For those of you who know me, you know that I love to use the phrase: Hari Aum Tat Sat. Some have questioned what the meaning behind this phrase is. Without fail, it always leaves that person thinking more in-depth about things. I shall endeavour to explain the relevance of this phrase.
Before I do go ahead with an explanation, let me start with a bit of background information about the phrase. I originally "discovered" the phrase after my mother had booked tickets for the 2 of us to see the Morari Bapu Ram Katha in Dubai in 2005, through Hari Aum Holidays (located in Southall). Despite the Katha being cancelled, the tavel agency put together a tour of Dubai instead. I had never travelled to Dubai, so for me it was an exciting prospect. My mother has been to Dubai so many times, I'm suprised she isn't employed as a tour guide for the country.
Now, upon arriving Abu Dhabi airport (don't ask why we didn't fly direct to Dubai airport), we were greeted with a coach which was kept together by carpet tape. After filling the luggage compartment with tonnes of luggage (bearing in mind the tour group consisted of about 60 people- all Hindu Gujurati's), a Johnny Lever lookalike greeted us with a bellowing "HARI AUM". To which the under 25's all sniggered, and the over 25's replied in a rather feable manner with the same phrase. This was my first actual encounter with the phrase, and from then on, every morning, every time we got on to the coach during the tour, we were faced with that magnificent phrase. When I came back to the UK, this phrase became "my thing", and I spread the love amongst everyone near and dear to me.
After the original formation of the Hari Aum Millitants (HAM- Miran, Vikesh and myself being the millitant aspect), we opted to change the name to something less threatening, so we just stuck to Hari Aum. The original idea of HAM was to spread Hindu awareness amongst the people, whilst showing people a more spiritual path. The same applies now, although we're more about the spiritual aspect of life. For more information, the "Hari Aum - It's A Way Of Life" group exists on the almighty Facebook, whilst the Hari Aum website is under construction.
Now, enough about the small talk, let me explain to you the meaning behind Hari Aum Tat Sat. I'll break it down for you, word by word. This phrase originates from Sanskrit.
Translation word for word:
Hari - Immanent Reality
Aum - Transcendent Reality
Tat - Both are
Sat - Truth
Therefore, "Immanent Reality and Transcendental Reality are Both the Truth."
Before I do go ahead with an explanation, let me start with a bit of background information about the phrase. I originally "discovered" the phrase after my mother had booked tickets for the 2 of us to see the Morari Bapu Ram Katha in Dubai in 2005, through Hari Aum Holidays (located in Southall). Despite the Katha being cancelled, the tavel agency put together a tour of Dubai instead. I had never travelled to Dubai, so for me it was an exciting prospect. My mother has been to Dubai so many times, I'm suprised she isn't employed as a tour guide for the country.
Now, upon arriving Abu Dhabi airport (don't ask why we didn't fly direct to Dubai airport), we were greeted with a coach which was kept together by carpet tape. After filling the luggage compartment with tonnes of luggage (bearing in mind the tour group consisted of about 60 people- all Hindu Gujurati's), a Johnny Lever lookalike greeted us with a bellowing "HARI AUM". To which the under 25's all sniggered, and the over 25's replied in a rather feable manner with the same phrase. This was my first actual encounter with the phrase, and from then on, every morning, every time we got on to the coach during the tour, we were faced with that magnificent phrase. When I came back to the UK, this phrase became "my thing", and I spread the love amongst everyone near and dear to me.
After the original formation of the Hari Aum Millitants (HAM- Miran, Vikesh and myself being the millitant aspect), we opted to change the name to something less threatening, so we just stuck to Hari Aum. The original idea of HAM was to spread Hindu awareness amongst the people, whilst showing people a more spiritual path. The same applies now, although we're more about the spiritual aspect of life. For more information, the "Hari Aum - It's A Way Of Life" group exists on the almighty Facebook, whilst the Hari Aum website is under construction.
Now, enough about the small talk, let me explain to you the meaning behind Hari Aum Tat Sat. I'll break it down for you, word by word. This phrase originates from Sanskrit.
Translation word for word:
Hari - Immanent Reality
Aum - Transcendent Reality
Tat - Both are
Sat - Truth
Therefore, "Immanent Reality and Transcendental Reality are Both the Truth."
Now, I can tell you have a rather confused look on your face, I did too. But I'll explore the concept further, so you can fully understand.
Immanent Reality: "Immanent" is defined as being within the limits of possible experience or knowledge. In this case, it refers to God or the Supreme Being being within our grasp, in a sense that we are able to reach him (or her) through the things we can see, feel and touch. A perfect example is idol worship. A stern belief in worshipping idols brings us to believe that we are closer to God, that if we perform certain duties to the idol, then we are blessed in someway. I am in no way criticising this particular method, it is absolutely fine. If idol worship brings one closer with God, then who am I to stop someone from doing so. Effectively, God is manifested in the world.
Transcendental Reality: "Transcendental" can be defined as something that is beyond common thought or experience; mystical or supernatural. So the opposite of Immanent, something that we cannot see, feel or touch. This means that God is completely outside of and beyond the world. A prime example of this is meditation, where we aim to reach a higher state of mind, state of being in order to reach God. Rather than worshipping an idol to reach God, we use ourselves to reach God.
Both are: Self explanitory really, refers to both the mentioned subjects.
Truth: Again, fairly self explanitory. Both are undeniably inseparable.
Now, you may be thinking (hopefully) that both terms contradict one another. Ofcourse they do, but is that not the same as everything else created within the universe? For man, there's woman. For right there's wrong. For left there's right. For the sun there's the moon and so on. And in all these cases, aren't both terms the truth?
Immanent Reality: "Immanent" is defined as being within the limits of possible experience or knowledge. In this case, it refers to God or the Supreme Being being within our grasp, in a sense that we are able to reach him (or her) through the things we can see, feel and touch. A perfect example is idol worship. A stern belief in worshipping idols brings us to believe that we are closer to God, that if we perform certain duties to the idol, then we are blessed in someway. I am in no way criticising this particular method, it is absolutely fine. If idol worship brings one closer with God, then who am I to stop someone from doing so. Effectively, God is manifested in the world.
Transcendental Reality: "Transcendental" can be defined as something that is beyond common thought or experience; mystical or supernatural. So the opposite of Immanent, something that we cannot see, feel or touch. This means that God is completely outside of and beyond the world. A prime example of this is meditation, where we aim to reach a higher state of mind, state of being in order to reach God. Rather than worshipping an idol to reach God, we use ourselves to reach God.
Both are: Self explanitory really, refers to both the mentioned subjects.
Truth: Again, fairly self explanitory. Both are undeniably inseparable.
Now, you may be thinking (hopefully) that both terms contradict one another. Ofcourse they do, but is that not the same as everything else created within the universe? For man, there's woman. For right there's wrong. For left there's right. For the sun there's the moon and so on. And in all these cases, aren't both terms the truth?
One cannot function without the other.
This is only the beginning of such an in-depth topic. If you would like to discuss this further, then please leave a comment on my wall with your e-mail address, and I'll be more than happy to get back to you.
This is only the beginning of such an in-depth topic. If you would like to discuss this further, then please leave a comment on my wall with your e-mail address, and I'll be more than happy to get back to you.
Hari Aum Tat Sat
हरी ॐ तत्सत
No comments:
Post a Comment