Om is the name for Brahman, the cause and the basis of creation. Om, as a sound, also indicates auspiciousness and is chanted at the beginning of prayers and religious studies. Om is derived from the Sanskrit verbal root ‘av’ meaning ‘to protect’. When one chants Om with the understanding that it is a name for the lord, it becomes a prayer for one’s protection.

Om etymologically is composed of three sounds, ‘a’, ‘u’, and ‘m’. The first syllable, ‘a’ stands for the waking world, the waker, and the waking experience. The second syllable ‘u’, stands for the dream world, the dreamer, and the dream experience. The third syllable ‘m’, stands for the sleep world, the sleeper, and the sleep experience. As one chants Om repeatedly, the silence between the chants stands for the awareness, the consciousness which is the basis of the three worlds, the three experiencers, and the three states of experience. Om thus represents all that exists and the basis or substratum of all that exists