There is no sound as precious as Om!

As you might have noticed, all sounds are made during the breath out and not breath in. While breath and sound has a very close relationship which I will elaborate upon in a while, do you also know that breath and emotions have a very close connection too. Have you noticed how your breath is when you are angry? Yes it is quite fast and short. Have you noticed the breath pattern when you feel Happy and peaceful? It is Slow incoming breath and you don't even notice it going out. Such connection though it is quite but natural, it has also been always a one way street where you feel a certain way and the breath changes. But Sudarshan Kriya taught by The Art of Living taps into the fact that when you breathe in certain pattern it has a profound say on your emotions and you are able to manage your emotional well being so naturally and easily.

Coming to the topic of the connection between breath and sound, every breath in energizes the body and every breath out gives you relaxation. Every sound made also as I mentioned above is a result of breath out. But have you noticed that every sound made has different effect on your body-mind complex? When you shout at a person out of anger, that sound drains you, whereas when you praise a person, those words actually uplift you. This is why praising is a divine quality. We praise somebody not to impress the other person. The very act of praising raises the energy in your system. This is the secret of hymns sung to the Lord. The Lord is not going to be extra happy with your few words of praise. It is for your own benefit that you need to praise the Lord or in general everyone and everything whenever you get a chance.

It is astonishing to notice the ancient scriptures have totally mastered the art of praising. You may have come across Lalitha Saharsranama, Vishnu Sahasranama, etc. These are nothing but 1000 different praises of various Gods and Godesses. After chanting all the names your feel electric at the end of it! This practice of praising has been in place in every culture throughout the world and they are being followed even today.

In Indian tradition, the seers of the past had even identified to the extent of knowing which particular sound carries what kind of energy. In fact in the language of Sanskrit, every word's pronunciation carries the meaning of the word itself by virtue of the sound produced. This is the reason why even if you don't understand some of the chantings in Sanskrit, it does not matter and it bestows the complete effect of the chant just the way it would if you know the meaning of it. And you might have noticed most of the chantings start with the sound Om.

Om is a phenomenon by itself and not just a sound. Om is the only sound that completely raises the energy of the system whereas all other sounds have a certain energy loss associated with them. In my opinion Om by itself is a Pranayama - the act that raises the subtle life force called Prana in the system. The act of chanting Om is amazing that while breath in itself energizes the system, the chanting which is while breathing out in turn also increases the energy in the system. It is all the way upwards movement of the energy and hence Om chanting itself uplifts One's energy levels to the peak. Often it makes one spaced out! Which is why Om is always associated with other chants like Om Nama Shivaya or Om Namo Narayanaya to make a person well grounded in spite of the uplifting energy. This is so scientific that one can write a complete thesis just on the sound Om itself! Om as you might have noticed consists of 3 syllables- Aah, Ooh and Mmh. The sound Aah has a prominent effect on the lower part of the body including the Genetals, abdomen and stomach. This sound is responsible for both the creative and procreative energy. The intuition that arises primarily from the solar plexus is strengthened by this very sound. The sound Ooh has a prominent effect in the chest region and it energizes the subtle force responsible for all the maintenance activities of the physical body including the functions of the heart and lungs. The sound Mmh is responsible to destroy the ignorance and bring about clarity in One's thoughts. In Hindu religion, these sounds are attributed to the gods - Brahma for the creative energy, Vishnu for the maintenance energy and Shiva for the destruction of ignorance. These sounds combined together becomes Om which bestows all the above said effects in combination. There is no sound which is as precious in the world as Om. Every region and religion of this world has this sound or something closer to this sound in their respective languages and customs. For example, Sikhs, Jains and Buddists chant Om as is while Abrahmic religions chants them as Amen, Ameen or Shalom. Nevertheless ancestors of any custom or religion never have missed realizing the profound effect of one sound which is Om!!!

Om Shanti Shanti Shanti! Jai Guru Dev!!!