Om and Amen*

Michel Vâlsan

The aspects of the traditional complementarity between Hinduism and Islam

which we have mentioned so far, and which can obviously be supplemen-
ted by others, may be summarised by the two characteristic corresponding
forms of the sacramental and invocatory Word, the kinship of which we have
already signalled above: the Om of the traditions related to India, and the
Amen of the traditions of Semitic origin, envisaged more particularly in the
Islamic case under its specific form of Amīn.1 We find here a reflection of the
traditional relationship between East and West in general, but before tack-
ling this wider subject, it will be appropriate to indicate summarily the exact
meaning of the two sacred words in their respective traditions.
The Hindu term—which therefore belongs to Buddhism as well—is, accord-
ing to a definition in the Upanishads, “the syllable which expresses acqui-
escence, for one says om! to express assent.” (Chandogya Upanishad I, I, 8).
Substantially and structurally speaking, om is also defined as being “sound
itself, it is immortality, felicity itself”; “whoever that, knowing this, murmurs
this word, penetrates this word which is sound, which is immortality, which is
felicity” (ibid. I, IV, 4-5). Its importance as the symbol of the universal Word
is well-known; and we recalled some of its doctrinal aspects earlier. Om is
thus the mantra par excellence of Hindu spirituality.
But its technical and ritual use is extremely rich and complex. Om is the
initial word of the fundamental liturgic chant which is called udgītha, and
thereby it is supposed to contain in itself and to represent the udgītha in its
entirety (cf. ibid. I, I, 1). It inaugurates the different recitations of the Rig-Vêda
(cf. ibid. I, I, 9 and I, IV, 1), and it is also pronounced at the end of the recitation
of a rik (verse or hymn), a sāman (liturgic chant), and a yajus (invocation).
In certain writings such as the Upanishads, but not in all, Om appears in
inaugurating doxologies that are associated with Hari, “the Lord”, one of
*
This article appeared originally as a section of “Le Triangle de l’Androgyne et le mono-
syllabe « Om »”, in the volume L’Islam et la fonction de René Guénon, Les Editions de l’Œuvre,
Paris, 1984.
1
See L’Islam et la fonction…, p. 149. Rapprochements between Om and Amen have been
pointed out a long time ago, notably by the Orientalists of the nineteenth century. We have
chosen the following remark from a note of the French translation of Brahma-Karma—Rites
sacrés des Brahmanes, by A. Bourquin (Ernest Leroux, 1884), p. 11: “One may translate Om as
glory or amen.” But we will note incidentally that with the same translator, “glory” translates,
again inaccurately, the term namah which actually means “homage” or “salutation”; for it is
not possible to retain the same translation for both terms in cases when they are associated
immediately in the same doxology: Om! namah! || In his Die Religion des Veda (1894), Olden-
berg also spoke about “the syllable Om which is equivalent to our amen” (French tr. Victor
Henri, Alcan, 1903, pp. 392–3).

