“uttered as a holy exclamation at the beginning and end of a reading of the Vedas”— Apte
“syllaba mystica sanctissima”— Bopp
“ein Wort feierlicher Bekräftigung und ehrfurchtsvoller Anerkennung”— Böhtlingk & Roth
“monosyllabe mystique… la syllabe une et indivisible”— Burnouf
“somewhat like ἀμήν”— Macdonell
“om est la manifestation primordiale du Verbe”— Huet
“om itīdaṃ sarvam — all this world is om”— Taittirīya Upaniṣad
a · waking
Vaiśvānara — the spirit of waking souls
in the waking world
u · dream
Taijasa — the spirit of dreaming souls
in the world of dreams
m · deep sleep
Prājña — the spirit of sleeping
and undreaming souls
ॐ
the fourth — unknowable, unspeakable,
into which the whole world passes away