26/04/2020
All that is past, present, or future is verily . And whatever is beyond the three periods is also verily .
's own words:
The commentator says the manifesting word of God is . Why does he emphasize this word? There are hundreds of words for God. One thought is connected with a thousand words; the idea "God" is connected with hundreds of words, and each one stands as a symbol for God. Very good. But there must be a generalization among all these words, some substratum, some common ground of all these symbols, and that which is the common symbol will be the best, and will really represent them all.
In making a sound we use the larynx and the palate as a sounding board. Is there any material sound of which all other sounds must be manifestations, one which is the natural sound? (Aum) is such a sound, the basis of all sounds.
The first letter, A, is the root sound, the key, pronounced without touching any part of the tongue or palate; M represents the last sound in the series, being produced by the closed lips, and the U rolls from the very root to the end of the sounding board of the mouth. Thus, represents the whole phenomena of sound-producing. As such, it must be the natural symbol, the matrix of all the various sounds. It denotes the whole range and possibility of all the words that can be made.
Apart from these speculations, we see that around this word are centered all the different religious ideas in India; all the various religious ideas of the Vedas have gathered themselves round this word . What has that to do with America and England, or any other country? Simply this, that the word has been retained at every stage of religious growth in India, and it has been manipulated to mean all the various ideas about God. Monists, dualists, mono-dualists, separatists, and even atheists took up this . has become the one symbol for the religious aspiration of the vast majority of human beings.
Take, for instance, the English word God. It covers only a limited function, and if you go beyond it, you have to add adjectives, to make it Personal, or Impersonal, or Absolute God. So with the words for God in every other language; their signification is very small. This word , however, has around it all the various significances. As such it should be accepted by everyone.
(Raja Yoga, commentary on Yoga Sutra 1:27)
The syllable symbolizes both the spheres:
the phenomenal, visible sphere of the 'jagat', wherein the manifestations of time and space appear and perish, and the transcendent, timeless sphere of the Imperishable Being, which is beyond and yet one with it.
