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Importance of OM - Part 1

What is the importance of OM?

In next couple of talks we will contemplate on the different dimensions of OM.

Sri Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita (8.13), ‘one who chants the mantra ‘OM’ and leaves the body attains the infinite supreme consciousness. In one sentence Sri Krishna says the importance of Omkara. Just Omkar alone is sufficient for the liberation or Mukti of somebody. What is so important about Omkara?

Contemplation on Omkara, meditation on Omkara is related to ‘Omkar Upasana’. What does the Omkara Upasana do? Let us understand the challenges of the human life. For all of us, there is a constant feeling of adequacy in us, something is missing, what is missing in life?

‘I have a body, I have a mind, I have an intellect’, I seem to be stuck somewhere in this body-mind complex. The body itself has limitation, the youth, growth, aging, disease and death. Anything the body goes through I feel ‘I am suffering’. Similarly mind also goes through roller-coaster, joy and sorrow, happiness and depression. And intellect seems to be full of worries and stress. In other words I am subject to the vagaries of body-mind-intellect, ‘I feel I am limited’.

The teaching of Vedas, the teaching of Upanishads, points to us that you don’t have to suffer, you are actually thinking that ‘you are limited', but you are unlimited in nature. You nature is infinite, you are thinking that you are finite because you are associating yourself with the body, mind and the intellect.

Mandukya Upanishad in particular takes the contemplation of mantra OM to remove your sense of limitedness. The feeling that ‘I am limited individual’, limited by body-mind and intellect is removed by the contemplation of the Mandukya Upanishad. And how does it do?

We have different ways of experiencing, perception, whatever I perceive is unlimited, obviously I cannot perceive the unlimited, because senses have limitations, I cannot see beyond the visible spectrum of light.

They is no way I can infer that I am unlimited, there is one more of teaching that is ‘shabda’, or teaching of wisdom based on the enlightened masters, Vedas and Upanishads. The teaching systematically removes ignorance because the knowledge that ‘I am limited’ comes from ignorance, Avidya. Systematically removing the ignorance by teaching is the way adopted by Upanishads. Mandukya Upanishad taken Omkara has the basis of teaching. And Sri Krishna says ‘just by chanting Omkara you will attain Mukti, Enlightenment’.