Mantram Meditation
Says the Nadavindu-upanishat (Rig-veda) translated by the Kumbakonam Theosophical Society – “The syllable A is considered to be the bird Hamsa’s right wing, U its left, M its tail, and the Ardhamatra (half metre) is said to be its head.”
The yogi after reaching the third syllable in his meditation, passes on to the fourth, which is the silence which follows. He thinks of the divinity in that silence.
The Chakras by C.W. Leadbeater, Ch. V, "The Divinities"
“ÔM,” says the Aryan Adept, the son of the Fifth Race, who with this syllable begins and ends his salutation to the human being, his conjuration of, or appeal to, non-human PRESENCES.
“ÔM-MANI,” murmurs the Turanian Adept, the descendant of the Fourth Race; and after pausing he adds, “PADME-HUM.”
This famous invocation is very erroneously translated by the Orientalists as meaning, “O the Jewel in the Lotus.” For although literally, ÔM is a syllable sacred to the Deity, PADME means “in the Lotus,” and MANI is any precious stone, still neither the words themselves, nor their symbolical meaning, are thus really correctly rendered.
In this, the most sacred of all Eastern formulas, not only has every syllable a secret potency producing a definite result, but the whole invocation has seven different meanings and can produce seven distinct results, each of which may differ from the others.
The seven meanings and the seven results depend upon the intonation that is given to the whole formula and to each of its syllables; and even the numerical value of the letters is added to or diminished according as such or another rhythm is made use of. Let the student remember that number underlies form, and number guides sound. Number lies at the root of the manifested Universe; numbers and harmonious proportions guide the first differentiations of homogeneous substance into heterogeneous elements; and number and numbers set limits to the formative hand of Nature.
Know the corresponding numbers of the fundamental principle of every element and its sub-elements, learn their interaction and behavior on the occult side of manifesting nature, and the law of correspondences will lead you to the discovery of the greatest mysteries of macrocosmical life.
But to arrive at the macrocosmical, you must begin by the microcosmical: i.e., you must study MAN, the microcosm––in this case as physical science does––inductively, proceeding from particulars to universals. At the same time, however, since a keynote is required to analyze and comprehend any combinations of differentiations of sound, we must never lose sight of the Platonic method, which starts with one general view of all, and descends from the universal to the individual. This is the method adopted in Mathematics––the only exact science that exists in our day.
Let us study Man, therefore; but if we separate him for one moment from the Universal Whole, or view him in isolation, from a single aspect, apart from the “Heavenly Man”––the Universe symbolized by Adam-Kadmon or his equivalents in every philosophy––we shall either land in black magic or fail most ingloriously in our attempt.
Thus the mystic sentence, “Ôm Mani Padme Hum,” when rightly understood, instead of being composed of the almost meaningless words, “O the Jewel in the Lotus,” contains a reference to this indissoluble union between Man and the Universe, rendered in seven different ways and having the capability of seven different applications to as many planes of thought and action.
From whatever aspect we examine it, it means: “I am that I am”; “I am in thee and thou art in me.” In this conjunction and close union the good and pure man becomes a god. Whether consciously or unconsciously, he will bring about or innocently cause to happen unavoidable results. In the first case, if an Initiate––of course an Adept of the Right-hand Path alone is meant––he can guide a beneficient or a protecting current, and thus benefit and protect individuals and even whole nations. In the second case, although quite unaware of what he was doing, the good man becomes a shield to whomsoever he is with.
Such is the fact; but its how and why have to be explained, and this can be done only when the actual presence and potency of numbers in sounds, and hence in words and letters, have been rendered clear. The formula, “Ôm Mani Padme Hum,” has been chosen as an illustration on account of its almost infinite potency in the mouth of an Adept, and of its potentiality when pronounced by any man. Be careful, all you who read this: do not use these words in vain or when in anger, lest you become yourself the first sacrificial victim or, what is worse, endanger those whom you love.
