Meditation is a state that arises when following a

meditation technique.

Meditation techniques usually consist of one sitting still in one of

the classical recommended meditation postures. Ensuring the
body is still and comfortable.

One’s awareness is withdrawn from the senses and is directed

inwards.

One begins to steady the mind by the process of Kaya Sthairyam

and then one gives a ‘concentration method’ to the mind such as
‘watching the breath’ or repeating a mantra mentally to oneself.

In time and with practice, one’s awareness begins to merge with

the object of meditation. If one is fortunate the state of
meditation and bliss arises which is beyond the ability of words to
describe.

The first stage is Pratyahara or detachment from the senses.

The second stage is Dharana or Steadying the mind

The third stage is Dhyana or mindless attention… merging with

the object of meditation.

The fourth stage which arises of its own accord is Samadhi or

Bliss which defies description

Kaya sthairyam is the first practice of the dharana series. It is a

basic practice of concentration on the steadiness of the body.
It is also important to note that the mind remains one-pointed
only while the body is still. As soon as any part of the body
moves, the mind also moves. Thus the concentration is broken
and once broken is cannot be attained again in the same sitting.

During pratyahara practices you can move the body, you can shift
your position you can even get up and then come back to the
practice.

In dharana, however, you cannot move a finger, you cannot bat

an eyelid, you cannot even swallow without breaking the
concentration.

Before attempting the following practices of dharana, kaya

sthairyam must first be mastered. You should be able to sit
without moving any part of the body for a least half an hour, then
you will be ready to begin the practices of dharana. In the initial
stage of kaya sthairyam, the body should be comfortable and
relaxed in the meditation posture.

Later on, as immobility develops, the physical awareness will

gradually subside as awareness of stillness increases. At this time
the concentration is shifted from the body to the natural breath,
so that the mind still has a focus. Ultimately, the awareness of
the breath will also subside so that there is only awareness. At
that time, you are ready to begin dharana.

Kaya Sthairyam

In Sanskrit, kaya means “body” and sthairyam means

“steadiness”
Kaya Sthairyam is used as a preparation for the various
meditation techniques preceding Dharana (concentration). When
the body is restless, the mind follow suit. Until the student can
cultivate effortless steadiness of the physical body, Dharana will
have very limited benefits. But, with practice of Kaya Sthairyam,
one can gradually achieve physical immobility for long periods of
time, thereby deepening the experience of meditation.

 Preparation: Sit in a comfortable meditation posture,

preferably siddhasana, siddha-yoni-asana or padmasana.
However, if these postures are painful or just not accessible to
you, then please sit in a comfortable crossed legged
meditation posture like sukasana with your spine as straight
and erect as possible. If you can’t hold for a period of
minimum 15 minutes any kind of cross leg position without
movements just sit on a chair, the back and the neck should
be straight without touch the back part of the chair, feet
should be flat on the floor, the angle between the lower and
the upper parts of legs and the knees should be of 90
degrees. Adjust your position so that you do not have to move
any part of the body during the practice.

 Make sure the whole spine is erect and relaxed at the same
time. Head, neck. shoulders should be slightly back. Place your
hands on the knees in Chin or Jñana mudra. Close your eyes.
Become aware of your slow natural breathing and count five
or more breaths mentally.

 Body and mind sensations: Direct your awareness consciously

to focus on the sense of taste, then to witness any smells
nearby, to observe the sensations of touch, body against floor
(chair and floor), clothes or air against skin. Then move the
awareness like a radar, in 360 degrees to all the different
 available sounds within the vicinity, without analyzing or
naming them, simply witnessing the quality of the sounds.
Start contemplating the closer sounds around your position
and slowly go to most distant sounds until you find the most
distant sound.

 Body Posture: Switch your awareness to the body.

Concentrate on your meditation posture. Feel your spine rising
straight up from the floor, supporting the head. Be aware of
the balanced position of the arms and legs. Total awareness of
the body. [be aware of the arising sensations of the body; the
vital energy]

 Visualization of Body: Visualize your body externally as if you

were seeing it in a full length mirror. See your body in the
meditation posture from the front, from the back, from the
right side, from the left side, from the top. See your body from
all sides at one time. Now don’t see a mirror, just see your
body out in front of you and rotate around this image; try to
allow yourself to see all sides at once. Also see bottom view of
your body, sitting on the floor, not floating in space

