|
|
|
The meaning of the Logo:
The blue symbol above is called the
Pranava.
It is the name of the sacred syllable
AUM or OM or Hum
or
Amin
or Amen. It is the sacred word of the Vedas, symbol of God― Brahman, the creative sound. It represents the principle of Truth that is present in all beings. It is responsible for creation, sustenance and dissolution.
The Aum of the Vedas became the
sacred word Hum
of the Tibetans; Amin
of the Moslems; and Amen of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Jews and
Christians. AUM is the basis of all sounds. Its three letters represent the three worlds and every living being comprises three aspects - the gross earth, the subtle atmosphere and the causal heaven as well as the powers of creation, preservation and destruction or Generation - Organization - Dissolution.
The physical
represents the gross aspect. The same principle of divinity
is present in all three levels. Without clay a pot can not be made.
Likewise, without divinity, there can be no world. Without the
Creator, there can be no creation. The creator can be compared to
thread and the creation to cloth. The Creator is the embodiment of
gross, subtle and causal aspects. When one contemplates on God, one
should transcend the mind. By merely having threads, one cannot make
cloth. They have to be interwoven. Likewise, self-effort
and divine grace, both are essential in order to achieve the desired result.
The Subtle body is the source from which our words and deeds
originate.
Aum
is explained in the Upanishads as representing the vast Cosmos and its
parts, including past, present and future. It is from this primal vibration from which all
physical, mental and spiritual manifestations come forth. This sound can be heard as the
sound of one's own nervous system.
Meditators and mystics
hear it constantly, very much like the sound made by an electrical transformer or a swarm
of bees, or a roaring river or the rushing of the sea. It is a strong, inner experience,
one that yogis hold with great reverence. It is the word
from which Amen
derived. Amen colloquially means 'so be it' or 'let it be done'. Listen for this sound in your quietest moments and you will learn to recognize it as a daily encounter with the Divine that lives within all human beings, within all creatures, within all things, within all existence.
"You must be the change you wish to see in the
world." - Gandhi |
