The Path, Vol. I.—1886-'7.: A Magazine Devoted to the Brotherhood of Humanity, Theosophy in America, and the Study of Occult Science, Philosophy, and Aryan Literature.Various
Religion
The Path, Vol. I.—1886-'7.: A Magazine Devoted to the Brotherhood of Humanity, Theosophy in America, and the Study of Occult Science, Philosophy, and Aryan Literature.
Various
Theosophy -- Periodicals
It is then commanded to meditate on this syllable as the breath, of two
kinds, in the body—the vital breath and the mere breath in the mouth
or lungs, for by this meditation come knowledge and proper performance
of sacrifice. In verse 10 is found: “Now, therefore, it would seem to
follow that both he who knows the true meaning of OM, and he who does
not, perform the same sacrifice. But this is not so, for knowledge
and ignorance are different. The sacrifice which a man performs with
knowledge, faith and the Upanishad is more powerful.”
Outwardly the same sacrifice is performed by both, but that performed
by him who has knowledge, and has meditated on the secret meaning of
OM partakes of the qualities inhering in OM, which need just that
knowledge and faith as the medium through which they may become visible
and active. If a jeweler and a mere ploughman sell a precious stone,
the knowledge of the former bears better fruit than the ignorance of
the latter.
Shankaracharya in his _Sharir Bhashya_, dwells largely on OM, and in
the _Vayu Purana_, a whole chapter is devoted to it. Now as Vayu is
air, we can see in what direction the minds of those who were concerned
with that purana were tending. They were analyzing sound, which will
lead to discoveries of interest regarding the human spiritual and
physical constitution. In sound is tone, and tone is one of the most
important and deep reaching of all natural things. By tone, the natural
man, and the child, express the feelings, just as animals in their
tones make known their nature. The tone of the voice of the tiger is
quite different from that of the dove, as different as their natures
are from each other, and if the sights, sounds and objects in the
natural world mean anything, or point the way to any laws underlying
these differences, then there is nothing puerile in considering the
meaning of tone.
The Padma Purana says that: “The syllable OM is the leader of all
prayers; let it therefore be employed in the beginning of all prayers,”
and Manu, in his laws, ordains: “A Brahmin, at the beginning and end
of a lesson on the Vedas, must always pronounce the syllable OM, for
unless OM precede, his learning will slip away from him, and unless it
follows, nothing will be long retained.”
The celebrated Hindoo Raja, Ramohun Roy, in a treatise on this letter,
says:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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