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    ·     

the names of Vishnu, “Om Hari!” and in the doxologies finales: Om! Shanti!
Shanti! Shanti! (Om! Peace! Peace! Peace!)2 Finally, as a supreme word, Om
is identified with the Supreme God.3
On the other hand, in the traditions of a Semitic origin, Amen is also used
as an affirmative, or rather confirmative word, first of all in the Pentateuch
where it has a character of major rigour, and in the official rites.4 In the
Psalms it appears in the final doxologies.5 At the time of Hellenistic Judaism,
before the rise of Christianity, amen had a liturgical use in the synagogues
wherefrom it must have passed also to the Christian liturgies.
Thus this term was originally an adjective meaning “firm”, “sure”, and it
later acquired an adverbial meaning: “firmly,” “surely”. Since it serves to
confirm a preceding statement, it also constitutes a solemn vow and a commit-
ment, therefore meaning: “it shall be so”, “may it be so,” which is expressed
by genoito in Greek and by fiat or ita sit in Latin; but when its role is purely
incantatory it is not translated and it remains unchanged.
The confirmative role of amen is found in the New Testament; thus in Mat-
thew 6: 13 where it occurs at the end of the text of the Pater noster, to which
it remains attached in the practice of daily prayers; and also in the Apoca-
lypse where, used in part in the doxologies of the Prologue, it is found in the
transcendent liturgies in which it is uttered by the angels, the twenty-four old
men, and the four animals carrying the Throne.6
However, the Gospels show us amen also in a completely new use and aspect
with respect to the previous tradition, namely a purely affirmative and no
longer confirmative meaning, and an amen that is placed at the beginning
of periods and phrases uttered in the first person, and no longer at the end
or in conclusion of an affirmation.7 Thus amen appears dozens of times in
the words of Christ, notably in Matthew and John: Amen dico vobis, which
is sometimes replaced by Vere dico vobis = “in truth, I say to you.”8 In this
2
Cf. Mânava-Dharma-Shâstra, 11, 74: “Let him utter always the sacred monosyllable at the
beginning and at the end of the study of the Sacred Scripture; any reading that is not preceded
bu the Om is effaced little by little, and any reading which is not followed by it does not leave
any trace in the spirit!”
3
Ibid. II, 83: “The sacred monosyllable is the Supreme God.”
4
Let us note that it initially appeared in the Mosaic institution of the law on jealousy,
according to which the woman suspected of having committed adultery had to confirm the
oath of the priest by uttering “amen! amen!” to exonerate herself (Numbers 5: 11–22); then in
the rite of cursing set on the eve of the entry into Canaan in which all people participated:
“And the people shall say: Amen!” (Deuteronomy 27: 15–26); here, it is uttered twelve times
to confirm twelve curses, a number which among others corresponds to the tribes that had
gathered for this rite.
5
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen, and Amen.”
(Psalms 41: 13). Cf. Ps. 72: 19; 89: 53; and 106: 48.
6
Cf. Apoc. 7: 1-2; see also 5: 13–14 and 19: 4.
7
Actually an amen in an opening position is found at least once in the Old Testament, in
Jeremiah 28: 6, but the prophet does not speak in his personal name, for he says: “Amen!
Thus spoke Jehovah!…”; yet, already in this case the initial amen does not come to confirm
something, but on the contrary, to formulate an objection against the irregular prophethood
of Hananiah, which therefore had to be deemed false afterwards.
8
It is not excluded that the use of the affirmative Amen is related to the language in which
the Gospel texts or at least the words of Christ were originally formulated. In any case, a

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instance it constitutes a style proper to Jesus who could affirm himself as

the source of the truth and take himself for witness. The role of amen in this
case would therefore be a reflection of his identity with the Word. And it
is significant that in this initial position and having this role of principial
affirmation, Amen is seen as being in a situation that is comparable to that
of Om at the beginning of the doctrinal Hindu texts. In these two cases we
receive an initial enunciation through a direct and total symbol of the Word.
Moreover, in Christianity, Amen is also a name of the Word; in the Apoca-
lypse of St. John (3: 14) Christ is called “The Amen, the faithful and truthful
Witness of the Principle of God’s creation.”9 However, this was connected to
a certain Biblical tradition, for Amen had already been attested by the Proph-
ets as a divine name: “That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless
himself in the God Amen; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by
the God Amen...” (Isaiah, 65: 16).10
In the Apocalypse, where titles that are given first of all to the “Lord God”
(such as “Alpha and Omega”, “First and Last”, “Principle and End”),11 are ap-
plied to Jesus through an identifying transposition, one passage is particularly
remarkable in the order of things under examination here. In the Prologue
of this text, after an “Etiam! (Yes!) Amen!” which apparently confirms a per-
spective that will be announced in the final coming of Christ, there is a text
which might be considered also as a commentary of this mysterious Amen,
applicable in the theophanic order of the Mission as well as in the pure prin-
cipial order: “I am the Alpha and the Omega (the beginning and the end), said
Lord God, he who is, who was and who is to come, the Master of Everything!”
(Apoc. Prol. 7–8).12 Furthermore, these words are found almost in identical
form specifically with respect to Om in a capital text of the Māndūkya Upan-
ishad, 1, 1: “Hari Om! (the Lord is Om). This syllable Om is everything! And
here is the explanation: that which has been, that which shall be, all of this
is the phoneme Om!” — Gaudapāda’s commentary on this passage says: “The
linguistic element is to be remembered here: while in Hebrew the word amen serves to confirm,
in Syriac it serves to affirm.
9
Regarding this last cosmogonic aspect of Amen, it is appropriate to recall what Anne-
Catherine Emmerich relates from one of her visions on the Life of Jesus Christ: She saw Jesus
during his trip to Mallep, in the island of Cyprus (an episode which is unknown in the Gospels),
making a “long instruction on the word Amen,” and saying “admirable things” on the virtue
of this word. “He called it the beginning and the end of all things. He seemed to say that God
had created the world with this word” (vol. II, p. 468, Paris: Téqui, 1952).
It is even possible to envisage in the esoteric tradition of Christianity a veritable mystery of
the Amen: let us quote as an indication this invocation which represents a Coptic inscription
of the Kellia of the lower Egypt desert: “O God! Give us the intelligence of the Amen.” (Cf.
Communication d’Antoine Guillaumont, Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, Sessions of
1965, January-June).
10
In the Hebrew text we have be-elohei Amen for “by the God Amen.” The Vulgate reads:
…benedicetur in Deo amen… jurabit in Deo amen; which is also translated as “the God of Amen”
(Jean Koenig, in La Bible, Paris: Gallimard) or “the God of Truth” (Crampon).
11
For “the Lord God” see: 7: 8 and 21: 6; for “Christ” see: 1, 17; 2: 8 and 22: 13.
12
This relation between Amen and the words immediately following it is all the more ac-
ceptable since the original Greek text of the Apocalypse was continuous and did not show any
division of phrases, neither by paragraph nor by punctuation.

