Hour 32 Meditation – Inner Sound and Nada Yoga

Inner Sound and Nada Yoga

Overview: The Universe Is Sound

“Nada Brahma – The world is sound.”

The core of Nada Yoga, or the yoga of sound, is captured in this age-old Sanskrit expression. The Indian spiritual vision holds that creation started with a vibration, a faint sound, an unstruck melody known as Anahata Nada, rather than a material bang. This sound is perceived through profound meditative awareness rather than the ears.

The path from external sound (Ahata Nada) to the eternal, inner sound (Anahata Nada) is known as Nada Yoga. It is a potent meditation technique that uses silence, chanting, music, and mantras to guide the seeker from the outer reaches of their senses to the center of their consciousness.

Let’s examine how sound can become a divine portal to silence when it is properly perceived and tuned into.

1. First, what is Nada Yoga?

Nada = Vibration or Sound

Yoga = Integration or Union

The science and art of nada yoga involves using sound vibrations to balance the body, mind, and spirit and to awaken inner awareness. Nada Yoga employs particular frequencies and awareness techniques to dissolve the ego and bring the mind into oneness with existence, in contrast to outside music that may amuse or distract.

Fundamentals of Nada Yoga:

2. Tantra and Vedanta’s Four Levels of Sound

Note: Vaikhari, or spoken chants or music, is the starting point of the Nada Yoga journey. It then progressively moves inward toward the subtle Anahata, or the cosmic sound of silence.

3. Nada Yoga Tools: Using Sound as a Medium

a. Mantra

• A mantra is a holy word or phrase, such as Om Namah Shivaya, So’ham, Gayatri, or OM.
• Japanese repetition calms the mind and balances the body’s vibrations.
• More significant than the meaning is the mantra’s vibration.

b. Musical Notes by Swara

• The energetic patterns that influence consciousness are the foundation of Indian classical music, particularly Raga.
• It is well known that some ragas can evoke transcendence, healing, devotion, or serenity.

c. Sounds of Bija

• Chakras respond well to seed syllables like Lam, Vam, Ram, Yam, Ham, and Om.
• used to stimulate energy centers that have lain dormant.

d. Tools

• Singing Tanpura Sound healing uses bowls, flutes, bells, and gongs.
• Their resonance travels directly to the energy body, bypassing the intellect.

e. Chanting and Kirtan

• Chanting in unison creates energetic synchronization and emotional elevation.
• Sound and devotion are combined in Bhakti-based Nada Yoga.

4. Osho and Inner Sound Science

Osho talked a lot about the power of silence and sound. He referred to Anahata Nada as the eternal song of existence, which is ever-present within and not produced by anything.

“The outer fades and the inner is heard if you continue to listen intently, layer by layer. That is the unstruck sound, or Anahata Nada. Music exists despite the absence of an instrument.

– Osho

Osho created meditation techniques that combine silence and sound. Inspired by Tibetan humming, his Nadabrahma Meditation leads a practitioner through stillness, movement, and humming to harmonize prana and open subtle channels.

5. Nada Practice Stages Goal of the Yoga

6. Benefits of Nada Yoga:

Physical and Energetic Benefits:

• balances the hemispheres of the left and right brain.
• improves hormonal balance and the nervous system
• controls heart rate and respiration.
• activates the nadis and chakras

Mental and Emotional Advantages:

• lowers mental noise, anxiety, and depression
• enhances emotional clarity and inner tranquility
• enhances happiness, originality, and spontaneity

Spiritual Advantages:

• triggers higher states of consciousness and opens the door to inner silence.
• leads to absorptive awareness, or Samadhi.

7. The Simplified Nada Yoga Meditation Technique

Getting ready:

• Maintain an upright spine and a comfortable sitting position.
• Shut your eyes and inhale deeply a few times.

In detail:

1. Five to ten minutes of humming: Shut your mouth and start humming softly. Allow your head and chest to reverberate with the sound.

2. Chanting mantras for five minutes: Slowly recite a selected mantra, paying attention to each syllable.

3. Ten minutes of inner listening: Put an end to all noise. Pay close attention. Pay attention to the inner area; a faint vibration or ringing might appear.

4. Witnessing (5 minutes): Just watch passively. Don’t try. simply existing.

To increase your sensitivity to subtle sounds, try this every day, especially before bed or in the early morning.

8. Current Uses for Nada Yoga Nada yoga is currently being used in:

• Vibrational healing and sound therapy
• Techniques for reducing stress in therapy
• Systems of education to enhance concentration and composure
• Complementary therapies for anxiety and trauma
• Programs for corporate mindfulness

Insightful Questions for the Meditator

1. How does sound affect you? Does it make you feel uncomfortable or does it help you reflect?
2. Have you ever been in silence and heard a sound or hum inside yourself?
3. What effects does music or chanting have on your mood?
4. Have there ever been times in your life when a particular sound altered your consciousness or mood?
5. Is it possible to just sit and listen, not to words, but to the silence between them?

Conclusion: Paying Attention to Quietness

Nada Yoga serves as a link between the quiet inner world and the noisy outer world. You can tune your being to the cosmic song by engaging in deep listening. Thought wanes, identity vanishes, and nothing is left but the unadulterated vibration of life in this listening.

The meditator enters a realm beyond form, beyond language, and beyond the known when he truly hears—not just with his ears, but also with his heart.

Silence follows sound, and Self follows silence.