The profane Orientalist, who all his life skims mere externals, will tell you flippantly, and laughing at the superstition, that in Tibet this sentence is the most powerful six-syllabled incantation and is said to have been delivered to the nations of Central Asia by Padmapani, the Tibetan Chenrezi. (See The Secret Doctrine, Vol. II, pp. 178-79)
But who is Padmapani in reality? Each of us must recognize him for himself whenever he is ready. Each of us has within himself the “Jewel in the Lotus,” call it Padmapani, Krisha, Buddha, Christ, or by whatever name we may give to our Divine Self. The exoteric story runs thus:
The supreme Buddha, or Amitabha, they say, at the hour of the creation of man, caused a rosy ray of light to issue from his right eye. The ray emitted a sound and became Padmapani Bodhisattva. Then the Deity allowed to stream from his left eye a blue ray of light which, becoming incarnate in the two virgins Dolma, acquired the power to enlighten the minds of living beings. Amitabha then called the combination, which forthwith took up its abode in man, “Om Mani Padme Hum” (“I am the Jewel in the Lotus, and in it I will remain”). Then Padmapani, “the one in the Lotus,” vowed never to cease working until he had made Humanity feel his presence in itself and had thus saved it from the misery of rebirth. He vowed to perform the feat before the end of the Kalpa, adding that in case of failure he wished that his head would split into numberless fragments. The Kalpa closed; but Humanity felt him not within its cold, evil heart. Then Padmapani’s head split and was shattered into a thousand fragments. Moved with compassion, the Deity re-formed the pieces into ten heads, three white and seven of various colors. And since that day man has become a perfect number, or TEN.
In this allegory the potency of SOUND, COLOR and NUMBER is so ingeniously introduced as to veil the real esoteric meaning. To the outsider it reads like one of the many meaningless fairy tales of creation; but it is pregnant with spiritual and divine, physical and magical, meaning. From Amitabha––no color or the white glory––are born the seven differentiated colors of the prism. These each emit a corresponding sound, forming the seven of the musical scale. As Geometry among the Mathematical Sciences is specially related to Architecture, and also––proceeding to Universals––to Cosmogony, so the ten Yôds of the Pythagorean Tetrad, or Tetraktys, being made to symbolize the Macrocosm, the Microcosm, or man, its image, had also to be divided into ten points. For this Nature herself has provided, as will be seen.
But, before this statement can be proved and the perfect correspondences between the Macrocosm and the Microcosm demonstrated, a few words of explanation are necessary.
To the learner who would study the Esoteric Sciences with their double object: (a) of proving Man to be identical in spiritual and physical essence with both the Absolute Principle and with God in Nature; and (b) of demonstrating the presence in him of the same potential powers as exist in the creative forces in Nature––to such an one a perfect knowledge of the correspondences between Colors, Sounds and Numbers is the first requisite. As already said, the sacred formula of the Far East, Ôm Mani Padme Hûm, is the one best calculated to make these correspondential qualities and functions clear to the learner.
Let those, I say again, who feel themselves too much the children of our age to approach the many mysteries which have to be revealed, in a truly reverential spirit, even though references be made to such subjects and objects as are deemed improper and, to use the correct term, indecent, in our modern day––let such abandon these teachings at once. For I shall have to use terms and refer, especially in the beginning, to the most secret organs and functions of the human body, the bare mention of which is certain to provoke either a feeling of disgust and shame or an irreverent laugh.
It is such feelings which have invariably led the generations of writers on symbology and religions, ever since the day of Kircher, to materialize every natural emblem and ideograph in their impure thought, and finally to sum up all religions, Christianity included, as phallic worship. It is quite true that ever since the days of Pythagoras and Plato the exoteric cults began to deteriorate, until they debased the symbolism into the most shameful practices of sexual worship. Hence the horror and contempt with which every true Occultist regards the so-called “personal God” and the exoteric ritualistic worship of the Churches––be they Heathen or Christian. But even in the days of Plato it was not so. It was the persecution of the True Hierophants and the final suppression of those Mysteries, which alone purified man’s thoughts, that led to Tantrika sexual worship and, through the forgetting of divine truth, to BLACK MAGIC, whether conscious or otherwise.