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syllable Om is the beginning, the middle, and the end of everything… It must
be known that the syllable Om is the Master of all things.”13
After the preceding observations, we may say that the two sacred terms
Om and Amen coincide both in their adverbial meaning (of affirmation or
confirmation) and the corresponding ritual use, and in the meaning of the
symbol of the universal Word and the name of the supreme Truth.

As for the Islamic tradition, it is of interest to first of all make certain pre-
cisions of a linguistic order. The Arabic word is written and read in many
ways: three-lettered (amn), it is read āmin (present participle, “one who is in
safety”); four-lettered (amyn), it can be read amīn or āmīn (adjective, “very
sure”). There is also one—again four-lettered—form āmmīn (in which the let-
ter mīm is reinforced, hence the double letter in the transcription, which does
not exist in the actual writing) to which we shall return later.
As for the institution of this term and its use in Islam, the Messenger of God,
Muhammad—God grant him unitive grace and peace—has said: “The Angel
Gabriel—peace be upon him!—related to me the word amīn when I finished
the recitation of the Fātiḥa, and he said that it is like the seal (al-khatm) on a
writing.” The Fātiḥa is the opening Surah of the Book which must be recited in
every ṣalāt (ritual prayer): the word amīn which concludes it is not part of the
Surah; its pronounciation which is done either aloud or quietly is analogous
to the amen after the dominical oration.
Another hadith says: “Amīn is the seal of the Lord of the Worlds on the
language of his worshipping believers.”
Ibn ʿAbbās asked the Messenger of God about the meaning of amīn, and
he replied that it is the: “Do!” (ifʿal), which corresponds to a fiat. The com-
mentators explain its meaning through the following words: “Our Lord, do
as we ask Thee to!”
Finally, a saying of the Prophet concerning its recitation during the ritual
prayer shows what the is sacramental operation taking place during the ṣalāt:
“When the imam (leader of the congregational prayer) utters (the last words of
the Fātiḥa) ‘… Not the (path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who
go astray’, say: amīn! for the angels also say: amīn! and the imam shall also
say: amīn! Verily, if someone among you pronounces his amīn in accord with
the amīn of the angels, the sins he had committed hitherto will be forgiven.”14
The amīn pronounced after the Fātiḥa with the reinforcement of the letter
mīm: āmmīn gains a special meaning. It is then considered, morphologically
13
Cf. Mândûkya Upanishad and Kârikâ de Gaudapâda, ed. & tr. E. Lesimple (Paris: A. Mais-
onneuve, 1944).
14
This accord must be understood first of all in the “intelligible” mode: harmony of purity
and sanctity between the inner being and the superior spiritual powers; the accord in the
“sensible” mode, in the domain of ordinary time, is conceivable only in relation to the des-
cending angels that are condensed in the corporeal mode (tajassud) and are therefore found
in the sensible realm of the ordinary humanity (Cf. Ibn ʿArabī, Futūḥāt, ch. 69, vol. I, p. 246
and ch. 73, quest. 100; vol. II, p. 101, edition of Dār al-Kutub al-ʿArabiyyah al-Kubrā).

