Om -The Mystic Mantra

Hearing the cosmic rumble that is Om

- Harold Sequeira

Chanting Om/Omkara - A Story

Nimkaroli Baba had a student called Richard Alpert, a.k.a. Baba Ram Das, ex Professor of Psychology at Harvard, and pioneering in the educational use of the drug LSD. He used to be high on this chemical drug and would increase the dosage over weekends but he said eventually the “highs” would follow with terrible “lows”. He had an urge for spirituality, so he finally decided to wean himself from this dependency and came perambulating across Europe and the Middle East, then to India and finally landed at the doorstep of Nimkaroli Baba, who has been the mentor and Guru, to the common man and business tycoons from the USA like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg.

So, Richard Alpert was asked to sit in a small Kutir overlooking the lake at Nainital, surrounded by a forest of pine trees and other conifers. He was asked to divest himself from all distractions. He had to sit in a meditative posture, and repeat sub-vocally, vocally and mentally the mystic syllable Om and he did just that, continuously, for hours at an end.

In the midst of this cosmic bombardment of the