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Part 1: The Sound of Creation: OM and the States of Consciousness So, are we all together again? Good, then let us continue. I thought we would begin the second part once more with chanting Om. Similarly, just like we did before, as a collective, continuous Om, but please not too loud. This time, I would like to read a text into your chanting of Om, which is by Svāmījī. He has often, when leading meditations, said, "Now we will chant OM," and then no OM comes; instead, first there is a very long explanation. One of these long explanations, which is very beautiful from Svāmījī, I once elaborated. That means that while we chant OM, I am, so to speak, speaking Swāmījī’s words. Okay, and when the text is finished, we will sing a little more and then slowly come to the end. So please prepare, close your eyes, and relax. Feel free to also visualize OM mentally. You know the form of OM and connect with OM deeply within yourself. Continue. Swāmījī’s words about OM. OM is the divine Name. OM is God, is the light, prāṇa, the life. OM is the beginning, the middle, and the end. The trinity in one. Chanting Ohm purifies the atmosphere. It illuminates your inner space. It fills every cell of your body with cosmic energy. Chanting Ohm purifies the nāḍīs and activates the cakras. Sing Ohm very consciously. Relax your body and your breath. Withdraw your mind and leave all worldly thoughts and problems behind you. Withdraw your sense organs from the outer world into the inner world. Observe your inner space with closed eyes. Observe how the sound of Ohm arises in the navel as a subtle vibration, which we call Para. How this vibration then rises to the throat, what we call Paśyantī, and further up to the lips, where it is then articulated, Vaikharī. But in less than a second, the sound then reaches the brain and creates a vibration throughout the entire head, which you can especially feel in your eyebrow center. When this vibration touches the Sahasrāra Cakra at the crown of the head, it is reflected in the form of light. This light permeates the entire body and forms a protective sheath around your entire existence, encompassing your physical, astral, and causal bodies. This protective sheath shields you from negative cosmic energy. She protects your meditation and enables you to move completely freely and fearlessly within the inner space of your consciousness. The resonance tears through the space into infinity, and with it, your consciousness expands throughout the universe. This Om vibration travels through space for all eternity and paves a beautiful path for you. Those were just some inspiring words from Svāmījī. And there are still things in there that we might be able to use further here for our overview. We also had some additional indications in the text we discussed, which we have not yet fully explored. It was said that A, the first script language corresponds to the waking state, because it pervades everything and one is at the beginning. U, because it occupies a middle position. That means we have yet another point here that we can add. Beginning, middle, yes, absolutely. This has something to do with that, which we also still have, which we haven’t exactly written down yet because it is implicit, but perhaps it would be good to make it clear once again. He says here that the waking consciousness is aware of the external objects, the gross physical objects. So this is, so to speak, the outer world, the inner world, and deep sleep—how should one put it? That is difficult to say. We now need to try a little to somehow bring together the dissolved world. But Svāmījī gives us further guidance. He is now speaking here about the—where was it—the dream state, we were talking about the dream world, weren’t we? Yes, exactly, he mentions here your entire— it forms a protective sheath around your entire existence, and then he says around your physical, astral, and causal bodies. I think that is essentially what it is all about. Here in the physical world, we are identified with our physical body; in the dream state, in the astral world, we are identified with our subtle body; and in deep sleep, so to speak, we are actually on the level of the causal body. That would then be, what shall we call it? The causal body. So I think we can definitely add that. Identification with the physical body? Yes, it doesn’t matter in the legend. We can also use the original terms. That would then be Sthūla-Śarīra, Sūkṣma-Śarīra, and Kāraṇa-Śarīra. You are welcome to add to it if you wish. Physical body. And that is then the Sthūla in Sanskrit. Sthūla-Śarīra. Sthūla means something like gross. Then the astral body, the subtle body, and that is Śarīra. And then the causal body, that is, kāraṇa in the sense of the body of cause. Causal body. And that would then be the Kāraṇa-Śarīra. Kāraṇa, this ṇ. This is not the word Karma, although it is somewhat similar. Kāraṇa means the cause, the origin, the causal body. And it was also said that, so to speak, from this plane the other arises and in it dissolves again. This is the body that sends out and then takes back in. So, in the sense of the causal body. Usually, it’s the other way around: our consciousness typically begins on the gross level, then we move into the subtle, and finally return to the gross level. But from the other perspective, the cause is actually in the subtle, moves to the gross, and then dissolves again in the subtle. That would be another level altogether. When we now reflect on the terms beginning, middle, and end, something entirely different comes into play. Namely, the entire creation story. It is interesting, at times, to refer back to the Bible. That was in English just now, but it can be easily translated. Who among you is well-versed in the Bible? The beginning of the Gospel of John. In the beginning was the Word, I will take it here from the English, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This is a very important statement. The Word was God, the identity of the Word and God. What does Svāmījī keep saying again and again? This one fundamental statement from the Vedas? This is how Svāmījī always says it. Sanskrit. Nāda, the sound, the vibration. We also have the beautiful Vātsan on Nāda from Swāmījī Śivānanda, I believe. What is it called? Śabda and Nāda are actually the same. Perhaps we can sing again later, if you wish. Śabda and Nāda are essentially the same, the sound, the primal vibration. And Nāda, Rūpa, Parabrahma, sound or vibration is the Rūpa, the form of Parabrahma. That is essentially the same as Brahma; it can hardly be surpassed. So the highest God, the highest divine consciousness. That means, God appears to us in the form of sound, or sound is the manifestation of God. And that is exactly what is said here in the Bible. So at the beginning, what does beginning mean? At the beginning of creation. We are actually speaking here about the transition, as we would say in our language, from the night of Brahmā to the day of Brahmā. In the night of Brahmā, physically there is nothing, but potentially everything. This is simply Brahma, the divine, formless consciousness. And Michi always describes it like this: then God suddenly has an idea, so to speak. And what does he say? Eko'haṁ bahusyāmi. Eka means one and bahu means many. I am one, now I wish to multiply. Let me become many. This is, so to speak, the divine primal will, even before creation. There is still nothing there, but the intention is now present. And this intention is what? It manifests as what? As OM. This is the OM. But the OM, not the OM. Here is one more OM. It is still completely identical with the highest divine consciousness. Also, in the Bible it says the same thing, that is, the Word was with God in the beginning. This is already a repetition. And all things were made through this Word. And without that, nothing is accomplished, whatever is accomplished. That means, he is now saying, everything is created through this word. And there is no other origin of the universe; this is the only origin of the universe. There is no second. