I Am Hearing Sounds and Seeing Lights, Are They Signs of Spiritual Growth?

Question

Hello Swami, Recently I have started hearing high frequency sounds during mediation & afterwards. A couple of times I have seen glittering around my body. Are these symptoms that I am getting closer to spirituality?

—Sreeni, UAE

Answer

Dear Sreeni,

Next time these sounds come to you, listen carefully to them, preferably in the right ear. See if they are physical sounds, or deeper astral sounds. See if listening to them has an uplifting effect. The OM sound is deep, the higher frequencies can be inner astral sounds not heard perfectly.

Actually whatever sound you hear, even if they are physical, keep listening and try to go deeper. Swami Kriyananda writes in his booklet, Secrets of Meditation: “The secret of meditation is listening intently to any sounds you hear in the inner ear; becoming absorbed in them.”

About the glimmering around your body: it might very well be a good sign, a sign of your growing spiritual perception, and maybe even a little gift from Above. Yogananda writes that God may send such a glimmer “to encourage you.”

Take these experiences, then, to encourage your daily meditations. You have made a step forward. Wonderful. So try to make the best of it, continuing to meditate daily with devotion. Don’t however meditate to obtain these results again (as it doesn’t work), but if sounds and glimmers come, receive them gladly as a gift, trying to take the experience deeper.

Light and sounds all come from the mighty OM, the cosmic vibration of God. Yogananda explains: “The primal properties of this vibration are light and sound.” That is what you are in touch with, on some level. Be happy and go forward.

In divine friendship,
Jayadev