A
common designation of the word Om--for instance, in the last-named
passages of the Bhagavadgita is the word Pranava, which comes from a
so-called radical nu, "praise," with the prefix pra amongst other
meanings implying emphasis, and, therefore, literally means "eulogium,
emphatic praise." Although Om, in its original sense as a word of solemn
or emphatic assent, is, properly speaking, restricted to the Vedic
literature, it deserves notice that it is now-a-days often used by the
natives of India in the sense of "yes," without, of course, any allusion
to the mystic properties which are ascribed to it in the religious
works. Monier Williams gives the following account of the mystic
syllable Om: "When by means of repeating the syllable Om, which
originally seems to have meant 'that' or 'yes,' they had arrived at a
certain degree of mental tranquillity, the question arose what was meant
by this Om, and to this various answers were given according as the mind
was to be led up to higher and higher objects. Thus, in one passage, we
are told at first that Om is the beginning of the Veda, or as we have to
deal with an Upanishad of the Shama Veda, the beginning of the Shama
Veda; so that he who meditates on Om may be supposed to be meditating
on the whole of the Shama Veda.
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