beach-sunset

“The universe is projected from God through vibration.”
Swami Kriyananda

“Why did you make creation?” a saint asked God. “I did so,” He replied, “because I wanted to share My joy.”

God’s nature is bliss, and to share His joy He created us through the Cosmic AUM Vibration. When we commune with AUM, we enter into, and flow with, the stream of God’s love. AUM is Divine Mother existing in the heart of all things. During the Meditation on AUM exercise, try to feel Her blissful presence in everything you see and hear.

“AUM not only proceeds from God, it is God.”
Paramhansa Yogananda

sunflowerThe Sun Is the Form of AUM

Look at the sun. See its rays flowing down, warming the nearby hills, and enlivening the trees and flower-covered meadows. Reflect on how all life depends on the sun.

Gaze at a plant and feel how it, and everything else, is nourished and influenced by the great power emanating from our star. Just as an iceberg is formed of water, so the sun is formed of AUM. “The sun,” Kabir said, “is the most immediate ‘physical’ form of AUM we can experience, for it is really solidified, materialized AUM.”

See the sun as AUM. Think of it as AUM materialized. Feel its vibratory rays descending from heaven and bringing into manifestation all life around you. See each bird and flower as AUM solidified. Behind every form, sense AUM’s underlying presence and vibrancy. Feel and hear all nature proclaiming and singing AUM.

Let Every Sound Remind You of AUM

“Even in outward, physical imitations, sounds can be thrilling.”
Swami Kriyananda

Listen intently to the sounds around you: the rushing wind… the roar of a river… the buzzing of a bee… the joyful song of a bird. Commune with each sound you hear. Open yourself completely to it; feel it coming into you. Listen for the sound of AUM within every outer sound. Watch the wind flow through the trees and grassy fields. See in every trembling leaf and sailing cloud — in every movement — the sacred AUM Vibration. Try to perceive AUM in everything you do, see, and hear.

Attune to the Cosmic Choir

Observe the ways God, through Cosmic AUM, expresses Himself. Notice how each tree is marvelously unique. Take delight in the countless expressions of AUM you see before you. Communing with AUM helps us understand and utter the language of all creation. When we unite with AUM, we unite with all existence.

Affirm your oneness with all beings and with God by practicing the following meditation by Swami Kriyananda from his book Awaken to Superconsciousness.

Imagine a choir composed of every atom in the universe, each one an individual, but all of them singing together in blissful harmony. In your own mind, join that mighty choir, composed of all life.Determine from today on to sing in harmony with the universe. Don’t impose on the great anthem of life your little wishes for how you want the music to sound.Unite your notes to that Infinite Sound. The more you do so, the more deeply you will know yourself to be an expression of the soaring anthem of Infinity.Whenever you feel anxious or inharmonious, use this meditation to attune yourself with God and all creation. Then you will feel the universe is not against, but with you, in loving unity.

Live in the Consciousness of AUM

“You are not a physical body, but a blissful manifestation of AUM.”
Swami Kriyananda

Live in the consciousness of AUM. One who constantly sings AUM during his activities, and with his whole being, makes his life a continuous song of joy.

AUM Booklet and CD/MP3

To inspire greater attunement with the Cosmic Vibration, I am creating an inspirational resource on AUM from the writing of Paramhansa Yogananda, Swami Kriyananda, and other saints.* Included in this project will be personal stories from devotees to help make AUM more real to our consciousness.

If you’ve had a deeply inspiring experience of the Cosmic Sound, would you share it with me for possible inclusion in the resource? I realize spiritual blessings are sacred and should not generally be shared with others, so I will keep your experience confidential. Below is a story a friend recently told me.

The Healing Power of AUM

“When AUM came,” a lady once said to Paramhansa Yogananda, “all my troubles vanished.”

A friend (who I will call “Nancy”) told me recently how her troubles had also vanished in the consciousness of AUM. Nancy was waiting to make a deposit at her bank, when, suddenly, she found herself in the middle of a robbery. It was a highly stressful situation, and Nancy said she “lost it” emotionally.

After the robbery, Nancy was disappointed in herself for reacting so emotionally. To change this tendency in herself, she began chanting AUM all day long. Whenever there was a tense situation, Nancy would silently and lovingly call on the healing power of AUM to calm herself and others.

AUM is the Great Comforter, and Paramhansa Yogananda said that when you are in the consciousness of AUM, nothing can touch you.

Three years later, Nancy was at her bank, and another robbery occurred. This time it was a much more violent one. During this bank heist, Nancy was knocked to the floor. But her constant practice of thinking of and chanting AUM kept her calm and centered.

As Nancy began crawling discreetly away from the robbers, a hysterical woman latched on to her and she guided the terrified woman out of sight of the robbers, where they both would be safe.

Later, during an interview with the FBI, Nancy was told that the odds of being involved in two bank robberies were incredibly low. She was the only witness who could give an accurate description of the robbers.

Nancy attributed her calmness to her practice of tuning in to the unifying presence of AUM.

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*This writing was subsequently published as a portion of the book AUM: The Melody of Love, Joseph Bharat Cornell, Crystal Clarity Publishers

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These techniques are based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi.

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