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. It was interesting, Swāmījī also emphasized that in his text, which I read aloud. Swāmījī said, Om is the divine name, or in other words, the name of God. Om is God, Om is the Light, Om is Prāṇa, Om is Life. Does that match up? It’s almost as if Svāmījī copied it. Or the Bible of Swāmījī, whatever you may call it. So that means, in the highest consciousness, there is only one. That means, the origin, the creation is Ohm. So, and now it becomes interesting for us, because we know a bit more from Svāmījī. It is not said here which word. And we must also be clear that the text, whether in German or English or Chinese, is indeed a translation. The original text, I believe, is in Aramaic or something like that. And every translation is an interpretation. So, when it says "Word," at the beginning was the Word. When we hear the word word, it carries an incredible number of implications. A word is formed from letters. A word is a part of a language. A word is spoken with the mouth, heard with the ears, or written with the hand and seen with the eyes. But now it is stated here at the beginning. That means, there were no eyes, ears, or anything like that yet. There was no language yet. All that which is, so to speak, contained within the word "word" did not exist yet. That means, we just need to realize that we cannot understand it so literally; rather, it is actually a symbolic language. In the beginning, there was something that was like a word, something very subtle. The Latin word for it is Logos. There we remember, logic has to do with thinking, with the mind. That means, this is already an indication that this word was not just a dead word, but a living word, full of consciousness. All of that is contained within this word, word. And we know, the Rigveda almost exactly repeats the words from the Bible, only with a small difference: it says a particular word, namely OM. Now it gets interesting. Now we can actually trace this—OM is already there. But how does it continue from here? The creation story—we have heard it quite often from Svāmījī—the OM is the primal vibration. But at the moment when the OM exists, in that one form, as a whole, nothing is yet there. However, the potential is already present. This OM is also called Prakṛti or, more precisely, Mūlaprakṛti, the root Prakṛti. You have heard the word Prakṛti before. That basically cannot be translated. We say it is an aspect of the divine Mother. But not yet, so to speak, it has not yet begun to do anything, but the potential is already there. And then OM splits into three parts. Which ones? Exactly. Now it gets interesting. This is where the Guṇas come into play. The three aspects of OM are also, namely, the three Guṇas. And the assignment is basically quite simple when we look: here is the beginning, here is the middle, and here is the end. So to speak, the beginning of creation, the middle when creation exists, and the end, that is, the dissolution of creation. So, now in our language, as we usually say, this is the Brahmā aspect. And with a long A. This is not Brahman, the highest one God, but the aspect of God that is the creative, generative aspect. Brahmā or simply Creation. What would we write here? Viṣṇu, exactly. Or we can say preservation, existence, preservation, and so on. So, let’s say existence, the preservation of existence. And here Śiva, that would then be the dissolution or, in other words, liberation. So, if we are now on the level of Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva, what would we write here for OM? In German, we would simply say God, and in Sanskrit, Brahmā. Exactly, simply put, we already have Ātman there, now we are actually coming to Brahmā here. Brahma or simply God. And the interesting thing is, we now arrive at the conclusion that at the place of OM we already have the Ātman, as was in the Upanishad, and now we come to Brahmā. And that is exactly what the Mahāvākya expresses. The identity of ātman and Brahman—they stand in the same place, and there they stand well. Do you agree? Alright, that doesn’t quite fit into the system; one could also write it there, yes. This is a special aspect, so to speak. And now, we were just discussing creation; we said that OM is the unmanifested creation, and the three aspects of creation are the three Guṇas. So, the creative aspect, the Brahmā-creative aspect, which Guṇa would that be? Exactly, Rajas Guṇa. The sustaining aspect, which continually restores everything to balance, is therefore actually the most important for us, as it consistently keeps us on the spiritual path. Sattva, and that would then be Tamas Guṇa. It may sound strange to say that Śiva is Tamas, but ultimately, there is no judgment in it. It is actually, so to speak, the Śiva aspect, it is the Tamas aspect. And you would like to be with the Guru; Svāmījī sometimes interprets it that way as well, when we sing, Om Guru Brahmā, Guru Viṣṇu, Guru Devo Maheśvara, Guru Sākṣhāt, Parabrahma. The Guru encompasses all these aspects. We cannot simply write the Guru down in one place; rather, we can truly write the Guru everywhere. The Guru is Brahmā, the Guru is Viṣṇu, the Guru is Śiva, Maheśvara, Guru Sākṣhā, Parabrahma, and then we are down there. That means, if we want to write the Guru, then we must write Him four times. He is indeed all of that. We find all aspects of God; Holi Guruji wrote a beautiful vātsan about it. He once told me himself that I should sing it, and I didn’t even know it, I think it’s from the Lieder Amrit. Do you know it? This is a long discourse. You ask how the gracious Mahāprabhujī was; to tell the truth, he was like this. In the refrain, nothing is said at all at first. And then each verse gives one or two or three answers. He says, he was like Brahmā, he was like Viṣṇu, he was like Śiva, he was like Śaṅkarācārya, he was like Buddha, he was like so many aspects. And he practically names everyone who came to mind, all the saints, all aspects of God, and says, my Guru, Mahāprabhujī, was all of that. All in one. And he is the embodiment of the highest God. So if we want to properly place the Guru, we actually have to place him everywhere. You are welcome to write about it if you wish. So this is very important now. That means, these three aspects, Rajas, Sattva, and Tamas, together, what do we call that? Prakṛti. This is Prakṛti. And now we must once again try to find the counterpart, so to speak, on this level here. Prakṛti is then, when the Guṇas are already present and already active. One could now say, Rajas plus Sattva plus Tamas