10. The Position of Brahma ब्रह्म बिन्दुः And lastly Om is styled the receptacle of the great God, whose essence fills, pervades, and encompasses the whole orbit of the Universe, as it is described in twenty two slokas of the Brahma Vindu-Upanishad. It is called Brahma Mudrá in the Tantra. (Weber, p. p. 99, 158, 165).
V. Etymology of the Word Om.
1. Etymology of the Om. ॐ शब्द Having thus far seen the mysterious nature of the letter and syllable Om in its Orthography, we shall now consider it as a word, and see that not a less but much greater mystery is attached to its etymology than has been hitherto thought of by any, and which will be found upon examination to be more inscrutable in its nature than the mysteries of Eleusis and the inexplicable hieroglyphics of the Egyptian priests.
2. Its symbolism of Brahmanism तद्ब्रह्मण्य । These secret and sacred treasures of Brahmanic enigmas and symbols, have been carefully preserved by the Brahmahood in their cabalistic writings of the Tantras, which serve to be a secure safeguard of their religion amidst the ravages of foreigners in their liberty and literature, and require to be diligently searched into for a thorough mastery of these mysticisms.
3. Its derivation तदुत्पत्तिः Om is denominated a word (शब्द) in the Veda and other sacred scriptures, and explained as a noun also (संज्ञा) in the Nirukta and other lexicons. It is derived in the Koshas from the root aba or ava to protect, or save (रक्षणे) with the Unadi suffix मन् an anomalous formation into om to denote “protection.” Dr. Mitra too derives it from the radical अब “to preserve” with the suffix मन to denote the Most High according to Manu and Gítá. (Translation of Ch’hándogya Up. p. 4).
4. Its Primary sense धात्वर्थः Apart from the symbolical significations of Om (of which there are several as we shall come to notice afterwards), its primary and literal sense would make us give different interpretations of it according to the derivation of the term both in its verbal and nominal forms. अव as a verb in the imperative mood means “save” as मातरब, त्रातरब, दबऽब &c. in the Mugdhabodha, corresponding with the expressions, Ave Maria, salve salvator, salve Deus, save O God &c.
5. Its Nominal sense ब्युत्पत्यर्थ But aba to protect or preserve gives us the nominal (कृदन्त) forms of aba, ába, ábu, and ábuka (अब, आब, आबु, आबुक), meaning a father or preserver in the Prákrit Speech of Sanskrit dramas, and these are found to agree in both respects of sound and sense with the words áb, ábá, ábu, ábuka, abi as ábuka &c. in Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac and Arabic languages. This gives us the original meaning of अब of which ॐ is a derivative form, and shows the close affinity which the Aryan root bears to the Semitic, both in its sound and signification of “Father” (पाता and पिता) applied to the Great God.
6. The word Om ॐ शब्दः । But our question being Om and not the root अब, we ought to know to what part of speech it belongs and what sense we are to give of it here. It is said to be a word indicative of auspiciousness when used at the beginning; (आदौ ॐ शब्द प्रयोगो माङ्गलिकः). But whether as a verb or noun or any other part of speech, we know nothing of, and we are utterly at a loss what word to substitute for it in its translation. This is the reason why the word Om, is used by itself in the translations of Sanskrit works by Europeans and our countrymen also for want of a proper term, as it is seen in the English versions of Vedas and Upanishads.
7. An aptot noun अब्यय शब्दः । Om is enlisted as an indeclinable word in grammar having no inflection of its own in gender, number, case or person, and agreeing with all words in its unchanged state, as in the examples:— ओमीश्वर, ॐ दुर्गा, ॐ ब्रह्मन्, ॐ देबेभ्यो जुहोमि, ओमुपेत्वा ऊर्जेत्वा &c. It is included in the (स्वरादिगण) as an aptot noun, and with indeclinable particles (निपातन), as an adverb, conjunction and interjection also with various significations.
8. The initial Om आद्योमार्थः । The anomalous and multinymous particle Om was first discovered by Ram Mohun Roy to be no other than the participal noun on=being which as Max Müller says is to on ontws the Being of Beings A. S. Lit. pp. 321 et passim. The Latin ens and the French on as t’on, bear close affinity to On and ॐ both in their sound and sense.