A brief Introduction of the Seven Chakras in human body and Kundalini

Human have terrible mood swings. At times we are high on energy and feel very positive, at times we feel very low, sometimes we can concentrate better but some time we cannot not. This is because the chakras in the body are blocked or some time more active. Chakras are the Energy centres in our body also called the ‘whirlpool of energy’.

It is really very sad but most people are not aware of the fact that our body has seven energy centres that are largely responsible for our various moods and behaviour. As such, very briefly, through this blog I shall share with you what these seven main energy centres in our body.

Yogic Text speaks about seven important chakras.Through Meditation or yogic practices chakras can be activated. Chakras are symbolised by Lotus flower, which is appropriately chosen. Almost all the religions have the concept of chakras in different ways.

Chakras control particular parts of the body, energising particular organs and bring harmony within the body. If any of these chakras are blocked then energy cannot flow freely. Chakras are The part of subtle body one cannot see chakras through naked eyes but, can feel the energy of the chakras during meditation.

Muldhara chakra or Root chakra: Located between anus and genital area. This chakra stands for personal security, fulfilling the personal needs.

At this point, I must make you all knowledgable why this chakra is called "Muladhar" or Root" chakra? It is because, the place this chakra is located- is a base of all chakras where the "Female power Kundalini" or "Shakti" is residing and lying dormant all the time. Kundalini is three and half coiled snake also called Bhujangini, Ishwari, Nadishakti.

One must also prepare for Kundalini awakening.When Kundalini is awakened it moves in an upward direction piercing all the Chakras finally reaches to Shahsra Chakra and merge with lord Shiva one reaches to higher level of consciousness after Kundalini is awakened. 

Swadhisthan Chakra or Sacral Chakra: Located at Sacral bone, it stands for sexuality feeling, well-being and pleasure.

Manipura Chakra or Solar plexus: This chakra stands for confidence and power. When this Chakra is active one gains the ability to influence the environment around them. This is located directly behind the navel.

Anahata or Heart Chakra :  Anahata chakra is located behind the centre of chest. It stands for love and joy.

Vishudhi or Purified centre: located in the neck region behind the throat. It gives the power to express thoughts and communication.

Ajna chakra or Third eye chakra: It is located in between the eye brows and stands for wisdom, intelligence and intuition.

Shahasra Chakra: It is the chief of all chakra and is located on the top of head. This chakra stands for spirituality and enlightenmentp.

Click the below mentioned title to watch a YouTube video explaining 7 Chakras and Kundalini Awakening:

 Explanation of 7 Chakras and Kundalini Awakening

This video also describes everything about the Chakras
somewhat diffrently however the audio is in Hindi language. Click on the title to watch this YouTube video:

Yogic Chakras and Nature -Talk by Dr.Seema Sud

Yogic Chakras and Nature -Talk by Dr.Seema Sud Dr.Seema Sud, Yogacharya is talking to members of All India Kitchen Garden Association, Vasant Kunj Chapter. Her simple and informative discourse on the subt...

Mahesh  Bhatt

Why the people of India are failing everywhere?

All of us are well aware that this entire universe is nothing but a dilussion, even though, we wish to have something as our own, we do something that provides pleasure and we avoid doing something that brings pain! And not only that, either knowingly or unknownwingly, we act sinfully to fulfill our wish.

The reason why we do so, because it is written as our "Fate"! Recognize it as "Fate", Hindu scriptures described that whatever we act, undoubtedly, it is simply in accordance with the actions performed by us in all our privious births including the actions performed by us in our present birth. Not only our present actions but even our present existence is also accordiing to our Fate!

While at the other end,  the mother nature always act to bring "best out of the best" as their next generation for every species, and to do so, it follows only one rule that is "survival of the fitest". Hindu scriptures recognize all actions & reactions of Nature as the "Law of Nature". And according to that all living things of this "copulatory world" either "eat the other or get eaten by the other". 

There is no doubt at all that everything written above is a short essence of the Hindu philosophy. If we believe in it, we must agree that all presently survived living things are best fitest as well as blest & lucky by their Fate!!!

We understand very well that it is not true at all and indeed! I wonder what is the reason and why Hinduism and its scriptures repleted by so many such similar unbelievable and awesome contradictory facts and believes?!!!

