Chapter 17

Spiritual Eye Meditation/Hong-Sau Mantra

The purpose of the Hong-Sau technique is to help you to free your attention from outwardness, and to withdraw it from the senses, for breath is the cord that keeps the soul tied to the body . . . By dispassionately watching the breath coming in and going out, one’s breathing naturally slows, calming at last the peace-disturbing activity of the heart, lungs and diaphragm.

Paramhansa Yogananda, The Wisdom of Yogananda

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Hong-Sau – Introduction

Hong-sau (pronounced ‘hong-saw’) is an ancient Sanskrit mantra for focusing and calming the mind, and deepening the concentration for meditation. It stills the restless thoughts, withdraws the mind from the senses, and calms and interiorizes the prāṇic energy in the body. Hong-sau is another way of pronouncing the mantra ‘haṁsa’, which means ‘I am He,’ ‘I, the manifest Self, am He, the Unmanifest Spirit (the Absolute).’ When haṁsa is repeated continuously it becomes So-ham, which means ‘He (the Absolute) am I.’ Repeated either way the meaning is the same. By consciously repeating mentally the seed-syllable mantra ‘hong-sau’, in conjunction with the concentration on the breath, you affirm that the individual self is one with the Infinite Spirit. Hong as the inhaling breath, represents the contraction of consciousness into finitude. Sau as the exhaling breath, represents the expansion of consciousness and the reabsorption of differentiation into pure unity.

Hong-sau possesses a vibratory connection with the breath. It is the natural, subtle sound of the breath – hong vibrates with the inhalation, corresponding to the ascending current in the iḍā nāḍī. Sau vibrates with the exhalation, corresponding to the descending current in the piṅgala nāḍī. Throughout the 24 hours of the day the breath flows in and out 21,600 times in a continuous mantra of hong-sau. Unknowingly, we are all repeating this mantra in a process of automatic and continuous recitation. In Yoga, continuous recitation of a mantra is called ajapā-japā. The japā becomes ajapā when the mantra gets repeated in the mind on its own. The difference between ajapā-japā and japā is that ajapājapā goes on subconsciously all the time, while japā is done consciously.

In an early Śaiva Tantra (7th century CE) it is stated that ha is the inhaling breath, representing Śākti, and sa is the exhaling breath, representing Śiva. The syllables ha and sa are joined by the nasal sounding ṁ , which represents the individual soul (jīva). Joined together ha plus ṁ plus sa form the mantra haṁsa.

In the Vijñānabhairava, an old meditation text, each complete breath is described as an automatic repetition of the mantra ‘haṁsa’, or so-ham when the exhalation is emphasized. The syllable haṁ vibrates with the experience ‘I am’, and the syllable sa or so vibrates with the expansive experience of ‘That’ (the Absolute). Therefore, when we repeat haṁsa or soham with awareness, we affirm ‘I am That’.

If the technique of hong-sau is practised correctly and regularly, it will eventually bring you to a state of mental calm and stillness, withdrawing your energy inward, and leading you naturally into a breathless state as the pauses between your breaths naturally lengthen. In the breathless state the twofold vibration of hong and sau merge into the single omnipresent vibration of Oṃ .

When Paramhansa Yogananda was a young boy, whose name then was Mukunda, he would sit alone in meditative silence practising hong-sau for four hours in one sitting. Observing his breath, while gazing at his Spiritual Eye, he would interiorize his consciousness so deeply into his subtle spine that he was without breath, or in the ‘breathless state’. He called hong-sau, the ‘baby Kriyā’, in which he was referring to the supreme Kriyā meditation technique that was originally passed down through a succession of enlightened Kriyā Yoga Masters from Mahāvatar Babaji to himself. Yogananda once said, ‘One hour of hong-sau practice equals twenty-four hours of sitting in the silence.’

Meditation – Hong-Sau

Preparation – Ujjayi Prāṇāyāma

Before we begin this meditation, it is useful to learn the prāṇāyāma technique of ujjayi breathing (ujjayi – ‘victory from expansion’), as you will use this prāṇāyāma to breathe in your spine to direct the energy upward in the spine to your Spiritual Eye. Ujjayi breathing creates the expansion and upward movement of the prāṇic energy through the suṣumnā nāḍī. The two distinctive characteristics of ujjayi breathing are an action in the throat that produces a soft snoring-like sound of ‘haaa’ in the vocal diaphragm and epiglottis, and a smooth and even flow of the breath in both the inhalation and the exhalation. This is a very soothing and calming breath that keeps your awareness and attention on the breath. To breathe in ujjayi, close your mouth and breathe in through the nose, so that your breath moves upwards along the back of your throat with the smooth, continuous and steady ‘haaa’ sound, and out through your nose with a continuous and steady, sibilant sound of ‘saaa’. The purpose of the ujjayi sound is to attune your attentive awareness to each breath. Ujjayi breath warms and filters the air entering the nostrils, producing a calming and relaxing effect in the brain. On a subtle level it generates prāṇic energy within the body and induces meditation.

Stage 1: Tensing and Relaxing

Sit in a comfortable and steady meditation posture with your head, neck, and spine aligned. To relax your mind and body, inhale deeply, hold the breath, and tense all the muscles in your body. Hold both the breath and the tension in your muscles for a few seconds, then simultaneously release the breath and the tension and relax. Repeat the process of tensing and relaxing three times, then finish by completely relaxing. Feel the relaxation and the flow of energy into your body.

Stage 2: Loma Prāṇāyāma

Now continue to remain relaxed as you practise a minimum of nine rounds of loma (‘natural force’) prāṇāyāma. This is a three-part equal ratio, breathing through both nostrils. Inhale for a count of 12, hold your breath for a count of 12, exhale for a count of 12 (12:12:12). If this is not within your lung capacity, keep the ratio, but halve the count to 6:6:6. The number of rounds can be gradually increased over a period of time to 27 rounds.

