It might be helpful to define the mantras used in TM and in the Indian yoga meditation practices.
A "mantra" is a word or phrase used in the oral tradition and in the literature of the Aryan speakers who migrated from the Caucasus region into the Middle and Near East - Iran and India. The Rig Veda is composed of 'mantras' extolling the supernal deities or the forces of nature. The Vedic mantras are words with semantic meaning. The earliest use of mantras are in the Rig Veda, which was probably composed in the land of five-rivers, modern Pakistan, after the arrival of the Aryan speakers in South Asia. That would be around 1500 B.C. Vedic mantras are not the same as bija mantras. There are no "bija" mantras in the Rig Veda or in the Avesta. The use of bija mantras is a relatively recent practice. A "bija" mantra is an esoteric "seed" sound used in Buddhist and Hindu tantric initiation beginning in the Gupta Age in India. Bija mantras have no semantic meaning - bi Hindu bija mantras are concerned with the devatas, the deified heroes of Indian literature, such as Vasudeva, Krishna, Balarama, and Ramchandra, for supplication or for the gaining of boons. Buddhist bija mantras are concerned with the enlightenment tradition. The first use of bija mantras is probably the Buddhist 'Heart Sutra, (Prajnaparmita Hridaya) which was composed around 200 B.C., probably in the Swat Valley. Hindu bija mantras came after that, along with the Indian alchemists, the so-called '84 Maha-Siddhas' of Siddha Yoga Tantric tradition. Work cited: The Tantric Tradition by Agehananda Bharati Rider, 1965 ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <s3raphita@...> wrote : Thanks for that. Of course, AUM also has a link with AMEN in Christianity - and perhaps with AMON (also spelled Amun, Amen) the chief deity in Ancient Egyptian religion. I've copied below a segment of the piece you linked to as it might intrigue others: "In the very beginning of your Koran, at the top, are three letters, alif (A), lam (L) and mim (M). Can any of you or any learned Mulawi of Islam explain what these three letters mean?' The Moslems replied that this was a secret which Allah had kept to himself. Swami Rama laughed heartily at this remark and said: ‘When God has revealed the entire Koran for the benefit of mankind, as the Muslims claim, it is very strange that he has kept its very heading a secret. No. It is not so. If you, the Muslims who put full faith in the Koran do not know the secret of the letters A, L, M, Rama will tell you what they signify. Alif, Lam and Mim are nothing but alif (A), wao (O) and mim (M), that is, AOM or OM.' The Muslims objected that the letter L is not the same as the letter O, but Swami Rama pointed out to them that in Arabic grammar L is pronounced O when it falls between a vowel and a consonant, as in the names Shamsuddin, which is written Shamsaldin, or Nizamuddin, which is written Nizamaldin. The letter lam (L) becomes silent and gives the sound of the Arabic letter pesh (O or U). Therefore ALM is no secret; it is clearly and unambiguously OM and nothing but OM. It is Kufra, heretical or a sin, to blame God for keeping it a secret." ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <no_re...@yahoogroups.com> wrote : Islam and OM (AUM) the Creative Sound Of God http://www.ttonline.org/forum/threads/7965-Islam-and-OM-%28AUM%29-the-Creative-Sound-Of-God Islam and OM (AUM) the Creative Sound Of God http://www.ttonline.org/forum/threads/7965-Islam-and-OM-%28AUM%29-the-Creative-Sound-Of-God TTonline - Trinidad & Tobago Online Community View on www.ttonline.org http://www.ttonline.org/forum/threads/7965-Islam-and-OM-%28AUM%29-the-Creative-Sound-Of-God Preview by Yahoo
