What Does Om Represent In Jewellery?

The most powerful symbols are often the simplest, and nowhere is this maxim more evident than in an absolute symbol made up of just one single syllable, one seen in a variety of charms, bracelets and decorations..

Sometimes spelt “Aum” after the three Sanskrit sounds that it is made from, Om is used frequently in many different forms, faiths and spiritual systems, represented in a variety of different ways in a variety of languages used in East, South and Southeast Asia.

It invokes exceptionally powerful concepts, to the point that in some belief systems, it is one of, if not the single most important symbol commonly used, what it means can sometimes be open to interpretation, discussion and debate, being nebulously interpreted for thousands of years.

A Trinity Of Sounds

One of the best places to start when it comes to explorations of Om is to focus on its alternate spelling Aum and what these three vowel sounds at the core of language and therefore speech mean, before looking at how this is applied to more conventional uses of the symbol.

Om is commonly used as an absolute, particularly in Hinduism, where the term is both a mantra and an invocation used to represent Brahman, the ultimate stage of reality and existence, although exactly how this manifests depends on the specific school of Vedanta that someone follows.

Aum represents several three-pointed beliefs, such as heaven, atmosphere and earth, action, speech and thought, mind, self and ultimate reality, the goodness (sattva), inertia (tamas) and passion (rajas) that are the gunas of all matter, and Samaveda, Yajurveda and Rigveda, the three scriptures of Hinduism.

This is not universal, neither in nor out of Hinduism; Jainism uses Om to represent the five initials of their supreme beings (Arihant, Ashariri, Acharya, Upakjjhaya and Muni, collectively known as AAAUM), whilst Japanese Buddhism often uses “A-un” to represent pairs of kings or lion-dogs.

In the Mandukya, Om represents four concepts (A, U, M and the space between), representing time (past, present, future and transcendence), the four states of the eternal self (Atman), the four states of consciousness and the four states of knowledge.

The Beginning And The End

Another way in which Om represents a totality or an absolute in existence is that in many belief systems, it represents the beginning, symbolically and literally. However, it can in other systems of belief also represent the end, similar to the concept of Alpha and Omega.

From a practical standpoint, Om is used at the start of meditation and yoga practice, as well as before mantras, prayers, rites of passage and other spiritual rituals.

It is also used in Hindu texts, marking the start and end of chapters, passages and inscriptions, and this use of Om is also invoked in Japanese Buddhism.

Whilst Om in Buddhism represents the first of the six syllables of “Om mani padme hum”, a powerful phrase often translated into English as ‘the jewel is in the lotus’, in Japanese it is often written as two Kanji symbols and represents “a” and “hum”, the beginning and the end.

Om as a symbol means everything, but how that everything is interpreted can be exceptionally varied, and is telling of the power of the symbol.