Comprehensive Teachings on AUM Retreat at the SRV Hawaii Retreat Center
(affectionately called: Badrinath)
 
Over the 7 classes of this retreat, Babaji presented four aspects of the teachings on AUM: 1) 
AUM as pervasion, i.e., its all-pervasive presence at every level of existence; 2)  AUM as the
origin and cause of all phenomena from unmanifested potential to the “solid” world we
perceive; 3)  AUM as the foundation of everything; and 4)  AUM as it is used in sadhana,
spiritual practice.  Many connections were made between different philosophical systems, such
as Vedanta, Sankhya, and Tantra, as well as ancient Vedic delineations covering worlds, cosmic
principles, the three states of waking, dream, and sleep, the three conditions of gross, subtle,
and causal, and the five kinds of dimensions (akashas) – and what lies beyond all of these.  This
is most definitely one of the hallmarks of sitting in Babaji’s classes over many years: finding out
that all the teachings are woven together like a tapestry of many colors.  This is not mere
intellectual enjoyment; for any one teaching can vault the concentrated mind into a deep state. 
With so many teachings on the Dharma – Spiritual Truth - to reach for, how can there ever be an
uninspired moment in one’s life?  (….and this is what one gets upon entering Mother’s first
City….)
 
Babaji began by reading the first verse of the Mandukya Upanisad:
“All this world is the syllable Om. Its further explanation is this: the past, the present, the future
– everything is just Om. And whatever transcends the three divisions of time – that, too, is just
Om.”
 
In some people the mind and intellect open superficially before the heart opens.  It is a mistake
to think that if one is intellectual that one is higher than the “salt of the earth” devotees who
are connected to devotional Ideals and nature.

Advaitists emphasize the Impersonal, but that doesn’t mean they de-personalize It: It is the
Highest Supreme Self.
 
Jiva (individual soul) is Brahman (Indivisible Awareness) – only Advaita and Tantra emphasize
this.
 
Hrim, the Mother’s powerful bijam of manifestation is what gets expressed out of AUM.  Like
AUM, it can be used for dissolving name and form in meditation.  Hrim stands for form and Om
for formlessness. But they work together as in Sri Ramakrishna’s statement, Brahman and
Shakti are One, just as a snake at rest and a snake wriggling are the same snake.
 
Illumined beings are the real healers: they help one overcome the desire for objects and getting
caught in the six passions.  By time spent in Holy Company one overcomes the delusion of
identifying with matter instead of Consciousness.
 
The path of Nada Brahman allows one to look at objects and hear Om – to recognize and realize
that all objects are Om in vibration and a form of God.  (In the Tripura Retreat, we studied a
chart from the Tantric perspective that showed how all the cosmic principles, like earth, water,
fire, etc, are Names of Siva.  Why Siva?  Because She is manifesting Him throughout the
worlds.)
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