TAO OM LOGOS

Tao is everything; Om is everything; Logos is everything. Tao is the eternal source and substance of everything. Om is the consciousness of the world. Logos is the divine wisdom manifest in the world. All three are different perspectives from different parts of the world denoting the same reality. We can from our studies, readings, and life experience come to our own interpretation. Only we all need to stand behind what we say. We become authorities to the extent we appropriate and assimilate this universe and all within it. Our mind can be as vast as the sky or as small as a key-hole.

TAO is the Way to the Universal Principle that guides the whole creation to unfold its destiny. Tao is simple, spontaneous, natural, and effortless Action. Tao is detached from desires and actions. In Tao deeds, not words, matter. Tao does what needs to be done unconcerned about results. Tao does not calculate risk factors; Tao possesses nothing; loses nothing. There is recognition of the identity of spirit and matter, subject and object. There is no sacred or profane, spiritual or sensual. Everything is pure in its own way. There is complete attention and absorption in everything one does. Tao is entirely wholesome.

OM is the Primordial Sound associated with the creation of the Universe from nothing. It is the creative energy; it is the essence of breath and life of everything that exists. It is the liberating Principle, and Cause of the Universe. It is also the essence of Brahman, atman, and self-knowledge. Om is the past, present, and the future; it is beyond time. Om is pure Consciousness. Containing atman and Brahman, it includes all knowledge and everything that is to be known. Om strengthens, calms, reassures and supports everything.

LOGOS is the Principle of order and knowledge, and science of everything. It is the Divine animating energy pervading the Universe. The Gospel of St. John begins with the placing of the Logos right in the beginning of time, and identifies Logos as God through whom all things were made. John further identifies Christ as the incarnate Logos. The term “Logos” is widely used in Christianity in this sense. In Greek philosophy the Logos spermaticos (the seminal Word) is the generative Principle of the Universe. Logos as the Living Word is the world’s rational substratum. All came into being in accordance with the Logos. Logos as Cosmic Order is Wisdom (Sophia). Logos and Sophia are well connected. Sophia being feminine was not given as much importance as Logos. The rational discourse that discriminates between good and evil, just and unjust is due to Wisdom. Sophia is the active Reason that pervades and animates the Universe. Sophia is also identified with God or Nature. Logos as the Spirit of the World (Anima Mundi) is the Operating Principle of the world. According to Philo, a Hellenized Jewish philosopher, who lived during the time of Christ used the term Logos to mean an intermediary divine being. According to Philo, Logos of the Living God is the bond of everything, holding all things together, and binding all the parts. Logos was the God’s instrument in the creation of the Universe. For early Christian thinkers, profoundly influenced by Greek philosophy, Logos as Word was God. “O Logos sarx egeneto” (The Word was made flesh; this Word was Christ). For St. Augustine Logos was the Divine Eternal Word. He stated that veritas (truth) or sapientia (wisdom) was present in Christ as in no other human. In Sufism Logos (the uncreated) serves as a link between the human and the divine; Logos as a “Universal Human” mediates between individual human beings and divine essence.

The more I study about Tao, Om, and Logos, the more similar I find these concepts to be, depending, of course, on who and from what perspective writes about each one of these three concepts. The most important thing is that these three are very rich and meaningful concepts full of nuances that we can benefit from especially from the point of view of Unity of Humanity and friendship among religions.

Swami Snehananda Jyoti