 Body Mountain or Tree: Be aware of your whole body. Feel

that you are a mountain, rising up from and part of the earth.
Notice how your body’s shape is like that of a mountain. Feel
the dense energy at the base, the lighter energy towards the
top. Alternately, you can envision yourself as a tree. You are
rooted to the floor. Imagine that your body is growing up from
the floor like a tree. Your torso is the trunk, your arms and
head are the branches, and your legs are the roots. Your body
is rooted to the floor and it will not move.
 Sensations of the Body: Be aware of any physical sensations:
cold, heat, wind, itching, discomfort, pain, uneasiness, tension
or stiffness. Direct your awareness to these feelings. Let them
be a focus for your mind. If your mind starts to wander, bring
it back to the sensations in the body

 Body Parts: Direct your awareness to the head. Be aware of

the head and nothing else. Feel any sensation in the head.
Visualize the head. Shift your awareness to the neck. Feel any
sensations in the neck. Continue to be aware. Following the
same process, move your awareness to the shoulders, to the
right arm, the left arm, right hand, left hand, the whole of the
back, the chest, the abdomen, the right leg, the left leg, and
finally the whole body. Be aware of the whole body. You can
do another round maintaining full awareness. [like a mini yoga
Nidra; clearing away any energy that is not in harmony or not
in your conscious awareness]

 Immobility of the Body: Make a resolve that, I will not move

my body throughout the whole practice. My body will not
move or shake. I will remain steady and motionless like a
statue. Even if you feel an impulse to move a finger or toe, to
adjust your clothing, or to scratch, try to overcome this urge.
When you the urge to move you must say to yourself, No, I
will not move any part of my body until the end of the
practice.

 Steadiness and Stillness: Be aware of your physical body, of

your meditation posture and of nothing else. There should be
total uninterrupted awareness of the whole body. The body is
perfectly steady and motionless. Develop the feeling of
steadiness. Be aware of your body and steadiness. Be aware
 of your body and stillness. Your body is absolutely steady and
still. Be aware of steadiness. Be aware of your physical body.
There is no movement, no discomfort, only steadiness and
stillness. [tip: at any point if you’re not as deep as you want,
bring sensations up to bubble out so as not to distract you;
visualize all the molecules in your body stop vibrating in
suspended animation]

 Psychic Rigidity: Feel the steadiness and stillness of the body.

Gradually your body will become rigid and stiff like a statue, as
though all the muscles have frozen. The body should become
so stiff that you are unable to move any part, even if you try.
Total awareness of the body, of immobility, of psychic rigidity.
Feel the locked position of the body. Be aware of the body and
of stillness. [feel as though all joints and muscles are invaded
with hard set glue; important stage for pratyahara, astral body
is freezing up.

 Breath Awareness: As the body becomes stiff and rigid, you

will begin to lose physical awareness. At this time, shift your
attention to the breath. Become aware of the natural breath,
without altering or modifying it in any way. Simply watch the
breath as it moves in and out of the body. The breath moves
in and out in a rhythmic flow. Follow each movement of the
breath with your awareness. At the same time become aware
of the body. Let the awareness alternate from the breath to
the body, then from body to breath. As the body becomes
stiffer and stiffer, the awareness will automatically shift more
and more to the breath. No effort is required. When the body
is absolutely still and motionless the breath will become more
and more subtle, until it seems that you are hardly breathing
at all. If you attempt to control the breath, you will engage
skeletal muscles and lose the rigidity.
 State of Concentration: As the breath becomes more and more
imperceptible, you will begin to experience the pure
awareness which functions through the unfluctuating mind.
The breathing is responsible for the movements of the mind
and body. When the breath becomes very subtle, the mind
becomes one-pointed and still. This is the state in which
dharana must be practiced

 Could be at some point of the practice that you find yourself

with anxiety or panicking because your sensation is like if you
are not breathing for a long period of time and you have the
urge to breathe deeply; When this moment arrives just remain
alert and telling to yourself: I am meditating and I have to
remain calm. Focus in the in inhalation trying to keep the
normal ratio of your natural breath.

