To understand the Yoga of Sound, we must first examine what the term “yoga” has come to mean in the West. In this chapter, we look at Hatha Yoga — the popular form of yoga postures and breathing practiced in most yoga studios — as well as samadhi, the end goal of enlightened yogic consciousness. Samadhi, as we shall see, is not some esoteric ideal, but a practical and meaningful fulfillment of human potential, accessible to every one of us.
For the past three hundred years, since the time of philosopher René Descartes and mathematician Isaac Newton, Western thinking has become increasingly entrenched in an unhealthy perception of the world as completely separate from the human mind. This Newtonian-Cartesian view of the world as a machine is now changing with the emergence of quantum physics, which views the universe as comprised of waves of energy networked in an inseparable whole, each wave affecting others in definite ways.
Yoga has come as a great gift from the East to the West because it heals the fragmentation created by a mechanistic worldview at the fundamental physical-sexual level. After hundreds of years of denigration of the body in Christian theology and prayer, Hatha Yoga allows the West to see the body with fresh eyes — as an instrument to be tuned, rather than subjugated. And as we saw in chapter one, yoga also counteracts the mechanistic stress of our world. But the goal of yoga, as it has been practiced in the East for thousands of years, is something greater: samadhi, an ecstatic union that encompasses all the dimensions of our being — body, soul, and spirit.
Yoga has several important definitions that come from the agrarian culture in which it was born. The word “yoga” is primarily derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, or yugam, meaning “to yoke,” symbolizing the wholeness that occurs when the individual self — the ego or psyche — is joined, or yoked, with a vision of the cosmic. Today this sense of belonging to the universe is crucial to our building a global community inclusive of all life.
Yoga also embodies the agrarian image of oxen yoked to the plough, as the practice of yoga cultivates the ground of our being, the soil of our soul. The harvest is an abundance of spiritual experiences that bring joy and fulfillment to the deepest parts of our selves. This cultivation takes effort, another definition of yoga, which then translates into energy. The more energy we put into our spiritual practice, the more we receive.
Finally, yoga means path. The steps that constitute the way of yoga have been researched over thousands of years. The effects of yogic practice are easily verified by direct personal experience. No belief is required; just practice the steps and enjoy the benefits, which you can compare and share with others on the path. It is this pragmatic credibility that has given yoga such wide appeal, easily cutting across religious and cultural boundaries. But reaching the ultimate goal of samadhi requires following the practice to its culmination.
“YOGA” IS NOW a household term in the West. But the yoga that has become popular here is just one form of yoga: Hatha Yoga. The roots of Hatha Yoga can be traced back to the second century B.C., when Patanjali,* the father of classical yoga, codified it in his famous Yoga Sutras. This expanded form of Hatha Yoga, known as Raja Yoga or “the royal path,” is a holistic approach that combines the systematic flow of body postures, breathing practices, and mind-focusing techniques with moral and social obligations that act as a prerequisite for psycho-spiritual exercises. The form of Hatha Yoga commonly taught in most yoga studios dispenses with the moral prerequisites and relies mostly on physical postures, stretches, and a modest amount of breath control. This style of Hatha Yoga could well have emerged from the Goraknath lineage of yogis, a militant sect that developed in the Middle Ages.
In its fullest sense, yoga is a form of prayer through the conduit of our bodies. When I began my life as a Benedictine monk and Hindu yogi — a unique combination under the direction of Bede Griffiths — I was shocked to read stories of St. Benedict rolling in thorns and St. Francis of Assisi plunging naked into the snow. These acts were performed to eliminate sexual arousal — a rather violent reaction to natural tendencies, it seemed to me. While it might have worked for them during that period in human evolution, it is a disastrous option for us today. We might take our cue from some of the yogic Christian mystics of the Middle Ages, who had a more balanced view. St. Mechtilde of Magdeburg, a Benedictine Abbess, cautioned: “Do not disdain your body, for the soul is just as safe in its body as in the Kingdom of Heaven.”1
While the physical fitness aspect of yoga is extremely important, we should avoid seeing it as an end in itself. We can therefore differentiate between Hatha Yoga, used to strengthen the physical body and develop the nervous system, and Raja Yoga, an eight-limbed system intended to create optimal conditions for ultimate spiritual enlightenment. The eight limbs are yama* and niyama, self-restraint and religious observances, which comprise ten codes (five each) of moral and social conduct; asana and pranayama, posture and breath control; pratyahara and dharana, withdrawal from the senses and equanimity of mind; and dhyana and samadhi, meditation and enlightenment.
