Aum Special Meditation (Paramhansa Yogananda)

Divine Mother

“Train my ears to listen to Thine unheard Song”. 

~ Paramhansa Yogananda

Prayer at Dawn

With the opening of the earliest dawn and the lotus‐buds, my soul softly opens in prayer to receive Thy light. Bathe each petal of my mind with Thy radiant rays! I saturate myself with the perfume of Thy presence, and I wait to waft with the breeze the aroma of Thy message of love to all. Bless me, that with the spreading dawn I may spread Thy love everywhere. Bless me, that with the awakening dawn I may awaken all souls with my own and bring them to Thee.

~ Paramhansa Yogananda

I am Om, I am Om

I am Om, I am Om,
Om, Om, I am Om, Omnipresent, I am Om, All‐blessed, I am Om, Omniscient, I am Om!
Om, Om, come to me,
Come to me, oh, come to
 me;
O my Guru, come to me, Come to me, oh, come to me; O my Jesus, come to me, Come to me, oh, come to me;

Swami Shankara, come to
 me;
Come to me, oh, come to me; O my Allah, come to me,
Come to me, oh, come to me; O my Moses come to me,
Come to me, oh, come to me; O my Nanak, come to me,
Come to me, oh, come to me;
O my Krishna, come to me,
Come to me, oh, come to me;
Om, Om, come to me,
Come to me, oh, come to me;
O my Father, come to me,
Come to me, oh, come to me;
I am Om, I am Om,
Om, Om, Om! Om Tat Sat, Om!

~ Paramhansa Yogananda

Cosmic Chants – Spiritualized Songs 

Songs or chants are usually inspired through sentiment or passing interests. But a song which is born out of the depths of true devotion to God and which is continuously chanted, audibly or mentally, with-ever increasingly deep devotion until response is consciously received from Him in the form of communion, ecstasy and boundless joy, is a spiritualized song. Such songs like live matches produce the fire of God-contact.

Each of the cosmic chants in this book has been spiritualized, that is, each song has been sung aloud and mentally until it has found actual response from God. It is hoped that each reader will take these chants, not as ordinary music to please the ear or the emotions, but as soul-saturated chants, to be used to produce the divine contact. 

Sound Is the Most Powerful Force in the Universe  

Sound or vibration is the most powerful force in the universe and music is a divine art, to be used not for pleasure but as a path to God-realization. Vibrations resulting from devotional singing lead to contact of the Cosmic Vibration or the Word. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). God is the word or the cosmic vibration. 

Singers of these songs who want the best results should chant them alone or with true devotees of God, with ever increasing devotion and fervor. After the notes are learned, one's undivided attention should be given to repeating them with deeper and deeper devotion, striving fully to understand the meaning of the words in the chant, until one is immersed in the bliss of singing. This joyous feeling is the first perception of God.

Words that are saturated with sincerity, conviction, faith, and intuition are like highly explosive vibration bombs that have power to explode the rocks of difficulties and create the change desired.

The five stages in chanting are conscious chanting aloud—whisper chanting—mental chanting—subconscious chanting—superconscious chanting. Subconscious chanting becomes automatic, with internal consciousness only, when the mind automatically repeats a chant in the background of thought and activity.

Superconscious Chanting Leads to  Contact of Aum   

Superconscious chanting is when the deep internal chanting vibrations are converted into realization and are established in the superconscious, subconscious, and conscious minds. Holding the attention unbrokenly on the real Cosmic Vibration, Aum, not on an imaginary sound, is the beginning of real superconscious chanting.

One of the Ten Commandments in the Bible is: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Whenever one repeats a chant or prayer absentmindedly, without complete attention on the Lord, one has taken the divine name in vain; that is, without result, without utilizing the omnipresent power of that name, and without receiving God-contact. 

To repeat the name of God while thinking of other things in vain, for He does not answer such parrot prayers. To repeat a prayer a chant with ever-increasing understanding and devotion is taking the name of God not in vain, but effectively. The mechanical or thoughtless repetition of God’s name is what the prophets warned us against. To sing sacred songs or to pray mechanically or absentmindedly in church or anywhere is taking the name of God in vain.  

One who repeats these spiritualized Songs, Cosmic Chants, with ever-increasingly devotion will find a more direct way to contact God than by the repetition of songs which are the outcome of blind sentiment and not of God-communion and ecstatic joy, and through these the healing of body, mind, and soul.

Joy Is the Proof That God Has Answered the Devotee   

Each of these chants should be sung not once but many times, utilizing the cumulative power of repetition, until the singer feels a great joy break through the radio of his heart. When this joy is felt it is a proof that God has answered the devotee, and that his devotion has been properly tuned and the broadcasting of his ardor in chanting has been true and deep.

When these chants are repeated in solitude or in congregational singing, with great devotion, it will be found that the songs subconsciously repeat themselves in the background of the mind, bringing great joy even when one is in the thick of battle of activity. 

Gradually the subconscious repetition will change into superconscious realization, bringing the actual perception of God. One must chant deeper and deeper until the chanting changes into subconscious and then superconscious chanting which brings one into the divine Presence.

Each devotee should set aside a regular time for singing these songs. Chant first aloud, then whisperingly, then mentally. A group, gathered together in the name of God, can take one of these chants singing it together loudly, with piano or organ accompaniment, then more slowly, then in a whisper without any accompaniment, and finally mentally only. In this way deep God-perception can reached singly or together. 

American Audiences Understand These Soul-Chants 

Music that is saturated with soul force is the real universal music, understandable by all hearts. I have had many demonstrations of this truth during years of lecturing before American audiences. I was giving a series of lectures at Carnegie Hall in New York in April 1926 and at that time I first suggested to some musical friends the idea of my singing one of these chants, asking the whole audience to join in, without previous rehearsal. My friends thought the chants would be alien to American understanding that they warned me expect overripe tomatoes as a possible commentary on my innovation. 

I protested that music is the universal language of the soul's devotion to God and that all soulful people, whether familiar or not with Eastern or Western music, would understand the divine yearning of my heart during chanting.

The next evening, while my friends sat behind me on the platform, fearing for my safety, I started to chant "O God Beautiful" and asked the audience, who had never before heard the song, to join me in chanting it. For one hour and twenty-five minutes, the thousands of voices of the entire audience chanted without discord "O God Beautiful" in a divine atmosphere of joyous praise. Even when I left the stage, the audience sat on, chanting the song. The next day many men and women testified to the God-perception and the healing of body, mind, and soul that had taken place during the sacred chanting, and numerous requests came in to repeat the song at other services.

This experience which occurred in Carnegie Hall, the musical temple of America and the scene of the triumphs of many great singers and artists, was a spontaneous tribute to the universal nature of soul-music and to the untutored understanding of East and West regarding spiritual aspirations. 

Since that first evening I have used these chants thousands of times large American audiences and have seen infinite divine benefits showered on the sincere devotees who chant the Lord’s name with Love.

Los Angeles, California 

December, 1938  

Excerpted from Paramhansa Yogananda's book Cosmic Chants Second Edition

Audio talks by Paramhansa Yogananda from Self Realization Fellowship

Music: I Am Om Yogananda's Cosmic Chants by Gurubhakti Bros

Love Is A Magician, The Renunciate Inventor From India, & Aum by Swami Kriyananda

Blessings & Love 

Rev Dinah Rachel Pemberton