When we look up the sky, we are awestruck at its unimaginable vastness and magnitude with zillions of stars moving at rapid pace – and not a sound! What we see is not even a speck of the entire creation! Our Earth is just a dot and even invisible beyond some distance in the sky. This is one part of the ‘Anda’ (The structure of the cosmic creation) and we have millions of Anda:s and Bramha:ndas! Our ve:dic texts refer to such ‘big’ things as Bramha.
But Bramha has other meanings too. And one of its meanings is the ‘Omka:ra’. Swamiji explains in the detail the meaning and co-relation between the Omkara and Bramha.
Sri Krishna, in Bhagavad Gita, says aum iti eka aksharam brahma, it means Om is Bramha and Bramha is the essence of Ve:dam. But what is Omka:ram? And why Bramha is said as Ve:dam? Word Bramha also means Big. There are many things which are big. For example a chair is bigger than stool, the room is bigger than ourselves. Our planet Earth is bigger than all things on it! And Sky is even bigger.
But when we realize that this entire creation is just as much as only a pore on HIS divine Body, God becomes infinitely large in our relative comparison of objects. So God can now be referred to as ‘Bramha’. But, the magnificent God, is bounded in our infinitesimal soul as parama:tma (super soul) also. This has, in a way, made ‘us’ bigger than God Himself ! Now we are the Bramhas!
We can see, how Bramha carries so many meanings: Body, Soul, Mind, Biggest thing, Ve:da, Nature. The meaning is contextual and also depends on the seeker. The meaning of the verses is manifested depending on the person who touches it. It is like understanding a verse in its context. When we miss the context, we will miss the actual meaning. There is small story mentioned in our scriptures about this:
A person was once teaching Samskrutham language to his kid. He taught a new word “Saindhavam”
Saindhavam has two meanings: Salt, Horse
Later in the evening when the teacher was having his food, he called his son and said “Saindhavama:naya”. (Bring “Saindhavam”)
Accordingly , the son brought a horse! thinking the meaning of Saindhavam to be a horse!
His father was upset and explained that it meant ‘salt’. Then the next day, after breakfast, the teacher wanted to go to the King’s court and so, called his son and asked him to bring the horse, and said:“Ba:laka A:naya Saindhavam”
And this time, the son remembered the meaning of Saindhavamas ‘salt’ and brought a huge plate of salt! This happens to be a bad omen before starting a travel. The father was upset again. He was unhappy that the son has not learnt the “prakarana jna:nam” (meaning in context) of words.
To summarize it all, The essence of Ve:dam is Omka:ram known as Bramha.
So let’s string the Omka:ram as the highest sa:dhana (practice), and aim it towards the supreme most direction – God
This is Dhanurmasam.
-From the discourse of Sri Chinna Jeeyar Swamiji