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    ·     

speaking, as the plural present participle, with a flexion (the singular āmm,
and the nominative plural āmmūn) of the verb amma = “to head to,” “to aim
at.”15 With this meaning, since the āmmīn (analogous to qāṣidūn = “those
heading to”) comes after the characteristic prayer of the Fātiha: “Guide us
in the straight path, the path of those whom Thou hast favoured; not the
(path) of those who earn Thine anger nor of those who go astray,” it means,
according to Ibn ʿArabī: “we go towards Thine response regarding what we
have asked Thee” (qaṣadnā ijābata-Ka fīmā daʿawnā-Ka fī-hi).16
The Amīn is also used to endorse the plea addressed to God with another
one: “The petitioner and he who endorses his amīn are associated (to the
recompense)” (hadith). It is also used to reinforce one’s own supplication:
“When someone makes a supplication to God, let him support his supplication
with amīn!” (hadith). The Prophet looked for a moment at a believer who was
supplicating to God, and said: “Verily, he shall obtain a response if he seals
his prayer with amīn!”
The teachings of he Prophets also instruct the following: “The prayer of
someone for the benefit of his absent brother is accepted, and an angel stand-
ing close to his head utters: Amīn! And to you the same good!”
And finally, “At the Yemenite corner of the Kaaba, there is an angel who
has been standing in that place ever since God created the Heavens and the
Earth; when you walk beside it (during the ritual circumambulations), say:
‘Our Lord! Give unto us in the world that which is good and in the Hereafter
that which is good, and guard us from the doom of Fire’ (Cf. Qur’an 2: 201),
for the angel will say: Amīn! Amīn!”
In all of this it can be seen clearly that the meaning of confirmation of the
amīn is completed by the special idea of the affixed “seal” which implies the
sense of the firm and executive conclusion. This idea of a “seal” is typically
Islamic; it is like a reflection of the predominant concept of the Seal of the
prophetic manifestation. But since the notion of a final prophetic and legis-
lative synthesis with a view to a universal protection should be identified
essentially with the primordial mandate conferred to Adam in the world of
man, it is significant in this regard that the Amāna or the respective Trust
(Cf. Qur’an 33: 72) carries a name coming from the same root as amīn. Faith
itself, this mystery so characteristic of Islam, where it has much more pro-
found dimensions and meaning that in any other tradition, due to the extent
and importance of Revelation to be received and preserved in this way, is
denoted by a word from the same root, al-īmān.
In addition, the Seal of Prophethood also carries the title of al-Amīn, the
Firm, the Sure, the Faithful, the Sincere, and the Truthful, who said about
himself: “As for myself, by God, I am Amīn in the heaven and Amīn on earth.”
15
It is from this very same root that the word imām derives, which designates the leader
of congregational prayer, that is, “he who stands in front of the others, who leads the prayer
towards” the House of God.
16
Cf. Futūḥāt, ch. 73, q. 100, vol. II, p. 101, which from a lexical point of view refers to
the verse 2 of Surah 5 of the Qur’an: “those heading to the sacred House” (āmmīna ’l-Bayta
’l-Ḥarām).