If we take an example of lord Rama and Lord Krishna, everyone of us strongly confirm that these both are the characters of two great epic, those are Ramayana written by sage Maharshi Valmiki and Mahabharata written by sage Vyasmuni respectively.

While at the other end, still today after thousands of years, the believers of Hinduism worship them both through out the world as an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, one among the Trinity of the God in Hinduism.

Here at this point, for a while, I must take you away from the actual subject so as to make you understand what is the Trinity in Hinduism.

Almost all Hindu scriptures strongly conface that being the uncreated one, the name and form of the God is undescribable! However the most auspicious Lord Shiv (please don't misunderstood as Lord Shiva) in His unique "Ardhnarinareshwar" (half male and half female) form is considered as the ultimate God, all Hindu scriptures have accepted that the form of the one & only "Sole Sovereign" is both, "the Apparent" and "the Incorporeal"!

Hindu scriptures strongly believe that this entire universe came into existence when God decided to become many instead of one on a particular moment before billions of years. Science of the present also confirms it as a thiory of "Big bang".

The moment God divided in two different forms of Lord Shiva (which represent everything that is considered as male and inanimate of the universe) and Godess Shakti (which represent everything that is considered as female and animate of the universe including mother Nature), a time cycle started automatically as His third division to differentiate time in three parts those are "on that particular moment (present)", "before to that moment (past)" and "after that moment( future)". 

Thus entire universe is trilateral. The next Trinity is made of Lord Bhrahma who creates everything in this universe, Lord Vishnu who operates, manages & administrates this universe to "establish Dharma & to maintain Truth", and Lord Mahesh who destroys this universe if needed.

Coming back to our original subject, if we consider lord Krishna as an incarnated living legend, we must consider the era of Mahabharata as real. If so, I must draw your attention on many kinds & types of social, political and religious effects of the battle of Mahabharata.

There is no doubt at all that the great battle of Mahabharata esatablished "Dharma" and made us believe the ultimate reality that "Truth rules this entire universe and sooner or later it always wins"- still remains a strong belief of the people of India.

But as a result of that biggest ever war Bharatkhand (India and surrounding countries) paid a lot and lost almost all brave, strong, blessed and spritually empowered personalities. Only widows, children and oldaged persons of different communities were survived, mostly Vaishysa & Sudra.

The very next generation of those illmatched couples was a complete mixed breed, totally against the law of nature that is "survival of the fitest".

Being in succession of all those "unfits", who lived there life anyhow generation after generation, low profile, short sighted ness, and lacking of so many abilities, especially, high moral are not remain as our most common peculiarities but is ever-increasingly written as our "common to all" fate!

Analyzing the present situation of the people of India, I must say that presently we are passing through the worstest span of our comman to all fate, and as such, we cannot even understand who, where, why and for what stands for our good!

The most painful fact is- knowingly or unknowingly we always lead and carried by so many low profiled people, socially, politically and even religiously. 

It is because we cannot change our fate! And therefore, we must wait and watch till the birth of next incarcerated living legend.......

So dear friend, prey God, whoever your's is........

Mahesh Bhatt

God is unique unto itself, and being uncreated, it doesn't look or behave like anything created:

Before more than half decade, while surfing some posts of my liking on LinkedIn, I found a very interesting article of Dr. Deepak Chopara. I was highly impressed, and since that to the present, I use to go through his almost all posts and articles. Mr. Chopara, MD, FACP, founder of The Chopara Foundation and co-founder of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing, is a world-renowned pioneer in integrative medicine and personal transformation, and is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Metabolism. He is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists. Chopra is the author of more than 85 books translated into over 43 languages, including numerous New York Times bestsellers.

This article is posted by him on LinkedIn. I found very interesting, and that is why, most respectfully, I reposted it as it is here at my blog post.

He recently participated in a public debate on the proposition "The more we evolve, the less we need God." The results were clearly in favor of the proposition against the stance we took. This was so amongst both the live audience and the online audience.

The cerebral cortex, the most recent part of the human brain to evolve, hasn't changed for more than ten thousand years. The writers of the world's ancient spiritual texts used the same brain as modern people, and since the world's religions revere these ancient texts, we accept that the Ten Commandments and the Four Noble truths of Buddhism came from minds whose processes we'd recognize today, however dissimilar the cultures of ancient Judea and India.

