nāmnām akāri bahudhā nija-sarva-śaktis tatrārpitā niyamitaḥ smaraṇe na kālaḥ
namnam akari bahudha nija-sarva-saktis
tatrarpita niyamitah smarane na kalah
tatrarpita niyamitah smarane na kalah
All potencies are invested in the holy vibration of the holy name of the Lord. There is no doubt that the holy name of the Lord, or omkara, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. In other words, anyone who chants omkara and the holy name of the Lord, Hare Krsna, immediately meets the Supreme Lord directly in His sound form. In the Narada-pancaratra it is clearly said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead Narayana personally appears before the chanter who engages in chanting the astaksara, or eight-syllable mantra, om namo narayanaya. A similar statement in the Mandukya Upanisad declares that whatever one sees in the spiritual world is all an expansion of the spiritual potency of omkara.
On the basis of all the Upanisads, Srila Jiva Gosvami says that omkara is the Supreme Absolute Truth and is accepted as such by all the acaryas and authorities. Omkara is beginningless, changeless, supreme and free from deterioration and external contamination. Omkara is the origin, middle and end of everything, and any living entity who thus understands omkara attains the perfection of spiritual identity in omkara. Omkara, being situated in everyone's heart, is isvara, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati). Omkara is as good as Visnu because omkara is as all-pervasive as Visnu. One who knows omkara and Lord Visnu to be identical no longer has to lament or hanker. One who chants omkara no longer remains a sudra, but immediately comes to the position of a brahmana. Simply by chanting omkara one can understand the whole creation to be one unit, or an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Lord. Idam hi visvam bhagavan ivetaro, yato jagat-sthana-nirodha-sambhavah: "The Supreme Lord Personality of Godhead is Himself this cosmos, and still He is aloof from it. From Him only this cosmic manifestation has emanated, in Him it rests, and unto Him it enters after annihilation." (Bhag. 1.5.20) Although one who does not understand concludes otherwise, Srimad-Bhagavatam states that the entire cosmic manifestation is but an expansion of the energy of the Supreme Lord. Realization of this is possible simply by chanting the holy name of the Lord, omkara.
One should not, however, foolishly conclude that because the Supreme Personality of Godhead is omnipotent, we have manufactured a combination of letters-a, u and m-to represent Him. Factually the transcendental sound omkara, although a combination of the three letters a, u and m, has transcendental potency, and one who chants omkara will very soon realize omkara and Lord Visnu to be nondifferent. Krsna declares, pranavah sarva-vedesu: "I am the syllable om in the Vedic mantras." (Bg. 7.8) One should therefore conclude that among the many incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, omkara is the sound incarnation. All the Vedas accept this thesis. One should always remember that the holy name of the Lord and the Lord Himself are always identical (abhinnatvan nama-naminoh). Since omkara is the basic principle of all Vedic knowledge, it is uttered before one begins to chant any Vedic hymn. Without omkara, no Vedic mantra is successful. The Gosvamis therefore declare that pranava (omkara) is the complete representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and they have analyzed omkara in terms of its alphabetical constituents as follows:
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