Om (ॐ)

When chanted, Om is often articulated as A U M, a sound that begins in the back of the throat, moves through the mouth, and closes at the lips. It quietly spans the full range of vowel positions a human can make. In many traditions this is not treated as a linguistic curiosity but as a teaching. The syllable is said to contain all possible sounds, and by extension all names and forms. In this view, every specific word, prayer, or name is a small ripple inside a larger ocean of sound. Om is that ocean in a single syllable. It is not just one sound among many. It is the background from which all sounds arise and into which they fall silent again.

In many nondual philosophies, Om is said to represent the totality of experience. The waking state, the dreaming state, and dreamless sleep are all folded into its parts, along with the silent pause that follows the sound. The chant is a living diagram. Sound and silence alternate while you listen, but the awareness that hears them does not split. For the Nonduality Archive, Om shows how an ordinary act like making a sound can become a doorway. Nothing supernatural is needed. You breathe, you vocalise, you listen. The teaching is that the listener and the sound are not truly separate, and that the silence before and after the chant is not different in essence from the chant itself.