It must be cultural evolution that is relevant, and of course our modern secular culture has moved away from the age of faith. 

Rationalism seems to dominate our lives, and when we read of religious fanaticism, we feel that such issues belong to people living outside the reach of a modern secular society. Few people seeing news on TV of an attack in Paris or London feel an impulse to fight back by re-energizing their own religious beliefs. Being secular can easily feed the belief that one has evolved beyond God, religion, dogma, and the whole rigmarole.

But in large part this attitude is founded on an illusion, the illusion that God can be accepted or rejected like an item on a restaurant menu. The whole point of calling God infinite and eternal, along with omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient, is to note that the infinite is different from anything we can subject to an either/or, yes/no choice. Even concepts as fundamental as space and time are structured in the infinite. In this sense, God is the very scheme of existence--if God exists.

Some atheists, skeptics, and agnostics apply "if God exists" to the same litmus test as "Does oxygen exist?" They make the mistake of shoving God back into the category of accept/reject to which ordinary objects belong. But the God hypothesis is unique and can only be interpreted by standards applicable to monism. Monism refers to wholeness and the qualities of wholeness. Science, for example, is monistic in positing that physical processes are sufficient to explain all phenomena in the universe. This is monism because nothing outside physicality is thought to be real.

God is also monistic, as in "God is One." Religious monism seems very weak in a secular age that accepts scientific monism. But this is another illusion. Modern people largely reject "God is One" because they see God in the form of a human being, and obviously such an image is as limited as we humans are. Since we are not One, it feels unlikely that God is One. In fact, that's a false analogy. God is monistic, not as a humanoid figure sitting above the clouds but as the basis of consciousness.

Nothing can be conscious without a basis or source in consciousness; therefore, religious monism states that God is the source of all mind, and mind is the source of the universe.

In a secular society, this too seems unlikely, but religious monism becomes stronger if you rephrase it. Instead of "God is the source of consciousness," say "The source of consciousness is God." In other words, once you locate where consciousness comes from, you will have arrived at God. The letters g, o, and d are not the primary issue. The whole point of religious monism is to assert that consciousness is universal and eternal, without beginning or end, the source of all created things but itself not created. The more popularized notions of god are relativistic aspects of that infinity, just as space and time are relativistic aspects of our universe.

If you leave out the loaded term "God," this definition of religious monism collaborates successfully with scientific monism, because science has reached the point where the entire physical universe originates from a precreated state that gives rise to space, time, matter, and energy. Uncreated states, whether called God, the quantum vacuum, or some other moniker, defy rational thought. We cannot ask when time began, for example, because "when" refers to time, not a state that is timeless.

To get past this mental block, there are workarounds in both monistic systems, and they are equally arcane. In physics the workarounds have tags like superstrings, multiverse, Hilbert space, and so on. In Christianity the main workaround is the Holy Trinity, which manages to be here but not here, physical but also spiritual, flesh and not flesh. In both cases, the smell of paradox remains strong. Trying to fuse opposites by using words or even mathematics doesn't work in the end.

The workaround is the same for both types of monism. Indeed, it must be the same if monism is correct. This is the assertion that God, or the ground state of the physical universe, is pure potential, a domain of infinite possibilities. We are all aware in daily life of a potential or possibility coming true and becoming real. Everyone who buys a lottery ticket has the potential to win, and eventually someone does. Every baby has the potential to be President, and eventually some babies do. So there's no mystical ring to thinking of creation springing out of pure potential.

This, we believe, is where true evolution is possible. Pure potential fuses the two types of monism and levels the playing field. Now it is only necessary to show that the field of pure potential exists. In both types of monism, empirical evidence doesn't exist. God leaves no distinct footprints in the physical universe, and neither do the multiverse, superstrings, or Hilbert space. Such is the nature of any uncreated domain. Being uncreated, it doesn't look or behave like anything created. It is unique unto itself.

