Surat Shabd Yoga / Sant Mat / Yoga of Light and Sound

[TonyM]

Hi Robert,

I have read Astral Dynamics with great interest and I am keen to get your thoughts about a type of yoga I have been practising (I have practiced it for a couple of years). It's known as Surat Shabd Yoga, Sant Mat, Yoga of Light and Sound.

I would like to know how the description below marries up with your understanding of energy work and inner regions, the effectiveness of the techniques described and any dangers you perceive (particularly regarding over-stimulation of the crown chakra).

A brief description of the yoga in case you are not familiar with it (note: all of this information is available in shabda yoga books or online, so I am not revealing any initiation 'secrets'):

(1) Mantra

Meditators sit with their back straight (some schools recommend a lotus posture, others say you can sit in a chair), close your eyes, look straight into the centre of the darkness in front of the eyes and hold your concentration there by repeating a mantra provided at the time of initiation.

(2) Listening to the sound

In a traditional nada yoga posture, meditators block their ears with their thumbs and listen to the 'divine melody' within, particularly the bell sound which is to be heard from the right side then eventually as if coming from above.


These techniques aim to 'gather the soul energy' at the crown chakra. Progressively the limbs are to numb, then the whole body numbs as the soul energy gathers there, and at some point the meditator sees stars, then focuses on a single star (point of light) in front of him/her, which expands, and then the meditator goes through it (I think this is what you describe as a 'tunnel projection'). On the other side, the meditator sees a 'sun' and a 'moon' (as described by the literature) and then the astral form of their guru, which helps guide them the rest of way through to higher regions.

The 'divine sound' plays an important part here. Once the meditator 'vacates the body', crossing the third eye threshold, it is the sound which pulls up the meditator into the higher regions. Meditators are essentially told to follow the sound, and new sounds will be heard, each dragging the meditator back to the original sound, the source, which results in union with the Source/God/Highest Level, etc.

The yoga schools do not recommend any stimulation of lower centres. The reason they provide is that the seat of the soul is at the crown chakra, so we should start there and move up instead of walking back down the hill and climbing up again.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,

Tony

[Robert Bruce]

G'day,

Like many ancient methods, this would produce results if practiced regularly.

I disagree with starting with the crown center and going up. This method and the ideas behind it came from an ancient agricultural society that was heavily grounded. They needed the higher centers directly stimulating far more than we do today.

In the modern world, our higher centers are overstimulated, and we are generally unbalanced energetically. So, work on the lower centers helps provide balance, which then makes higher center work more effective.

Also consider that the methods used on the higher centers in yoga practices in the West, mainly visualization based, are not very effective for most people. This makes it reasonably safe to do. However, this is definitely not safe to do using body awareness Tactile Imaging methods, which are extremely effective.

Robert