Editing John Coltrane (section)

===Spiritual influence in music, religious exploration===
After ''A Love Supreme'', many of the titles of his songs and albums had spiritual connotations: ''Ascension'', ''Meditations'', ''Om'', ''Selflessness'', "Amen", "Ascent", "Attaining", "Dear Lord", "Prayer and Meditation Suite", and "The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost".<ref name="Lavezzoli286"/> His library of books included ''[[The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna]]'', the [[Bhagavad Gita]], and [[Paramahansa Yogananda]]'s ''[[Autobiography of a Yogi]]''. The last of these describes, in Lavezzoli's words, a "search for universal truth, a journey that Coltrane had also undertaken. Yogananda believed that both Eastern and Western spiritual paths were efficacious, and wrote of the similarities between [[Krishna]] and Christ. This openness to different traditions resonated with Coltrane, who studied the [[Qur'an]], the [[Bible]], [[Kabbalah]], and [[astrology]] with equal sincerity."<ref>Lavezzoli, pp. 280–281.</ref> He also explored [[Hinduism]], [[Jiddu Krishnamurti]], [[African history]], the philosophical teachings of [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]],<ref>{{cite web |title= John Coltrane, "A Love Supreme" and GOD |author= Emmett G. Price III |url= http://www.allaboutjazz.com/coltrane/article_003.htm |publisher= allaboutjazz.com |access-date= October 9, 2008 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090103101749/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/coltrane/article_003.htm |archive-date= January 3, 2009 |df= mdy-all }}</ref> and [[Zen Buddhism]].<ref>Lavezzoli, pp. 286–287.</ref>

In October 1965, Coltrane recorded ''[[Om (John Coltrane album)|Om]]'', referring to the [[Om|sacred syllable in Hinduism]], which symbolizes the infinite or the entire universe. Coltrane described ''Om'' as the "first syllable, the primal word, the word of power".<ref>Porter, p. 265.</ref> The 29-minute recording contains chants from the Hindu ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]''<ref>Lavezzoli, p. 285: "Coltrane and one or two other musicians begin and end the piece by chanting in unison a verse from chapter nine ("The Yoga of Mysticism") of the ''Bhagavad Gita'': Rites that the [[Vedas]] ordain, and the rituals taught by the scriptures: all these I am, and the offering made to the ghosts of the fathers, herbs of healing and food, the mantram, the clarified butter. I the [[oblation]], and I the flame into which it is offered. I am the sire of the world, and this world's mother and grandsire. I am he who awards to each the fruit of his action. I make all things clean. I am ''Om!''"</ref> and the Buddhist ''[[Tibetan Book of the Dead]]'',<ref>Nisenson, p. 183.</ref> and a recitation of a passage describing the primal verbalization "om" as a cosmic/spiritual common denominator in all things.