8 Capítulo Hong So

Chapter Eight: The Mantra Hong Sau

             To affirm life outwardly is to emphasize Spirit-manifested ego, not the changeless soul within. In the constant flow and ebb of nature there is repeated endlessly, in infinite variations, the underlying truth: “I, the manifested self, am He, the Unmanifested.”  Every “inhalation” of nature, every renewed affirmation of objective reality, becomes offered up with “exhalation” into the Spirit, the final essence of all things. The human breath, too, flows in this continuous mantra. In Sanskrit the words of this mantra, universal to all creatures, are Aham saha, or, reduced to mantric words of power, Hong-Sau:  “I am He.” Yogis say that on a subtle level this is the very sound made by the breath: Hong with inhalation; Sau with exhalation. To repeat Hang-Sau mentally, particularly in conjunction with the breath, is to affirm again and again the truth that the little human ego is one with Brahman, the infinite Spirit: “Hong Saul I am He! I am He!”

Afirmar la vida hacia el exterior es enfatizar el Espíritu manifestado, el ego, no el alma inmutable. En el continuo flujo y reflujo de la naturaleza, es repetida sin fin, con infinitas variaciones, la verdad fundamental: "Yo, la personalidad manifestada, soy Él, el No manifestado". Toda "inhalación" de la naturaleza, toda renovación de la afirmación de la realidad objetiva, es ofrecida en la "exhalación" hacia el Espíritu, la esencia final de todas las cosas. La respiración humana, también, fluye en este continuo mantra. En sanscrito, las palabras de este mantra, universal para todas las criaturas, es Aham saja, que reducido a las palabras del poder mántrico es Hong So: " yo soy Él". Los yoguis afirman que, en un nivel muy sutil, este es el verdadero sonido hecho por la respiración: Hong en la inhalación; So en la exhalación. Repetir Hong-So mentalmente, especialmente en conjunción con la respiración, es afirmar una y otra vez la verdad de que el pequeño ego es uno con Brahma, el Espíritu Infinito: "Hong So, yo soy Él, yo soy Él"              

  As you chant Hong mentally with the incoming breath, feel that you are affirming not so much the little ego-the John Smith or Mary Green who is unique among human beings—but rather the Universal Man of which you are one expression.
 As you chant Sau mentally with the outgoing breath, feel that you are offering this self into the infinite Self or Spirit. Imagine your awareness expanding toward Infinity.

Cuando cantes Hong mentalmente, al inspirar, siente que estás afirmando, no tanto el pequeño ego de José Pérez o de María García, que son seres humanos, sino más bien el Hombre Universal, del cual cada uno somos una expresión.
Cuando cantes mentalmente So con el aliento que exhalas, siente que tu te estás ofreciendo al Ser Infinito. Imagina tu conciencia expandiendose hacia el Infinto.

Then as you chant Hong again, visualize the little self becoming infused with the consciousness of San, the Spirit, which you have just affirmed  Indeed, some yogis take this concept as their mantra, So-Hum (Hong-San reversed becomes So-Hum). Practicing it instead of the one I have given. Hong-San But Paramhansa Yogananda explained that one can legitimately reverse the Hong-San mantra  to So-Hum only after Self-realization has been attained .

Cuando cantes Hong de nuevo, visualiza al pequeño ser fundiendose con la conciencia de So, el Espíritu, lo cual es justo lo que acabas de afirmar.  Contrariamente, algunos yoguis practican este mantra en sentido inverso So-Hum, pero, Paramhansa Yogananda, explicó que solo se puede cambiar legitimamente el orden solo cuando se ha alcanzado la Autorrealización.
 

The mantra, in Sanskrit, means ‘’I am He”—that is to say, “I am Spirit.” To give it special power, however, it is pronounced somewhat differently from the normal Sanskrit to enhance its vibratory efficacy.

The Sanskrit words are Aham (I) and Saha (He). As a mantra, however, the words are pronounced “Hong Sau” (Sau to be pronounced like the English word, “saw”)  “Hong,” like the tolling of a bell, rings outward as though dissolving the sound into the surrounding atmosphere. This reverberation merges into Spirit with the next sound, “Sau.” The sound “Sau” emphasizes the consciousness of peace. “Hong” vibrates with the incoming breath; “Sau” with the outgoing. The two sounds together bring our breathing gradually into a state of peace and equilibrium.”