Ending the practice: Get ready to end the practice. Gradually

become aware of the physical body, of the meditation posture.
Feel the weight of the upper part of the body resting against the
floor (or the chair). Be aware of the hands the weight of the arms
resting on the knees. Be aware of the whole physical body. Be
aware of your natural breathing; watching the breath as it flows
in and out without any kind of effort. Melt the glue inside your
joints. Bring on sensation slowly, take your time, then externalize
to sounds around you and the sensation of the other senses
taking in the stimuli the environment. Take a deep breath in and
chant Om three times. Start to move the body slowly; hands,
arms, shoulders, neck, lower abdomen and lower back, hips, legs,
feet. Before to open the eyes, rub the hands vigorously and when
the palms are warm place them in front of the closed eyes, wait
few seconds feeling the warmth of the palms, then open the eyes
and let them relax for a while looking the closed palms, slowly
spread the fingers allowing more light to pass through. Then
release slowly giving smooth massage to the forehead and face
and place the hands for a while on the knees again. Relax for a
moment and slowly dissolve the position and try to keep silence
for several minutes until you start with your daily routine.

Second practice:
Antar Mouna

When the mind is silent and peaceful it becomes very powerful. It

can become a receptor of bliss and wisdom enabling life to become
a spontaneous flow and expression of joy and harmony. However,
this inner silence cannot arise while there is a continual stream of
disturbing thoughts and emotions. All this inner noise of thoughts
and emotions has to be removed before one can truly experience
the soundless sound of inner silence. —Swami Satyananda
Saraswati

Peace, bliss, harmony. Who is able to experience these states? So

many people these days are struggling with their own minds.
Influenced by their conditionings, and overwhelmed by the
pressures of day to day living in today's increasingly stressful
society, they are full of mental tensions, which manifest as anxiety,
nervousness, guilt, lack of self-confidence, loneliness, fear,
obsessions and phobias. Some turn to drugs and alcohol as a
temporary means of escape and solace. Others enlist the costly
help of psychiatrists or psychotherapists to try and cope. All are
looking for some form of change, a little relief from the inner
conflicts and turmoil, wanting to feel at ease with themselves, or
even to experience, if not bliss, just a modicum of peace and
contentment.
Antar means inner, mouna means silence. Antar mouna is a
technique of attaining pratyahara (withdrawal of the mind from the
sense objects), the fifth stage of raja yoga, and in its fullest form
can lead to dharana and dhyana. Antar mouna is also a
fundamental part of the Buddhist practice known as vipassana,
used in a modified way.

Purging the mind

Generally, we tend to allow 'good' thoughts to arise to conscious
perception; we accept and enjoy pleasant thoughts. When an
unpleasant, painful or 'bad' memory or thought arises, we tend to
quickly push it back down into the subconscious layers of the mind.
This is suppression and we all do it. Everyone has mental
suppressions. Often we are conditioned to do it from childhood.
But suppression is definitely not the answer.

Every single suppressed thought that remains unexpressed causes

a block in the free flow of the mind. The thoughts and experiences
stay submerged in the subconscious realms of the mind in seed
form, causing pain, unhappiness and frustration in life. These
subtle impressions are known as samskaras in sanskrit. Without
even realizing it, we build up a vast accumulation of suppressed
thoughts which cause a lot of tension and disturbances in the mind
and personality without obvious cause.

To find lasting happiness or peace of mind, these mental

impressions have to be rooted out. It can be compared to
gardening. We remove the unwanted weeds from the mind. If we
just break the top off, although there is temporary relief, the weed
will return. However, when we dig down deep and pull out the root
of the weed, it loses its hold and can be removed completely. If
left to fester in the mind, these negative mental impressions poison
the psyche and lead to irritability, aggression, anger, nonspecific
depression, a tendency to worry, being fearful without reason, and
permanent tiredness. This affects all our interactions in life and
reduces our ability to be efficient, creative and dynamic at every
level of our lives.

Antar mouna enables us to exhaust these unwanted thoughts; it

provides a means to purge the mind. Once these mental tensions
start to be released, we can experience corresponding surges of
energy and inspiration and life starts to take on a new dimension.
In the same way that we clean our rooms and the physical body
every day we also need to develop the habit of cleaning the mind
each day in order to prevent the accumulation of more dross or
rubbish. Therefore, it is very necessary to repeat this process on a
consistent and regular basis.

The practice of antar mouna is divided into six stages: For most
people, the first three stages provide plenty to work with, and in
order to obtain the full benefits, a considerable amount of time
should be spent practicing and perfecting them before attempting
to move into the more advanced stages.

Benefits of antar mouna

Antar mouna is a powerful psychiatric tool with which we learn to
understand and befriend the mind, its tendencies and reactions
that arise due to thoughts. It enables us to train the mind, to focus
the monkey mind on one point which many of us have trouble with.
Most importantly, we can learn to develop and strengthen the
drashta (Sanskrit) meaning witness or observer and understand
more clear all that happens. This allows deep-rooted tensions, long
forgotten painful memories, fears, hatreds and phobias to arise in
a relatively controlled manner and to be eradicated. The practice
provides a basis for clearing all the mental dross and rubbish – it is
a form of mental cleansing.

