NADA YOGA - YOGA OF SOUND

Nada Yoga is the ancient Yoga of Sound - both the inaudible and the audible.

"Seek the Sound that never ceases, seek the sun that never sets." Rumi

"The universe was manifested out of the Divine Sound; From It came into being the Light." Shamas-i-Tabriz

"The Sound is inside us. It is invisible. Wherever I look I find it." Guru Nanak

" In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. " - Bible


" He who knows the secret of the sounds knows the mystery of the whole universe."
- Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan
Nada Yoga consists of two words. The Word Yoga means Union with the Divine Source of All Life. As the Divine is living within All things, so it is that there are many Pathways to the Divine. The major ones are named Siva Yoga, Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Mantra Yoga, whilst we also find many, many others including both Agni Yoga and Nada Yoga. In a sense Nada Yoga could be seen as a branch of Mantra Yoga as both are concerned with Sound. 

Anahata means 'unstruck' or 'unmade', naada means 'sound.

The following are from Swami Sivananda's Amrita Yoga:

1. Sound helps to control the mind easily. When the mind is absorbed in melodious sound, it does not run after sensual objects.
2. Do Japa or Soham with breath (Ajapa Japa). Practise Pranayama for one or two months. You will
hear the ten sounds (Anahata sounds) clearly and enjoy the music of the soul.
3. The sound that you hear will make you deaf to all external sounds.
4. Sit on Padmasana or Siddhasana or Sukhasana. Close the ears with the thumb. This is Shanmukhi
Mudra or Vaishnavi Mudra.
5. Now hear the music of Anahata sounds. You will have wonderful concentration.
6. Abandon all worldly thoughts. Subdue your passion. Become indifferent to all sensual objects.
7. Practise Yama (self-restraint), or Sadachara (right conduct); concentrate on the sound which
annihilates the mind.
8. The first sound is chini, the second is chin-chini, the third is the sound of a bell, the fourth is like
that of a conch.
9. The fifth is like that of a lute. The sixth is like that of a cymbal. The seventh is like that of a flute.
10. The eighth is like that of a drum. The ninth is like that of a Mridanga. The tenth is like that of
thunder.
11. Hear the sounds through the right ear. Change your concentration from the gross sound to the
subtle. The mind will soon be absorbed in the sound.
12. You will get knowledge of hidden things when you hear the seventh.
13. You will hear Para-Vak when you hear the eighth sound.
14. You will develop the divine eye when you hear the ninth.
15. You will attain Para Brahman when you hear the tenth.
16. The sound entraps the mind. The mind becomes one with the sound as milk with water.
17. It becomes absorbed in Brahman or the Absolute. You will then attain the Seat of Eternal Bliss