together is Prakṛti. But Prakṛti, where nothing has yet begun to happen, where the Guṇas are still in complete balance and therefore nothing has occurred yet, creation has not yet started. This is then called Mūla-Prakṛti, root Prakṛti. One could still write that down here below. In this respect, Om is indeed somewhat of a borderline, so to speak, between Nirguṇa and Saguṇa. Om itself is Nirguṇa; it is not a concrete aspect of God. But everything is already present in potential. When Omen, it is like a seed that splits into three parts and suddenly becomes active. And from this now comes the entire plant, and the plant is the universe, our entire existence. But here on this level, the seed has not yet done anything. He is already there, the potential is there, but it does nothing. That means he has not yet split into the three Guṇas, but the three Guṇas are, so to speak, already hidden in this seed of the omen. And that is exactly the difference, the very thing we had already discussed in the Upanishad. Rome has these three aspects, but as long as they are three aspects, it is not the divine; rather, they are the different states of consciousness that we know. When they are united in one, joined together or not yet divided, that is the highest divine consciousness, and there the potential exists. But creation itself does not exist there. That is actually the experience of Eko'haṁ bahusyāmi in Samādhi. You know this from Śaṅkarācārya, so often, uh, not Eko'haṁ bahusyāmo. Um, that, excuse me, that was a mistake. Um, the one without a second, as it is often described, the highest divine consciousness, the one without a second. For example, in the Viveka Chudāmaṇi, the scripture of Śaṅkarācārya, as Swāmījī always recommends studying. So to speak, the summary of the entire Vedānta philosophy. That basically describes the enlightenment process of a student. And at the moment he is enlightened, he is completely astonished and then says to the Master, there is nothing left at all. The world suddenly becomes the world. It was just here a moment ago, and now suddenly it’s gone. That means the concrete manifestations are no longer there. Everything has dissolved into this one seed, into this one divine consciousness; there is only unity left. For if something exists, then something else also exists; duality is already present. And that is precisely the state of Non-Duality, Advaita, the highest divine consciousness, where there is only oneness. One could also write Advaita here. And here are the three levels; that is Dvaita. Here, however, there is a borderline case, because everything is, so to speak, mixed together. So here we are clearly caught in the wires, in duality. In dreams, we dream something concrete. Here it is, so to speak, already dissolved. And here is the highest consciousness, where all is one. The one without a second, where there is no second at all. So this is actually the creation story in brief. There are then more precise investigations about it. It may be interesting, even when we speak of the letters A, U, M. The letters are indeed parts of the Sanskrit alphabet. And in total, how many letters are there? Around 50. Depending on whether those three letters are counted or not. So around 50, let’s say. That means it is said that the first step of creation is the OM. The second step is that the OM divides into three parts, the three Guṇas, A, U, M. Then they begin to become active and, so to speak, interact. You can also understand this well if you now look at it on the level of colors. There are millions of colors. And not only on the physical level, for example when a painter wants to paint an oil painting, he has a palette and mixes all the colors he wants together. We do the same thing nowadays on the computer. How many primary colors do we need to create millions of colors? Exactly three. That means, here we basically have the three Guṇas again. On a very concrete physical level. These three primary colors actually correspond somewhere to the three letters, the three aspects of creation. From three colors, we can create all existing colors. Both on the computer and with oil paints. This is the foundation. So, now comes the next step of creation. It is said that from 3 comes 50. And that then corresponds to the 50 letters of the alphabet. This is not simply about language; it is about consciousness. Each letter actually represents a state of consciousness. Where have you encountered this before? With Svāmījī. These 50 letters. Now I need the chakra book again after all. Ah, the images of the chakras. No, I don’t need it now, it’s all right. That was just a hint. Remember, in the chakra images, for each chakra we have specific mantras. What are the mantras? They are the letters. Simply nasalized, there is always Chandra Bindu on top, which, so to speak, adds this Hmm. Basically, these are the different letters of the Sanskrit alphabet now as mantras, as bīja-mantras. And we know that every mantra, every cakra has a specific main mantra, but not only that. Part 2: The Secret of Om Then there are these petals, and on each petal—whether four, twelve, or however many, varying in the different cakras—there is again a mantra, again a letter. To be precise, each of these petals corresponds to a state of consciousness. We could say that when you meditate on a letter, you are ultimately meditating on a specific state of consciousness. When you succeed, you open the door like a key and enter a particular room, a specific Loka. That means there is an incredible depth within these cakras. With this teaching about the cakras, we have not only the three main letters A, U, and M, which are essentially the primary lokas, the main states of consciousness we experience every day, but beyond that there are many, many more subtle states of consciousness. If one wished, one could meditate on the L, so to speak, or on every letter; one could take any mantra, any bīja-mantra as meditation. But perhaps it’s better not to experiment with that. For this, we have a master who guides us on how exactly we should truly meditate. I think the remark is certainly appropriate that we do not have only these three lokas, these three states of consciousness, but many more beyond them. That means creation begins with the One, then moves to the three, then to the fifty, and then it truly begins to multiply. Then we enter into this vast diversity of our physical and subtle worlds. Is that clear so far? This sound, for example the Hūm or the Amen, it is quite obvious that these sounds, these main mantras used in the various religions, are all related to each other and are basically variations around the Oṁ. While preparing this lecture, I thought again about Mahāprabhujī and remembered how he began his life and how he ended it. It’s quite interesting. Indeed, I have noted the page numbers. Right at the beginning, in the chapter "Mahāprabhujī’s Childhood," it says how God Kṛṣṇa was... Mahāprabhujī was a lively and joyful child, everyone loved him, and so on. It is said that even before he could speak, he sang the sacred mantra Oṁ in a most wonderful way. All who heard it were deeply moved. Everyone loved hearing the sweet sound of Oṁ from his childlike mouth. His parents, as well as everyone else, wished for him to speak to them. That means they made a Saṅkalpa, so to speak, and then they