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the right with the right thumb. As the breath goes in, it uers “So” (meaning He). Then exhale through the right nostril, closing the le nostril. As the breath goes out, it uers Ham (meaning I). Inhale and exhale slowly and deliberately, conscious of the identity of He (the Lord) and I (yourself), which it asserts, until the breathing and the awareness grow into an unnoticed process. Keep the mind as a watchman, to note the incoming and outgoing breaths, to listen with the inner ear to the Soham that the breath whispers, and to witness the assertion of your being the divine, which is the core of the universe. This is the dhyanam that will give victory.
When this Soham dhyana has stabilized itself, you may start stabilizing in your mind the form of the Lord of your choice. Picture the form from head to foot, taking at least 15 to 20 minutes for it, dwelling on each part of the body and imprinting it clearly on the heart, and then proceed from foot to head in a similar way. This will help to fix the form in the altar of the heart.
Then you will see in everyone that form only; in all beings, you will find Him only. You will realize the One manifested as many. Sivoham, Soham, I am Shiva, I am He, Only He is.
Sathya Sai Speaks, Vol. 7, chap. 63, Questions Answered Prasanthi Nilayam, All India Conference, November 11, 1970
Advanced Meditation on Soham
Resolve on this holy Shivarathri to visualize the God who is the inner power of all. With each breath you are positively affirming, “Soham,” I am He. Not only you, every being thus affirms it. It is a fact that you have ignored so long. Believe it now. When you watch your breath and meditate on that grand truth, slowly the “I” and the “He” will merge. Soham will become transformed into Om, the primal sound (pranava), which the Vedas proclaim as the symbol of the formless, all-knowing God. That Om is the real form of divinity, the reality behind all this “relative un-reality.”
This is the genuine spiritual discipline, the final lap in the progress of the seeker. But there are many preliminary laps, each one which
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