X. Duads Or Duples of the Bipartite Om in Dualistic Theories.
Duads. Om a couple. ॐ मिथुनं । “Om unites couples together and gratifies the wish of the adorer.” (Ch’hándogya I. 6). Again “couples being incorporated with the letter Om, establish the all-gratifying power and attribute of Om.” (Sankara’s Scholium to Ch’hándogya).
1. The Couple Udgítha & Pranava. उद्गीथप्रणबौ । Om combines the Udgítha of the Sáma with the pranava of the Rig Veda, the first couple; and therefore speech (Vák) and breath (prána) the sources of the Rik and Sáma, the second couple; and lastly the said two Vedas themselves as the third couple. (Ch’hándogya I. 1-8), and consequently the Hotri and Udgátri priests the fourth couple.
2. Brahma and Para Brahma. परापर ब्रह्म । Om is the superior and inferior Brahma conjointly. The superior or Para Brahma is the one eternal and infinite God; and the inferior or Apara Brahmá is the finite God:—the demiurge of Plato, and the Prajápati and Indra of Vedanta theology. The Aitareya reckons the pentad of the five elementary bodies, under the latter category. (V. 3). Kálidása speaks of this as the pancha mahá bhúta samádhi in the first book of his Raghu Vansa.
3. The two pronunciations. स्वर द्वयं । “Om is pronounced as svarati in the Rigveda and Svara in the Yajur Veda.” (Ch’hándogya IV. 4. Manu XI. 265).
4. The Human & Divine Souls. जीबात्मा परमात्मा । “Om is átman or soul. Two souls are said to enter the body; the individual and the undivided or universal soul.” (Ait. III. 1). “Two birds (the supreme and individual souls) dwell upon the same tree of the body.” (Svetásvatara Upanishad).
5. The Soul and Matter. प्रकृतीश्वरौ । “Om is both spirit and matter,” viewed as the same thing in the materialistic light of the Sánkhya, and dualistic view of others. Spinoza defines them both as the “Substantia cogitans, et substantia extensa, una eademque est substantia, quae jam sub hoc, jam sub illo attributo comprehenditur.” (Ethics. 1 Pr. 7 schol).
6. The Male and Female. प्रकृति पुरुषौ । “Om Strípum the divine male and female”; the original androgyne or bisex being combined in the person of the first human being, Brahmá or Adam, and called the Prakriti-purusha or pradhána &c., in the Yoga and Puranic Systems. So says Manu also (I, 32). “The power became half male half female or nature active and passive, and divided itself in twain.” (Ibid).
7. The cause and effect. कार्य कारणं । “Om implies the two states of mundane existence, viz, the cause dynamic and the effect energy. The effect also is two fold, the gross and subtile.” (स्थूल सूक्ष्मञ्च).
8. The Two Elements. स्थूल सूक्ष्मौ । The subtile elements (सूक्ष्मतन्मात्रं) and the gross elements (स्थूलभौतिकं) forming the Sthúla or gross body and the linga Saríra or subtile body,—the two component parts of all living bodies.
9. Knowledge & Ignorance. बिद्या बिद्ये । The two states of the soul, knowledge and ignorance (बिद्या अबिद्या) and the two states of knowledge; namely that which is known (बिज्ञात), and what is unknown (अबिज्ञात), corresponding with two others—the (ब्यक्ताब्यक्त) the manifest and unmanifest.
10. The two states of Life. कर्म्म तथा ज्ञानकाण्डं । Knowledge and action or Jnána and Karman,—theory and practice, are the two inseparable conditions of life; the one leading to the other, which is the result of the former, and according to others its cause, in the celebrated dispute ज्ञान जन्य कर्म्म अथबा कर्म्मजं ज्ञानं between theorists and practitioners.
11. Other Pairs. In this way many other pairs are joined together forming as they were the two halves of the great circle of Om, and whether diametrically or obversely opposed or attached to each other, they form together, the same circle of which each of them is but an imperfect part or half.
12. Geometry of Om. Hence we see the mystery of the cypher of Om to be no less wonderful and efficacious in the investigation of theological truths, than the great instrument of Euclid’s compass in the bisection and 13. Logical Use of Om. measurement of geometrical dimensions. And as the circle is latterly found to be made use of in the demonstration of propositions in Logic, how much must we wonder to reflect on the use and application of the sacred instrument of Om by the ancient Rishis of India, to all things of the physical, intellectual and spiritual world (Sarvamonkára eva) as their common measure.
14. Dualism overthrown द्वतोच्छेदः Having thus observed the deficiency of dualities and the imperfection of dualistic theories, by the instrumentality of Om, and the application of its cypher of unity to them, to make up that unity which is essential to the true knowledge of God, whose nature is a perfect unity and without divisibility (Ekamevádwitía), the sages next proceeded to the investigation of trialities and pluralities of tri-une doctrines and so forth, which had been gaining ground even in those early stages of society, by the application of the same test of the unity of Om to them, till at last all these partitions are lost in the cypher of One indivisible whole.
15. The Metrical Sense of Om. Om in the sense of a compass or metrical instrument, is derived from O the cypher, letter or circle, and ma to measure, meaning the circle of measurement.