April 26, 2014: The Imperishable is OM, and it is 'all this'. Everything else, whatever be of the past, present or future, is like an exposition, explanation or commentary on the meaning of this great Truth - the Imperishable Om. Sarvam Omkara eva: Everything is Om, indeed. This is how the Upanishad begins. Om itiyetadaksharam idam sarvam: All this, whatever is visible, whatever is cognizable, whatever can come within the purview of sense-perception, inference or verbal testimony, whatever can be comprehended under the single term, creation - all this is Om.

We have been reciting 'Om' many a time, and it is a custom with most of us to greet one another with Om, to recite anything with Om and start Japa of any Mantra with the chanting of Om. The implication is that Om comprehends all things and it makes also a very auspicious beginning to everything. OM and ATHA are supposed to be two auspicious terms: 'Om, Atha; Om, Atha; Om, Atha; Om;' do we recite daily. In the beginning, Om is supposed to have been the first vibratory sound that emanated as the seed of creation. Om is Pranava. It is a Bija-Mantra for all the other Mantras, whether Vaidika or Tantrika. In the recitation of Om we comprehend not merely all meaning but also all language. All verbal implication as well as objective reference is included in Om. Om is both Nama and Rupa, name as well as form. It is not merely a sound, though it is also a sound, and a very important aspect of Om that you have to bear in mind is that Om is not merely a chant or a recitation, a word or a part of human language but it is something more than all this. It is something which exists by its own right, something which is usually called "Vastu Tantra", as distinguished from "Purusha Tantra"; - that which exists not because it has a reference to anything else but because it is something by itself. We do not create Om by a chanting of it, but we only produce a vibration sympathetic with the vibration that is already there by its own right and which is called Om. Om is a cosmic vibration. It is not a chant made by us, created by us or initiated by us. Why do we chant Om? To establish a connection between ourselves and that which exists by its own right and which manifests itself as a sound-vibration in the form of Om.

                                                                                ---Excerpts from Sri Paripurnananda swami’s preaching