Antar mouna is designed specifically to eradicate mental noise and

to induce a state of peace, tranquility, one-pointedness and
calmness in the mind. We can even consider antar mouna as a tool
to move from darkness or a contracted state of awareness into the
light of an expanding awareness. We can transform our negativity
in this way. From that stage of ignorance or negativity we can
eventually come to a meditative point, a neutral position of no
action, no engagement, just being. This leads to automatically to
steadiness and calmness of mind, in contrast to our usual
oscillating state of mind.

STAGE 1: awareness of external sensory perceptions

Stage 1 of antar mouna is concerned with the sensory perceptions
of external stimuli. The awareness is consciously directed to focus
on the sense of taste, then to witness any smells nearby, to observe
the sensations of touch, body against floor, clothes or air against
skin, then to move the awareness to all the different available
sounds within the vicinity, without analyzing or naming them,
simply witnessing the quality of the sounds. We are told this is a
pratyahara technique, so externalizing our awareness may seem
like a paradox at first. Why do we do this? Because if we try to
internalize our awareness directly, what happens? Instantly the
monkey mind jumps outside and becomes distracted by the outside
sounds, or smells and the sense of touch etc. So first, there has to
be a full extension of awareness to all the sensory inputs. We have
to know what they are and how they affect us, or how we react to
them. Three factors are involved: the external object of perception
(smell, taste, sound, sight and touch); the external organs of
perception (the jnanendriyas in Sanskrit: skin, nose, ears, eyes and
tongue), and the internal perceiver – the witness awareness –
which knows it is observing; “I know I am listening to the outside
sounds and I know that I know” is the form this awareness can
take.

A byproduct of stage 1 is that it raises the awareness of all the

sensory perceptions, allowing the sense of hearing to become like
a radar for example, picking up the subtlest sounds as well the
obvious gross ones, enabling us to become more aware in daily life
of our surroundings. However, the actual purpose of this stage is
to reduce the influence of the outside impressions on our
perception. It is a case of familiarity breeding contempt. The
conscious and intentional perception of the outside world
automatically leads to disinterest. The mind becomes bored having
checked out all the possible distractions and thus ceases to be
either interested or disturbed by its environment. We develop the
capacity to remain centered, detached, completely undisturbed and
unaffected by anything going on around us. Therefore, stage 1
induces the first level of pratyahara, i.e. dissociation of the senses
from the outside world, which prepares us to go inside for the
second stage.

Antar mouna belongs to the fifth step of raja yoga. The fifth step
of raja yoga is classically and academically called pratyahara, which
literally means withdrawal or retreat. It is very interesting when we
realize just how unscientific we are in our approach to spiritual
knowledge, when we see how most of us would like to practice
dhyana immediately, without any proper understanding at all. We
fail to understand that it is not possible to be in dhyana without the
help of the senses and the mind. Unless we are able to withdraw
our senses in a systematic manner without any touch of
suppression, it will not be possible for us to go into dhyana.
Therefore, antar mouna, being one of the practices of pratyahara,
is a wonderful practice to learn.

By the practice of antar mouna you achieve mastery over a great

part of your mind. Various other techniques are dangerous for
some people. These people dive into concentration without having
voluntary control over their mind. They have not mastered their
mental functions sufficiently to be able to enter safely the state of
consciousness they are not accustomed to. It is necessary to
practice pratyahara first, It is essential to master certain sense
functions first and then certain functions of the brain up to a certain
level before attempting higher practices.

Withdrawal of the senses is pratyahara. But what is withdrawal of

the senses? There are five senses, five sense experiences and five
sense objects. How is it possible to withdraw the senses of seeing,
hearing, smelling, tasting and touching? First you close your eyes
and become aware of the remaining sense experiences around you,
however disturbing they may be. For example, there may be a
sound in the next room. You must try to analyze the sound,
understand it and grasp its significance. You must separate the
sense from the sense experience and only become aware of the
experience of sound vibration. To illustrate further: a bell is ringing.
First we consider the ear, second the bell, and third the sound of
the bell. You must be aware of the sound which is the sense
experience. The bell, the sense object, belongs to the outer world.
By realizing it, you accomplish the first step of sense withdrawal.