received the grace of Śiva. Then five roses fell at his feet, and from that moment on he was able to speak, even though he was only fifteen months old. Prabhupāda looked up at the image of Gottsiva and chanted Oṁ. He sang this mantra for more than an hour. This is how he began his life, so to speak, how he began his teaching. Oṁ, one hour of Oṁ. We haven’t chanted that long now. Then he spoke to those present: So'ham, that is "I," Brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā—"God is the truth, the world is unreal." Then he gave his first lecture, his first discourse, to his parents and all those gathered. Mahāprabhujī began his life with Oṁ and had already chanted Oṁ before he could even speak. And how did he end his life? Page 316, the chapter about Mahāprabhujī’s Mahāsamādhi. He gave his final sentence and concluded with the words that he had said so many times, essentially the quintessence of his teaching: "Nothing belongs to you; hold fast to the truth and always remember God." After these words of farewell, it was exactly five o’clock in the morning. Mahāprabhujī chanted Oṁ. Prāṇa and Apāna united and rose up to the Brahmarandhra. Brahmarandhra, the divine gate, another name for the Sahasrāra-cakra. The attendees clearly perceived how the sound of Oṁ condensed within Mahāprabhujī’s body, how it rose and then faded away through the Sahasrāra-cakra at the crown. Then his heart stopped beating and his body began to grow cold. His countenance still radiated the divine brilliance of his gentle smile. This is an example for us. He begins his life with Oṁ and ends his life with Oṁ. We seem to have missed the beginning, haven’t we? But we can try to manage that with the ending. Something else I found a year ago on the internet, in a newspaper—specifically a conservative German newspaper called Die Welt. You probably also read it somehow. It was about a book that was published, and I found it highly interesting. The book is by a scientist who was an atheist. That was precisely Alexander. He was a scientist at Harvard University, a brain expert, so he conducted medical research. In that context, he also repeatedly came across near-death experiences, but he actually dismissed them as figments of the imagination until he had one himself. That was obviously so important to him that he then wrote a book about it, titled Proof of Heaven. He wrote about his own near-death experience. What I found highly interesting is that he encountered God and describes his encounter with God. I would like to read that to you now. The body lay as if dead and connected to tubes in the intensive care unit. The neocortex, the part of the cerebral cortex that processes sensory impressions, no longer responded. Thinking and perceptions are impossible in this state—also hallucinations resulting from administered medication, actually. But Alexander’s consciousness undertook a vast and long journey into a world where time and distance no longer held any meaning. As he described it: he was amidst clouds, and the sky he saw appeared as lovely as only in the imaginations of children. The clouds were large, fluffy, pink-white, and stood out clearly against the deep, dark blue sky. There he met God and communicated with Him in a direct telepathic form, which did not surprise him at all, as he wrote. Then, he calls God "Ohm," because that was the sound: "I still remember and associate with the all-knowing, all-powerful, and unconditionally loving God." But all descriptions fall short. I find that interesting because this person had certainly never heard of Oṁ. He grew up in a Christian environment; he himself was an atheist, so he certainly never engaged with Vedic philosophy. He had probably never even heard the word Oṁ when he had this experience. He comes back from the state and tells us, "I have met God and that was Oṁ." So I wanted to share this with you all. His name is Alexander and the book is called Proof of Heaven in English. I can well imagine that it is probably available in German by now as well, because it was a real bestseller; it has already been featured in a German-language newspaper. I do not know, but I can imagine that by now it certainly also exists in German. Alright, those were, so to speak, the classical scriptures, like the Bible and the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad. The good thing is that we have living masters, right? Our masters. What I would now like to do with you is to examine the same thing again, as Holī Gurus have written it. We have received from him the beautiful Bhāṣya on Oṁ: Oṁ kī racanā. Do you have a Bhajan book there? Perhaps you could distribute that? I would now like to sing that once more with you to conclude, and then go through it as well. I believe that is finished. How does this work here? Should you open this to the left or to the right? In the rhythm, whenever the chorus begins, then you jump into the chorus. So it is not a continuous four-beat pattern, but rather one beat is always missing. Whenever the chorus starts over from the beginning or when the verse transitions into the chorus, you need to jump a little. So just be a little flexible. Whenever it comes, "Oṁ kī," then jump right in. Otherwise, we will be separated. "Oṁ kī," but before that, there is always a beat missing. So just listen attentively and try to follow along, so that you’re not surprised; it jumps a little. But that is exactly how it is in the Bhajans, and I have the recording from Holī Gurushī; he sang it just like that, and I do not want to change it. What I found truly astonishing and interesting was the fact that Holī Gurushī writes about Oṁ in Bhajans. For Oṁ is formless, Nirguṇa. And Holī Gurushī would be a one hundred percent bhakta of Mahāprabhujī. But for him, Oṁ is then once again Mahāprabhujī. That means, ultimately it is Saguṇa, and Nirguṇa is all one. It is said that he realized it himself. He certainly did not just sit down and copy the Upaniṣad and say, "Now I’ll make a Bhajan out of this," or open the Bible and simply put it into practice. Rather, all Bhajans have arisen from his experiences. That means he has experienced the Oṁ and is now describing it to us from his practical experience. That is precisely why Svāmījī always says we should respect our Bhajan book as a sacred scripture. It is indeed a sacred scripture. All of this is Guru-vākya. These are all, so to speak, freshly gathered experiences from saints, mostly from our Guru tradition, or other saints who now want to share their experiences with us. If we go through this now, we can see whether it corresponds with what we have already analyzed here. We have already gone quite into detail. Now let’s see what Holī Gurujī has to say about this. We will always sing one verse and then briefly talk about it, and then the next verse. Let us look at the refrain. He says: Oṁ kī racanā sārī re. Racanā means creation. And sārī, that means everything. Everything is the creation of Oṁ. Everything is created from Oṁ. What does the Bible say? "Nothing was created that was not created through the Word." So Holī Gurujī says exactly the same. That is actually where the title of my lecture today comes from: "The Secret of Oṁ." For beheda means secret. The jānī, that is, the wise ones, the knowledgeable, the enlightened, they know the secret—the secret of Oṁ. And that is the reason why