So lacking physical evidence, which type of monism is more likely to be valid? This is the wrong question, because by definition, monism is everything. Excluding nothing, the religious type of monism cannot exclude science, and vice versa. The proper question is whether an uncreated source exists at all, and the answer is yes, because everything must have a source. There is plenty of room for evolution in science and religion once both sides accept that the perceived split between them is merely a debating point, the juggling of words. Having accepted that monism is monism, needing no tag like God or science, we can move on to the great exploration, which is to participate in the universe not simply as self-aware creatures but to participate from our very source.

--Mahesh Bhatt

LIFE BEYOND MIND-YOU MUST READ THIS BLOG BEFORE YOU DIE

Life, what’s important is, how we understand life. To look  at the life only by mind in the way the mind works is utterly a dilussion. Mind altogether with senses and body forms a "Trinity" of "I", to which, we generally recgonised as body. Mind has too many sources to control the body but the immediate source of mind can be realized as life energy.

Life its flow. If our understanding tells us, that life flows with the mind, we simply block the gate of life, that flows from much deeper part of our mind. When we remain, as an observer with the life’s energy, we realize these real source of life’s energy, which is undoubtedly "the soul".

The soul is just the name of an empty space, inside of us, from where the life’s energy flows. The life energy is the spirit in the body. The form of the spirit is just like the spiritual web, the movement of which can be noticed in deep meditation.

When we consider our self as a soul, the perception to look at the outside world gets change. We shift beyond the horizon of the mind. The mind has a limited circle to flow. In fact, life is not limited to the mind, but the mind has a limitation of mind itself!

With an exception of very few blessed or enlightened beings, constant and unlimited gathering of inspirations, either knowingly or unknowingly, is a primary process of mind. Mostly based on the requirements of our senses and body as well as on one or more things and sourses other than our own self, sooner or later, one by one, these inspirations turns into a form of thought.

Some of these thoughts gradually developed into a disire. However unbelievable but moment by moment to become more and more stronger is an usual course of every desire!

Everyone of us is wall aware that "Realization of God or Supreme Being or the Supreme Soul" is a most strongest desire of every human being since the inception of mankind. And not only that, every person is interested in knowing what happened when Soul meets the Supreme Soul.

However, it remains an oldage dilima since our very first generation that people over the globe always found confused in reaching one final conclusion because of many different experiences represented by many different people and religious scriptures since many generations!

As a matter of fact, the supreme soul is one and experience of it cannot differ, but when the experience comes in words, it takes a different form of expression. The expression comes in the form of words, and mind comes to play its role, and it remains an universal Truth that each mind is different from the other.

Not only that, every person is unique, and so everyone has its own way to share his or her spiritual experience. Krishna, Buddha, Abraham, Christ, Muhammad, Lao Tzu, Raman Maharishi and every such other enlightened being experience the same experience, but the way they expressed themselves differed.

It is because People are attached with the physical form. Attachment with the physical form doesn’t stop only with our physical body but we too get attached to the things that give soothing feeling to our senses.

The person who has never experienced life beyond the physical world will never know any other experience of life. His or her life will be limited to his or her own physical body and everything that exists on a physical level.

There is a life beyond the physical form, that is more joyful and bring more bliss to life. When the person rises from the physical form consciously, he or she comes across space within, that is more expressive. In other words he or she starts feeling the Power of the Subtle Body.

In life, we person, individually and jointly with the others, always looks for two things, one is happiness and the second is constant growth for inner satisfaction. This is the inner mechanism of life, that cannot be altered. To grow and evolve in life, and to develop a better perception towards life, it’s necessary for the person to rise above the physical form.

Every living thing is neither only a body nor utterly a soul but much more than these both. The physical body is not the primary body of a human. It’s the secondary one. The primary body is the astral body that allows the process of life from within. The astral body is an emotional body and always found in Invisible Astral Form.

The astral body is attached to the physical body and gives us the sense of different feelings and emotions. Astral body once detaches from the physical, gives you deeper spiritual experiences. The soul is recognized, once the astral body is detached from the physical one.

However there always a Spirit in every living Body, when the mind thinks thoughts and imagines pictures, it gets registered in the astral body. Normally we think more negative thoughts than the positive ones, and thus, the heart always feels heavy. All types of negative, as well as the positive emotions, does get stored in the astral body.

