17 October 2026 • Kingston City Hall, Melbourne
A Gurukul 8 Music in Minds experience
Welcome to The Sound of OM
The Sound of OM brought together classical music, mantra, storytelling, meditation and collective participation in Melbourne, to explore one of the most enduring sounds of the Indian wisdom traditions.
Across the evening, OM became more than something to hear.
It became a journey through consciousness, stillness and shared vibration.
Why OM, Why Now?
We live in a world of constant information, notifications, movement and digital noise.
Creating space to pause can feel increasingly rare.
The Sound of OM explored an ancient practice through a very contemporary question..
How do we pause, turn inward and reconnect with ourselves and each other?
Rather than simply explaining OM, the experience invited the audience to encounter it.
To hear it.
To feel it.
To sit with the silence after it.
And eventually, to join it.
Part One
From Sound to Stillness
The evening began where OM begins. With sound emerging from silence. Viraj Salvi and Ranjitha Suresh opened through alternating alap, joined by the young artists for a Ganesha invocation. From there, the journey moved into one of the eternal contemplative understandings of OM, from the Upanishads.
The relationship between A U M, silence and the four states of consciousness.
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A • Jāgrat
Waking
Jāgrat is the waking state.
Our attention moves outward.
We see, hear, speak, act and experience the world around us.
It is where much of everyday life happens.
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U • Svapna
Dreaming
M • Suṣupti
Deep Sleep
Svapna turns the journey inward.
The external world becomes quieter and another world emerges through memory, imagination, emotion and dream.
The experience becomes more subtle.
Suṣupti is deep sleep.
The familiar activity of waking and dreaming falls away.
There is no outward experience and no dream world to follow.
Yet we return from sleep knowing that rest has occurred.
The journey of OM continues inward.
Silence • Turīya
After A, U and M comes silence......
Not simply an absence of sound, but the stillness in which the other states appear and disappear and here is where we rejuvenate.
Turīya is described as the fourth.
The awareness beyond the changing experiences of waking, dreaming and deep sleep.
The Sound of OM
The Sound of OM Part 1 Ep 2 — The Four States of OM
The Sound of OM Part 2 Ep 5 — OM, Six Mantras & Collective Joy
The Sound of OM Part 2 Ep 2 — Brahmā Creation
The Sound of OM Part 2 Ep 3 — Viṣṇu Preservation
OM as Hamsa
The journey then moved to the imagery of the Nādabindu Upaniṣad, where OM is contemplated through the image of the Hamsa, the sacred bird.
A becomes one wing.
U becomes the other.
M becomes the tail.
The subtle awareness beyond sound becomes its head.
Nāda, the inner vibration, carries the journey from audible sound towards increasing subtlety and silence.
OM is the bird.
Nāda is its flight.
Silence is the infinite sky.
Music, Knowledge and Shakti
Part One also moved through devotional expressions of Saraswati and Devi.
Maa Shardhe Vidya Daye invoked Saraswati, associated with learning, wisdom, music and knowledge.
Devi Durge Bhavani honoured Durga and the energy of Shakti: strength, protection and transformation.
The music allowed these traditions to sit naturally within the larger journey of OM.
Part Two
From OM to Collective Joy
Part Two began differently. The attention moved away from the stage and into the room. Following a guided meditation, the audience was invited to join the artists through eleven collective OMs. From individual voices to one shared vibration.
The next part of the journey explored a later symbolic lens on A U M through Brahmā, Vishu and Śiva.
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A • Brahmā • Creation
A was connected with Brahmā and creation.
The beginning of something new.
An idea. A possibility.
The movement from potential into form.
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U • Viṣṇu • Preservation
U was explored through Viṣṇu and preservation. What has been created must also be sustained. Care and protection allow something valuable to endure.
Together, creation, preservation and transformation form a continuous cycle.
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M • Śiva • Transformation
M moved into Śiva and transformation.
Completion. Release. Dissolution. Not destruction simply for its own sake, but making space for renewal.
The finale brought the full ensemble and audience together through six mantras.
Each carried a different quality into the room.
Aparna Gadgoli
Aniruddh Sachdev
Trisha Mistry
Shivangi Kulkarni
Anvita Mirajkar
|| Thank you all for your energy and presence ||
The Sound of OM brought together music, mantra, reflection and shared experience.
Every story, note and heartbeat became part of one shared rhythm — the rhythm of OM.
With gratitude to everyone who joined us, and to our artists, young artists, speakers, volunteers, partners and sponsors.