Numerous works have been written upon this subject, especially in the latter part of our century. Every student can read for himself such works as those of Payne Knight, Higgins, Inman, Forlong, and finally Hargrave Jennings’ Phallicism and Allen Campbell’s Phallic Worship. All are based on truth as far as the facts are concerned; all are erroneous and unjust in their ultimate conclusions and deductions.
The above words are addressed to students in order that––knowing how bitter some Occultists feel both towards carnalizing Churches and materialistic thinkers who see phallicism in every symbol––they should not at the outset jump to the conclusion that, after all, the Occult Sciences likewise are based on nothing else but a sexual foundation. Man and woman in their physical aspects and corporeal envelopes are but higher animals, and the various parts of their bodies, if named at all, must be referred to in terms comprehensible to the student. But the idea or the unclean acts with which some of these organs are connected, in the present conception of humanity, does not militate against the fact that each such organ has been evolved and developed to perform six functions on six distinct planes of action, besides its seventh, the lowest and purely terrestrial function on the physical plane. This will suffice as an introduction to what follows.
In the allegory of Padmapani, the Jewel (or Spiritual Ego) in the Lotus, or the symbol of androgynous man, the numbers 3, 4, 7, 10, as synthesizing the Unit, Man, are prominent, as I have already said. It is on the thorough knowledge and comprehension of the meaning and potency of these numbers, in their various and multiform combinations, and in their mutual correspondence with sounds (or words) and colors, or rates of motion (represented in physical science by vibrations), that the progress of a student in Occultism depends. Therefore we must begin by the first, initial word, ÔM or AUM. ÔM is a “blind.” The ‘sentence “Ôm Mani Padme Hum” is not a six- but a seven-syllabled phrase, as the first syllable is double in its right pronunciation, and triple in its essence, A-UM. It represents the forever-concealed primeval triune differentiation, not from but in the ONE Absolute, and is therefore symbolized by the 4, or the Tetraktys, in the metaphysical world. It is the Unit-ray, or Atman.
It is Atman, this highest spirit in man, which, in conjunction with Buddhi and Manas, is called the upper Triad, or Trinity. This triad with its four lower human principles is, moreover, enveloped with an auric atmosphere, like the yolk of an egg (the future embryo) by the albumen and shell. This, to the perceptions of higher beings from other planes, makes of each individuality an oval sphere of more or less radiancy.
H. P. Blavatsky, Collected Writings v. XII, pp. 516-21
The word Aum or Ôm, which corresponds to the upper triangle, if pronounced by a very holy and pure man, will draw out or awaken, not only the less exalted potencies residing in the planetary spaces and elements, but even his Higher Self, or the “Father” within him. Pronounced by an averagely good man, in the correct way, it will strengthen him morally, especially if between two “Aums” he meditates intently on the Aum within him, concentrating all his attention upon the ineffable glory. But woe to the man who pronounces it after the commission of some far-reaching sin: he will thereby only attract to his own impure photosphere invisible presences and forces which could not otherwise break through the divine envelope. All the members of the Esoteric School, if earnest in their endeavor to learn, are invited to pronounce the divine word before going to sleep and the first thing upon awakening. The right accent, however, should be first obtained from one of the officers of the E.S.T.
Âum is the original of Amen. Now, Amen is not a Hebrew term, but, like the word Hallelujah, was borrowed by the Jews and Greeks from the Chaldees. The latter word is often found repeated in certain magical inscriptions upon cups and urns among the Babylonian and Ninivean relics. Amen does not mean “so be it” or “verily,” but signified in hoary antiquity almost the same as Âum. The Jewish Tannaïm (Initiates) used it for the same reason as the Âryan Adepts use Âum, and with a like success, the numerical value of AMeN in Hebrew letters being 91, the same as the full value of YHVH, 26 and ADoNaY, 65, or 91. Both words mean the affirmation of the being, or existence of the sexless “Lord” within us.
