Om Symbol

This page has little mythology! The Om symbol is discussed here as a symbol (letter/character) and also as a word.

Hindi and Sanskrit words are written in Roman as well as in DevaNagari Alphabet.

What is Om?

It is the smallest mantra (मंत्र; mantraa). It is also called pranav-mantra. Pranav (प्रणव; praNNav) means fundamental.

A mantra is a word or a phrase used for meditation and chanting.

A shloka (श्‍लोक; shlok) is a verse. Generally people use the words - 'mantra' and 'shloka' as synonyms!

Sacred ancient Indian texts like Vedas (वेद; ved), are collections of shlokas. Some of these shlokas are used as mantras.

It is a common practice to begin other mantras with 'Om'. E.g. 'Om Namah Shivaya' (ॐ नमः शिवाय; Om namah shivaaya), 'Om Shanti Shanti' (ओम शांति शांति; Om shaanti shaanti).

Many religions like 'Hinduism', 'Buddhism', 'Sikhism' and 'Jainism' originated from India. According to these religions, 'Om' is the main sound. Religious minded Hindus believe that 'Om' is the ultimate, hyper or super-natural sound!

Using DevaNagari alphabet, this word can be written as 'ओम्' or 'ओम'. It is general practice in DevaNagari to drop the last 'halant' (i.e. '्'). So 'ओम' is generally preferred over 'ओम्' .

Generally the spelling 'ओम' is used in literature (as noun), while the sign/symbol 'ॐ' is used for religious purposes.

The Meaning of Om

What was the precise meaning of the word 'Om' is not known! It is certainly related to the God/Heaven, but in what way is yet to be found out!

Gayatri Mantra (गायत्री मंत्र; gaayatree maNtra) like many other vedik shlokas starts with Om. That's why I assumed that Om (ओम) means 'My Lord' or 'Oh, our God' ('हे परमेश्वर').

The Om symbol

An 'Om symbol' is a sign (glyph, shape) to write (scribe, represent) the 'Om' sound.

'Om symbol' is called 'Omkar' (ओम्-कार; Omkaar) or 'Onkar' (ओंकार; ONkaar). ओंकार can be written as ओँकार (ONnkaar).

As discussed earlier, the 'Om' sound can be written as 'ओम' in DevaNagari. So 'ॐ' is a kind of shortcut of the word 'ओम' in DevaNagari and other Indic scripts.

People use this sign/symbol for meditation and worship.

Om symbol is drawn mostly as in the picture below or as 'ॐ'.

If you want a bigger picture of the 'Om symbol', click the above picture.

Is Om a religious symbol?

YES. It is main religious symbol for Hindus and Buddhists (Bauddh; बौद्ध). Sikhs have a derived form called एक ओंकार 'Ek ONkaar'.

In Hindi and Sanskrit,
shape = AAkaar (आकार) or AAkRIti (आकृति)
glyph = AkShar (अ‍क्षर) or AkSharaakRiti (अ‍क्षराकृति)
indicate = saNket (संकेत)
symbol = saNket + AkShar (संकेत-अक्षर)
saNket + AkShar = saNketaakShar (संकेताक्षर)
sign = chihna (चिह्न)

In Hindi 'dharma' means religion. So it is mainly a religious symbol (dhaarmik chihn; धार्मिक चिह्न).

What is AUM?

As per the Sanskrit/Hindi grammar ('vyaakaraNN'; व्याकरण) the vowel 'O' (ओ) is sometimes substituted for two consecutive vowels 'A' (अ) and 'U' (उ), so some people also spell AUM ('AUm') instead of 'Om'.

What is ओ३म् (O3m)?

Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati (महर्षि दयानन्द सरस्वती; maharShi dayaanand sarasvatee) was founder of the 'Arya Samaj'. He used to write 'ओ३म्' instead of 'ओम'. The '३' (DevaNagari digit 3) between 'O' and 'm' is called 'ploot' (प्लूत). Dayanand used 'ploot' to emphasize long pronunciation of 'O'. Only followers of Dayanand Saraswati (members of 'Arya Samaj') write 'ओ३म्' instead of '‍ॐ'.

The syllable that is prior to a ploot is pronounced for a longer time/period (more than double). So 'ओ३म' is to be pronounced as OOOm (o..m).

Is Om the most powerful symbol?

There is no scientific study to prove that ॐ is better or more powerful than any other symbol or letter for meditation etc. No symbol can really bring good luck, wealth or power. This symbol is sometimes misused by greedy preachers/god-man.

Can Om symbol help you in meditation?

If a dark circle / point can help you in meditation then the Om symbol will also help.

Flipped or reversed Om

There is no sense in doing that. Some Hindus may feel offended. I read somewhere that a reverse Om brings bad luck. Luckily most Hindus do not believe in such nonsense.