It is very important to realize that it is not an absent-minded

comprehension, but a present-minded awareness of the objective
reality that you are trying to grasp. You may take one experience
and analyze it fully, or you may take many, one right after the
other. But sooner or later you must come to the point where you
are able to analyze and understand the perception. Then the
experience alone remains – devoid of the object, and later it is
devoid of the subject as well. If you can achieve this, then you
have perfected the first stage of antar mouna where you get rid of
external experiences.

Now let us see how we practise the first stage of antar mouna. It
is possible to practice the first stage anywhere. For instance, if you
are a passenger in a car, you just close your eyes and try to remain
outside of your experiences. Now, try to observe mentally what you
feel, hear and smell. You will find that in a short time all external
sounds and objects have disappeared from your mind. Your senses
have become withdrawn, although of course not completely. This
then is the first step of antar mouna which, as pratyahara, is the
fifth limb of raja yoga. It is the first step in esoteric life.

STAGE 2: awareness/Visualization of spontaneous

process of thought or thoughtless state
In stage 2 of antar mouna we leave the outside world and turn
inside to work with the mind. We sit in a relaxed manner and start
to observe the mind 'screen' in front of the closed eyes. The aim is
to view and exhaust the samskaras, the negative thoughts,
experiences, phobias, old memories, emotions and fears, i.e. the
useless debris, which arise from inside the subconscious mind.
Regular practice of this stage cleans the mind of old dross and
prevents the accumulation of more rubbish.

Stage 2 has three requirements: The first is to allow the mind total
freedom to think anything it wants, without any restriction. Letting
all thoughts bubble up spontaneously to the surface, being aware
of any corresponding emotions or feelings, especially fear, panic,
greed, lust, guilt, hatred or anger. There should be no control,
judgement or criticism of any thoughts – they may be about work,
home, food, sex, friends, enemies, likes, dislikes; trivial or lofty,
sublimely beautiful or violently murderous. Some may be
connected; others will be random. Sometimes there may be a
torrent of thoughts, at other times there may be just a trickle. No
matter, what is important is the second requirement which is that
we maintain absolutely vigilant awareness of the spontaneous
thought process. Aiming constantly to develop our capacity to
witness, just as though we were watching a TV or a video screen,
like an uninvolved observer or spectator watching a stream of
images, thoughts and events with detachment.

During the practice of stage 2, we will start to observe the different

tendencies of the mind. Seeing how we suppress. When we do, we
can be certain that the thought or impression will come up again
with even greater force at a later time (this can be likened to
pushing a rubber toy underwater). Witnessing how we hold onto
other thoughts, discovering how easily we can lose ourselves within
our own mental process, observing that perhaps we have some
repetitive thought patterns. The mind can be extremely tricky. It
loves a good painful movie, for example, and may tend to replay a
particular traumatic 'video' over and over, knowing it will get a good
emotional reaction each time. By observing the play of the mind
with the attitude of a witness, these thoughts start to lose their
emotional force and even the most painful experiences can
gradually be eradicated.

After some time with this stage, by giving the mind this freedom to
spontaneously express, the torrent of babble starts to thin out a
bit. The mind starts to become a little quieter. This should not
however be confused with either silence, or sleep which often
occurs, especially with beginners. A tendency to sleep when
practicing antar mouna is a classic form of the mind suppressing
something it doesn't want to confront. It is as if the mind
recognizes that something different is happening, that you are
taking control by asking the question: “What am I thinking now?”
and all of a sudden the mind goes quiet. There are no thoughts at
all! Do not be fooled into thinking this is enlightenment, rather it is
just another form of subtle suppression. Just wait patiently for a
short while, imagine you are looking at an empty road and soon
enough the mental chatter will continue again!

The third requirement is courage, openness and honesty, for deep,

hidden and suppressed parts of our personality will be revealed to
us with antar mouna. This may be some beautiful, loving part of
ourselves that has been dormant, or perhaps some ugly dark side
that has equally been hidden. We learn to understand the nature
of our mind and its multifarious activities, to befriend it and to
become aware of and observe our emotional reactions to the
different thoughts. This process enables us to accept ourselves
fully, not as we'd like to be, but as we really are.

