तस्य वाचकः प्रणवः ॥ २७ ॥
पदविभाग: तस्य, वाचकः, प्रणवः।
अन्वय: तस्य (ईश्वरस्य) वाचकः प्रणवः। (The pronoun ‘तस्य’ is explicitly linked back to Ishvara from the preceding sutras.)
प्रतिपदार्थ: तस्य = His (of Ishvara), वाचकः = the designating word / the signifier / the symbol, प्रणवः = the mystic syllable OM.
तात्पर्यम्: The designating word (signifier) for Ishvara is the syllable OM (Pranava).
Further context on the 27th Sutra from Patanjali’s Yogasutras
Swami Vivekananda says that in the mechanics of the human mind, form and name or thought and word, are inextricably bound. You cannot conceptualize an idea without simultaneously generating its corresponding linguistic symbol. Therefore, if Ishvara represents the totality of all consciousness, Swami Vivekananda poses a question: Is there one single sound that serves as the matrix for all possible sounds?
To find it, we have to look at the phenomena of speech. The human vocal apparatus operates between two distinct boundaries: the larynx (the voice box) at the base, and the lips at the front, with the palate acting as the primary sounding board in between. Every word in every language is a specific manipulation of friction within this space.
OM is that universal sound, precisely because of how it physically travels through this apparatus as A-U-M:
- A (अ): Pronounced as a guttural “ah,” this is the most primal root sound. It is produced at the very base of the throat and requires no articulation from the tongue or palate.
- U (उ): Pronounced “oo,” this sound rolls the vibration forward from the root, traveling directly across the middle of the sounding board (the palate).
- M (म): Pronounced “mm,” this sound forces the complete closure of the lips. It is the absolute terminus of the vocal tract.
Acoustically, the A-U-M progression creates a continuous frequency shift that encompasses the resonant limits of the human vocal tract. Neurologically, functional MRI (fMRI) scans show that the specific vibration of this phonetic sweep stimulates the auricular branch of the vagus nerve. This vagal stimulation causes a significant, measurable deactivation in the limbic system (the amygdala and the brain’s stress centers). Personally, whenever I have done the chanting, it creates a sense of stillness within me and I can feel an upward movement of energy.
So ॐ signifies completeness. And to chant it before and after the practice of yoga symbolizes the movement of one state of completeness to another. And this state of completeness is in fact Ishvara.
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