The Word That is God

the better for it.” (Raja Yoga, Chapter Five)
“The commentator says the manifesting word of God is Om. Why does he emphasize this
word? There are hundreds of words for God. One thought is connected with a thousand words;
the idea “God” is connected with hundreds of words, and each one stands as a symbol for
God. Very good. But there must be a generalization among all these words, some substratum,
some common ground of all these symbols, and that which is the common symbol will be the
best, and will really represent them all.
“In making a sound we use the larynx and the palate as a sounding board. Is there any
material sound of which all other sounds must be manifestations, one which is the natural
sound? Om (Aum) is such a sound, the basis of all sounds. The first letter, A, is the root
sound, the key, pronounced without touching any part of the tongue or palate; M represents
the last sound in the series, being produced by the closed lips, and the U rolls from the very
root to the end of the sounding board of the mouth. Thus, Om represents the whole phenomena
of sound-producing. As such, it must be the natural symbol, the matrix of all the various
sounds. It denotes the whole range and possibility of all the words that can be made.
“Apart from these speculations, we see that around this word Om are centered all the
different religious ideas in India; all the various religious ideas of the Vedas have gathered
themselves round this word Om. What has that to do with America and England, or any other
country? Simply this, that the word has been retained at every stage of religious growth in
India, and it has been manipulated to mean all the various ideas about God. Monists, dualists,
mono-dualists, separatists, and even atheists took up this Om. Om has become the one symbol
for the religious aspiration of the vast majority of human beings. Take, for instance, the
English word God. It covers only a limited function, and if you go beyond it, you have to add
adjectives, to make it Personal, or Impersonal, or Absolute God. So with the words for God in
every other language; their signification is very small. This word Om, however, has around it
all the various significances. As such it should be accepted by everyone.” (Raja Yoga, commentary
on Yoga Sutra 1:27)
“The first manifestation of the repetition and thinking of Om is that the introspective
power will manifest more and more, all the mental and physical obstacles will begin to
vanish.” (Raja Yoga, commentary on Yoga Sutra 1:29)
“In the universe, Brahma or Hiranyagarbha or the cosmic Mahat first manifested himself
as name, and then as form, i.e. as this universe. All this expressed sensible universe is the
form, behind which stands the eternal inexpressible Sphota, the manifester as Logos or Word.
This eternal Sphota, the essential eternal material of all ideas or names, is the power through
which the Lord creates the universe; nay, the Lord first becomes conditioned as the Sphota,
and then evolves Himself out as the yet more concrete sensible universe. This Sphota has one
word as its only possible symbol, and this is the Om. And as by no possible means of analysis
can we separate the word from the idea, this Om and the eternal Sphota are inseparable; and
therefore, it is out of this holiest of all holy words, the mother of all names and forms, the
eternal Om, that the whole universe may be supposed to have been created.
“But it may be said that, although thought and word are inseparable, yet as there may be
various word-symbols for the same thought, it is not necessary that this particular word Om
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