This word O’M is a monosyllable of very profound import. It is supposed to be so holy and awful, like the name Jehovah of the Jews, as not to be guiltlessly pronounced, even by a priest. It must be contemplated, or recited mentally; and it then is said to excite many efficacious aspirations. This awful monosyllable is triliteral, and perhaps therefore better written AUM, for three Sanscrit letters do in fact compose it: but in composition A and U coalesce in O. The first letter is supposed to be symbolical of Brahma, the creative power of the Deity; the second of Vishnu, the preserver; and the last of Siva, the destroyer or renovator. As all the inferior deities of the Hindoos are avataras or manifestation of, and resolve themselves into those three superior powers, so those superior powers resolve themselves ultimately into Brahm, or the supreme being, of whom the sun is the most perfect and glorious murti, or image. A combination of the three symbolical letters forms, therefore, a hieroglyphical representation of the union of the three powers or attributes, and a word that, if uttered, would be nearly expressed by our letters A U M, or O O M, dwelling a little on each letter. A name of Parvati, the consort of Siva, is Uma or Ooma, and it is perhaps hence derivable; as well as Omkar, one of the most sacred places of pilgrimage in India, dedicated to the worship of this mysterious union. In the Institutes of Menu, many verses occur denoting the importance of this monosyllable, and of a text of the Veda closely connected with it, called the Gayatri. Among those verses are the following: Chap. ii, v. 74. “A Brahman beginning and ending a lecture on the Veda, must always pronounce to himself the syllable OM: for unless the syllable OM precede, his learning will slip away from him; and unless it follow, nothing will be long retained.” A commentator on this verse says, “As the leaf of the palasa is supported by a single pedicle, so is this universe upheld by the syllable OM, a symbol of the supreme Brahm.” 76. “Brahma milked out as it were, from the three Vedas the letter A, the letter U, and the letter M, which form by their coalition the triliteral monosyllable, together with three mysterious words, _bhur_, _bhuva_, and _siver_.” These words mean earth, sky, and heaven, and are called the vyahritis. 77. “From the three Vedas, also, the Lord of creatures incomprehensibly exalted, successively milked out the three measures of that ineffable text beginning with the word _tad_, and entitled Savitri or Gayatri.” 78. “A priest who shall know the Veda, and shall pronounce to himself, both morning and evening, that syllable, and that holy text, preceded by the three words, shall attain the sanctity which the Veda confers.” 79. “And a twice born man who shall a thousand times repeat those three (OM, the vyahritis, and the gayatri), apart from the multitude, shall be released in a month from a great offence, as a snake from his slough.”