Esoteric Science teaches that every sound in the visible world awakens its corresponding sound in the invisible realms, and arouses to action some force or other on the occult side of nature. Moreover, every sound corresponds to a color and a number (a potency spiritual, psychic or physical) and to a sensation on some plane. All these find an echo in every one of the so far developed elements and even on the terrestrial plane, in the Lives that swarm in the terrene atmosphere, thus prompting them to action.
Thus a prayer, unless pronounced mentally and addressed to one’s “Father” in the silence and solitude of one’s “closet,” must have more frequently disastrous than beneficial results, seeing that the masses are entirely ignorant of the potent effects which they thus produce. To produce good effects, the prayer must be uttered by “one who knows how to make himself heard in silence,” when it is no longer a prayer but becomes a command. Why is Jesus shown to have forbidden his hearers to go to the public synagogues? Surely every praying man was not a hypocrite and a liar, nor a Pharisee who loved to be seen praying by people! He had a motive we must suppose: the same motive which prompts the experienced Occultist to prevent his pupils from going into crowded places now as then, from entering churches, séance-rooms, etc., unless they are in sympathy with the crowd.
There is one piece of advice to be given to beginners who cannot help going into crowds––one which may appear superstitious but which in the absence of occult knowledge will be found efficacious. As well known to good astrologers, the days of the week are not in the order of those planets whose names they bear. The fact is that the ancient Hindus and Egyptians divided the day into four parts, each day being under the protection (as ascertained by practical magic) of a planet; and every day, as correctly asserted by Dion Cassius, received the name of the planet which ruled and protected its first portion. Let the student protect himself from the “Powers of the Air” (Elementals) which throng public places, by wearing either a ring containing some jewel of the color of the presiding planet, or else of the metal sacred to it. But the best protection is a clear conscience and a firm desire of benefiting Humanity.
H. P. Blavatsky, Collected Writings v. XII, pp. 534-5
Students in the West have little or no idea of the forces that lie latent in Sound, the Âkâśic vibrations that may be set up by those who understand how to pronounce certain words. The Om, or the “Om mani padme hûm” are in spiritual affinity with cosmic forces, but without a knowledge of the natural arrangement, or of the order in which the syllables stand, very little can be achieved. “Om” is, of course, Aum, that may be pronounced as two, three or seven syllables, setting up different vibrations.
Now, letters, as vocal sounds, cannot fail to correspond with musical notes, and therefore with numbers and colors; hence also with Forces and Tattvas. He who remembers that the universe is built up from the Tattvas, will readily understand something of the power that may be exercised by vocal sounds. Every letter in the alphabet, whether divided into three, four, or seven septenaries, or forty-nine letters, has its own color, or shade of color. He who has learned the colors of the alphabetical letters, and the corresponding numbers of the seven, and the forty-nine colors and shades on the scale of planes and forces, and knows their respective order in the seven planes, will easily master the art of bringing them into affinity or interplay. But here a difficulty arises. The Senzar and Sanskrit alphabets, and other occult tongues, besides other potencies, have a number, color and distinct syllable for every letter, and so had also the old Mosaic Hebrew. But how many of the E.S. know any of these tongues? When the time comes, therefore, it must suffice to teach the students the numbers and colors attached to the Latin letters only (N.B., as pronounced in Latin, not in Anglo-Saxon, Scotch, or Irish.) This, however, would be, at present, premature.
The color and number of not only the planets but also the zodiacal constellations corresponding to every letter of the alphabet, are necessary to make any special syllable, and even letter, operative. Therefore if a student would make Buddhi operative, for instance, he would have to intone the first words of the Mantra on the note mi. But he would have still further to accentuate the mi, and produce mentally the yellow color corresponding to this sound and note, on every letter M in “Om mani padme hûm”; this, not because the note bears the same in the vernacular, Sanskrit, or even the Senzar, for it does not––but because the letter M follows the first letter, and is in this sacred formula also the seventh and the fourth. As Buddhi it is second; as Buddhi-Manas it is the second and third combined.