When the sense perception of which you have now become aware
comes to you consciously without any feeling of disturbance, it
means that you are able to understand it. If there is a disturbing
sound and you practice awareness of it, it will become less and less
disturbing. It will become little more than an ordinary sound. It will
convey no meaning to you as to what is producing it, why, where,
when, etc. Your mind will turn inward and become indifferent to
the external sounds. After this, you must be aware of any
spontaneous thought that may arise. You must have the awareness
that you are thinking certain thoughts under compulsion and also
that there are thoughts that are coming to you without your
wanting them. The thoughts coming to the conscious level from
the subconscious level are called samskaras.
If you sit for a while, a number of thoughts will come to you without
any reference or context. For example, you may be eating a
delicious dinner, and suddenly a thought comes to you that the
previous night you did not have a good rest. This thought is
irrelevant. While resting in bed various thoughts may suddenly
come to you. These are called spontaneous thoughts. They are
embedded in your personality and do not necessarily need any
external stimuli. If you see a church and a pious or evil thought
comes to you, it is not spontaneous. But if the thought of a mango
comes instead, then it is a spontaneous thought, because it was
not stimulated by the sight of the church. It is a voluntary
expression of a certain part of your personality, which modern
psychology terms subconscious. In Vedanta it is referred to as the
sukshma sharira or subtle body.

Sukshma sharira, or the astral body in the doctrine of karma, is

known as a samskara, the latent impression embedded in your life.
Just as smoke comes out of a coal fire in a kitchen, in the same
manner a few thoughts come out of all the accumulated thoughts.
What we usually do the moment these thoughts come to us is take
them up if they are good ones, and send them back if they are bad
or painful. The bad thoughts that are sent back are not exhausted
or used.

Practically all bad thoughts are sent back to the subconscious while
most of the good ones are exhausted, the result being that the
subconscious vessel is filled with bad thoughts and devoid of good
ones. In the practice of antar mouna we concentrate on calming
down the disturbances of the indriyas (Sanskrit) or senses (which
is natural on account of your circumstances and environment) and
become aware of spontaneous thoughts which arise from the
subconscious. The best way to accomplish this is to make your
mind aware that you are going to practice being aware of your
thoughts. Say to yourself, “I am trying to be aware of my
thoughts.”

Usually it is different with each individual. Here are a few examples.

You feel that you are sitting in a corner of your mind and looking
at the inner space in front of your eyes called “Chidakasha”,
constantly repeating “I want to see my thoughts. Which thought is
passing through me? Am I thinking or am I not thinking? What am
I thinking?” Sometimes even while you are aware of the entire
thought process, a thought slips by without your noticing it. Only
when it has passed the area of your observation do you become
aware of it. For example, “I was thinking about a mango, but while
I was thinking about it, I was not aware that I was thinking . . .”

Sometimes there is momentary absent-mindedness. To correct this

there is another practice. If you sit down on your veranda, for
example, and look down the road – and the road is clear, no one
is on the road – think that it is your consciousness. Then someone
appears on the road. You see shadows moving. They are the
shadows of your thoughts. That is the higher state of antar mouna.
This will be possible only for those who are good at visualization.
Then the road disappears and the shadows remain.

The third way is to act as a witness. We say, “I am a witness and

I want to know what thoughts are in my mind.” Now, sit down and
try to remain aware of your spontaneous thought process. You may
experience that the whole chidakasha (the mental space where all
subtle and gross experiences take place) is empty and there is no
thought. Then you should say to yourself, “Now, no thoughts are
coming, and I am only aware of the empty space.” This practice
becomes more and more inspiring and enlightening as you proceed
further and further. If you practice this for about two months, you
may even see yourself in the lap of your mother at the age of two.
In this process the mind usually goes back into the past and never
into the future. Women find this practice easier than men.

So, in the second stage of antar mouna, when you are supposed
to witness carefully the spontaneous flow of your thoughts, you
may be able to observe your thoughts either before they come to
the conscious plane or while they are on the conscious plane or
after they have left the conscious plane. It all depends on the
careful observation and attitude of the mind. If you are very alert,
you may be able to predict a thought before it comes to the
conscious plane, but if you are absent-minded; you may not be
able to detect the thought until the next day. An average person is
not only able to think one thought at a time, but can think of many
thoughts in the fraction of a second.

Outwardly we feel that we think, but actually the thinking takes

place in the subconscious plane of the mind. It is like looking out
at a crowd of people where you are able to see all the faces but
not any one individually. You may, however, remember them the
next day. A thought does not take much time, especially if it is
spontaneous. A conscious thought takes longer. While practicing
this, an aspirant should be constantly alert, never moving the body,
never scratching, never sleeping. One should be aware of whatever
one does physically, mentally, subconsciously, voluntarily, and
involuntarily, at all times.