If the past experiences are not so pleasant, the mind creates negative thoughts and if we hold those thoughts for long, soon it starts manifesting the similar types of thoughts and experiences in our lives.

At the other end, this world is everchanging. It always provides many kinds and types of varied experiencies to all living things. It makes very diffcult for us to bring "Lastingess" in  this "Changing World". As such, first of all, one has to secure total control on the main root places that creates thought.

These are non other but our own Mind and Heart. We cannot allow them both to occupy by negative thoughts and emotions, but we have to figure out ways, to rise above them. In the initial stage, we may need help, but once we learn the art of creating positive thoughts and emotions, we will climb the ladder with life.

For this, what we require is "Meditation". It works on a deeper level of the mind, to slow down the thoughts and change the quality of it, to allow the positive thoughts and emotions to emerge from inside. Meditation is an act to observe our mind. When we observe, our life energy begin to shift upward. When our life’s energy shifts upward, our mind and heart begin to form positive thoughts and emotions.

This entire process is defined as "Soul-Consciousness". Before we understand soul-consciousness, it is highly necessary for us to understand the soul. If I am asked to provide a very short and simple defination of soul, I must say that soul is a life energy in the body; realized, when we take the attention of the mind inward and experience life beyond mind. In fact, it is an inner mechanism of Spirit and Soul. It is very easy for anyone to say that "I am the Soul" but it is an Herculean task to feel our own soul!

It is because, the “I” inside of us, likes to associate itself with anything, that becomes part of our daily living. If we work on ourself and observe more of our inner world, slowly we drop all of the illusive personality, taken over by our identity. If we receive the designated post in the outside world, the mind develops the identity of that post and we identify ourself with the designation, as our second identity.

Withth the soul-consciousness, the astral body doesn’t accumulate unnecessary emotions, as the mind is focused on the soul. When the mind thinks useless thoughts, the heart feels heavy, and the emotional debris gets formed, but when our attention remains on the soul, we do the task at hand, and at the same time, remain aware of the soul.

It remains a final conclusion of all Yogi's, Saint & Sagas as well as all religious scriptures of all religions of the world that "With the soul-consciousness, the mind remains in control and can be directed in the desired direction".

After enlightenment when the person realizes his soul, he detached himself with the body, senses & mind, and connect with the inner mechanism of spirit and soul. It is defined in the Yogic as "The Path of the Soul" that directly leads us to "Awakening".

More and more we move towards the awakening, more and more the illusive identity begins to drop from our mind. At the end, we remain with the identity, for which nothing remains to cling to, and at that time, we come face to face with the self.

After the realization of the soul, the wisdom or third-eye opens up, and we view the same world with completely different perspective. All our beliefs, ideas and conception with our mind gets shattered. This process is defined as "Awakening of Intelligence".

Life is all about experiences and experiment. All the experiences of life come with experiment. We cannot accumulate new experience unless we are open for it, and for the new experiences, we have to experiment with life.

Try experimenting ourself with the soul-consciousness, and rather relating ourself with the physical body, try to experience with the soul-consciousness. Evaluate our experience, the other day and see the difference.

The Supreme Soul is the father of all souls. Every human being has a soul. When we talk about God, we so easily put him in words, but unless we experience the soul, there is no way to describe or to have a glimpse of God. Only the soul can recognize the supreme soul.

All the path of religion leads us to the soul, that can direct us to the supreme soul. With the mind, it’s hard to understand the alchemy of the inner world. To realize life beyond mind, you have to take a shift from the mind to no-mind state, to experience reality, beyond the perception of the mind. Until and otherwise Soul cannot meets the Supreme Soul!

Mahesh Bhatt

BE FIT, FRESH & HEALTHY BY CHANTING "OM" - ALL ABOUT "OM"

Apart from spiritual benefits those are unbelievable increase in moral, determination,  understanding, concentration, decision power and many such other, it is scientifically proved that regularly chanting "OM" just 10 minutes a day keeps us fit, fresh, fine and healthy throughout our life.

"OM" chanting is absolutely away from all religious boundaries in all respect. It is as like as refilling fuel in our vehicle. Neither we make effort to inquire about the religion of that person who fills the fuel nor do he or she bothers even to ask your name. In the same way, we use to get refilled our own self by utterly a very small part of the entire cosmic energy that spread all over the universe at the best of our capability, without exchanging any religious term with each other.