Collected Writings v. XII, pp. 642-3 [1] Jâh-Havâh, or male-female on the terrestrial plane, as invented by the Jews, and now made out to mean Jehovah, but signifying in reality and literally, “giving being” and “receiving life.”
The yogi after reaching the third syllable in his meditation, passes on to the fourth, which is the silence which follows. He thinks of the divinity in that silence.
The Chakras by C.W. Leadbeater, Ch. V, "The Divinities"
“ÔM,” says the Aryan Adept, the son of the Fifth Race, who with this syllable begins and ends his salutation to the human being, his conjuration of, or appeal to, non-human PRESENCES.
“ÔM-MANI,” murmurs the Turanian Adept, the descendant of the Fourth Race; and after pausing he adds, “PADME-HUM.”
This famous invocation is very erroneously translated by the Orientalists as meaning, “O the Jewel in the Lotus.” For although literally, ÔM is a syllable sacred to the Deity, PADME means “in the Lotus,” and MANI is any precious stone, still neither the words themselves, nor their symbolical meaning, are thus really correctly rendered.
In this, the most sacred of all Eastern formulas, not only has every syllable a secret potency producing a definite result, but the whole invocation has seven different meanings and can produce seven distinct results, each of which may differ from the others.
The seven meanings and the seven results depend upon the intonation that is given to the whole formula and to each of its syllables; and even the numerical value of the letters is added to or diminished according as such or another rhythm is made use of. Let the student remember that number underlies form, and number guides sound. Number lies at the root of the manifested Universe; numbers and harmonious proportions guide the first differentiations of homogeneous substance into heterogeneous elements; and number and numbers set limits to the formative hand of Nature.
Know the corresponding numbers of the fundamental principle of every element and its sub-elements, learn their interaction and behavior on the occult side of manifesting nature, and the law of correspondences will lead you to the discovery of the greatest mysteries of macrocosmical life.
But to arrive at the macrocosmical, you must begin by the microcosmical: i.e., you must study MAN, the microcosm––in this case as physical science does––inductively, proceeding from particulars to universals. At the same time, however, since a keynote is required to analyze and comprehend any combinations of differentiations of sound, we must never lose sight of the Platonic method, which starts with one general view of all, and descends from the universal to the individual. This is the method adopted in Mathematics––the only exact science that exists in our day.
Let us study Man, therefore; but if we separate him for one moment from the Universal Whole, or view him in isolation, from a single aspect, apart from the “Heavenly Man”––the Universe symbolized by Adam-Kadmon or his equivalents in every philosophy––we shall either land in black magic or fail most ingloriously in our attempt.
Thus the mystic sentence, “Ôm Mani Padme Hum,” when rightly understood, instead of being composed of the almost meaningless words, “O the Jewel in the Lotus,” contains a reference to this indissoluble union between Man and the Universe, rendered in seven different ways and having the capability of seven different applications to as many planes of thought and action.
From whatever aspect we examine it, it means: “I am that I am”; “I am in thee and thou art in me.” In this conjunction and close union the good and pure man becomes a god. Whether consciously or unconsciously, he will bring about or innocently cause to happen unavoidable results. In the first case, if an Initiate––of course an Adept of the Right-hand Path alone is meant––he can guide a beneficient or a protecting current, and thus benefit and protect individuals and even whole nations. In the second case, although quite unaware of what he was doing, the good man becomes a shield to whomsoever he is with.
Such is the fact; but its how and why have to be explained, and this can be done only when the actual presence and potency of numbers in sounds, and hence in words and letters, have been rendered clear. The formula, “Ôm Mani Padme Hum,” has been chosen as an illustration on account of its almost infinite potency in the mouth of an Adept, and of its potentiality when pronounced by any man. Be careful, all you who read this: do not use these words in vain or when in anger, lest you become yourself the first sacrificial victim or, what is worse, endanger those whom you love.