they always live in bliss. Where is the logic in that now? He says, those who know the secret of Oṁ are happy. In parentheses, of course, means those who do not know the secret are not so happy. And that is us. Why does he say that? We are trying to understand it. Where is the connection now between happiness, sukha or ānanda, and Oṁ? Look once again into the Upaniṣad. Where do you find happiness in the Upaniṣad? Look, exactly, there the word Śiva is used, bliss. And where do we have it? We have it twice. We experience this in the M-state; that is why we say in the morning, "I have slept well." That means we are already getting a taste of it. But we are not truly inside, and we cannot stay there. We are very close, yet we have to come out again. And then the next day begins again, I have to go back to work. Then we are no longer so happy. But we are truly established in it only when we have realized this state. That means, here we have the highest aspect of Śiva. Here we already have Śiva as the liberating god. Here we have Śiva, so to speak, in another aspect as the supreme, the one God. Another note: we have the term Ātman written here. We have another term, so to speak, as an explanation for the Ātman, which we also often use: Vajra by Śaṅkarācārya. What does he say there? Śivo'ham, śivo'ham,... śivo'ham. And then? Saccidānanda. Saccidānanda. This is another term for that highest divine consciousness. The Ātman is also called Saccidānanda. Ānanda, bliss. And so to speak, a sub-aspect of God: Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Śiva. And here we can actually write Śiva again, but as the highest aspect of God. Svāmījī always insisted that when we sing the Vajra, Śiva, Śiva,... that we do not translate it as Śiva, but as the highest divine consciousness. Here we have, so to speak, the other, the higher aspect of God. Here we have Śiva, who is, so to speak, active, the one we know from the Purāṇas, and so he discusses this and that, the Śiva-Purāṇa and so forth. But the highest consciousness that he truly embodies is now here again on this level. And there is this subtle difference between Śiva and Śiva, which is, so to speak, the subtle difference between deep sleep, in which we are already happy but not yet enlightened, and here the divine bliss and the Vastu. We want to move, so to speak, from this to that. More and more is coming to it. I had not planned any of this at all. But it is interesting how it slowly develops and becomes ever more diverse. So, he says, the saints, the enlightened ones, the wise, they know the secret of Oṁ. And that is why they remain in this divine bliss, the state of Saccidānanda, the state of Oṁ, all the time. Knowing, knowing, the wise remain joyful and happy. The entire creation of Oṁ is the form of Brahman. Oṁ has no shadow, no second. The form of Brahman is Oṁ. Oṁ has no shadow, no second. Oṁ is the form of the primordial sound, always true. Oṁ’s creation is in the body without support. Oṁ kāraṇabrahma rūpa sadā hai nirādhāra re, oṁ kī racanā sarīre. This is expressed very precisely in Hindi, exactly as Svāmījī always says: "Sound is the form of God." We even have the word rūpa here. He says, Oṁ is the form of Parabrahma, the highest divine consciousness. Oṁ kī chāyā nahīṁ dhūpa. Dhūpa, that is the light, and not a physical light. I have become completely black here. No physical light. Physical light always has light and shadow. There is currently no light behind the pillar. No, this is a light without shadow. That means, as a note, it is not physical light, but the divine light. What we normally call, Dīpa, Mahāprabhujī. The divine light that pervades everything, that is in every cell, that is in every atom. Oṁ kāraṇabrahma rūpa. Nabha means the sky. Where does the sky begin, where does the sky end? No boundaries. That means, in fact, Oṁ is everywhere just like that. Just as the sky is everywhere, so is Oṁ everywhere. It pervades all. Sadā, eternal, always. Oṁ, we had that right at the very beginning in the Upaniṣad. To clarify, what was said? In the Upaniṣad, the first sentence? No, no,... in the Upaniṣad: "Everything that was in the past, everything that is in the present, everything that will be in the future, and also everything that is timeless, all of these times, that is all Oṁ." We might consider possibly including these three times there as well. I am just not entirely clear on the correlation—which time, past or future, corresponds to which state of consciousness. I am not entirely sure. But surely, when we are in times and feel and think with the past in relation to the future, we are certainly not in the highest consciousness. When you are in Samādhi, there is no longer any past. There is only absolute presence. That is why it is said to be in the here and now. And when we are in the other states of consciousness, we drift back and forth between the past, present, and future, and are very rarely truly in the present. But it’s not entirely clear to me how one is supposed to categorize that now, so to speak, with AUM. That is why I did not record it there now. But surely we are here in a timeless state, where there is no longer any present, past, or future, in that sense. There is actually only the divine presence. So he says, Oṁ kāraṇabrahma rūpa hai—Oṁ is like the sky everywhere, sadā hai, and indeed always, eternally, and nirādhāra hai. This is an important statement. That fits perfectly again with the Śiva we just wrote down there. What does Svāmījī always say? Śiva is Swayambhū, the self-manifested, who has not been created by anything. Nirādhāra means one who has no foundation, is based on nothing, and therefore depends on nothing. The Self-existent, that might actually be a quite good translation in essence. That which depends on nothing, is produced by nothing, and is determined by nothing. And that is Oṁ. Now he has described Oṁ in its original form, and now he describes exactly the process of creation, as we have already discussed. Gīta gāta oṁ kāra se triguṇamaya aus oṁ. Now comes the Māyā. And indeed, it consists of the three Guṇas. We do not have the word Prakṛti here, but instead the word Māyā. Both essentially mean the same thing. Both are words that describe the divine Mother. That means, the aspect of God that is now becoming active, Śakti, as Svāmījī says—one could say, the feminine aspect, the one who now brings something into existence and creates something, this entire universe with a diversity of physical and subtler things within it, not just the physical nature, forests and trees and such, but the entire universe is actually her, created through her. And this is through the three Guṇas, and we already have them: Tamas, Rajas, Sattva. Together, I said, that is actually called Prakṛti. Instead, Holī Gurujī now takes the term Māyā here. Māyā is essentially the same, just a little different in its valuation, I would say. Prakṛti is a completely neutral term. It simply states that something is there. Prakṛti is that which brings something forth. Māyā is now somewhat like an exclamation mark, a warning sign: "Be careful not to fall for that. That you do not begin to develop desires and attachments there now, entanglements, that you create karmas there and then come into problems through those karmas." That means, Māyā is, so to speak, the cautionary sign; there is something to it, be