Here at this point I must bring into your notice that just to get connected with cosmic energy is really a very great experience of extreme excitement that undoubtedly nourish our body in all respect and spirituality strengthen our soul power as well.

If you agree with these above written paragraphs, than only proceed further beyond this line, otherwise, for you it is a waste of time, money & energy, and not only that, my hard work also go vein. First of all, click on the below shown video and go through it very carefully till the end. After watching this video, if you really feel by your heart that you must know everything about "OM", then, take your own time to concentrate on what is written here further.

THE POWER OF "AUM"

THE POWER OF "AUM" IN HINDI

 Here further, I have tried my best to provide all required information about "OM" and have described all ways and manners those considered as essential in chanting "OM".

Aum, Aouhm, Ohm or Om (in Devanagari ॐ) is one of the most sacred symbols in Hinduism. In Sanskrit known as praṇava (प्रणव) "to sound out loudly" other used terms of this syllable are aksara(literally, letter of the alphabet, imperishable, immutable) or ekākṣara (one letter of the alphabet), and omkāra (ओंकार) (literally, beginning, female divine energy). Udgitha, a word found in Sama Veda and bhasya(commentaries) based on it, is also used as a name of the syllable. It is also a mantra in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism.

Om is part of the iconography found in ancient and medieval era manuscripts, temples, monasteries and spiritual retreats in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The symbol has a spiritual meaning in all Indian religions (dharmas), but the meaning and connotations of Om vary between the diverse schools within and across the various traditions.

Hindus consider Aum to be the universal name of the Lord and that it surrounds all of creation. It is a sacred sound and a spiritual icon in Hindu religion. In Hinduism, Om is one of the most important spiritual symbols. It refers to Atman (soul, 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 worship (puja) and private prayers, in ceremonies of rites of passages (sanskara) such as weddings, and sometimes during meditative and Yoga.

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 etymological foundations of Om are repeatedly discussed in the oldest layers of the Vedantic texts (the early Upanishads). The Aitareva Brahmana of Rig Veda, in section 5.32, for example suggests that the three phonetic components of Om (pronounced AUM) 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 symbolizing "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 Sam Veda, 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.

The syllable Om evolves to mean many abstract ideas in the earliest Upanishads.Max Muller
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".

Phonologically, the syllable ओम् represents /aum/, which is regularly monophthongised to [õː] in Sanskrit phonology. When occurring within spoken Sanskrit, the syllable is subject to the normal rules of sandhi in Sanskrit grammar, however with the additional peculiarity that after preceding a or ā, the au of aum does not form vriddhi (au) but  guna(o) [as per Panini 6.1.95] (i.e. 'om'). It is sometimes also written as "ओ३म्", notably by Arya Samaj, where ३ (i.e., the digit "3") is pluta("three times as long"), indicating a 
length of three morae (that is, the time it takes to say three syllables) an overlong nasalized  close-mid back rounded vowel.

The sound “OM” is believed to bring mental peace and calm. The cortical activation associated with listening to sound “OM” in contrast to similar non-meaningful sound (TOM) and listening to a meaningful Hindi word (AAM) has been investigated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The behavior interleaved gradient technique was employed in order to avoid interference of scanner noise. The results reveal that listening to “OM” sound in contrast to the meaningful Hindi word condition activates areas of bilateral cerebellum, left middle frontal gurus (dorsolateral middle frontal/BA 9), right precuneus (BA 5) and right supramarginal gyrus (SMG).

Listening to “OM” sound in contrast to “non-meaningful” sound condition leads to cortical activation in bilateral middle frontal (BA9), right middle temporal (BA37), right angular gyrus (BA 40), right SMG and right superior middle frontal gyrus (BA 8). The conjunction analysis reveals that the common neural regions activated in listening to “OM” sound during both conditions are middle frontal (left dorsolateral middle frontal cortex) and right SMG. The results correspond to the fact that listening to “OM” sound recruits neural systems implicated in emotional empathy.