The profane Orientalist, who all his life skims mere externals, will tell you flippantly, and laughing at the superstition, that in Tibet this sentence is the most powerful six-syllabled incantation and is said to have been delivered to the nations of Central Asia by Padmapani, the Tibetan Chenrezi. (See The Secret Doctrine, Vol. II, pp. 178-79)
But who is Padmapani in reality? Each of us must recognize him for himself whenever he is ready. Each of us has within himself the “Jewel in the Lotus,” call it Padmapani, Krisha, Buddha, Christ, or by whatever name we may give to our Divine Self. The exoteric story runs thus:
The supreme Buddha, or Amitabha, they say, at the hour of the creation of man, caused a rosy ray of light to issue from his right eye. The ray emitted a sound and became Padmapani Bodhisattva. Then the Deity allowed to stream from his left eye a blue ray of light which, becoming incarnate in the two virgins Dolma, acquired the power to enlighten the minds of living beings. Amitabha then called the combination, which forthwith took up its abode in man, “Om Mani Padme Hum” (“I am the Jewel in the Lotus, and in it I will remain”). Then Padmapani, “the one in the Lotus,” vowed never to cease working until he had made Humanity feel his presence in itself and had thus saved it from the misery of rebirth. He vowed to perform the feat before the end of the Kalpa, adding that in case of failure he wished that his head would split into numberless fragments. The Kalpa closed; but Humanity felt him not within its cold, evil heart. Then Padmapani’s head split and was shattered into a thousand fragments. Moved with compassion, the Deity re-formed the pieces into ten heads, three white and seven of various colors. And since that day man has become a perfect number, or TEN.
In this allegory the potency of SOUND, COLOR and NUMBER is so ingeniously introduced as to veil the real esoteric meaning. To the outsider it reads like one of the many meaningless fairy tales of creation; but it is pregnant with spiritual and divine, physical and magical, meaning. From Amitabha––no color or the white glory––are born the seven differentiated colors of the prism. These each emit a corresponding sound, forming the seven of the musical scale. As Geometry among the Mathematical Sciences is specially related to Architecture, and also––proceeding to Universals––to Cosmogony, so the ten Yôds of the Pythagorean Tetrad, or Tetraktys, being made to symbolize the Macrocosm, the Microcosm, or man, its image, had also to be divided into ten points. For this Nature herself has provided, as will be seen.
But, before this statement can be proved and the perfect correspondences between the Macrocosm and the Microcosm demonstrated, a few words of explanation are necessary.
To the learner who would study the Esoteric Sciences with their double object: (a) of proving Man to be identical in spiritual and physical essence with both the Absolute Principle and with God in Nature; and (b) of demonstrating the presence in him of the same potential powers as exist in the creative forces in Nature––to such an one a perfect knowledge of the correspondences between Colors, Sounds and Numbers is the first requisite. As already said, the sacred formula of the Far East, Ôm Mani Padme Hûm, is the one best calculated to make these correspondential qualities and functions clear to the learner.
Let those, I say again, who feel themselves too much the children of our age to approach the many mysteries which have to be revealed, in a truly reverential spirit, even though references be made to such subjects and objects as are deemed improper and, to use the correct term, indecent, in our modern day––let such abandon these teachings at once. For I shall have to use terms and refer, especially in the beginning, to the most secret organs and functions of the human body, the bare mention of which is certain to provoke either a feeling of disgust and shame or an irreverent laugh.
It is such feelings which have invariably led the generations of writers on symbology and religions, ever since the day of Kircher, to materialize every natural emblem and ideograph in their impure thought, and finally to sum up all religions, Christianity included, as phallic worship. It is quite true that ever since the days of Pythagoras and Plato the exoteric cults began to deteriorate, until they debased the symbolism into the most shameful practices of sexual worship. Hence the horror and contempt with which every true Occultist regards the so-called “personal God” and the exoteric ritualistic worship of the Churches––be they Heathen or Christian. But even in the days of Plato it was not so. It was the persecution of the True Hierophants and the final suppression of those Mysteries, which alone purified man’s thoughts, that led to Tantrika sexual worship and, through the forgetting of divine truth, to BLACK MAGIC, whether conscious or otherwise.
