OSHO

AUM
“The moment you enter into your being you will be surprised to find that there is a constant sound that appears like 'om'. Mohammedans have heard it as 'amin' -- it is om; Christians have heard it as 'amen'; it is the same sound. Hence the Christian, the Mohammedan, the Hindu, the Jaina, the Buddhist, they all end their prayers with om. The prayer is bound to end in om; the prayer makes you more and more silent... finally there is nothing but om. All Hindu scriptures end with OM, SHANTIH, SHANTIH, SHANTIH -- om, peace, peace, peace. This is the word 'om'.”
- The Dhammapada: The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3, Chapter #9

“The sound of Om is heard only when your mind is completely silent, when you have gone beyond all language, all thinking, when there is pure silence, not even a ripple. Suddenly you hear a music. There is no instrument playing it. It seems it is simply the very heartbeat of existence. That's why it doesn't matter whether someone is a Buddhist or a Hindu or a Jaina. It does not depend on your philosophy, on your religion. It depends on the depth of your reach towards your very inner center. There, suddenly, you are overwhelmed.
It is not exactly Om, but Om comes the closest to expressing the sound. And the sound has been called the divine sound because it is not man-made. It is eternally herenow. Whoever wants to enter into the stream of eternal existence is bound to hear it. It says nothing, but it vibrates your being to such joy, to such celebration, to such dance that you have never dreamt of before.”
- Hari Om Tat Sat, Chapter #1

“In Sanskrit, aum is the symbol for the whole universe. It carries three basic sounds: a-u-m. Through these three basic sounds all the sounds have evolved. So aum is the basic sound, the synthesis of all the basic roots. That's why Hindus have been saying that aum is the secret mantra, the greatest mantra, because it implies the whole existence.
The three English words, omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, are derived from aum. They mean one who has become as powerful as aum, one who has become as knowing as aum, one who has become as present as aum -- one who has become universal, one who has become the all.”
- The Mustard Seed: My Most Loved Gospel on Jesus, Chapter #21

“Now scientists, physicists particularly, have discovered that existence consists only of vibrations. They call it ‘vibrations of electricity'. It does not matter what name you give, what jargon you use, but vibration means sound. That is the meaning of AUM.

AUM is the primordial sound of which the whole universe consists; we are made of music. Hence if we move into anything totally, only the music is left and everything else disappears because music is the stuff we are made of; all else is arbitrary, artificial, invented. Only the music hidden in our souls is not invented; it is part of God. God is the musician and we are his music. He is the dancer and we are his dance. He is the poet and we are his poetry. He is the singer and we are his song. This is the meaning of AUM.”

“It is called ANAHAT NAD; ANAHAT NAD means unstruck sound. There are two kinds of sounds. When you play on a sitar it is a struck sound; duality is involved, your hands and the strings, and you have to strike, then the sound is created. It is a little bit violent -- you are being violent with the strings. You are not allowing them to rest, you are disturbing their sleep. And there is a conflict involved with your hands; there is a fight going on between the musician and his instrument.
AUM is the unstruck sound; there is no instrument. When you become absolutely silent, suddenly it is there.

Zen people have the right expression for it; they call it ‘the sound of one hand clapping'. If two hands are there, of course, the clapping is easy, but one hand clapping and the sound of one hand clapping seems to be absurd -- but they are truly expressing the reality. When you go inside and you are absolutely silent you hear for the first time the inner music.”
- Philosophia Ultima, Chapter #1

“AUM consists of three sounds and one anuswar. Anuswar is a very subtle sound; it represents a kind of humming. When you say, "AU", that M prolonged, that humming sound that goes on reverberating, is the anuswar. Anuswar means just a dot; that too represents something. So AUM consists of four things: three visible, A,U,M, and the fourth invisible the rhythmic, humming shadow.

These four represent the whole of Indian metaphysics. "A" represents one state of the mind, when you are awake, the waking consciousness. "U" represents when you are dreaming, the dreaming consciousness. "M" represents when you are fast asleep, dreamlessly asleep -- sushupti -- deep, profound dreamless sleep. These are the three states of the human mind, human consciousness.

And the anuswar, the dot -- that humming sound that goes on reverberating -- that represents the fourth, turiya, the transcendental state when you are neither asleep nor awake nor dreaming, when you are just a witness to all that is happening: the state of a Buddha or a Christ, the state where I am, where one can declare oneself Bhagwan.”

“And, symbolically, AUM represents your waking consciousness, your dreaming consciousness, your sleeping consciousness, and the beyond -- the turiya -- the fourth state, where one becomes Bhagwan, where one becomes Christ, Buddha, where one is one with totality. It is a tremendously important formula; it contains the whole metaphysics of the East. But it is not a mantra. Please never repeat it. Repeating won't help; it will deceive you.”
- The Secret, Chapter #4

“And the heart center is the center from where the soundless sound arises. If you relax into the heart center, you will hear OMKAR, AUM. That is a great discovery. Those who have entered the heart, they hear a continuous chanting inside their being which sounds like aum. Have you ever heard anything like a chanting which goes on by itself -- not that you DO it.

That's why I am not in favor of mantras. You can go on chanting aum, aum, aum, and you can create a mental substitute for the heart. It is not going to help. It is a deception. And you can go on chanting for years, and you can create a false sound within yourself as if your heart is speaking -- it is not. To know the heart you are not to chant aum -- you have just to be silent. One day, suddenly the mantra is there. One day, when you have fallen silent, suddenly you hear the sound is coming from nowhere. It is arising out of you from the innermost core. It is the sound of your inner silence. Just as in a silent night, there is a certain sound, the sound of the silence, exactly like that on a very, very much deeper level a sound arises in you.
It arises -- let me remind you again and again -- it is not that you bring it in; it is not that you repeat aum, aum. No, you don't say a single word. You are simply quiet. You are simply silent. And it bursts forth like a spring... suddenly it starts flowing, it is there. You hear it -- you don't say it, you hear it.”
- The Tantra Vision, Vol 1, Chapter #9