AUM is DIVINITY IN SOUND.
It is the first bIjA mantrA which encapsulates the entire continuum of manifestation.
AUM is a HINDU symbol.
Funny to see some thieves try to sneak in some Abrahamic (asuric) interpretation on AUM. Exactly why mlecchas should not be allowed to practice yOgA.
mmmmmm . . . divinity in sound. That is beautiful.
Hi forummembers
1987 I had an intimate encounter with the mantra AUM.
I was at an weeklong stay at an hotel in a western capital.It was the initation process into a tradition whith it’s root in the Indian tantric tradition. It was the experience of “Shaktipat”.‘Descent of grace’ with the medium of a Guru giving this kind of initiation which sets the kundalini free.
Suddenly my consciousness expanded to seem to hold the hall within itself.
Then I heard from within/without the sacred sound of AAAAAUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM… it just continued to what seemed to be an eternity without stop. It was the unstruck sound without end and beginning. I realized that this WAS eternal and ALWAYS within me at all times. Joy, gratitude and amazement that it was actually happening unsought.
I had just some years of not so deep yogatraining. having read about Vivekananda and other saints mentioned this mantra. Now it was real.
I have never heard it since then. But the experience transformed my faith in yoga and the path in an inevatible way that have kept me going during ebbs and lows of the sadhana.
I know that one is not suppose to reveal experiences like this, but doing sadhana alone in an environment where most people don’t understand this, and not on speaking terms regarding things like this make me glad that forums like this exists for likeminded people to share and exchange ideas and experiences.
Lets hope we all grow in the experience.
Paramahansa Yogananda-Metaphysical Meditations
The comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said to you (John 14:26)
These Biblical words refer to the threefold nature of God as Father, Son, Holy Ghost
(Sat, Tat, Aum in the Hindu scriptures).
God the Father is the Absolute, Unmanifested, existing BEYOND vibratory creation.
God the Son is the Christ Consciousness existing WITHIN vibratory creation; this
Christ Consciousness is the only begotten or sole reflection of the Uncreated Infinite.
The outward manifestation of the omnipresent Christ Consciousness, its witness
Revelation 3:14) is AUM (OM), the WORD or HOLY GHOST:invisible divine power, the only doer, the sole causative and activating force that upholds all creation through vibration. AUM the blissful comforter is heard in meditation and reveals to the devotee
the ultimate TRUTH, bringing all things to your remembrance.
Note: I posted this before.
Clearly, yoga transcends far beyond any dogma or doctrine, universally devoid of any such limitations of nationality, culture, religion, or species. Its scope and era of applicability is commensurate with the whole of Om = presently, infinitely +/- and all that exist beyond and between.
Clearly, yoga transcends far beyond any dogma or doctrine, universally devoid of any such limitations of nationality, culture, religion, or species
dogma or doctrine
No matter how you look at it, ancient Indian metaphysics form the basis of yoga practice.
nationality
Correct, the nationality on your passport is not an important influence on your yoga practice.
culture
Not really, yoga itself is linked to certain practices which are part of culture. Certain type of cultures are simply not compatible with a yogic way of living. Like sex, drugs and rock & roll culture. Although people in the west who don’t know what yoga really is might think otherwise.
religion
It doesn’t fit into all religious models and is intimitely connected to Bharata Dharma, while not compatible with abrahamic religions at all.
or species
LOL :eek:
But the question was about the meaning of AUM which is simply not defined outside the sacred literature of Bharata Dharma.
Yogananda was reinterpreting Hinduism to win over Christian converts.
Looks like it worked 
[QUOTE=Surya Deva;61454]Yogananda was reinterpreting Hinduism to win over Christian converts.
Looks like it worked ;)[/QUOTE]
Yes, he was trying to reinterpretate both Hinduism AND Christianity. He also wrote a commentary on the Bible, but his interpretation is not accepted within Christianity. Basically, it’s neo-Hinduism repackaged for former Christians.
That Amen can be associated with OM is found in Sri Yukteshwhar’s work Kaivalya Darshanam with his own commentary. Sri Yukteshwar was Yogananda’s guru. So as far as I know such associations have been propagated to a large extent by yogis in this Kriya Yoga tradition.
Philippe
[QUOTE=Philippe*;61456]That Amen can be associated with OM is found in Sri Yukteshwhar’s work Kaivalya Darshanam with his own commentary. Sri Yukteshwar was Yogananda’s guru. So as far as I know such associations have been propagated to a large extent by yogis in this Kriya Yoga tradition.