Stage 3. Inhaling in the Spine

Continue to sit in a comfortable and stable meditation posture with your head, neck and spine aligned. Place your hands palms upward in chin mudrā (gesture of consciousness) on your knees Relax your mind and body by taking a few deep breaths. Close your eyes and relax, with your awareness on the natural breath.

Now as you inhale smoothly and continuously in ujjayi breath feel a cool current of prāṇic energy slowly rising up the spine from mūladhāra chakra to the medulla oblongata and then through the brain to the Spiritual Eye. While gazing with your attentive awareness into the Spiritual Eye, mentally chant Oṁ three times, and then, breathing smoothly and continuously in ujjayi breath, slowly exhale and feel a warm current of prāṇic energy descending back down through the spine to mūladhāra chakra. In this way, continue several times breathing up and down the spine until you feel the warmth and sensation of a tingling current of energy in your spine. Then, on the next inhalation, draw the breath up the spine to the medulla, and then through the brain to the Spiritual Eye.

Stage 4: Sit Calmly for Meditation

Remain sitting still and concentrate your relaxed attention at the point between the eyebrows. Let go of all thoughts and be totally centred in the present here and now moment. Place your hands palms upward on your knees in chin mudrā. Close your eyes and relax, with your awareness on the natural breath. Keep your body still and bring your attention and awareness to the frontal part of your brain at the Spiritual Eye. If your mind wanders, gently bring it back to the practice of watching your breath with awareness. Watching the breath is a present-moment experience. Focus and interiorize your mind by deepening your attentive awareness and concentration.

Hong-Sau Technique

Step 1: Now with your body and mind still, uniting your mind with the present moment, begin the practice of hong-sau. With closed eyes and without straining, gently lift your gaze upward to the point between the eyebrows, and with steady concentration and inner calmness look into the Spiritual Eye, the seat of intuition and omnipresent perception.

Step 2: Feel the natural breath flow in and out of your nostrils. Feel the tactile sensation of the breath, and try to feel where the flow of breath is strongest in your nostrils. The sensation of breath is subtle, and yet it is quite distinct when you learn to tune into it. Once you have found the point where the breath is strongest in your nostrils (usually just inside the tip of the nose) then concentrate on the breath at that point. It is from this point that you will follow the whole passage of your breath.

Step 3: Use this single-point sensation inside the nose to keep your attention fixed. Observe each breath as it flows in and out with attention and precision in present-moment awareness, taking it one split second on top of another. In this way, continuous and unbroken awareness will eventually result.

Step 4: Then as your breath becomes quieter, begin to feel the sensation of the air that passes in and out of your nostrils higher up in the nasal passages at the point between your eyebrows. Concentrate at this point. As your concentration deepens, your breathing will begin to slow down, and you will be able to focus on it more clearly, with fewer and fewer interruptions.

Step 5: As you concentrate on your breath, make no attempt to control the breath. This is not a yoga breathing exercise. With focused awareness just let go, and allow this natural process of subtle breathing to move in its own rhythm.

Step 6: First inhale deeply, then slowly exhale. Then as the next inhalation naturally arises and flows into your nostrils, feel the breath where it enters the nostrils, and with your inner focus, mentally follow the breath with the bīja mantra ‘hong’. Imagine that the breath itself is making this sound.

Step 7: And as your breath flows out naturally, mentally follow it with the bīja mantra ‘sau’. Remember, make no attempt to control your breath; you are only observing it, so just allow its flow to be completely natural. The process of hong-sau is not a breathing technique, it is simply being consciously aware, with your concentration on the hong-sau mantra as the breath flows. Feel that your subtle breathing is silently making the sounds of hong-sau. By simply observing your breath it will become calm.

Step 8: Continue focusing on your Spiritual Eye and as the breath naturally flows in mentally follow it with the mantra ‘hong’. As the breath flows out, mentally follow it with the mantra ‘sau’. By concentration on the breath, the breath gradually diminishes. This gradual subtle refinement leads naturally to an interiorized calm meditative state. When the mind is united with the breath flowing all the time, you will be able to focus your mind in the present moment.

Step 9: If your mind begins to wander on to other thoughts, gently bring it back to the awareness of watching the breath in unison with hong-sau.

Step 10: As you go deeper into the practice of watching your breath in unison with hong-sau, the breathing becomes more subtle and the mind becomes very calm and still. You may notice that between each inhalation and exhalation, there is a natural space or pause, a point of complete stillness, where the form of the breath is briefly suspended. This is the space of the innermost Self. Softly focus your attentive awareness on those pauses, where the inhalation subsides and the exhalation arises. And, as your mind becomes more calmly interiorized, notice the spaces gradually extending between your breaths, into a breathless state, and enjoy that experience of expansion into the freedom of infinite spaciousness while inwardly gazing into your Spiritual Eye. Then, when the breath naturally returns, continue with the practice of hong-sau.

 

During and after practising hong-sau, remain in the inner calmness for as long as possible. Remember and feel that inner calmness from your meditation, and remain calmly centred within your Self, allowing the calmness to permeate your everyday consciousness as you go about your daily activities.

The Breathless State

By silently observing the breathless state, you let go of the identification with your body, and realize that you are something other than mind–body–senses. You realize that your body is sustained by something other than the gross breath. In the perfect stillness in between the breaths of the breathless state, you perceive the reality of pure consciousness within you.

This breathless state, in which there are long pauses between the breaths, happens naturally. There is no need to be anxious or alarmed, for the breath returns automatically when the body needs to breathe again. Just remain calm and aware in the meditative stillness and inner freedom from body-consciousness, and allow the breath to flow effortlessly, and stop and start naturally, without any control by you.