Las palabras del mantra en sanscrito son Aham (yo) y Saha (Él). El mantra quiere decir  "yo soy Él", es decir, "yo soy Espíritu". Para conferirle un poder especial, las palabras deben ser pronunciadas de un modo un poco diferente del sanscrito ordinario. En el mantra, las palabras se pronuncian Hong (Hong simulando el sonido del gong o campana disolviendose en la atmósfera) y So (Sou, donde la o tiene cierto sonido de a). La reververación del Hong se disuelve en el Espíritu con el sonido de So. El sonido de So enfatiza la concienca de paz. Hong vibra con el aliento que se inhala; So con el que se exhala. Los dos sonidos juntos llevan gradualmente la respiración a un estado de paz y equilibrio. 

--From the Art and Science of Raja Yoga, Chapter 9:7

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Sit upright in meditation. Tense and relax the body, as I taught you in earlier chapters. Relax the body deeply. Then relax your thoughts and emotions.

To begin the technique, first inhale deeply, then slowly exhale Wait for the breath to come in of its own accord. Follow it mentally with the word Hong.

            As the breath flows out, watch it, and mentally follow it with the word Sau.

Remember, this is not a breathing exercise. Don’t inhale and exhale deliberately. Simply watch the breath.  Don’t watch your body breathing, watch the breath itself. Identify the breath with the mantra Hong-Sau.

Be particularly aware of the rest points between the breaths. Enjoy the peace, and the feeling of inward release and freedom that you feel when your body is without breath.

Practice this technique as long as you feel to.  As a boy, Paramhansa Yogananda used to practice it for hours at a time, withdrawing ever more deeply into the spine until he found himself without breath altogether.  He had ascended into soul-consciousness, where the physical functions were suspended and a higher reality took over that freed the soul for a time from bodily imperatives.

You may, if you like, chant Hong-Sau first at the medulla, dissolving ego-consciousness into inner peace. After a time, as you become more interiorized, concentrate at the Spiritual Eye between the eyebrows, feel the ego only in its relationship to soul-consciousness.  Indeed, concentrating at the point between the eyebrows brings the awareness closer to the upper part of the nasal passage, where the breath enters the body. To center the awareness here makes it easier to watch the breath, and at the same time bring it into harmony with spiritual awareness.

With spiritual enlightenment, the chant Hong-Sau becomes transformed into the mantra So Ham: “I am He” becomes transformed into the realization “He is I; He is my true Self.” Paramhansa Yogananda explained that an unenlightened human being performs every action from the center of ego-consciousness, in the medulla. An enlightened master, on the contrary, performs all his actions from a center of soul-consciousness, in the Spiritual Eye.

Hong-Sau will help you to convert ego-consciousness into the complete awareness of who and what you truly are: a manifestation of Pure Consciousness.

--From Awaken to Superconsciousness, Chapter Fifteen

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I began this discussion by mentioning how the mantra “Hong-San. “ can be used to dissolve the consciousness of pain.  All pain originates in the thought of ego (“Why is this happening to me?)  By mentally chanting “Hong-San “ at the seat of that pain, one dissolves the ego’s connection to the pain, and thereby lessens, or even dissolves, the pain itself.

Try doing this while you sit in the dentist’s chair.  (I mention the dentist’s chair because it was my first example), or at any other time that you experience pain. Whether physically, mentally, or emotionally. Don’t limit your practice to those times when you want desperately to rise above pain. Do it in response to any sensation, whether light or intense, pleasant or unpleasant, simply as an exercise in interiorization of the mind.

Concentrate at the center of the sensation. Then watch the breath at that center. Don’t control the breath: Simply watch it. As it comes in of its own accord, follow it mentally with the chant Hong. Feel as you do so that the word itself is relaxing and dissolving your ego-identification with that sensation.

Then, as the breath flows out, follow it mentally with the chant Sau. Feel, with the utterance of this word, that you are coming ever more deeply to rest in the peace within.

The Hong-Sau  mantra is not a specific for banishing pain.  I show how it can be used for that purpose in order to clarify the point that interiorization of the mind must be practiced in daily life also, if we are to succeed in attaining interiorization in meditation.

