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So-Hum
CHAPTER NINETEEN
SAI BABA tells us of a holy mantra called the hamsa,1 or so-hum mantra.2 It is the constant and automatic sound of each inhaled and exhaled breath, prompting us to merge into the other, by repeating, “so-hum, so-hum—He am I, He am I.” With each inhalation (so), He is brought into and merges with “I,” and with each exhalation (hum), “I” am released into “He” and become “We.” In this way the two become one; and duality is transcended.
The same is so with the sounds themselves. The separate sound of “so,” made with each inhalation and that of “hum,” made with each exhalation, merge into one another and become OM,3 the sound the Hindus call the pranava, the holy primordial sound—the basic vibration upon which all of creation rests.
Each individual is born with the question, koham (Who am I?) on his lips. And the answer is given by every breath—so- hum—He am I. The inhalation whispers so (He), and the exhalation, hum (I). But the question is brushed aside by the mind, impatient to dabble in the toyland it pictures the world to be. The answer is denied admission into the understanding by the ego,
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