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    ·     

And even long before he was invested with the prophetic message, the Mec-
cans called him al-Amīn, as a sign of their great trust in him.17
It is in this same perspective that this qualifier is situated when it is applied
to the Angel Gabriel himself as the “Faithful Spirit”, al-Rūḥ al-Amīn (cf. Qur’an
26: 193), who carries moreover in a more specific manner the title Amīn al-
Waḥy, “Custodian and Guarantor of the Revelation”.
Finally the word Amīn is also a divine name; it does not appear in the or-
dinary lists of the divine Names, but it is found in initiatic invocations which
are sometimes very enigmatic such as the Dā’ira (the circular enclosing) or
the Khātam (the Seal)18 of Shaykh Abū al-Ḥasan al-Shādhilī. In the respective
formulae, its regularly transmitted variant pronunciation is Imīn.
Keeping in mind the preceding observations, it seems probable that, due
to this special meaning of the “seal” in its Islamic case, the amen of different
Semitic or related traditions is eventually linked to an Egyptian origin, and
more specifically to the divine name imn, usually transcribed “Amon”, but the
exact vocalisation of which is ignored, although its significance as “hidden”
and “mysterious” is recognised.19 More precisely, this noun through its root
is related to the “invisible world”; in Egyptian imn-t designates the “West” as
17
This epithet is particularly mentioned in the following exceptional occasion: The Quraysh
were rebuilding the Kaaba. But when the time came for the Black Stone (which is “the Right of
God on Earth”) had to be placed, the various tribes disputed bitterly, each claiming the honour
of lifting it and fitting it in the external corner dedicated to it. A solution was proposed by one
of the leaders: “Let us agree that the first person to enter the door of the Mosque will be the
judge of the dispute.” The others agreed. Then, the first to enter was Muhammad, the future
Prophet. When the Quraysh saw him they cried out, “It is the Amīn, the Trustworthy! We are
pleased! It is Muhammad!” After Muhammad was informed about the dispute, he found the
solution in placing the stone on a cloth which one representative from each tribe would carry
from each edge; thus all of them lifted it at the height where it had to be placed, and then he
took it and placed it with his own hand.
In this respect it is interesting to note a rather strange correspondence with a Masonic
symbolism of a legendary nature which René Guénon dealt with in the April-May 1950 issue
of Études Traditionnelles, when reviewing the Speculative Mason of October 1949 (a text which
was published in Études sur la Franc-Maçonnerie, vol. II, pp. 178–180). Speaking of the fact
that in most of the manuscripts of the Old Charges, the name of the architect of the Temple of
Solomon was not Hiram but “either Amon or some other form which seem to be nothing but
a corruption,” he also noted that in Hebrew this word has precisely the meaning of artisan
and architect and that one may wonder if a common noun has been taken for a proper noun,
or if on the contrary this designation was given to the architects since it had the name of the
builder of the Temple. “Be as it may,” adds Guénon “its root from which the word amen derives
notably expresses in Hebrew as in Arabic the idea of firmness, constancy, faith, faithfulness,
sincerity, truthfulness which agree very well with the character which the Masonic legend
attributes to the Third Grand-Master.” In the data related in the biography of the Prophet
one sees such a striking unity between the designation of al-Amīn and the role of the Master
architect with respect to the primordial Temple of Mecca.
18
This is a talisman which also carries the names al-Ḥifẓ (the Guard) and al-Sayf (the Sword).
See Ibn ʿAyyād’s al-Mafākhir al-aliyya.
19
This occurs in the sense of what René Guénon has already said: “As for the name of the
Egyptian god Amon, even though its form is identical [to that of amen], it has a different
meaning, namely ‘hidden’ or ‘mysterious’; it is nonetheless possible that, deep down, there
are more relationships between these ideas than what appears at first sight” (Études sur la
Franc-Maçonnerie, II, p. 179). One may note that it is the idea of the ‘seal’ or the ‘tablet’ which
could establish such a relationship.

