In our last
lesson I was set the task of meditating on the meaning of the word
‘Ohm’. I would like to share the results of my
studies...
At first I
thought the word ‘Ohm’ might be of elvish origin
and sought to find its meaning from others. I asked people if they knew
the meaning and also looked into translations of elvish, dwarvish and
the many other languages of the land. My search was fruitless, I
couldn’t discover its meaning there. So I decided to actually
use the word as I meditated, as I had seen many other monks do. I sat
quietly, closed my eyes and chanted the word over and over. At first
the word acted simply as something to fix the mind on to the exclusion
of all daily thoughts.
As I chanted
further, the word itself seemed to set up a vibration within my body
that harmonized with the beating of my heart and each inhalation and
exhalation of breath. This in itself creates both a cleansing and
spiritual feeling. I found the silence between each repetition a time
of peace and clarity.
I hoped that
having cleared my mind and by focusing on the simple word
‘Ohm’, its meaning would come to me. However,
though a useful tool to improve my meditation, the true meaning of
‘Ohm’ still eluded me.
Unperturbed, I
thought of what Brother Kulthesu had said in our last lesson - that we
can also consider what something is by considering what it is not. If I
could not fix the meaning of the word ‘Ohm’ by
specifying what it is, perhaps I could do so by specifying what it is
not. In this case, the word ‘Ohm’ had no defined
meaning at all, so what it is not is all the other words and meanings
that I could think of.
It was then
that I discovered what the word ‘Ohm’ represented
to me. It means everything, the whole universe and all within it, be it
physical, mental or spiritual. The simple act of chanting it opens the
mind to the whole world around us and allows meditations to be deeper
and more effective.
As happens so
often, by focusing on a small part of the picture I had not
comprehended the full scope of the canvas. To try and constrain the
word ‘Ohm’ with a specific meaning robs it of its
power.
Sister
Sunflower
"Let your heart guide you. It whispers, so listen
closely."
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