Numerous works have been written upon this subject, especially in the latter part of our century. Every student can read for himself such works as those of Payne Knight, Higgins, Inman, Forlong, and finally Hargrave Jennings’ Phallicism and Allen Campbell’s Phallic Worship. All are based on truth as far as the facts are concerned; all are erroneous and unjust in their ultimate conclusions and deductions.
The above words are addressed to students in order that––knowing how bitter some Occultists feel both towards carnalizing Churches and materialistic thinkers who see phallicism in every symbol––they should not at the outset jump to the conclusion that, after all, the Occult Sciences likewise are based on nothing else but a sexual foundation. Man and woman in their physical aspects and corporeal envelopes are but higher animals, and the various parts of their bodies, if named at all, must be referred to in terms comprehensible to the student. But the idea or the unclean acts with which some of these organs are connected, in the present conception of humanity, does not militate against the fact that each such organ has been evolved and developed to perform six functions on six distinct planes of action, besides its seventh, the lowest and purely terrestrial function on the physical plane. This will suffice as an introduction to what follows.
In the allegory of Padmapani, the Jewel (or Spiritual Ego) in the Lotus, or the symbol of androgynous man, the numbers 3, 4, 7, 10, as synthesizing the Unit, Man, are prominent, as I have already said. It is on the thorough knowledge and comprehension of the meaning and potency of these numbers, in their various and multiform combinations, and in their mutual correspondence with sounds (or words) and colors, or rates of motion (represented in physical science by vibrations), that the progress of a student in Occultism depends. Therefore we must begin by the first, initial word, ÔM or AUM. ÔM is a “blind.” The ‘sentence “Ôm Mani Padme Hum” is not a six- but a seven-syllabled phrase, as the first syllable is double in its right pronunciation, and triple in its essence, A-UM. It represents the forever-concealed primeval triune differentiation, not from but in the ONE Absolute, and is therefore symbolized by the 4, or the Tetraktys, in the metaphysical world. It is the Unit-ray, or Atman.
It is Atman, this highest spirit in man, which, in conjunction with Buddhi and Manas, is called the upper Triad, or Trinity. This triad with its four lower human principles is, moreover, enveloped with an auric atmosphere, like the yolk of an egg (the future embryo) by the albumen and shell. This, to the perceptions of higher beings from other planes, makes of each individuality an oval sphere of more or less radiancy.
H. P. Blavatsky, Collected Writings v. XII, pp. 516-21
The word Aum or Ôm, which corresponds to the upper triangle, if pronounced by a very holy and pure man, will draw out or awaken, not only the less exalted potencies residing in the planetary spaces and elements, but even his Higher Self, or the “Father” within him. Pronounced by an averagely good man, in the correct way, it will strengthen him morally, especially if between two “Aums” he meditates intently on the Aum within him, concentrating all his attention upon the ineffable glory. But woe to the man who pronounces it after the commission of some far-reaching sin: he will thereby only attract to his own impure photosphere invisible presences and forces which could not otherwise break through the divine envelope. All the members of the Esoteric School, if earnest in their endeavor to learn, are invited to pronounce the divine word before going to sleep and the first thing upon awakening. The right accent, however, should be first obtained from one of the officers of the E.S.T.
Âum is the original of Amen. Now, Amen is not a Hebrew term, but, like the word Hallelujah, was borrowed by the Jews and Greeks from the Chaldees. The latter word is often found repeated in certain magical inscriptions upon cups and urns among the Babylonian and Ninivean relics. Amen does not mean “so be it” or “verily,” but signified in hoary antiquity almost the same as Âum. The Jewish Tannaïm (Initiates) used it for the same reason as the Âryan Adepts use Âum, and with a like success, the numerical value of AMeN in Hebrew letters being 91, the same as the full value of YHVH, 26 and ADoNaY, 65, or 91. Both words mean the affirmation of the being, or existence of the sexless “Lord” within us.
Esoteric Science teaches that every sound in the visible world awakens its corresponding sound in the invisible realms, and arouses to action some force or other on the occult side of nature. Moreover, every sound corresponds to a color and a number (a potency spiritual, psychic or physical) and to a sensation on some plane. All these find an echo in every one of the so far developed elements and even on the terrestrial plane, in the Lives that swarm in the terrene atmosphere, thus prompting them to action.