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the “place of the occultation of the Sun”, and Osiris, who corresponds to the
“nocturnal Sun” was called Hnty Imn-tt, “Lord of the West.”20
In any case, it is certain that in sacred history, at least as reflected in the
Bible, amen appears only with the exodus of the Children of Israel from Egypt.
It is also likely that it was part of the Egyptian legacy which was then some-
how vested in Moses and his people. However, this originally Egyptian word,
upon its entry in another linguistic context (where the Semitic root amn, from
which we get emūnah, faith—a notion so characteristic of the “religious” mod-
ality of tradition—was to exercise a manifest influence) and due to a new
ritual use (part of an autonomous revealed legislation) was more or less veiled
with respect to its original properties.21 However, we must also take into ac-
count that its inclusion into a newly formulated tradition, such as the one
provided by the Mosaic message, had to give rise to a prophetic adaptation
properly speaking, which necessarily conferred certain new characteristics to
it. An Islamic account can clarify this point of the traditional history of the
sacred word Amen.
The Messenger of God has said that he had received the word amīn by a priv-
ileged revelation and that before him “only Aaron could have received it since,
while Moses was invoking divine assistance (kāna yadʿū), Aaron supported
him with amen (yu’amminu).”22 At issue then is the amen with a “confirm-
ative”function, and not the amen with an “affirmative” one. We must also
note that it is not just due to the fact that someone accompanies someone
else with his amen that proves the privileged receiving referred to by the
Prophet Muhammad, for in this case whoever knew the (liturgical or devo-
tional) Judaeo-Christian tradition of the amen, and quoted the case of Aaron
for this purpose, would have not expressed himself in a suspicious manner.
The Prophet must have had in mind a reception through direct revelation,
implying a knowledge and an operative power which could be received only
in this manner.

If we now consider the literal structure of the two words, Om (A W M) and

Amen (A M N), we will note that it is fundamentally the same term, originally
20
This had been carried in an earlier era of traditional history of Egypt by Anubis, the god
with the head of a dog, who was also considered the son of Osiris, or Ra, the diurnal aspect
of the same ‘solar’ principle.”
21
Some late but surely valid data as an indication attest that in the tradition of ancient
Egypt this word had some nuances, to say the least, which do not appear in the Hebrew amen:
Hecataeus of Abdera, a writer of the fourth century BC, referring to the term amoun, said,
“The Egyptians use this word when they want to call each other, because it is a vocative term;
and insofar as they believe that the chief of the gods is the same as the universe which is dark,
hidden and unknown, they pray to him to become manifest and known to them by calling
him Amoun” (quoted by Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, VIII).
22
The full text of one of the hadith related to this point is: “I have been granted three
distinctions: I have been granted the prayer in rows, the salutation of Peace (al-salām) which
is the greeting of the people of Paradise, and the amīn that has not been given to anyone of
those before you, except that Allah granted it to Aaron, for when Moses invoked the divine
intervention, Aaron supported him with his amīn.”

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constituted by the two elements A and M, which correspond to the extreme

points of the vocal range, the first constituting its primordial manifestation
and the second its final extinction.23 The third element which intervenes in
the constitution of each of the two words differs, and it also plays a differ-
entiating role: in the first case, given that the u which intervenes in Aum
means “elevation” (utkarsha), we have the Word in an ascending and reab-
sorbing function; in the other, due to the fact that the n which concludes the
term amn—vocalised as Amen or Amīn—carries a meaning of envelopment
and conservation,24 we have the Word in a confirmative and conclusive func-
tion. In his response to these remarks by ourselves, René Guénon told us the
following, which remains interesting regardless of our own considerations:
“With respect to Aum and Amīn, the relationship of which you speak is per-
haps indicated in a certain manner by the fact that the wāw represents the
union of two other terms, whereas the nūn represents their product” (Letter
from February 28, 1949).
The third element of each of the terms we are dealing with could in effect
be just a secondary and logically later modification of a single, originally two-
lettered term. It could also be said that the geographic areas over which the
traditions possessing one or the other of these two sacred three-lettered terms
extended were situated in an East-West line, and rather meridional, at least as
far as their origins are concerned. Furthermore, one of the original locations
of the monosyllable om, in one of its recognisable variations, is the Asian
South and the islands of the Pacific, where in certain places it is pronounced
ām.25 Finally, in what appears to be a kind of extreme emigration, it is found
among the Araucanians of Chile, whose “Pacific” Origin is already recognised.

As for the Araucanians, we quote from a report by a Catholic priest (R. P.