5  Facts You May Not Know About 'OM:

You've chanted OM, hundreds may be thousands of times, and the symbol is, well, everywhere. But you have ever wondered what it is about OM, that makes yogi's wholeheartedly chant its glory and live in its symbolic presence, then, here are 5 facts you may not know, to help deepen your knowledge and connect your heart to this ancient sacred syllable.

1. The sound of OM encompasses all words, all sounds in human language:

OM is a matrix of all sounds, when in its diversified form gives rise to all words used in language.

Linguistically, all audible sounds are produced in the space within the mouth beginning at the root of the tongue and ending at the lips. The throat sound is A, and M is the lip sound; and the sound U represents the rolling forward of speech articulation which starts at the root of the tongue, continuing until it ends in the lips.

To pronounce OM correctly, remember, the sound vibration is pronounced “oom” as in home.

2. AUM and OM:

In Sanskrit, the sound “O” is a diphthong spelled “AU”. A diphthong is the blending of two vowel sounds where both are normally heard and make a gliding sound. As a result, the difference between OM and AUM is simply one of transliteration.

3. AUM represents the 3 Fold Division of Time:

A – is the waking state

U – is the dream state

M – is the state of deep sleep

At the end of AUM is a pause, a silence. This represents the state known as Turiya, or Infinite consciousness.

4. The visual symbol represents the meaning of AUM:

The symbol OM visually consists of three curves, one semicircle, and a dot.

The large bottom curve symbolizes the waking state, A.

The middle curve signifies the dream state, U.

The upper curve denotes the state of deep sleep, M.

The dot signifies the fourth state of consciousness, Turiya.

The semi circle at the top represents Maya and separates the dot from the other three curves. It signals to us that it is the illusion of Maya that is an obstacle to realization of the Highest.

5. OM is associated with Ganesha

The physical form of Lord Ganesha is said to be that of OM. The upper curve, of OM, is identified with the head or the face of Ganesh. The Lower curve his belly. The twisted curve, on the right side of OM is the trunk.

CHANTING OM DURING YOGIC MEDITATION:

When I began practicing yoga, I certainly wondered, "What does Aum mean?”! I knew it came from Sanskrit and chanting this resonate syllable felt enjoyable and, at times, spiritual. It wasn't until a few years into my practice, however, that I acquired a deeper understanding of the cosmic syllable Aum. (Note: as Aum is Sanskrit, the phonetic spelling will vary. You might be familiar with Om.)

Aum, like the Latin Omne, can be defined as "all." All aware, all knowing, or omniscience, omniscient’ Some believe Aum and omne are derived from the same root. The definition of Aum does not end here, however. In fact, there's even an entire Upanishad (the Mandukya Upanishad) solely devoted to elucidating the meaning of the syllable.

To grasp the full meaning of Aum proper pronunciation is essential. The syllable consists of three phonemes, a, u, and m, which symbolize states of consciousness. The first phoneme, a, is analogous with the conscious or waking state, called jagrata-avastha in Sanskrit. The u represents the dream state, or svapna-avastha. The m symbolizes the dreamless sleep state, or susupta-avastha.

The combination of these three phonemes creates the holistic aum, which represents the fourth or full state of realization, turiya-avastha. This final state is the aim of all yoga: Samadhi - a complete union between breath, body, mind, and spirit.

We open and close the yoga practice with Aum as a reminder of the objective of yoga, a gradual path towards full consciousness.

Try this:

When you chant Aum, feel the sound rise up through the body. Feel each phoneme - The A from the base of the torso to the heart center, the U resonating in the throat center, the M creating vibrations in the head and beyond. Reflect upon what each section symbolizes and the sound as a whole. Allow the final "mmmmm" to resonate and feel the vibrations the chant creates in the body.

Omkar (the continual chanting of Aum) is considered a yoga practice unto itself. Feel more of the healing vibrations of this sadhana (practice) yourself by chanting Aum 11, 21, or even 108 times. (These are significant numbers in the yogic tradition.)

Let each "Aum" or series of "Aum" be a dedication

All those Beginners who don't know how to do "OM chanting" can learn it just by clicking on these below given two titles one by one to watch YouTube video of live chanting.....

OM CHANTING IN TWO MINUTED

OM CHANTING 108 TIMES

OM Shanti Shanti Shanti..

Mahesh Bhatt