Philippe[/QUOTE]
Yes, but this didn’t started until the 18th century when neo-Hindu reformers like Rammohan Roy had a huge impact on Indian society. In the colonial period, a lot of reformers started to move away from traditional Hindu ideas and started adopting from Islam and Christianity. This is when certain sects emerged who rejected idol worship and started leaning more towards a form of monotheism copied from the abrahamic religions. One such neo-Hindu reformer, named Swami Dayananda actually threw his Hatha Yoga texts in the ganges, because he couldn’t find the chakras after dissecting a human body. In this period it had become a fashion to start rejecting Indian wisdom and to replace it with ideologies from Christianity and Islam in certain circles.
However, will you find such associations prior to Sri Yukteshwar? No, because nobody in India cared about Christianity then. The reason Hindu gurus addressed Christianity later was because they could not avoid it because it was forcing itself upon the people. So they met the Christian challenge in various ways: Swami Dayananda saraswati attacked Christianity; Ram Mohan Roy tried to combine Christianity with Hinduism to make Hinduism more Christian; Yogananda tries to reinterpet Christianity as Hinduism; Swami Vivekananda tried to portray Hinduism as embracing all religions as equally valid and being universally pluralistic and tolerant.
As a 21st century Hindu I don’t have to worry about this politics. I simply say it as it is.
[QUOTE=Surya Deva;61458]However, will you find such associations prior to Sri Yukteshwar? No, because nobody in India cared about Christianity then. The reason Hindu gurus addressed Christianity later was because they could not avoid it because it was forcing itself upon the people. So they met the Christian challenge in various ways: Swami Dayananda saraswati attacked Christianity; Ram Mohan Roy tried to combine Christianity with Hinduism to make Hinduism more Christian; Yogananda tries to reinterpet Christianity as Hinduism; Swami Vivekananda tried to portray Hinduism as embracing all religions as equally valid and being universally pluralistic and tolerant.
As a 21st century Hindu I don’t have to worry about this politics. I simply say it as it is.[/QUOTE]
I do not think so. He wrote that he received a mission from Mahavatar Babaji to explain the unity among religions. That Amen can be considered as a mantra for some Christian mystics would not infuriate me but I would not say that it is equivalent to OM. Personally I do not care a lot about religions per se and their harmony.
Philippe
Actually Amen in its meaning is closer to svaha though it sounds closer to OM.
I do not think so. He wrote that he received a mission from Mahavatar Babaji to explain the unity among religions. That Amen can be considered as a mantra for some Christian mystics would not infuriate me but I would not say that it is equivalent to OM. Personally I do not care a lot about religions per se and their harmony.
Philippe
It’s possible, these reinterpretations were common in the colonial period. It didn’t start from one person in particular. The knowledge some of these people had about Christianity was also very limited. If they had studied Christianity and the Abrahamic religions for 8 years in the middle east, like Sri Rama Ramanuja Acharya did, they would have known it was incompatible with Bharata Dharma.
I think the reasons for these reinterpretations is a combination of Hindu apology and polemics against the Christian threat in colonial India, politics to make Hinduism more acceptable to the West and rhetoric to persuade Western people to Hinduism.
If you read Swami Vivekananda you will find that while he never condemned Christianity openly in the West, he did in India when addressing Indians.
I am not in the situation of people like Swami Yogananda and Swami Vivekananda who lived in a time when they were subjects of colonial rule and could not cross a certain limit. Swami Yogananda and Swami Vivekananda would never have got the positive reception in the West they got, if they condemned Christianity. I am fortunately not living in that time, I am living in the 21st century as a free man with the right to free speech. I am going to be honest about what I really think and not sugar coat it or hide it just so I do not offend people.
It’s really a shame that stating facts about Christian history and practical implication of its theology and world view is deemed offensive. Tell me about living in denial! 
However I happen to sport a more diplomatic attitude because I know how much feeling is deposited in religious matter, so if a person is trying to show how Hinduism line as good alternatives, being incisive in a manner that will be badly perceived is not the best practice. But that’s just me.
Unfortunately feeling, passion, emotion, beliefs, faith and acceptance are part of all religions unlike union of the individual soul and the Supreme Soul.
[QUOTE=ray_killeen;61474]Unfortunately feeling, passion, emotion, beliefs, faith and acceptance are part of all religions [B]unlike union of the individual soul and the Supreme Soul.[/B][/QUOTE]
So if these ideas are not part of religion, what are they part of. Science? :o
[QUOTE=Sarvamaṅgalamaṅgalā;61476]So if these ideas are not part of religion, what are they part of. Science? :o[/QUOTE]
yogic sciences; the discipline by which such union is effected.
You can call it a science in the sense that it is a methodological discipline, but yoga is a religious science, not a secular one. Unless you understand yoga to be nothing more than a method to improve your posture, health, psychology, breath, control of mind/body. Basically that’s what modern yoga deals with and as far as purely secular interpretations of yoga can go.