Thus a prayer, unless pronounced mentally and addressed to one’s “Father” in the silence and solitude of one’s “closet,” must have more frequently disastrous than beneficial results, seeing that the masses are entirely ignorant of the potent effects which they thus produce. To produce good effects, the prayer must be uttered by “one who knows how to make himself heard in silence,” when it is no longer a prayer but becomes a command. Why is Jesus shown to have forbidden his hearers to go to the public synagogues? Surely every praying man was not a hypocrite and a liar, nor a Pharisee who loved to be seen praying by people! He had a motive we must suppose: the same motive which prompts the experienced Occultist to prevent his pupils from going into crowded places now as then, from entering churches, séance-rooms, etc., unless they are in sympathy with the crowd.
There is one piece of advice to be given to beginners who cannot help going into crowds––one which may appear superstitious but which in the absence of occult knowledge will be found efficacious. As well known to good astrologers, the days of the week are not in the order of those planets whose names they bear. The fact is that the ancient Hindus and Egyptians divided the day into four parts, each day being under the protection (as ascertained by practical magic) of a planet; and every day, as correctly asserted by Dion Cassius, received the name of the planet which ruled and protected its first portion. Let the student protect himself from the “Powers of the Air” (Elementals) which throng public places, by wearing either a ring containing some jewel of the color of the presiding planet, or else of the metal sacred to it. But the best protection is a clear conscience and a firm desire of benefiting Humanity.
H. P. Blavatsky, Collected Writings v. XII, pp. 534-5
Students in the West have little or no idea of the forces that lie latent in Sound, the Âkâśic vibrations that may be set up by those who understand how to pronounce certain words. The Om, or the “Om mani padme hûm” are in spiritual affinity with cosmic forces, but without a knowledge of the natural arrangement, or of the order in which the syllables stand, very little can be achieved. “Om” is, of course, Aum, that may be pronounced as two, three or seven syllables, setting up different vibrations.
Now, letters, as vocal sounds, cannot fail to correspond with musical notes, and therefore with numbers and colors; hence also with Forces and Tattvas. He who remembers that the universe is built up from the Tattvas, will readily understand something of the power that may be exercised by vocal sounds. Every letter in the alphabet, whether divided into three, four, or seven septenaries, or forty-nine letters, has its own color, or shade of color. He who has learned the colors of the alphabetical letters, and the corresponding numbers of the seven, and the forty-nine colors and shades on the scale of planes and forces, and knows their respective order in the seven planes, will easily master the art of bringing them into affinity or interplay. But here a difficulty arises. The Senzar and Sanskrit alphabets, and other occult tongues, besides other potencies, have a number, color and distinct syllable for every letter, and so had also the old Mosaic Hebrew. But how many of the E.S. know any of these tongues? When the time comes, therefore, it must suffice to teach the students the numbers and colors attached to the Latin letters only (N.B., as pronounced in Latin, not in Anglo-Saxon, Scotch, or Irish.) This, however, would be, at present, premature.
The color and number of not only the planets but also the zodiacal constellations corresponding to every letter of the alphabet, are necessary to make any special syllable, and even letter, operative. Therefore if a student would make Buddhi operative, for instance, he would have to intone the first words of the Mantra on the note mi. But he would have still further to accentuate the mi, and produce mentally the yellow color corresponding to this sound and note, on every letter M in “Om mani padme hûm”; this, not because the note bears the same in the vernacular, Sanskrit, or even the Senzar, for it does not––but because the letter M follows the first letter, and is in this sacred formula also the seventh and the fourth. As Buddhi it is second; as Buddhi-Manas it is the second and third combined.
Collected Writings v. XII, pp. 642-3 [1] Jâh-Havâh, or male-female on the terrestrial plane, as invented by the Jews, and now made out to mean Jehovah, but signifying in reality and literally, “giving being” and “receiving life.”