This is the path of introspection. It is not a good experience for

most of us. You must always remind yourself of this in advance. In
practicing introspection, the impurities come up. It is only in
samadhi, and not in dhyana that all the purities such as peace, bliss
and light appear. The practice of antar mouna expels negative
thoughts because it is a kind of self-eliminator of the negative
impurities. You will either enter a state of chidakasha where there
are no thoughts, a vacuum state, in which you will only remember
bad acts or see all the people who caused you pain or trouble. The
longer you practice, the more experiences you will see. It only
becomes clear in the end. Symbolic expressions come up. Things
that your conscious mind hates to remember appear. This will only
happen when you have stepped into the subconscious.

If you have these subconscious explosions during antar mouna the

best method of eliminating them is to write them down in a diary
or to tell someone whom you trust. That is very important. The
most common experiences are snakes, good food, hundreds of
people moving everywhere, jungles, swimming in water, the fear
of being drowned and flight in space. We now have the conscious
manifestation of all the thoughts, desires and experiences that we
do not want to know. They must constantly be analyzed. For
example, if you have the thought of fear of drowning, it is not
sufficient to say that you just have a fear complex. Rather, it may
be looked upon as a symbolic manifestation of some action or
actions in the past which you do not want to remember. There
must be interpretation of these thoughts.

The next questions are, “When should we practice this and for how
long should we continue? When should we proceed on to the next
stage?” The moment you find the subconscious manifestations
becoming greater and greater, then you should go on to the next
stage.

When should we give up the second stage and go on to the next?

Thoughts come and go; that is the second stage. Next, visions
appear and you cannot understand them; you are afraid of them,
and conscious thoughts become less and less. Now is the time for
the yogi to go on immediately to the third stage. The reason why
the yogi does not continue on and on with the second stage is
because he knows that all his thoughts can never be exhausted.
To a certain extent you have to manifest them and then you must
check them.

STAGE 3: to pose and dispose of thoughts at will

In stage 3 of antar mouna we consciously create and dispose of
thoughts at will. It is the opposite to stage two. Here spontaneous
thoughts are not allowed. Rather a particular theme or thought is
chosen at will, then reflected upon for a while, generating as many
connected thoughts as possible related only to that theme. Looking
at the issue from all angles, pondering on it, if another person is
involved, considering things from their point of view and so on.
After a few minutes, this theme or thought is then thrown quickly
out of the mind, like a film director giving the order to 'Cut' when
a scene is finished, and another theme is chosen. This can be
repeated several times, choosing a different issue each time. The
practitioner is requested to choose confronting, difficult, negative
issues and themes, rather than inconsequential thoughts which will
tend to be a waste of time.

In stage 3 it is really possible to work at a psychotherapeutic level.

Although stage 2 helps to release mental tensions by allowing them
to erupt without inhibition, many of these subconscious thoughts
are deeply embedded in normally inaccessible regions of the mind,
firmly fixed and rooted through habitual suppression, and therefore
do not necessarily arise spontaneously.

In stage 3 the posed thoughts stir up a train of associated thoughts.

These consciously created thoughts incite and attract deeper
thoughts and memories. The analogy is that of fishing. The mind
is baited with a thought. The bait is put into the water (the
subconscious mind) and attracts other fish (deeply embedded sub
and unconscious thoughts or impressions) which are caught,
brought up and then released. This releases psych neural knots
and blocks. As these memories and thoughts are confronted, they
lose their force and emotional weight, which leads to greater
understanding of oneself, clarity and powerful inner healing.

While you were practicing the second stage of antar mouna, you
visualized shadows in the form of visions or dreams. If these
shadows come to you in a horrible way, that is, if they are very bad
experiences, it is time to proceed to the third stage of antar mouna.

It will not be difficult for you to understand the third stage, because
you do the exact opposite of the second stage. You may say that
it is a counter-pose. Unlike everything being spontaneous in the
second stage, in the third stage everything is done at will. You
should not allow any spontaneous thought to arise unless you want
it. If a spontaneous thought does come, then you should
immediately try to dispose of it. Do not allow it to occupy your
mind. This is very important.

How do you get rid of a spontaneous thought? Close your eyes and
start thinking about some theme. It must consist of a sequence of
events that were thought by you in a conscious manner. For
example, you might say, “I have misplaced my notes. Now, where
did I see them last? At home? No, I remember that I took them
from home in the morning.” You see, you must invite a thought
and then expand it in a definite way. But do not let a thought come
of its own accord. If, for instance, a thought comes and says,
“‘Please think about me,” you should reply, “No, I do not want you,
I want only thoughts that I will think of.”
This is an exercise to develop a conscious thought and then to
eliminate it. If any conscious thought or experience that has taken
place in your life is not eliminated, or at least not immediately
analyzed, it will proceed directly to the subconscious mind. Once it
enters your subconscious, it becomes a samskara and is a ‘behind
the scenes’ influencing factor in life.

