AUM

Brahma said

Best of sages, our pride gone, we longed to see the noble god. We kept standing there, sage. Bhava Shambhu, protector of the afflicted, took pity on us, he who takes pride from the proud, lord of all and undecaying. Then a nada arose there, whose only attribute was sound. This "Aum" was marked only by its long, drawn-out quality, and the best of the gods spoke it beautifully. "What is this great sound?" I wondered as I stood. Vishnu, revered by all, content and free of enmity, saw the eternal one come forth from the right side of the lingam. First came the letter "A," then "U," then "M," and from the middle of "M" the nada stretched to the end of "Aum." To the right of the first letter he saw the sun's disc. Supreme rishi, a blazing fire lay above "U," and a moon disc stood in the middle of "M." Above all this he saw the brahman, the colour of pure crystal, stainless, beyond turiya, formless, beyond hardship and the pairs of opposites, alone and void, without outside or inside yet inside the outer and outside the inner. It had no beginning, middle or end; it was the source of bliss, truth, bliss and amrita, the supreme brahman, the refuge. "Where did it come from?" He wanted to find the origin of this column of fire and to go down its matchless length. So he sank himself in the Vedic sound and meditated on the self that pervades the universe. Rishi, then a rishi came there and reminded him of the truth. Vishnu understood that this rishi was Parameshvara himself, Mahadeva, the supreme brahman in his supreme form as the Word. Rudra is beyond thought and unreachable by words or mind, which turn back unable to arrive. He can be expressed only through that single syllable, which expresses him; he is amrita, the supreme cause, truth, bliss and amrita, the supreme brahman, greater than the greatest. In that syllable, "A" is the seed of the illustrious one born from the egg, "U" stands for Hari the supreme cause, and "M" for the illustrious Nilalohita. "A" is the creator, "U" the enchanter, and "M" the one who always grants favour. The lord called "M" is the original seed, though "A" is called the seed. "U" is Hari, the womb and lord of Pradhana and Purusha. But the original seed, the secondary seed, the womb and the sound are all really Maheshvara. By his own wish that original seed divides his self and stands. The lord called the seed, "A," arose from that original seed of the lingam, was cast into the womb of "U" and spread in all directions. It became a golden egg, with no sign by which to distinguish it. That divine egg floated on the water for many years. At the end of a thousand years it split in two and Aja arose. The egg floating on the water was struck by Ishvara himself. Its auspicious golden upper part became the sky and its lower part the earth, with its five characteristics.

From that egg was born the four-faced one called Kah, maker of all worlds. So the lord divided himself in three. Those deeply versed in the Yajur Veda say "Aum, Aum." The Rig and Sama Vedas, hearing the Yajur words, lovingly agreed and named the two of us Hari and Brahma. So, as far as we could, we came to know the lord of the gods, and praised Maheshvara, source of great prosperity, with mantras. Then, with me, the illustrious protector of the universe saw another form of extraordinary beauty. Sage, it had five faces and ten arms, fair as camphor, with many kinds of brilliance and adorned with many ornaments, wide-reaching, valiant, with every mark of a great being. Seeing that supreme form, Hari and I were satisfied. The illustrious Parameshvara Mahesha, pleased, stood smiling and told us of his divine form made of sound. The Sanskrit alphabet, letter by letter, is his body: its first sounds are his head and brow; the next pairs are his eyes, ears, cheeks, nostrils, lips, teeth and palates; the first two groups of five consonants are his right and left hands; the next groups are his legs; then come his belly, his two flanks, his shoulders, his heart, the seven dhatus of his body, his navel and his nose. So his form is full of sound. Though he has no gunas, these are the expression of gunas in his self. Seeing him with Uma, Hari and I were content. So we saw Mahesha Shiva in his body of the Word. Vishnu and I bowed to him and looked up again.

The Aumkara mantra has five parts and is pure as crystal; it is auspicious and contains the thirty-eight syllables. He appeared in a cloud-like form with the powerful gayatri, which when mastered brings dharma and wealth, with twenty-four excellent syllables in four supreme parts. The panchasita mantra, of thirty auspicious syllables in eight parts, is generally used for hostile rites. The Yajur mantra of twenty-five auspicious syllables in eight parts serves happiness and peace. The excellent mantra of sixty-one syllables in thirteen parts, with the word "bala" at its start, brings origin, growth and destruction. Bhagavan Hari received the supreme five-syllable mantra, the chintamani mantra, the dakshinamurti mantra and "tattvamasi" as Hara's great words, and did japa with them. Bhagavan Vishnu and I were delighted at having seen him in his forms of parts, syllables, Rig, Yajur and Sama hymns, Ishana, the highest form of Isha, the ancient Purusha, gentle Aghora in the heart, Sadashiva the ever-secret, Mahadeva of beautiful feet, the one adorned with lords among serpents, Shiva with legs, eyes and hands on every side, Brahma's lord, and the cause of creation, preservation and destruction. With supreme words we praised Samba Ishvara, giver of boons.