What does "OM" mean?

Om is the original and most powerful mantra or vibration. Om represents God, the universe and enlightenment. It is the sound the universe made when it was created.

"Om - The name om can be split into three letters. A,U,M. A is the beginning of all sounds. Every language begins with the letter A or "ah". A is pronounced by simply opening the mouth and making a sound. That sound is produced in the throat where the tongue is rooted. So audible sound begins with A. Then the sound comes forward between the tongue and the palate up to the lips U or "oo" is produced. The closing the lips produces the M. So the creation is A, the preservation is U and the culmination is M. So A-U-M includes the entire process of sound, and all the sounds are contained in it. Thus, OM, is the origin, or seed, from which all other sounds and words come. In other words, Om is dormant in all other words."

THE AUM/OM MANTRA

This is Udhgeeth Pranayam (The 6th Pranayam). The two syllables Au & M should be pronounced in one continuous breath as 80% Au and 20% M. The lips will close gently as you say the M sound.

There is a verse in the Vedas:

Prajapati vai idam agra asit
In the beginning was Prajapati, the Brahman
Tasya vak dvitiya asit
With whom was the Word
Vag vai Paraman Brahma
And the Word was verily the Supreme Brahman


Thus, in the Maitrayana Upanishad, after it has been said that there is one Brahman without words and a second, a word-Brahman, we are told that the word is the syllable AUM/OM. A specific Word is not declared in the fourth Gospel of the New Testament (Gospel of St. John) although we see the following verse repeated in the Bible: ‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.’

The sound of AUM/OM is also called ‘Pranava’, meaning, that it is something that pervades life, existent as a vibration (dwani) - throughout creation and the universe - in every single minutest atom and runs through our prana or breath.

OM represents the Self (Atma) which is the Supreme Nondual Reality (Advait Purukha). The Self is known in four states, namely, the waking state, the dream state, the deep-sleep state, and the fourth state, called the turiya. The first three states are represented in the three sounds of OM (i.e., A, U, and M), and the fourth state - which is the silence - that follows the syllable.

AUM also expresses the Trinity or 3 qualities of GOD. AUM IS GOD.

A=Akar (Creator) G = Generator (BRAHMA, Our Father in Heaven)
U=Ukar (Preserver) O = Operator (VISHNU, The Sustainer)
M=Makar (Dissolver) D = Destroyer (SHIV, The Annihilator)