When one really “listens” to this silent sound, this unstruck vibration, one comes inevitably to stillness, to pure and open existence. The poet Gerhart Hauptmann says the aim of all poetry is “to let the Word be heard resounding behind words”.
The sound behind the sound… And, in making the sound of AUM, we hear this unstruck sound most clearly in the instant when the last humming vibrations of the “M” fade away. At that moment, that instant separating audible sound and silence, the veil is thinnest, and our listening awareness is most expansive.
At that moment of silence, to use William Blake’s words, the “doors of perception” are cleansed, and “everything would appear to man as it is, infinite”.
One excellent exercise with the sacred AUM sound involves a more modern interpretation of its elements. In short: “A” is the sound of infinite expanding energy in the cosmos, the energy of Unity Consciousness and Divine Love; “U” is the sound of that very energy manifesting and materialising in our waking reality; with the sound of “M” we absorb and integrate that energy into our own being. In the silence after the sound, we give thanks and allow the process to resonate within us.
Try this: stand comfortably, with feet shoulder width apart, hands and arms hanging easily at your sides. Prepare to make the “AUM” sound, all three vowels in one seamless breath. Inhale gentiy, easily, expanding into your belly as you breathe. Open your mouth fully as you inhale, as if to “inhale” the “A” sound itself, creating the intention of the sound before the sound actually begins.
Then, as you begin to make the “A” sound, raise your arms out to the side, as if opening to embrace the entire cosmos. Then, as your voice transitions seamlessly to the “U” sound, extend your arms to the front, as if to hold something precious and powerful in your hands. You might wish to visualise some shape, round and energetic, manifesting between the palms of your hands.
Then, gliding from “U” to the “M” sound, bring your hands, and whatever they may contain, to your heart centre. Finally, in the echo of the silence, bring your palms to your chest, pressing them lovingly to your heart. Breathe gently.
Repeat this exercise several times. It is remarkably centering and relaxing.
The most important aspect of this second form of AUM is the combination of sound and movement. It really doesn’t matter what “images” you create in your mind as you do this exercise, or what specific significance you choose to attribute to each of the individual vowel sounds.
The mere fact that you are intoning this ancient sound, and combining it with gentle intuitive movements of the upper body, will have a naturally gentle and balancing effect on your body, mind, emotions, and spirit.
In that state, we can best hear the AnahaUi Nada, the unstruck sound behind the sound, the very sound of the Self.