Date Posted:09:49 Author: Jiminy Cricket - 15 Aug 01 Subject: Re: Ham-sa or So-ham??? In reply to:
Anonymous - 15Aug01
's message, "Ham-sa or So-ham???" on 09:28
I am not really familiar with how others
use this mantra. However, I find the
Hong-Sau technique Paramahansaji taught
quite effective.
Anyway, perhaps the following facts will
offer some clues toward an explanation:
1. Yogananda called Hong-Sau "baby kriya"
or the "silent kriya."
2. Yogananda said that two parts of the
Hong-Sau mantra are related to the
ingoing and outgoing breaths.
3. Lahiri Mahasaya said, "If you write in
reverse order and see it in the mirror,
it looks straight. Similarly, if you
make reverse the breath of the body,
then you will see Swarupa, the form of
your self."
Perhaps the reversal of the "standard"
way the So-ham mantra is used, is
intended to created the same reversal
that Lahiri Mahasaya speaks of and
therefore Paramahansaji calls Hong-Sau
"baby Kriya" or the "silent Kriya."
In any case, if we as Westerners are aware
of the "standard" usage of the So-ham mantra
then certainly Yogananda would have been.
Therefore it is extremely unlikely that it
merely an oversight on his part. I think
my explanation is quite plausible.
