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meaning of pranavam

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balajiv_54 • May 3, 2003 


friends,

iam grateful for such a large replies for the meaning. it is not easy 
to answer this.i conclude with the following. many may not accept but 
i am still to learn on this,pl forgive me.

As per our philosophies the letter ohm represents the basis of all 
creations. It also denotes the jivatma in every human being. By 
constantly reciting this an individual can realize the self and 
thereby the parabrahmam which is the paramatma. This is the ultimiate 
goal of all human being borne in this world because of various karmas 
of previous births.

In bhagavad gita which is the bible for all hindu philosophies there 
are many slokhas which clearely denote this parabrahmam. Firstly the 
questions asked by arjuna and the answers given by Krishna need to be 
looked at closely. In many slokhas the lord says he is 
Vishnu,shankara,vyasa etc.  If he were Vishnu himself and parabrahmam 
then he would not have said that he is Vishnu. This all means the 
teachings are from a third force which has to be parabrahmam. Or lord 
Krishna said all this by his yogic power by which he showed arjuna 
the vishvaroopa of parabrahmam. In gita Krishna speaks throughout as 
god himself ie parabrahmam.

Also in Vishnu sahasranamam, which is part of mahabarata, bhishma 
resites slokas to the question of yudhistar. In answer to the quiery 
who is extolled as god, bhishma says-the god of all gods is narayana.


In that case when recited or meditated the pranavam leads to where? 
It may lead to the formless eternally pure free and existence 
absolute.since everything has its ground in Brahman, for the purpose 
of meditation the sound AUM has come to be regarded as Brahman.

The omkhara sound is sustained by itself in a timeless continuum. It 
is indicative of Brahman and Self.

AUM is the bow, the Atman the arrow and Brahman its target. It is to 
be hit by a man who is self-collected; and then, as the arrow 
(becomes one with the target), he will become one with Brahman. 



when i was reading a book i came to know the meaning of pranavam.
it says the letter ohm does not represent any particular god,but it 
represent parabrahmam.this does not have any form,eventhough we call 
it as narayana and worship it.we have given the narayana, the vishnu 
roopam ie with four arms,sanghu,chakra,gadha and lotus flower.that is 
what i was trying to say.the parabrahmam actually is satchidananda 
narayanan,who does not have any form.since it will be difficult for 
common man to worship a deity with out any form we adopted the vishnu 
swaroopam.the same way shiva devotees worship shivan and others.

in avudayar kovil(old thiruperundurai) the siva temple does not have 
any idol,but just a peetam,for which all worship is 
done.manikavachgar has sung songs in praise of this god which is sung 
as thirupalliyezuchi on margazhi by all saiva devotees.

in kerala near ochira(near kollam) there is not even a temple,just a 
open space for which all pujas are done. this is called ochira 
parabrahmam.

to think of god with out form will require very high level of 
devotion.but it is not impossible as many people have done it.

regards

balaji





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