Power of Prayer
Using the Sacred Word OM
Throughout all ages, generation after generation, people have been fascinated by sound. Many ancient cultures developed particular methods and ceremonies that used sound as a vehicle to communicate with their Creator and to influence the natural, inherent play of forces in their lives. Chanting was developed to achieve deep and effective communication by putting concentrated attention and feeling into the sound. Hence, the Hindu mantra, the Native American ceremonial chants, and the devotional songs and hymns of most religions emerged.
Sound is vibration, and whether or not we can hear it, each atom of creation produces a sound wave as it vibrates. Thus, the whole universe is humming all at once in an unlimited range of frequencies. The underlying sound of all these frequencies, which can be heard in deep meditation, is the sacred sound OM. OM is the essence of the ancient Hindu scriptures that state quite simply: “OM is Brahman. OM is all. One who meditates on OM attains to Brahman”. Brahman is God, Divine Peace and Enlightenment.
Hindus, Tibetans, and other peoples of the world have consciously used the power of the OM for centuries to bring about peace and harmony. OM of the Vedas, sometimes pronounced AUM, became the sacred word Hum of the Tibetans, Amin of the Moslems, and Amen of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Jews and Christians. This word, in all of its various forms, has been used as chants and prayers for thousands of years.
Three words are used in our culture to describe the attributes of Divine Spirit - Omnipresent, Omnipotent, and Omniscient. The first syllable of these words, OM, has been described in ancient scriptures of India to embody these attributes of Divine Presence, as “our greatest support.” We can use the divine wisdom and keys that have been passed down to us through the ages to support our dedicated work for world peace and enlightenment in this critical time period and to help guide our planet and lessen the current challenges humanity is facing.
The OM circle works much like a finely tuned intelligent radio transmitter in accordance with the physics of sound and vibration. In radio transmitters the message or signal travels on a wave of energy called a carrier wave. OM is analogous to the perfect carrier wave; it is self-directing and automatically goes to the areas that most need to receive the transmission. When individuals sit together in a circle chanting OM in full agreement on their goal of world peace, it creates a resonant effect, and with it a vast increase in the strength of that signal of peace. When many circles of people agree to do this together at the same time, the total effect of the meditation is immensely powerful in creating peace and harmony throughout the world.