Swami Vivekananda on the symbolism of Om in Hinduism - Source complete works of Swami Vivekananda. Every idea in mind has a counterpart in a word; the word and the thought are inseparable. So long as man has existed, there have been words and languages. What is the connection between an idea and word? The thought may be the same in several languages of the world, yet the language is different. We must have a word to express each thought, but these words need not necessarily have the same sound. The sounds vary, yet the relation between the sounds and the thoughts is a natural one. The connection between thoughts and sounds is good only if there is really a real connection between the thing signified and the symbol; until then, that symbol will never come into general use. A symbol is the manifester of the thing signified, and if the thing signified has already an existence, and if, by experience, we know that the symbol has expressed that thing many times, then we are sure that