(Apr 9, 2013) Spiritual Message of the Day: OM TAT SAT

OM TAT SAT

 Divine Life Society Publication “Discourse 47: Commentary on the Bhagavadgita” by Swami Krishnananda

The Supreme Being - Brahman, the Absolute - is designated as Om Tat Sat.  The aboveness is Tat, the hereness is Sat, and the everywhereness is Om. Therefore, in all auspicious beginnings, Om is chanted; and when we conclude anything, we say Om Tat Sat, dedicating the performance to the Almighty.

The Supreme Being - Brahman, the Absolute - is designated as Om Tat Sat. We commence any holy act - Sacrifices (Yajna), charities (dana), austerities (tapas), a prayer, a meditational session, a worship or a svadhyaya –with an inward recitation of Om.

Yajna, dana and tapas are associated with the letter – Tat – in the same way as Om. Sat is the third symbol, which signifies goodness and an auspicious beginning. Satsanga, sant, saint, all come from the word Sat. The words yajna, dana and tapah, become stable and meaningful and bear the requisite fruit only when they are associated with Sat, or Pure Existence. The activities that we perform for the sake of fulfilling  our spiritual aspirations – for the welfare of our own self as well as that of others, all come under Sat, or immense goodness.

Tat is the transcendent, the otherworldly, beyond the reaches of space and time; and the Sat is that very same thing immanently involved in this creation as the soul of all beings.. Our difficulty in blending together the notions of distance and nearness arise on account of our thinking in terms of space. Nobody can think God because thinking is a process involved in space and time, and the Thing called God is beyond space and time.

Yet, in spiritual meditations we are expected to wean the mind from this involvement of thinking in terms of distance and duration, and bring together the concepts of transcendence and immanence – Tat and Sat – together in an Om that is all-inclusive. The whole of Brahman is present in this world, and yet the whole of Brahman is above this world. Purnamadah purnamidam purnat purnamudachyate: The whole Brahman manifests the whole universe, and the whole Brahman enters wholly this whole universe.

This inclusiveness is signified by Om or pranava, which is partly a vibration that creates all substances constituting the universe, and partly scriptural as it is a name or nomenclature for God. We have to designate God only by the term Om, Pranava, because all names arising from language denote some object which is in some place. No word in any language can designate That which is everywhere and at all times. Hence, Om is specially regarded as a symbolic expression which embodies in itself the total process of sound production, and when uttered, creates a vibration in the vocal cords.

Thus, the three-fold definition of Brahman – Om Tat Sat – means God here, God above and God below, and God everywhere. The aboveness is Tat, the hereness is Sat, and the everywhereness is Om. Therefore, Om Tat Sat is a complete mystical symbol which was evolved by ancient masters. Therefore, in all auspicious beginnings, Om is chanted; and when we conclude anything, we say Om Tat Sat, dedicating the performance to the Almighty.

Continue to read:

 “OM TAT SAT” by Swami Krishnananda

“The Pranava or Omkara” by Swami Krishnananda