LISTEN TO THE MYSTIC SOUND - Swami Sivananda Saraswati

LISTEN TO THE MYSTIC SOUND

Sit in padma asana or siddha asana. Practise yoni mudra by closing the ears with the thumbs. Hear the internal sound through the right ear. The sound which you will hear will make you deaf to all external sounds. Having overcome all obstacles you will enter the turiya state within fifteen days. In the beginning you may hear many loud sounds. Then try to hear more and more subtle sounds.

The mind having first concentrated itself on any one sound, fixes firmly to that and is absorbed in it. The mind becomes insensible to external impressions and becomes one with the sound. Being indifferent to all objects and having controlled the passions, you should, by continual practice, concentrate your mind upon the sound which destroys the mind.

Having abandoned all thoughts and being freed from all actions, you should always concentrate your whole attention on the sound and then the citta (mind) becomes absorbed in it. Just as the bee, drinking the honey alone, does not care for the odour, so the citta, which is always absorbed in sound does not long for sensual objects - it is bound by the sweet nada (sound) and has abandoned its flitting nature.

The serpent citta, through listening to the nada, is entirely absorbed in it and, becoming unconscious of everything, concentrates itself on the sound. The sound serves the purpose of a sharp goad to control the maddened elephant citta, which roves in the pleasure garden of the sensual objects.

The sound proceeding from the pranava (Om) is Brahman. It is of the nature of effulgence. It is the seat of Vishnu. The mind exists so long as there is sound but, with its cessation, there is that state termed turiya. Being freed from all states and all thoughts, you will remain like one dead. The body is like a log. It does not feel heat or cold, joy or sorrow.

When spiritual sight is fixed - without any object to be seen, when prana (life-force) becomes still - without any effort, when the citta becomes firm - without any support, you become Brahman. When manas (mind) is destroyed, when virtues and sins are burned away, you shine as the effulgent, immaculate, eternal, stainless Brahman.

*******************************************