The eight limbs of Raja Yoga provide a holistic paradigm. The advanced Hatha yogi uses complex techniques of locking and moving energy through the body, a sophisticated cleansing process, and intricate muscular contractions, all of which make the body a holy temple. But these practices still only focus on the third and fourth limbs of Raja Yoga. Hatha Yoga teachers in the West are beginning to sense the need for the larger holistic paradigm; the role of sound in yoga practice must be explored within this context. The use of mantras and meditation techniques involving sound and deep listening enable the yogi to develop the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth limbs of Raja Yoga. These limbs pertain directly to the enlightenment of soul and spiritual realization.
Mantras — the sounds of yoga — provide the fuel and energy for any system of yoga. Whether one practices Hatha Yoga, Karma Yoga (the path of selfless action), Gnana Yoga (the path of intellectual inquiry), or Bhakti Yoga (the path of devotion), the attunement to spiritual vibrations through music, silence, movement, or the flow of energy in the body clearly involves the underlying principles and teachings of the Yoga of Sound.
IN INDIA, yoga has always been somewhat antireligious and antigovernmental. Yet despite its utter self-reliance and independence, and a history of refusing to submit to the status quo, it has always managed to stay focused on its highest goal: samadhi. Credit the spiritual vitality of Hinduism as a tradition, which continues to the present day. Each year, Asha and I make a pilgrimage to South India with our students. We are repeatedly struck by the intensity of Hindu devotion and how it compares to life in the West. My mentor, Bede Griffiths, once wrote that the West had banished God. We see this banishment in the sterility of our public places; reminders of the sacred appear nowhere. Because Hatha Yoga in America lacks the spiritual container it had in India, we must protect, nurture, and encourage it to grow.
The Yoga of Sound, I believe, can usher more soul into yoga as it is transplanted to the West and can help Westerners achieve the deepest fulfillment possible through their yoga practice. This is already happening through the widespread use of kirtan, the call-and-response chanting of the names and attributes of Hindu Gods. However, kirtan is only one avenue to the depths of sound yoga — albeit an important one, since it reaches into the heart. Kirtan is the first step toward recovering the soul of Hatha Yoga, but much more is possible when all the streams of sonic mysticism are taken into account. In chapter three, I will explain why it is imperative that other streams of Sound Yoga be included in the lifestyle of the present-day yogi.
Although yoga is not a religion and doesn’t require belief in any specific deity, yoga in India has always recognized a higher power in the universe and has inspired devotion to this power, regardless of the name one might choose for it. The Bhagavad Gita, the great spiritual classic on yoga, expounds on the value of Karma, Bhakti, and Gnana Yoga. The Gita, which shows that all paths lead to the same end, reserves a special place for devotion, which is passion and love for the hidden mystery of life.
Yet despite the devotional container of Hindu spirituality, even yogis in India have been distracted from the goal of samadhi; they become preoccupied with the acquisition of paranormal powers, known as siddhis, or enamored with austerities that express extreme indifference to suffering. This has often led to criticism of yoga, especially among Western Christians. The Buddha, who was strongly influenced by yogic discipline, remedied this indifference to the suffering of others (those less tempered in the spiritual life as well as those who are mentally deluded) through the central ideal of the bodhisattva, who refuses ultimate enlightenment until all sentient beings have attained it. The bodhisattva also vows to do everything he or she can, both personally and socially, to assist in the process. This Buddhist attitude of the ultimate elimination of suffering is well worth including in a postmodern approach to yoga; as we move into a global culture and society, yogis must desire samadhi for all humanity. The Buddha also proposed a middle way between the extremities of austerity and indulgence — a vision that fits well with that of yogic harmony taught in the Gita.
WITHIN THE TERM Hatha Yoga, the syllable “ha” refers to the sun and “tha” to the moon, suggesting two opposite yet complementary energies that manifest in the body and the world. We perceive these distinctive energetic qualities in many forms: in gender, through masculine and feminine; in electromagnetic attraction, through positive and negative poles; and in centripetal and centrifugal forces, which pull toward or away from a central axis. Through the practice of Hatha Yoga, these energies must be fused together to produce the union of samadhi.
