To conclude our too long answer, the "lower principles" mentioned before are the first, second and the third. They cannot include the Kama rupa, for this "rupa" belongs to the middle, not the lower principles. And, to our correspondent's further query, "Do the atoms of these (the fourth and the fifth) also re-form, after going through various transmigrations, to constitute over again the fourth and the lower fifth of the next incarnation?" we answer, "They do." The reason why we have tried to explain the doctrine of the "life-atoms" at such length, is precisely in connection with this last question, and with the object of throwing out one more fertile hint. We do not feel at liberty at present, however, to give any further details.
—H.P. Blavatsky
"OM," And Its Practical Significance
I shall begin with a definition of Om, as given by the late Professor
Theodore Goldstucker:—
"Om is a Sanskrit word which, on account of the mystical notions that even at an early date of Hindu civilization were connected with it, acquired much importance in the development of Hindu religion. Its original sense is that of emphatic or solemn affirmation or assent. Thus, when in the White Yajur Veda the sacrificer invites the gods to rejoice in his sacrifice, the goddess Savitri assents to his summons by saying, 'Om' (i.e., be it so); proceed!"
Or, when in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, Prajapati, the father of gods, men and demons, asks the gods whether they have understood his instructions, he expresses his satisfaction with their affirmative reply in these words, "Om, you have fully comprehended it;" and in the same Upanishad, Pravahana answers the question of Swetaketu, as to whether his father has instructed him, by uttering the word "Om"—i.e., "forsooth (I am)."
A portion of the Rig Veda called the Aitareya Brahmana, where, describing a religious ceremony at which verses from the Rig Veda, as well as songs called Gathas, were recited by the priest called Hotri, and responses given by another priest, the Adhwaryu, says: Om is the response of the Adhwaryu to the Rig Veda verses (recited by the Hotri), and likewise tatha (i.e., thus) his response to the Gathas, for Om is (the term of assent) used by the gods, whereas tatha is (the term of assent) used by men (the Rig Veda verses being, to the orthodox Hindu, of divine and the Gathas of human authorship).
In this, the original sense of the word, it is little doubtful that Om is but an older and contracted form of the common Sanskrit word evam ("thus"), which, coming from the pronominal base "a," in some derivations changed to "e," may have at one time occurred in the form avam, when, by the elision of the vowel following a, for which there are numerous analogies in Sanskrit, vum would become aum, and hence, according to the ordinary phonetic laws of the language, Om. This etymology of the word, however, seems to have been lost even at an early period of Sanskrit literature; for another is met with in the ancient grammarians, enabling us to account for the mysticism which many religious and theological works of ancient and medieval India suppose to inhere in it. According to this latter etymology, Om would come from a radical av; by means of an affix man, when Om would be a curtailed form of avman or oman, and as av implies the notion of "protect, preserve, save," Om would be a term implying "protection or salvation," its mystical properties and its sanctity being inferred from its occurrence in the Vedic writings and in connection with sacrificial acts, such as are alluded to before.
Hence Om became the auspicious word with which the spiritual teacher had to begin and the pupil to end each lesson of his reading of the Veda.
"Let this syllable," the existing Prati-sakhya, or a grammar of the Rig Veda, enjoins, "be the head of the reading of the Veda; for alike to the teacher and the pupil it is the supreme Brahman, the gate of heaven." And Manu ordains: "A Brahman at the beginning and end (of a lesson on the Veda) must always pronounce the syllable Om; for unless Om precede, his learning will slip away from him; and unless it follows, nothing will be long retained."