Intone a sound and become it

Intone a sound and become it

What the Method Is

The core instruction for this meditation method is: “Intone a sound, as aum, slowly. As sound enters soundfulness, so do you”. This technique guides the practitioner to use sound as a vehicle to transcend the mind and attain a state of “soundfulness” or soundlessness, which is described as total awareness or the absolute.

How It Is Done

This meditation involves a gradual and conscious intonation of a sound, such as “Aum,” moving from an audible to an increasingly subtle and inner experience:

• Choose a Sound: While the sutra suggests “Aum” as an example, any sound can be used. It is particularly beneficial to choose a sound for which you have a deep feeling or love, rather than a purely intellectual one, as this creates a passage from the mind to the heart. If practicing in a physical space, choosing a small room that vibrates with your sound or a dedicated place like a temple can be helpful to create a conducive milieu.
• Initial Loud Intonation: Begin by intoning the chosen sound loudly and audibly. This helps to clearly hear and attune yourself to the sound, leveraging the natural human habit of hearing oneself speak when talking to others.
• Become the Sound: As you intone, be filled with the sound and forget everything else; become the sound itself. Feel the sound’s vibrations throughout your entire body and nervous system, as if every cell is vibrating with it. This process is described as “in-tuning” yourself with the sound and developing a deep harmony with it. Your body is considered a musical instrument that re-echoes harmonious sounds.
• Gradual Refinement to Inner Sound: Once you feel a deep harmony, gradually reduce the loudness of the intonation. Close your lips and intone the sound inwardly, but still loudly enough that it spreads throughout your body, touching every part and cell. Continue making the sound slower and more subtle, as subtler sounds penetrate deeper into your being.
• Attain Inner Silence (Heart/Center): The mantra is considered complete only when the sound enters your heart, the deepest, most central core of your being. As the sound becomes more subtle, your alertness must become more intense; otherwise, you risk falling into a trance or sleep. You must actively listen to the sound consciously, preventing it from becoming a mechanical repetition or a lullaby.
• Sound Dissolves into Soundlessness/Soundfulness: Continue this process of slowing and subtilizing the sound while maintaining peak alertness. A point will come when the sound becomes so atomic and subtle that it dissolves into “soundlessness” or “soundfulness.” At this moment, your alertness touches its peak, and you dissolve into total awareness. This is the desired outcome, where the world of sound (the mind) gives way to the absolute.

Commentaries and Insights

• Sound as a Bridge to Soundlessness: Tantra posits that sound exists only because of silence, its opposite. The technique uses sound as a “jumping board” to move beyond the mind, which is seen as a process of sounds, words, and thoughts, into the “no-mind” state of absolute silence. Your deepest being is that soundless center.
• “Aum” and the “Law of the Three”: “Aum” is considered a basic or “atomic” sound, a synthesis of three fundamental sounds (A-U-M) from which all other sounds are derived. It symbolizes the “Law of the Three” that permeates existence, analogous to the electron, neutron, and proton in physics, or satyam, shivam, sunderam (truth, good, beautiful) in aesthetics, or sat-chit-ananda (existence, consciousness, bliss) in mysticism. “Aum” represents the boundary of existence, beyond which lies the absolute.
• Soundfulness vs. Soundlessness: The ultimate state reached can be described as “soundfulness” (a positive term used by Tantra) or “soundlessness” (a negative term often used by Buddha). Both terms point to the same absolute, perfect, and whole experience where no sound is heard, or a complete and full sound exists, indicating perfection and absoluteness. It’s like a drop of water merging into the ocean—it can be said the drop is no more (Buddha’s negative view) or the drop has become the ocean (Upanishadic positive view).
• Transformation through Energy: The technique allows for the transformation of energy. Every sound has a corresponding feeling hidden behind it. By moving from audible sound to inaudible sound, and then to pure feeling, one moves away from the mind and into an ecstatic, existential world. When sound disappears, only feeling remains—a deep, unattached love.
• The Role of Awareness and Danger of Sleep: A crucial insight is the necessity of alertness. Repetitive sounds, including mantras, can easily induce sleep or a trance-like state (hypnos/yoga tandra), which is not true spiritual awakening. To avoid this “auto-hypnosis,” one must simultaneously intone the sound and consciously listen to it with alert inner ear.
• Mind as Sound, No-Mind as Soundlessness: The mind is characterized by thought and sound. When the sound is systematic, one is sane; when chaotic, one is insane. By focusing on a single sound and gradually dissolving it, the mind’s activity ceases, leading to a state of inner solidity and immovability. This is how a mental process (intoning) can lead to a non-mental state.
• Unexpressible Experience: The ultimate experience of dissolving into total awareness cannot be fully expressed in words. Shiva, the speaker of these sutras, often becomes silent after hinting at the “blessing” or “experience,” to prevent the mind from clinging to concepts rather than engaging in the practice.
• Tantra’s Amoral Approach: Tantra is not concerned with moralities or ideals; it is amoral and scientific, focused on “how” to attain truth rather than “what” truth is. It starts from where the practitioner is, accepting all aspects of their being (e.g., sex, anger) as energies to be understood and transformed, rather than suppressed.
• Master’s Role: While these are generalized methods, individualized initiation from a master can significantly enhance the process, as a master can tailor the method to the disciple’s specific type and needs, ensuring correct and faster transformation. Without proper guidance, there’s a risk of the method becoming futile or even harmful.
• Effort and Spontaneity: The path requires conscious effort in the beginning to develop awareness, but the ultimate goal is effortless spontaneity. The effort helps to break down old conditionings and reach a point where no further doing is needed, and simply being is enough.