Om, sumo, and the universality of sound

阿吽の呼吸（aun'nokokyū あうんのこきゅう）

 

It refers to the synchronization of breathing of sumo opponents before a match. I read about this in an article about an interview with a sumo wrestler. But the "aun あうん" part lingered in my mind. Then I realized that it was the Japanese transliteration of the "om" that you were telling the class that encompassed all sounds:  "a" and "un" signify the beginning and end of the cosmos respectively, or so wikipedia explains. The Japanese phrase means a harmonious, non-verbal communication.

Since om is the vocable that encompasses all sounds (and, indeed, all reality), I will provide extensive, encyclopedic descriptions of its phonology, etymology, and morphology.

 

Ōṁ (or Aum) (listen (help·info); Sanskrit: ॐ, ओम्, romanized: Ōṁ; Tamil: ௐ, ஓம்) is the sound of a sacred spiritual symbol in Indian religions, mainly in Hinduism, wherein it signifies the essence of the Ultimate Reality (parabrahman) which is consciousness (paramatman). More broadly, it is a syllable that is chanted either independently or before a spiritual recitation in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The meaning and connotations of Om vary between the diverse schools within and across the various traditions. It is also part of the iconography found in ancient and medieval era manuscripts, temples, monasteries and spiritual retreats in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism.

In Hinduism, Om is one of the most important spiritual symbols. It refers to Atman (Self within) and Brahman (ultimate reality, entirety of the universe, truth, divine, supreme spirit, cosmic principles, knowledge). The syllable is often found at the beginning and the end of chapters in the Vedas, the Upanishads, and other Hindu texts. It is a sacred spiritual incantation made before and during the recitation of spiritual texts, during puja and private prayers, in ceremonies of rites of passage (sanskara) such as weddings, and sometimes during meditative and spiritual activities such as Yoga.

The syllable Om is also referred to as Onkara/Omkara and Pranav/Pranava among many other names.

The syllable Om is referred to by many names, including:

• • Praṇava (प्रणव); literally, "fore-sound", referring to Om as the primeval sound.
  • Oṅkāra (ओङ्कार) or oṃkāra (ओंकार); literally, "Om-maker", denoting the first source of the sound Om and connoting the act of creation.
    • Ik Oṅkār (ਇੱਕ ਓਅੰਕਾਰ); literally, "one Om-maker", and an epithet of God in Sikhism.
  • Udgītha (उद्गीथ); meaning "song, chant", a word found in Samaveda and bhasya (commentaries) based on it, which is also used as a name of the syllable.
  • Akṣara (अक्षर); literally, "imperishable, immutable", and also "letter of the alphabet" or "syllable".
    • Ekākṣara; literally, "one letter of the alphabet", referring to its representation as a single ligature.

The etymological origins of ōm/āum have long been discussed and disputed, with even the Upanishads having proposed multiple Sanskrit etymologies for āum, including: from "ām" (आम्; "yes"), from "ávam" (आवम्; "that, thus, yes"), and from the Sanskrit roots "āv-" (अव्; "to urge") or "āp-" (आप्; "to attain"). In 1889, Maurice Blumfield proposed an origin from a Proto-Indo-European introductory particle "*au" with a function similar to the Sanskrit particle "atha" (अथ). However, contemporary Indologist Asko Parpola proposes a borrowing from Dravidian "*ām" meaning "'it is so', 'let it be so', 'yes'", a contraction of "*ākum", cognate with modern Tamil "ām" (ஆம்) meaning "yes".

Regardless of its original meaning, the syllable Om evolves to mean many abstract ideas even in the earliest Upanishads. Max Müller and other scholars state that these philosophical texts recommend Om as a "tool for meditation", explain various meanings that the syllable may be in the mind of one meditating, ranging from "artificial and senseless" to "highest concepts such as the cause of the Universe, essence of life, Brahman, Atman, and Self-knowledge".

The syllable Om is first mentioned in the Upanishads, the mystical texts associated with the Vedanta philosophy. It has variously been associated with concepts of "cosmic sound" or "mystical syllable" or "affirmation to something divine", or as symbolism for abstract spiritual concepts in the Upanishads. In the Aranyaka and the Brahmana layers of Vedic texts, the syllable is so widespread and linked to knowledge, that it stands for the "whole of Veda". The symbolic foundations of Om are repeatedly discussed in the oldest layers of the early Upanishads. The Aitareya Brahmana of Rig Veda, in section 5.32, for example suggests that the three phonetic components of Om (a + u + m) correspond to the three stages of cosmic creation, and when it is read or said, it celebrates the creative powers of the universe. The Brahmana layer of Vedic texts equate Om with bhur-bhuvah-svah, the latter symbolising "the whole Veda". They offer various shades of meaning to Om, such as it being "the universe beyond the sun", or that which is "mysterious and inexhaustible", or "the infinite language, the infinite knowledge", or "essence of breath, life, everything that exists", or that "with which one is liberated". The Samaveda, the poetical Veda, orthographically maps Om to the audible, the musical truths in its numerous variations (Oum, Aum, Ovā Ovā Ovā Um, etc.) and then attempts to extract musical meters from it.

When occurring within spoken Classical Sanskrit, the syllable is subject to the normal rules of sandhi in Sanskrit grammar, with the additional peculiarity that after preceding a or ā, the au of aum does not form vriddhi (au) but guna (o) and is therefore pronounced as a monophthong with a long vowel ([oː]), ie. ōm not āum. Furthermore, the final m is often assimilated into the preceding vowel as nasalisation. As a result, Om regularly pronounced [õː] in the context of Sanskrit.

In the context of the Vedas, the vowel is pluta ("three times as long"), indicating a length of three morae (that is, the time it takes to say three syllables) — often interpreted as an overlong close-mid back rounded vowel (ō̄m [oːːm]). This extended duration is emphasised by denominations who regard it as more authentically Vedic, such as Arya Samaj.

The initial phonemic o of "Om" is the guna vowel grade of u, which reflects the older Vedic Sanskrit diphthong au. This being so, the syllable Om is often archaically considered as consisting of three phonemes: "a-u-m". Accordingly, some denominations maintain the archaic diphthong au viewing it to be more authentic.

Many languages related to or influenced by Classical Sanskrit, such as Hindustani, share its pronunciation of Om ([õː] or [oːm]).

(source of the above four sections)

 

I always say that om begins at the back / bottom of the vocal tract and progresses upward through its entire length, ending at the lips, from ārambh आरंभ ("inception")* to nirvāṇa निर्वाण ("extinction").

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*I honestly do not know the correct / proper antonym for nirvana.  Suggestions welcome.