“Hong” and “Sau” are two sacred Sanskrit chant words with vibratory connection with the incoming and outgoing breath. All sounds of the Universe have a different mental effect and mental correspondence. The mental repetition of “Hong-Sau” has a great calming mental effect and helps the student in this exercise of watching the incoming and outgoing breath.”

--From Awaken to Superconsciousness, Chapter Fifteen

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Q. Since Hong-Sau is pronounced differently in different parts of India (e.g., “Hung-Sah”), and since much is made in yoga teachings of the correct pronunciation of mantras, is it not important to ascertain which of the different pronunciations is the most classically correct?

A. No. Pronounced mentally, the variations are so slight as to be virtually indistinguishable from one another, and therefore insignificant. The important thing in the practice of this technique is to deepen one’s consciousness of peace, and to associate this consciousness with the repetition of the mantra. In fact, it is one’s consciousness, truly, that determines the most correct pronunciation of any mantra.

--From the Art and Science of Raja Yoga, Chapter 10:7

HONG SAU/ SO HAM

            I then asked him about one of the points on which Swami Muktananda had challenged my Guru. Naturally, there will always be a few differences in techniques between one school and another. Swami Muktananda, however, had made a point of saying that Master’s version of a mantra was wrong. Hong-Sau, he said, is incorrect, it should be repeated the other way around: So-ham. I had suggested a way by which the difference, which seemed trivial enough, might be reconciled. “No,” Baba had said, “all the Upanishads say that it should be So –Ham not Hong-Sau.” So, according to him, my Guru was wrong. That did not seem so trivial a matter.

But what could I say, once he backed his claim by reference to Scriptural authority? I could feel, and did, that if my Guru had taught the mantra as Hong-Sau, his power alone would make it right for anyone who wanted to take it that way, but I couldn’t counter this other argument I don’t read Sanskrit.

So now I saw my opportunity. I asked Swami Narayan whether it was true that the Upamshads teach only So-Ham, never Hong-Sau. Swamiji replied: “No, on the contrary, all the Upanishads teach it as Hong-Sau. “

There followed about forty-five minutes of going through various Scriptures. One of them, the Hong-Sau Vidya, says, “This is the highest mantra.”  It also calls it “the god of all mantras,” and says, “The world is created with it, the world is preserved with it, and the world is destroyed with it.”

“By chanting this mantra,” the Scripture goes on to say, “the seeker quickly attains liberation.”

            Swamiji went on to say, “Nowhere is So-Ham referred to with nearly so much authority.”

            “Why, then,” I inquired, “has it been so much insisted upon.”

“People,” he replied, “who don’t have an adequate knowledge of the Vedas go about creating their own misunderstandings.”

But then he added the most vital point of all: “Whatever Guru says is higher than any Scripture.” (Because it contains his power, and because it is specific for the disciple, rather than something general for all mankind.)

I had a talk also with Swami Akhandananda, who had been giving daily discourses on the Gita. He is considered one of the foremost Sanskrit scholars in India. I took this opportunity to ask him, too, about the relative merits of the two mantras, Hong-Sau and So-Ham. He replied:

“The Shastras (Scriptures) instruct one to say Hong with the incoming breath, and Sau with the outgoing breath.  But both mantras are all right, since by repetition Hong-Sau becomes So-Ham.  It is like the story of Valmiki who, by repeating ‘Mara’ (Satan), since he was so evil he couldn’t pronounce ‘Rama,’ ended up nevertheless repeating the sacred name, ‘Rama.’

“Hansa (Hong-Sau) is also a scriptural name for the Supreme Lord. It is a bij mantra, or seed mantra, and is to be found in the most ancient Rig Veda.

“But above all, what Guru says must be done. What Guru says is greater even than the Shastras.

“There was once a disciple who received a wrong (ashudha, or impure) mantra from his guru. After he had recited it for some time, an angel appeared to him and said, ‘Your mantra is not right. You should say it in this manner.’ The disciple very cleverly replied: ‘It was by repeating it the way my Guru taught it to me that I got your vision!” After that, what could the angel say?

“The Scriptures tell us that even if God Himself is pleased, but guru is not pleased, that is not enough! Pleasing the guru, implicit faith in the guru-that is everything.”

--From  A Visit to the Saints of India, Swami Kriyananda