careful. That is a different matter now; in Vedānta, the term Māyā is actually used, in Sāṅkhya philosophy the term Prakṛti is used, and in Yoga usually as well, but essentially they are interchangeable in this context. So we don’t need that separately now, it’s not the point here, but it is, so to speak, the sum of A, U, M—that is what Māyā is now. Otherwise, we would have to write Mūla Māyā, but I have never heard the term like that. So if there is nothing there yet, it is not enticing either. So here on this level the potency is present, but it is still nothing. Nothing can happen on this level either. Only when it is there do we fall for it. So, from Oṁ then develops Māyā with the three Guṇas. That means in German, we can simply say, Oṁ divides itself. From one comes three, the three Guṇas. And that is where creation begins. Māyā se jagata racanā. Now he says exactly that. From this Māyā, from these three Guṇas, the entire Jagat, the whole world, the entire universe has now arisen. This is now exactly the process of creation described. In the first sentence, so to speak, the primal cell arises, and the three Guṇas come into being. And from the Guṇas, which now begin to interact with each other in millions of different ways, the entire world arises. Jīva, that means the living beings. Now it is actually about us, that we define our position in this creation. He says, Oṁkāra meṁ, in Oṁkāra, all living beings now reside, including us. And indeed, he says, saba dehadhārī. Deha means the body, and dhārī means to hold or to have. So, one could actually say it like this: all embodied beings, all beings that have a body, in a way actually live in Oṁ. Oṁ divides into the Guṇas. The Guṇas create many forms. The entire universe is, so to speak, Oṁ, and we live right in the midst of it. So in German, we can imagine it like a fish in water. The entire water, the entire universe is Oṁ, and we are right in the midst of it. And of course, we are also Oṁ. Because he says Oṁkāra meṁ, in Oṁ, I would say that fits a little better with the fish. We are like a fish in water, in this universe, which ultimately is all Oṁ. Yes, from sarva comes oṁ, from oṁ arises vidāracāya, from all mantras kumul, from oṁ comes the contemplation of brahm, oṁ is the ray in the body. Part 3: The Essence of Om Sarva-mantra-kumula-om-se-brahma-vichāri-re Om kī rachanā sarī-re om kī rachanā sarī-re Jani-jani-bheda-suhi-jana-raha-sukhī-ari-re Om kī rachanā sarī-re He now speaks about Vidyā. Swāmījī also often uses the term, and he almost always distinguishes between two types of Vidyā. Which ones? Exactly, Parāvidyā and Aparāvidyā. Parāvidyā is the highest knowledge, and Aparā is the non-highest, that is, the lower, worldly knowledge. So, he is saying here that all knowledge, whether it is worldly or spiritual, divine knowledge, comes from Om. Something interesting just came to my mind about that. Do you know the game Līlā? Yes. Swāmījī even spoke about that at least 20 years ago during a summer seminar. He personally spoke about this play and recommended it. This is actually a simple children’s game. You have fields with numbers, you roll the dice, and then move to the next field. And sometimes there are ladders where you climb up, and sometimes there are slides where you slide down. This is the normal children’s play version. But this is actually a reproduction of an original ancient spiritual game from India. There were these fields going up and down, and they all had names. Each field had a name. That was, so to speak, our spiritual path. And each time you have rolled the dice and landed on such and such a square, it means that you have now developed up to that point. If you now come to a field where you have a slide down, that means you have just fallen into Māyā. And now you have to come down, start again at a point below, being careful not to fall into the same trap next time. Or you come to a field where it goes upward, and then you have something—something has opened within you, so to speak, where you can skip a step. Especially important is the field of Bhakti, because there is the case where it leads directly to Mokṣa. That is the shortcut. That is essentially what Svāmījī recommended to us. That is exactly what he spoke about. And in the game, there is then what one can purchase, I think that still exists, right? Do you still have that? Okay. So I definitely have it. I still have that. So if it happens again, then you may go ahead. There are then explanations for each field, which are usually read aloud. So this is, in that sense, a very slow, meditative practice. You roll the dice once and then listen for about ten minutes to some kind of explanation. But on the other hand, one can learn a lot from it. You can also do it in such a way that you only roll the dice once a day. And then take a day to reflect on it. Because in the field of Om, I remember he talks about a scientific study that was conducted at a university. They gave a group of students difficult questions and distributed questionnaires, then collected the students’ answers. And then they could see how many students had known the correct answers. Then they didn’t explain anything to them at all, but simply said, now we will sing Om. For an hour, all the students, who had no idea what it was about, chanted Om. And afterwards, they distributed the same questionnaires again. The result was that now many more knew the answer. And that was about worldly knowledge. That was about Aparāvidyā. If it already works there, how much more will it spiritually develop us on the Parāvidyā level. That means, this is what Holī Gūḍūjī is saying here. Sarva-vidyā om se hai. All knowledge, all wisdom comes from Om. It is awakened through Om. Om kar se veda rachai. Veda, the Vedas, what is that? We usually understand that as books. We also have them in the library in Jaden. But the true meaning of Veda is that it is the divine knowledge, the divine revelation, which, after people no longer had enough intelligence to memorize it all, they eventually began to write down. And that is why today we know it as books, but originally it actually means the divine knowledge. That means, even the divine knowledge was created through Om. It comes from Om. The Vedas are essentially nothing more than a collection of mantras. We already discussed earlier that Om is a mantra, and all mantras are essentially given by God. One cannot create a mantra. Mantras did not originate by human hand. These are divine revelations, and in that sense, Om is now the root of all mantras. Or Swāmījī says, a true mantra can actually not exist without Om. Om se brahma vichāri re. Brahma is God, and vichāri means the thinking, the seeking. That means all God-seeking, all contemplation about God, what Swāmījī calls Jijñāsu, the inner search within us, that we are not satisfied with life, with the material life here, but rather seek a meaning, a fulfillment, a... seeking the ultimate answer to other questions. That actually also comes through Om. That means, through Om, we truly become these seekers of God. This is what Holy Guru is saying here. Hold om khaḍiyān om to dispel the fear of existence, Hari Om’s creation is the body. Hold Om, meditate on Om to dispel fear, Hari Om’s creation is the body. Meditators understand the subtle distinctions, the wise know the true path, Hari Om’s