Universal
Om — the primordial sound
ॐ
Simple reading
Om (aum)
Oṁ
About this mantra
The pranava, the seed of all mantras. The Mandukya Upanishad opens by declaring that Om is all that is: what was, what is, and what is yet to come.
Meaning
Om is chanted as three sounds flowing into silence, A, U, M, and the silence after is counted as its fourth limb. The Mandukya reads the four as the whole of experience: waking, dream, deep sleep, and turiya, the awareness holding the other three. So the shortest mantra is also the largest claim: one syllable wide enough that all that exists, and the stillness it rests on, fits inside.
Learn it by heart
Say the first line until it comes without reading, then add the next line and say both, until the whole mantra comes on its own.
Whole mantra
This mantra is a single line. Learn it whole, then add it to your review deck so it comes back for a check.
ॐ
Oṁ
0not said yet
Aim for eleven. Stop reading as soon as the whole mantra comes on its own.
Progress stays on this device.
When to recite it
The seed of all practice: chanted 3, 11, or 21 times to open and close meditation, before the study of any scripture, and alone as a complete sadhana; no day or hour restricts it.
Word by word
- अa
- the waking state (jāgrat)
- उu
- the dream state (svapna)
- मm
- deep sleep (suṣupti)
- ( मौन )—
- the silence after: turīya, the fourth
Source: Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad 1 and 8–12