Emile Housse: Une épopée indienne. Plon, 1939), regarding the description
(p. 106) of a ceremony which accompanies a propitiatory sacrifice officiated
by a Machi woman (a type of “Female Druid” says the author): “Pages and
black knights dancing backwards, followed by the Female Druid, the head of
the party which guides her, musicians with whistles and flutes, and groups
of people. All dance in harmony, to the sound of instruments. At each of the
verses sung by the Machi woman, all respond with a prolonged “ō-ō-ō-om!”
exclamation! Thus did the procession go around the rustic altar twenty-four
times.”
23
In addition, one may also note that in Arabic the corresponding letters, the alif and the
mīm, are respectively symbols of the principle and of death.
24
See René Guénon, Fundamental Symbols, ch. XXV: “The Mysteries of the Letter Nūn”. One
may also note that the nūn as a letter and as a desinential morpheme (the tanwīn) is the char-
acteristic ending element of the verses of the Qur’an, which underlines the synthetic function
of this last revelation of the legislating Word in the traditional cycle of our world.
25
Such is its pronunciation in India even among people in the South who speak Tamil and
Malayalam. It is the same among peoples of Oceania (New Guinea). One might even think
that these were traces of the original biliteralism mentioned above.

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    ·     

Let us now look at another ceremony during which the pronunciation of the
aforementioned term is associated with symbolic elements that corroborate
its identification with the Hindu ōm. It regards a preparatory rite of consec-
ration of Machi; this rite includes the erection of a sacred ladder, the réhué:
“When the master of ceremonies signals, flutes, cornets and drums gather the
people who stand in a circle. At the foot of the altar, the Druids slaughter
lambs offered by the family, they chop off their right ear, they soak in the
blood flowing from the wound and they raise it, at arm’s length, with the
right hand. Then they turn towards the East, as well as the principal Machi,
who utters a prayer: “O Dominator and Father of men, (…) Grant us, for sow-
ing, good weather and rain, so that we have enough to live on! Do not send
us flood. That, by your will, we enjoy happiness! O ō! O om! Ou Oum!
“And in a great cry the multitude repeats this as if it were final. At this
point, the priests give the ear lambs to the owner of each animal. The owner,
in turn, makes a plea aloud. Then, he puts this ear on the altar next to the
container where Druids shed the blood of the sacrifices. The animals are then
skinned. The donor takes back the head and half the ripped body body, and
the immolator the other half. As for the heart, it is suspended from one of
the branches of Canelo. In addition, the generous guests hang the chickens
killed for the feast they offer.
“The music starts again, and supports a general round that precipitates
the enthusiasm: people walk around the réhué, jumping and swaying; riders
full of flanges make wide circles. All, without exception, shout out ō-ō-ō-om!
endlessly.” (Ibid, p. 100).
Having had the opportunity to share with René Guénon this finding and
to comment somewhat on the document, we received the following response:
“What you say about the existence of the mantra Aum among the Araucanians
is truly very interesting, and I had never heard of it; your remark about the
offering of the ear and its relationship with the primordial sound seems quite
justified; and it is certainly also very remarkable to find this mantra in an
area where we certainly cannot say that it came from India.” (Letter dated
January 21st, 1949).

To be quite clear about the meaning of these findings, we must add that,
contrary to what one might think about the general notions of pre-Indian
origins of the Hindu tradition, the word om is not of Nordic origin and it is
not Indo-Iranian either. This linguistic fact which is so fundamental to the
symbolism as well as the ritual and spiritual technique of Hinduism does not,
in fact, appear in the early Vedic texts, especially those of the Rig-Veda, as
it does not appear in the texts of the Mazdean tradition which on the other
hand is recognised as having a common cradle with Hinduism before their
incorporation into independent traditions. Other Vedic texts established sub-
sequently, in their present form at least, do posses the sacred monosyllable,
even allied with verses from the Rig-Veda (as in the case of the gayatri) but

9
    ·     

this shows that the respective texts were composed through a combination
with elements belonging to indigenous traditions of India.26

The Matheson Trust

26
The doctrine of the Trimurti does not appear in the Rig-Veda, and one may think that the
symbolic relation with the constituting elements of Om that this doctrine shows subjects it to
an analogous historical explanation.

10