
tenor.
Thoughts are silent sounds. And sounds are electromagnetic
vibrations.
The more refined our thoughts, the more elevated our vibration;
the more
elevated our vibration, the closer we get to the highest vibration
of all–our
own divine nature. The entire universe was built on sound
(WORD), which is
nothing but vibration. By vibrating a certain combination
of sounds, we are
able to tune into various levels of intelligence, or consciousness.
Thus,
chanting mantras is a conscious
method of controlling our moods, and
in turn, our frequency and resultant all-around radiance." -- Donna
Quesada |
