The meaning of Aum

There have been many discussions about the significance and meaning of Aum. the following is a widely believed interpretation of Aum:

Of all names of God, Aum is the Supreme. Aum (also Om) is the most comprehensive name of God. Other names encompass only some aspects of God. That is the reason why Om signifies only God and nothing else where as other names stand for other things as well.

The word AUM (OM) is made up of three letters that express the three great aspects of GOD:

A - denotes the power of God to create the Universe.

U - denotes the power of God to preserve the Universe.

M - denotes the power of God to dissolve the Universe.

On this basis, God is known to Hindus by the three other names:

A - Brahma (Creator)

U - Vishnu (Preserver)

M - Shiva (Destroyer)

The symbol that you see on the scroll at the top of this page shows the various styles in which AUM is written. The symbol is in Devanagri script, a style of writing that is common to many of India's languages. However, we cannot say that the symbol is of any particular linguistic origin - it is not even Sanskrit, the ancient language of India. The symbol, like the meaning, is universal and symbolizes the formless aspect of God.

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