The OM Cycle
Movement & Stillness
By Manorama                                                                ©Sanskrit Studies 2006

Life rolls forward: thought to thought, experience to experience, problem to problem, joy to joy each day etc. And though we solve each problem as best as we can… it seems that there is no end to the well of problems awaiting us on the horizon. Is solving problems the aim of our life? Can our difficulties become entry points to experiencing tranquility? Shri Brahmananda Saraswati says one who is interested to experience a state of yoga should “pray for more problems.” What is the meaning of this statement? How can understanding OM and its cyclic waves help us discover the stable center?

Metaphoric Meaning
OM is composed of three manifest aspects: A + U + M. Because its three sounds are audible and manifest they metaphorically suggest that manifestation and its movement is contained in OM. To gain a deeper understanding of how the OM cycle plays out in our life we must look at its audible components and their underlying metaphoric meanings.
As stated above: OM is the union of A + U + M. A and U blend together to form O
with the accompanying M joining thereafter forming OM. Using the Hindu pantheon to describe this sacred sound we learn, 'A' represents Brahma (creator God).
'A' therefore signifies the beginning or creative phase in a cycle. 'U' represents Vishnu (the sustainer/preserver God). 'U' signifies the process of growth that preserves manifestation, while the 'M' sound represents ´Siva (the destroyer God). 'M' signifies that force which makes a cycle to come to an end. Everything in manifestation is under this law: what has a beginning, must have a middle and eventually an end. Accordingly then everything that is manifest is under the OM cycle. For example, what is born must grow and what grows must eventually complete its cycle. In the Nada Yoga book, which in which Shri Brahmananda Saraswati discusses the OM topic, he says, "Crops germinate, grow, and are eventually harvested. Then the cycle begins all over again." He continues “…even our thoughts are not exceptions to this rule.” His statement indicates that the thought and its inherent movement exist within the OM cycle as well. Similarly, the difficult situations we encounter in our life have a beginning, a middle and an end and so exist within the OM cycle as well.

Awareness of the Cycle
Awareness of the OM cycle allows us the possibility to pull out of identification with any particular phase. When we realize the mind is the movement of thought energy and that each thought has a beginning (A), continuation (U) and completion (M) we place less importance on our thoughts because we see them as constantly shifting and so therefore instable and unreal. In the same way, when we notice that our problems have a beginning, middle and an end, we feel more freedom from them because we realize they are not eternal experiences but ever changing. Withdrawing our attention from the movement of the mind makes thought energy slow down. When this happens the OM cycle and its spinning in the mind subsides. Here we exist in a state of yogic silence.* This is echoed in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra text; where he states yogas´citta vritti nirodhah (Yoga is the state where the turnings of the mind subside).

Understanding the OM cycle means we grasp the notion that everything that has form must change and shift and that which changes can never be permanent. Yogi’s advise us to identify with that which is eternal and stable. As we attend to the movement of manifestation something remarkable happens; we recognize the unmoving center upon which all things spin. This is known as the fourth aspect of OM, the witnessing Self. In this state we perceive the stable, changeless whole that we are.

True Being-ness
As we watch the manifest life move as the OM cycle we begin to see true being-ness. When we are with true being-ness again and again awareness develops in us just as a muscle starts to develop and build strength. Shri Brahmananda Saraswati defines the yogic state as "The state where one is missing nothing," or a state of wholeness. All the time in our daily life we experience the sensation of missing something some boy or girl, some new clothing etc. However, when we withdraw our energy from the movement of the mind and see it as the spin of the manifest OM cycle, thoughts begin to slow down and eventually cease, we exist beyond the missing sensation in a state of wholeness. When one absorbs in the silent mind and feels the unmanifest sound aspect of OM known as turiya, one feels blissful. OM is the sound of pure consciousness. It is the sound we hear when our mind rests from its incessant turning.

By placing our attention on manifest OM, we see its audible aspects as a play that moves through all aspects of life. When we practice silent meditation we find that what moves in us and around us may become a great entry point to inner quiet for at its core all things that spin must spin upon something stable. Once we glimpse and then have contact with our stable core we realize that everything, even our difficulties may be a doorway to the infinite.

Notes:
* Meditative silence is defined as not just the absence of speaking, but as the absence of thinking.

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To learn more about the Topic OM
Suggested Resources:

Books

Nada Yoga, by Shri Brahmananda Saraswati

Fundamentals of Yoga, by Shri Brahmananda Saraswati

CD

OM Current: Mandukya Upanishad CD with Shri Brahmananda Saraswati