Om, and why it is everywhere

Om (also written Aum) opens mantras, prayers, and scriptures. The Mandukya Upanishad begins: "Om — this syllable is all this" (verse 1), and reads its three sounds — a, u, m — as waking, dreaming, and deep sleep, with the silence after them as a fourth state: the self beyond all three. The Taittiriya Upanishad says simply, "Om is Brahman" (1.8).

You will see it as ॐ on doorways and in temples, and hear it at the head of every chant. Saying it slowly — the sound rising from the belly (a), filling the chest (u), closing at the lips (m), then a pause — is itself a meditation; Dharamkira has a guided version.

Om is not the only sacred sound. "Om Tat Sat" seals an offering as complete (Gita 17.23). "Shanti" — peace — said three times ends many prayers, once each for the three kinds of trouble: from ourselves, from others, from nature. "Namah" means "I bow", which is why so many mantras end with it.

You do not need to understand every syllable to begin. You do need to say them with respect.