According to Osho, Aum is a mild, soothing mantra that resonates from throat to heart and suits simple, heart-centered seekers, as in Patanjali's time. Hoo, distilled from "Allah," is forceful, strikes the hara/sex center, and better fits modern, head-and-sex-oriented people, propelling energy upward toward the heart. Begin with Hoo; when sex preoccupation fades and heart awakens, you may shift to Aum, though Hoo alone can complete the journey.
Use Hoo to lift energy from sex toward the heart; use Aum when your heart is already open and calm.
From the Discourses
Passages where Osho speaks to this question — each links to the complete discourse.
Before, you used to talk about the mantra hoo. Then why you are emphasizing now the mantra aum?
I am not emphasizing. I am simply explaining to you Patanjali. My emphasis remains for Hoo. And whatsoever I am saying about Aum, the same is applicable to Hoo. But my emphasis remains with Hoo. As I told you, Patanjali existed five thousand years before. People were simple -- very simple, innocent. They could trust easily; they had not much of the mind. They were not head oriented: they were heart oriented. Aum is a mild sound -- soothing, non-violent, non-aggressive. If you chant Aum, it goes from the throat to the heart, never below it. Those were heart people -- Aum was enough for them: a mild dose, a homeopathic dose. was enough for them. For you, it wont help much For you, Hoo will be more helpful. Hoo is a Sufi mantra. Just like Aum is a Hindu mantra, Hoo is a Mohammedan, Sufi mantra. Hoo was developed…
Wise men make their conscience the lower arony, the churning stick, and aum, the upper
CHURNING STICK. AND WITH THE HELP OF THESE TWO, THEY PRACTICE THE CHURNING OF KNOWLEDGE. IN THE FIRE OF KNOWLEDGE, BORN OUT OF THIS FRICTION, THEY BURN ALL THEIR BLEMISHES AND With the natural, the spontaneous, the spiritual voice, everything is total. Acts become total, and the moment any act is total there is no continuity. You do it, and it drops -- just like dead leaves dropping from a tree. The tree is not going to remember them. They were complete in a sense, they were perfect in a sense; and the moment has come for them to drop. Just like this, actions go on dropping and the mind remains unburdened and fresh. This is the criterion: observe inside yourself and until you come to a point where division of the mind is transcended, don't stop; go on inwards. Ultimately the basic rock is attained. That basic rock is…
Beloved Osho, will you please indicate something about the fifth stage in active meditation.
Do not do anything. You are not going to die! Even if the sneeze is coming and you do not sneeze for ten minutes, you will not die. If you feel like coughing, if you feel an irritation in the throat and you do not do anything, you are not going to die. Do not be afraid: no one has ever died. Remain DEAD as far as the body is concerned so that the energy can move in one flow. When the energy moves upward you become more and more silent. Silence is the by-product of energy moving upward and tension is the by-product of energy moving downward. You will be more and more in anxiety when energy moves down; you will be more and more silent, quiet, calm and cool as energy moves upward and inward. And these words downward and outward are synonymous, and inward and upward are…
Osho, yesterday you spoke a little about Om in reference to the seventh body. In that context, a small question is: which chakras are affected by the vibrations of A, U, and M, and how might they be used by a seeker? What is the relation of these chakric effects to the seventh chakra?
Even so, my constant view remains that Om is to be used only as a symbol, not as a practice. Other devices can be found for practice. Such a sacred word as Om should not be profaned by using it as a means. Therefore many misunderstand me. Many people come to me and say, “If we chant Om, why do you forbid it?” Perhaps it seems to them that I am an enemy of Om. But I know that they are the enemies; because such a supremely sacred word should not be used as a means. In truth, it is not a word meant to be spoken by our tongue. In truth, it is not to be uttered by our body. It begins where the tongue loses meaning and the body becomes useless; there is its resonance. And we do not make that resonance—it happens; it is known; it is…
Shree bhagwan, I want to know the meaning of aum.
I gave him the meditation. I said, "Do one thing. When you take the packet out of your pocket, for a moment go slowly. When you are taking the packet of cigarettes out of your pocket move slowly. Enjoy it, there is no hurry. Be conscious, alert, aware; take it out slowly, with full awareness. Then take the cigarette out of the packet with full awareness, slowly -- not in the old hurried way, unconscious way, mechanical way. Then start tapping the cigarette on your packet -- but very alertly. Listen to the sound, just as Zen people do when the samovar starts singing and the tea starts boiling, and the aroma. Then smell the cigarette and the beauty of it.... " He said, "What are you saying? The beauty?" "Yes, it is beautiful. Tobacco is as divine as anything. Even Morarji Desai is divine, so why not tobacco? Smell…