Soham Yoga: The Yoga of the Self: An In-Depth Guide to Effective Meditation by Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri)

Author:Abbot George Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri) [Burke (Swami Nirmalananda Giri), Abbot George]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: meditation
Publisher: Light of the Spirit Press
Published: 2018-07-09T16:00:00+00:00

We ourselves are waves in the ocean of Consciousness and Sound. We are Soham. So in Soham Yoga practice, especially when we experience the permutations of the subtle sounds of Soham, we are actually experiencing ourselves. The more we meditate, the higher and higher and further and further we penetrate into the Infinite Consciousness of which we are an eternal part. That is our point of origin, and the subtle vibrations of Soham will take us back there.

Yoga Nidra–conscious sleep

The purpose of meditation is the development of deep inner awareness. The Yoga Vashishtha (5:78), a classical treatise on yoga, speaks of the state “when the consciousness reaches the deep sleep state” known in Sanskrit as sushupti. The sage Sandilya in his treatise on yoga, the Sandilya Upanishad, also speaks of “when sushupti is rightly cognized [experienced] while conscious.” Ramana Maharshi also spoke frequently of this yogic state known as yoga nidra–yoga sleep. Although it is described as dreamless sleep, it is much, much more, for there is a deepening of consciousness in this state that does not occur in ordinary dreamless sleep.

In the Chidakasha Gita, section 120, Paramhansa Nityananda, himself a great Nath Yogi, had this to say about yoga nidra: “Harmonizing both prana and apana [inhalation and exhalation], enjoy the subtle sleep. Harmonizing the prana and apana, enjoy the eternal bliss. Enjoy the conscious sleep of bliss.… Enjoy that sleep which must be the aim and end of man.… Perform the natural japa of the inward and the outward breath.” Yoga Nidra is the state of conscious sushupti–dreamless sleep. This occurs during the practice of Soham Yoga when the awareness is gathered into the Chidakasha and when the inhaling and exhaling breaths are harmonized by intoning Soham in time with them. The sleep of yoga Nityananda is teaching us about is the true awakening.

Regarding this Sri Gajanana Maharaj said: “Not to see anything in dhyana [meditation] shows a state of concentration. When seeing is turned into non-seeing, then there is the real state of samadhi. The state of complete samadhi is like the state of death but it is a state of life after having conquered death. The state of sleep is also a kind of death and he really knows the secret of dhyana yoga whose sleep is nothing but samadhi.”

In deep meditation we enter into the silent witness state, experiencing the state of dreamless sleep while fully conscious and aware. When approaching this state the beginner may actually fall asleep. This is not to be worried about, for such is quite natural, and after a while will not occur. From birth we have been habituated to falling asleep when the mind reached a certain inner point. Now through meditation we will take another turn–into the state of deep inner awareness. Ramana Maharshi said that even if a yogi falls asleep while approaching–or in–yoga nidra, the process of meditation still continues. Yoga Nidra is the state of conscious sushupti, dreamless sleep, and yet much more, for then the awareness is gathered into the Chidakasha, the principle of pure consciousness.

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