Question
1. Can I use Chinmaya mudra in the meditating posture?
2. Can I sit for meditation after Pranayama?
3. Do I need to keep chanting Hong Sau continuously, or can I just keep quiet and think about a picture of God?
—Badari R, India
Answer
Dear Badari,
- Yes. Yogananda recommended to keep the hands turned upward, cup-like, at the junction between thighs and abdomen. If in that posture you join index-finger and thumb, you are in Chinmaya mudra.
- In Yogananda’s teaching you always sit in silence after the technique, after pranayama or mantra or whatever other technique. It should last for a long time actually. Never only practice pranayama and then get up.
- Try it like this: first practice pranayama, then Hong Sau, and afterwards sit in silence. That time of silence is actually the real meditation, which Yogananda defined as “meditation on God or one of His qualities.” This is when intuition develops. And it is intuition which will allow you to realise God.
All the best for your meditations, God bless you, jayadev
