Om Shantih, shantih, shantih by Osho Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh 1st Edition

All Eastern scriptures begin with Om, shantih shantih shantih and they also end with the same.
Om is the symbol of the universal heartbeat; it is not a word. And as you come closer and closer to the universal heartbeat, the by-product is a deepening silence.
Shantih means silence and it is always repeated three times because by the time you reach to the fourth, you are no more just the silence has remained. You have disappeared as an entity separate from the universe.
The end and the beginning are the same.
That's why the Eastern scriptures begin with the declaration, Om the sound of the soundless, the very music of the heart of the universe. And as they go deeper, silence becomes the only reality. They want to declare silence to the world, but nobody has been able to go beyond the third because each time they say silence, it becomes more of a whisper. Silence is the beginning and silence is the end, and if you are a meditator, silence is the middle. Silence is the whole fabric of existence.
This is not a hypothesis, nor is it a philosophical idea. It is the experience of thousands of mystics who have entered into their own being. First, they have heard Om, and as the Om becomes overwhelming, silence follows. We are made of sound and silence.
Sound is our mind and silence is our being.
Sound is our trouble and silence is our liberation.