PRODUCT DESCRIPTION AUM OM PENDENT PENDENT SIZE - 1 INCH LENGTH BREADTH 1 INCH SILVER PLATED OM PENDENT OM PENDENT If you attend a yoga class, it is very likely that the teacher starts the class by reciting the sound of OM three times. Most teachers like to chant OM at the end of the class as well. So, the natural question that comes up is, "why chant OM and what is the significance of this sound?". Here is a brief explanation of the meaning and significance of OM. According to yoga, Samkhya and many other scriptures, the whole material creation, including human mind and body are a manifestation of the ?mula prakriti? (primordial nature) which is composed of the three gunas ? sattva, rajas and tamas. The three letters of OM thus correspond to the three gunas as follows: A = tamas (darkness, inertia, ignorance) U = rajas (passion, activity, dynamism) M = Sattva (purity, truth, light) The silence between the two AUM sounds represents the pure consciousness, a state which transcends the three gunas (called ?trigunaatit? ? beyond gunas) A = Brahma (the creator), U = Vishnu (the sustained) and M = Shiva (the destroyer); the silence between two OM sounds = the substratum or the reality that lies beyond the trinity A = Present, U = Past, M = future; silence between sounds = the reality beyond time and space