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Aum

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Hinduism and Tribal Religions

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Introduction

According to Hinduism, reflection upon and realization of an inner sound leads to development on the spiritual path. Similar claims are found in many traditions, religions, and philosophies worldwide ([1], p. 24). This inner sound represents the infinite reality that is unnamed and indescribable. However, interestingly this Supreme One has different expressions in human languages across cultures. Some call it AUM (in Hinduism), Allah (in Islam), God, the Father (in Christianity), Hu (in Sufism), Shabd (in Sikhism), Tao (in Taoism), and Word of the Almighty, Consciousness, Awareness, Self, Brahman, and the like. The list is virtually endless. Some representative names of this kind can be found in Table 1.

Table 1 Linguistic expressions for the Almighty in different religions

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Correspondence to Amitabh Vikram Dwivedi .

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Dwivedi, A.V. (2021). Aum. In: Long, J.D., Sherma, R.D., Jain, P., Khanna, M. (eds) Hinduism and Tribal Religions. Encyclopedia of Indian Religions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1036-5_444-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1036-5_444-2

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Aum
    Published:
    19 June 2021

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1036-5_444-2

  2. Original

    Aum
    Published:
    28 March 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1036-5_444-1