Sadhguru explains how Aum is the universal sound, and is not religious in nature. He explains how it is found across the world in various traditions - including Christianity and Islam.

Full Transcript:

If you have to utter any kind of sound, without using the tongue, what are the sounds that you could utter? I want you to experiment and see. Aaa, yes for sure you can do aaa. Ooo, possible. Mmm, yes possible. What else? Suppose you did not have a tongue, what are the sounds you can utter? You can do aaa, you can do ooo, you can do mmm. Try any other sound. Someone who is unable to speak, a mute person, who is unable to speak, what are the sounds that he makes? Aaa, ooo, mmm. Because these three sounds, do not need the use of your tongue. See if you remove your tongue, you’re able to make only three sounds. Aaa, ooo, mmm. You’re using the tongue, placing the tongue in different positions in your palaette, to mix these three sounds and produce all the other sounds that you produce. If you know something about the color television, you would know there are only three basic colors. Using these three colors, you see every other possible color on the tube. Similarly, there are only three basic sounds. Using these three sounds, you are able to produce all these other sounds. The tongue is just helping you to mix these three sounds in many complex ways. Now these three sounds, aa, oo and ma, are referred to as the basic sounds or the universal sounds. Because these three sounds are the basis of all the other sounds that you can utter. If you utter these three sounds together, what do you get? It’s not Om. Aum

So, these are the three basic sounds which are the very basis of all the other sounds that you can utter So Aum is known as the universal sound or the basic sound in the creation. If this is true, how come, only a certain religion seems to be using it as a brand for themselves, and nowhere else it is known? That is not true. Wherever there is a realized being, there, sound AUM will be there. For example, Christianity, born in Jerusalem, where the language at that time was Aramaic. Aramaic language has a certain infliction where sound ‘mm’ is dominant. So this influence of the language and culture, enters everything that you do. Whatever you’re doing in your life, whatever you’re expressing in your life, the influence of your culture and your language enters into it. That is the significance of the east, that is the significance of these traditions, that we took elaborate care, to see, that our cultural and language aspects do not enter the spiritual process. Elaborate, elaborate care, was taken, to see that language and culture does not enter spiritual process, because language and culture keeps changing by the generation. 117min 29sec12sec From time to time, your cultural and language aspects keep changing, but we do not want those influences to distort the spiritual process. So great care was taken about this. For this, we established a certain system, which we call as the Guru-Shishya Paramparya, that means a master-disciple traditions, where if someone experiences something within himself, he will look for a person, who will hold this truth above his life,.Nnot as a part of his life, not as his profession, not as his career, not as his hobby, but above his life. Only to such a person it is given. Now he carries it through his life, without a single distortion and offers it to the next generation, and the next generation, and the next genera AUM.

So, these are the three basic sounds, which are the very basis of all the other sounds that you can utter. So, AUM is known as the universal sound or the basic sound in the creation.