creation is the body. So now, Holī Gūrujī will demonstrate practically. And after he has only explained how important it is that all worldly and also spiritual knowledge is awakened through Om, one is told, now go ahead. Namely, Sādhanā. Om kar raṭṭo mila sārā. Therefore, all together, repeat Om. Practice Om. Use the mantra Om. Om kar se hota ujārā. This is now a different statement, we already had this with Svāmījī. Ujārā, or rather Ujjala, which has been altered for the sake of rhyme, means the light, the divine light. Through Om arises the divine light. He had already said this before, in the first verse, Om kī chāyā nahīn pade. It is the light, the divine light, that casts no shadow. So he says here, the light is awakened within you through Om, specifically hotā. This is a special way of expression in Hindi; when you want to say something that is not just happening right now, but is always the case, then you say hotā. So, for example, if I say, these are two books, okay, that is a normal way of expression. But when I say, one book and another book, that makes two books, that always holds true. Then one says hotā, two books. And so this is essentially an unchangeable statement. He says, through Om, light fundamentally always arises. It cannot be otherwise. So the Om awakens the divine light within us. Of course, we can now also reflect once more on what he means by this light. We have already spoken about the different bodies and about our aura, the subtle bodies. They do have a light, a color. That means, whoever can see this, and be completely certain within themselves, sees our subtle bodies and, for example, observes what colors they have, whether they are dark or light. What makes it dark or light now? Our qualities, our karmas. That means, whoever now continuously generates selfish and negative karmas has a very dark aura. Normally, another person cannot perceive this, but we still react to it, saying that they do not have a good aura. One only has to listen to what we are saying. We see nothing, and yet we speak about the radiance. That means we feel it. If someone has negative qualities and negative karma, then we say they have a dark aura and we keep our distance. If he has a good aura, then he possesses something attractive, just as light physically draws insects, and just as the master attracts the disciples through his good aura. Basically, he doesn’t need any advertising at all. He does it quite naturally. Spiritual seekers naturally come to the place where the divine light is. So, the statement that Om awakens the light essentially means that it has a purifying quality. It affects our aura. Something is being purified, and our radiance becomes brighter. The light is awakened within us. That will become clearer later on. That is why khaḍiyān. And therefore, hold firmly to the meditation with Om. Dhyān, you are familiar with that from Rāja-Yoga. The dhyān, the meditation. Therefore, hold on firmly, and always continue with the meditation with Om. And that is why in our yoga classes we have Om at least at the beginning and at the end. And possibly also in the center. If you look in our yoga book, third stage Meditation, it says there, Those who do not have a mantra, meaning they have not yet been initiated by a master and perhaps do not wish to be at that time, it is still recommended to practice meditation with a mantra, so to speak, as a form of protection. And what is recommended? Om or So’haṃ. Or both together, Om, So’haṃ. That means this is the companion in meditation. That means, first we chant Om, then we meditate with Om, and finally we chant Om again to conclude. There you will find it again, concretely in our yoga system. We often know this in connection with Bhava-sāgara. What does that mean? We have that in many bhajans. Be careful, Bhava and Bhāva are two completely different words. Bhava means the world. And Bhava-sāgara we have in many bhajans as the ocean of the world that we want to cross. And Bhāva, that is something positive. That means deep feeling, devotion, Bhakti. So with a long ā, that is this positive Bhakti. Bhava, here it is Bhava, which means the world or worldliness, the ocean of the world. And Bhaya, that means fear. All the feelings that arise now from our efforts in the world, entanglements in the world, fears, attachments, desires. Thus, through Om we can liberate ourselves from all these worldly emotions. We will, so to speak, become inwardly free from this attachment and these worldly desires, and thereby overcome these worldly fears. This is what is being said here. Oṃkāra ko hṛdaya dhāra oṃkāra ke binā sādhanā sāph hūt bhikhārī-re Om kī rachanā sarī-re oṃkāra ke binā sādhanā sāph hūt bhikhārī-re And now, so to speak, he calls upon witnesses, that he says, not only I say this, but others as well—Ṛṣi, Muni, O Yogi, sārā om, kāra ko, hṛdaya-dhāra—that means all the practitioners, the aspirants, the enlightened ones, the Ṛṣis, the ancient sages, the Munis, which comes from Mauna, silence, therefore, those who practice the special technique of Mauna and the yogis who all hold Om like a precious treasure, like something beloved in their Hṛdaya. Hṛdaya. We know it from the Hṛdaya-kamala. The heart. You hold it like something beloved, a precious treasure in your heart. Om kāra ke binā sādhanā sāph hotā bikārī-re. And without Om, the entire sādhanā is actually useless, useless, fruitless. That means, Om is, so to speak, what is essential as the essence for every Sādhanā. Especially, of course, for the mantra-sādhanā and for the kriyā-sādhanā and for the meditation-sādhanā. And there we have Om everywhere. So it is said, without Om the entire practice is essentially useless. Ānanda. Om kāra se hota ānanda. Om se śuddha hoi kāya. Om se haya bhava pāra-re. Om kī rachanā sarī-re. Om se śuddha hoi kāya. Om se haya bhava pāra-re. The wise know the difference and remain naturally happy, O beloved ones. Now comes another fundamental statement with hotā. It is like a pointing finger that says, this basically applies. Namely, Om kāra se hotā ānanda. Om kāra awakens bliss. Bliss. Ānanda, you all know that. So, where we had the word Śiva in the Upaniṣad, we now have here the clear word Ānanda. He says, it is always like this, it is fundamentally so, it cannot be otherwise, that through the Om you become happy. That this inner bliss is awakened, because Om is the breath, Om is Brahma, Om is Sacchidānanda. The more you practice Om, the more you come into contact with that Ānanda, which is your inner nature. Not this external happiness, which depends on circumstances that are sometimes present and sometimes not, but the inner one. The ordinary happiness we know is like food. When we are hungry and then receive a nice meal, we feel joy. But for how long? Only a few hours, then we are hungry again. And so, strictly speaking, every happiness we can experience in this world is always only for a certain time, always dependent on something that makes us happy at that moment. Or sometimes not even that, sometimes we don’t even get it then. This inner bliss, however, is always there, constantly, unconditionally. Eternal. Om is eternal. So, as I said, the three times are to be placed somewhere up there, while eternity or timelessness is to be placed down here. There is no temporal limitation; it is always like this. And that is why he says, hotā, this