Ādi-līlā, Chapter 7
125
One should not, however, foolishly conclude that because the Supreme Personality of Godhead is omnipotent, we have manufactured a combination of letters— a ,  u  and  m —to represent Him. Factually the transcendental sound  oṁkāra , although a combination of the three letters  a ,  u  and  m , has transcendental potency, and one who chants  oṁkāra  will very soon realize  oṁkāra  and Lord Viṣṇu to be nondifferent. Kṛṣṇa declares,  praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu : “I am the syllable  om  in the Vedic  mantras .” (Bg. 7.8) One should therefore conclude that among the many incarnations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead,  oṁkāra  is the sound incarnation. All the  Vedas  accept this thesis. One should always remember that the holy name of the Lord and the Lord Himself are always identical ( abhinnatvān nāma-nāminoḥ ). Since  oṁkāra  is the basic principle of all Vedic knowledge, it is uttered before one begins to chant any Vedic hymn. Without  oṁkāra , no Vedic  mantra  is successful. The Gosvāmīs therefore declare that  praṇava  ( oṁkāra ) is the complete representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and they have analyzed  oṁkāra  in terms of its alphabetical constituents as follows:
a-kāreṇocyate kṛṣṇaḥ sarva-lokaika-nāyakaḥ u-kārenocyate rādhā ma-kāro jīva-vācakaḥ
Oṁkāra  is a combination of the letters  a ,  u  and  m .  A-kāreṇocyate kṛṣṇaḥ : the letter  a  ( a-kāra ) refers to Kṛṣṇa, who is  sarva-lokaika-nāyakaḥ , the master of all living entities and planets, material and spiritual.  Nāyaka  means “leader.” He is the supreme leader ( nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām ). The letter  u  ( u-kāra ) indicates Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, the pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa, and  m  ( ma-kāra ) indicates the living entities ( jīvas ). Thus  om  is the complete combination of Kṛṣṇa, His potency and His eternal servitors. In other words,  oṁkāra  represents Kṛṣṇa, His name, fame, pastimes, entourage, expansions, devotees, potencies and everything else pertaining to Him.  Sarva-viśva-dhāma :  oṁkāra  is the resting place of everything, just as Kṛṣṇa is the resting place of everything ( brahmaṇo hi pratiṣṭhāham ).
The Māyāvādī philosophers consider many Vedic  mantras  to be the  mahā-vākya , or principal Vedic  mantra , such as  tattvamasi  ( Chāndogya Upaniṣad , 6.8.7),  idaṁ sarvaṁ yad ayam ātmā  and  brahmedaṁ sarvam  ( Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad , 2.5.1),  ātmaivedaṁ sarvam  ( Chāndogya Upaniṣad , 7.25.2) and  neha nānāsti kiñcana  ( Kaṭha Upaniṣad , 2.1.11). That is a great mistake. Only  oṁkāra  is the  mahā-vākya . All these other  mantras  which the Māyāvādīs accept as the  mahā-vākya  are only incidental. They cannot be taken as the  mahā-vākya , or  mahā-mantra . The  mantra tattvamasi  indicates only a partial understanding of the  Vedas , unlike  oṁkāra , which represents the full understanding of the  Vedas . Therefore the transcendental sound which includes all Vedic knowledge is  oṁkāra  ( praṇava ).
Aside from  oṁkāra , none of the words uttered by the followers of Śaṅkarācārya can be considered the  mahā-vākya . They are merely passing remarks. Śaṅkarācārya, however, has never stressed chanting of the  mahā-vākya oṁkāra ; he has accepted only  tattvamasi  as the  mahā-vākya . Imagining the living entity to be God, he has