Samadhi is an ecstatic form of enlightenment. It is also progressive, moving beyond the initial ecstasy experienced on the physical level to deeper and more expansive states of consciousness. Millions of yogis throughout India who have dedicated their lives to yoga, generation after generation for thousands of years, bear witness to the fact that this spiritual ecstasy is far more than what the world can offer.
Yet there is only one enlightenment. Christian and Buddhist monks, Native American shamans, Sufi dervishes, and Jewish Hasidim all share the mystical realm, involving similar experiences. They attest to the same ecstatic, blissful states of consciousness. What we can explore, regardless of our religious persuasion, is how yoga — through both its sonic and physical routines — can enhance our spiritual life and motivate our spiritual practice to its most sublime possibilities. This practice will not interfere with any of our religious commitments; it does not, for instance, require us to give up faith in Jesus Christ. Yoga should, in fact, enhance our experience of the mystery of Christ and help us recover our mystical depth.
Samadhi, at its deepest level, is our natural state of grace. This same ecstasy is funneled through all our activities whenever we are truly at one with what we are doing. Yet the fullness of samadhi often escapes our grasp because many of our activities have misdirected agendas or seek a limited good. The use of mantra keeps us attuned to the high vibration of samadhi and moves our activities toward that goal. We have glimpses of samadhi through many of our activities and experiences, but the fullness of this experience lies in a profound surrender of self. Sports players often speak of “the zone” — a mental, physical, and emotional state in which they are one with their play. As Tom Cruise advised Cuba Gooding, Jr., in the film Jerry McGuire, “You’ve got to play for the sake of the game, not for the money or what your sponsor could do for you.” When we put this principle into practice, “yoga happens.” But such surrender does not come easily to us. Once again, mantra provides us with a way to surrender our anxieties, fears, and the egoic pride that sometimes interferes with the ecstatic flow of consciousness in our body.
Samadhi may not come easily to all of us, but this does not mean that it is far removed or inaccessible to a normal human being living in the world. It is not an esoteric illusion. It is our natural state of consciousness — a state that lies hidden under the camouflage of mental activity, a state that is forgotten because of our excessive preoccupation with this world.
Hinduism teaches that we are in this body to work through those habits and patterns that have become encrusted and that prevent our soul from expanding. Expansion is the true nature of the soul. Like the universe, the soul must constantly expand or suffer from a psychic claustrophobia that will eventually eat us up from the inside. Then, like a black hole, we will consume light instead of radiating it. The soul, too, can shrink into a confined space prescribed by the ego and its limited vision; like a genie trapped in a bottle, it becomes impotent until it is released from its confinement.
The Yoga of Sound, through the use of mantras, helps release the soul from the spell that binds it to a hardened ego. In the end it offers moksha — liberation from self-induced suffering — which then opens the door to samadhi. Suffering, in the Hindu tradition, is the result of ignorance, and yoga is a way out of this ignorance.
Building our spiritual life is like building a house. In helping develop the limbic, nervous, and circulatory systems of our physical body, Hatha Yoga is akin to having a strong foundation and structure. But building a great house does not satisfy us unless we invite our family and friends to share it with us and celebrate life within its walls. While focusing mostly on the house itself, Hatha Yoga in the West seems to have forgotten the life that must dwell inside it. Spirit and Divinity must be consciously invited into this home, this temple, and that is where the Yoga of Sound can play an important and necessary role.
Although the ecstasy of samadhi is present in all our activities, the fullness of samadhi doesn’t come cheap. Authentic samadhi involves the whole person and every aspect of being; this is why we must learn to view yoga in its broadest sense. The expansive union of samadhi encompasses everything — all levels of being, all states of consciousness, from the microscopic to the macroscopic, from the energy of photons, electrons, cells, and molecules to our energetic empathy with complex organisms and great stellar bodies. Mantras establish this union to form dynamic energy relationships between our soul and the rest of the universe, resulting in a bidirectional flow of intelligence that enriches our consciousness and creates the ecstasy that is samadhi.
* Some scholars believe that the Patanjali who authored the Yoga Sutras was also the Patanjali who wrote a famous commentary on Sanskrit grammar: this person lived in 200 B.C. Other scholars place the Patanjali credited with the Yoga Sutras between 100 and 200 A.D. The problem is that the author’s name, Patanjali, does not appear anywhere in the Yoga Sutras.
* The five codes of yama are ahimsa (not causing injury), satya (truthfulness), asteya (not stealing), brahmacharya (celibacy), and aparigraha (not coveting).