is fundamentally so. Through Om we come, we awaken the inner bliss within us. In plain English, one can say, you are happy without any good reason. You don’t even know why. There is nothing right now that makes you happy, and yet you are well. This is actually when we come into touch, come into contact with this inner bliss. Om kāra jāne Govinda. Govinda knows Om. It is, so to speak, like an echo of the refrain Gyānī jāne bheda. The knowledgeable, the wise, the enlightened, they know the secret of Om. And now he says this specifically, Govinda knows Om. Who is Govinda? Yes, Go means cow, so literally the cowherd. The one who took care of the cows. And in the usual understanding, Govinda is Kṛṣṇa because he took care of the cows. But now, think specifically of Holīgūḍūjī. He wrote the Bhajan. Who do you think he is thinking of? Yes, he also took care of the cows. I think, well, anyway, it is ambiguous here. So, on one hand, he was initially a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, then he realized that Mahāprabhujī is actually Kṛṣṇa, and Mahāprabhujī indeed also took care of the cows. So I think, quite certainly, he already means this ambiguity there, and in a broader sense, he actually means all the saints. All the saints, as he already said in the refrain, all the saints know the secret of Om and that is why they are always in this bliss. Om se śuddha hoi kāya. Here it comes again very clearly, what we had already suspected before, when it was said that Om awakens the light within us, so to speak, making our aura brighter. We had already talked about this; here it clearly says that Om cleanses your kāya, which is the same as Karma. Om cleanses our karmas. Although, perhaps we need to think about it once more briefly—how exactly is this supposed to work, please? What exactly is Karma? And what exactly is Om? Where is our karma? What is our karma like? Karma are actually vibrations. Vibrations in our aura. That means we create karmas, and with them, we generate certain vibrations in our aura. And that explains it—people say the Guru is Trikāladarśī, one who can see the past, present, and future. Now, that is a bit strange. How can he do that? He looks at you, he does not only see your physical body, he sees your aura. And in your aura, he now sees karmas. The karmas you have already created and where you are currently working. And the karmas that are not yet active but are already waiting. That means he now sees the origin of your karmas, he sees how the karmas are currently manifesting, he sees which karmas are still coming towards you. That means he sees your past, present, and future. And Swāmījī is sometimes so funny, he then says, oh, in the aura of some students I see fish swimming. That is Karma, which he simply describes there quite vividly, that they do not eat vegetarian but consume fish. That means, these are actually vibrations in our aura, but karmas are very low vibrations. Often, yes, out of selfish motives, which is why the aura tends to be rather dark. So what is going on in contrast to that? Om. This is also vibration, but very high, very subtle, divine, penetrating vibration. The light, the divine light. So now one vibration meets another vibration. Which one will then win? It’s clear, right? The divine vibration naturally transcends the others. It’s like a vacuum cleaner that simply balances everything out and says, okay. That means, this is actually the way one must imagine it: the light meets the darkness, the subtle, penetrating, divine vibration meets the coarse, low, selfish vibration and then smooths it out a little. Now we have the word Bhavabhaya. We already encountered this in the fourth stanza in connection with Bhavabhaya. The fear, the worldly fear, that arises from attachment, desires, and so on. And here we now have Bhavapāra. Here it is exactly in the sense I mentioned earlier. Actually, here he means Bhava-sāgara, the ocean of the world. And Pāra means across. That means, here is the classic image that we have in so many traditions, that it is about crossing the ocean of the world in the boat that the Master offers us with the mantra and so on. That is exactly what he addresses here, saying that through Om you can cross the ocean of the world. Om is this divine vibration that slowly cleanses the lower karmic vibrations and with them desires, attachments, fears, and then you are, so to speak, higher, above them. The example of the lotus, which is in the water but above it and no longer touched by it. We should become like a lotus. Once we are beyond that, we can cross the ocean. That means, as Mīrā says, the ocean of the world has dried up for me. The ocean of the world has dried up for me, and I am no longer afraid to cross that ocean. Om namo prabhu dīpa svāmī om kāra guru deva namāmi Om namo prabhu dīpa svāmī om kāra guru deva namāmi Ahe Mādhavānanda om ko vandanā hamārī-re om kī rachanā sarī-ra Ahe Mādhavānanda om ko vandanā hamārī-re om kī rachanā sarī-ra Jani jani bheda sahejana raha sukhīyā rī-re Om kī rachanā sarī-re om kī rachanā sarī-re Gvāṇaka suśīla mata kṛṣṇa gvāṇaka Holī Gūrujī has gifted us this wonderful bhajan. Om Namo Prabodhi Svāmī. At the end, it is naturally clear, there is always the signature of the bhajan’s author. You see it in the penultimate line, Kahi Mādhavānanda, so these are Holī Gūrujī’s bhajans. And it is, of course, logical and inevitable that he greets his Gurus, Mahāprabhujī. Om Namo Prabhudīpa Svāmī. Namo, Namaskāra, Namaste, that means my reverence, my greeting to my beloved Master, Mahāprabhujī. Om Kāra Guru Deva Namāmi. And now something must still come with Mahāprabhujī and Om. Because, as I said, it is actually a bit strange, Holī Gūrujī, a completely devoted bhakta to Mahāprabhujī, the physical form, and this bhakta to Om, which is actually Nirguṇa. How does he reconcile this? By saying, Om Kāra Guru Deva Namāmi, you are for me the embodiment of Om. When I think of Om, I think of you; when I think of you, I think of Om. Because everything that can be said about Om applies to you. He is God. Whether it is the formless Om or in the concrete form of Mahāprabhujī. Om kāra guru deva namāmi kahe Mādhavānanda holī gūrujī sāg Om ko vandanā hamārī-re. My reverence, my salutation to Om. You all know Vandanā. Sapta Guru Vandanā Bhajana. My reverence to Om, which at the same time means my reverence to Mahāprabhujī, who for me simply embodies Om. And ultimately, one can also speak implicitly here, the one who explained the whole Om to me. Through whom I have realized Om. Such a certificate can only be written by one who has realized it. That means, he has obviously already taken this step, and we are still stuck here. Like a mirror, it reflects us back and says, no, no, you cannot pass through yet. From there to there. That is actually our final step that we still need to take. So. If we account for the break, we are actually quite on schedule. Good. That’s all from my side. Are there perhaps any questions, comments, or experiences you would like to share with others? Nothing? Good. Then perhaps, to conclude, let us sing around three times once more. Yes, we still have a full moon session later on. Then we can sing the entire Bhajan once again. But I think, since this is also a webcast, we shouldn’t make it unnecessarily long. There are already recordings of the Bhajans as well.