Therefore, in spiritual life you must be able to recall at will all the
past experiences of your life. And if you are looking at impulses,
you must give all the thoughts to them. The whole thing should be
clear before you. For example, you should be able to see nervous
excitement when you see yourself in a mob attacking someone’s
home. You just cut off your mind and say ‘get out’. This is how we
eliminate the conscious thought. Psychology also accepts the idea
that if any conscious experience is properly analyzed, it loses its
force, and that is the purpose of this exercise.

I feel that when you are given the freedom to express any thought
of your choice, you should select a bad thought rather than a good
one, because it is very easy to think of good thoughts and it is also
very easy to get rid of them. But it is very difficult to get rid of bad
thoughts. Therefore, we should try to develop a method or
technique by which we are able to throw out the negative thoughts
from our mind.

For example, a good thought comes to you about a certain person,

and you start to think that he is a good man, a wonderful friend,
etc., and then you think one very bad thought about him and it
destroys all the good thoughts. Now, you wish to throw off this bad
thought and resume all the good thoughts, but you find that you
cannot. It usually happens this way and people spend sleepless
nights and restless days worrying about the bad thought. They
have probably tried several ways of getting rid of the bad thought,
but almost always fail.

Therefore, we can use this third exercise in antar mouna in which

we invite a bad thought or at least a thought that we consider as
bad. We dwell on the thought for a while and become one with it,
then we give our mind a jerk and throw the thought out. A stage
of vacuum should arise in the place of the thought; that is, there
should be no thought in the mind.

At this time, you should invite another new thought to your mind
and start the exercise again. When the bad thought comes, think
it over, dwell on it for a while and then throw it out. Remind that it
is no use thinking of good thoughts during this exercise. You must
only think of those thoughts that have a destructive influence on
your mind.

In spiritual life, eliminating bad thoughts is a very useful practice.

This is the only way that you can know the fundamental nature of
a thought. If this practice is continued for fifteen or more days, you
can develop a spontaneous psychological conditioning with which
you will be able to set aside any thought at will. At least you will
not spend any sleepless nights or restless days. You will know how
to set aside the bad thoughts.

There are also thoughts that have no form. They do not have any
particular dimension. You will not have any trouble disposing of
them. The formless thought such as “I must take a bath” or “I must
go to the toilet” etc. are called nitya karma (routine thoughts). They
do not create a samskara. You must not concern yourself about
these thoughts. You must always take thoughts of a very heavy
dimension. A typical thought would be “I have an enemy who has
been troubling me for so many years. Whenever I am conscious of
him I feel terrible and want to kill him.” This is the type of thought
you must dwell on and then dispose of at will, quickly.

Probably if you think of more than three thoughts in one practice,

it will be too much for you. But you must complete one whole
theme, – that is, think up to a certain extent and then cut it off.

Do not repeat the same thought twice, because that is known as

brooding. When you think about a certain place in one thought
scheme and then the place returns in a later thought, you should
say, “What is the use of this same thought again?” The mind has
a certain brooding tendency – it likes to return to the same thought
again and again. This tendency is very dangerous as far as the
development of neurosis is concerned. When modern psychology
analyzes the causes of neurosis, it finds that this brooding over the
same point over and over again is one cause. When you become
aware that this brooding over one point again and again is the
nature of the mind, you should be especially aware of it in your
practice of antar mouna.

When you finish a theme you must tell yourself, “Yes, now this
thought is finished, this will not be thought of again.” If you like
the topic very much, you will not stop thinking about it completely.
Then you must say, “I am going to think about this topic again,”
and so on. There will come a certain movement in your thinking
process and your mind will say, “Enough,” and the thinking about
the topic will be finished. Possibly some portion of the thought will
remain. There may be a mild suppression of the topic, but it will be
only mild because most of the topic will have been analyzed. Part
of the topic will again return to you. But why should there even be
a mild suppression? You should analyze it thoroughly by the
method of being the impartial witness, witnessing at will. The
thought does not come up on its own, you must bring it up.
This third exercise will help you a little later in the future planning
of things because, after all, future thinking and the materialization
of your future thoughts depend upon your present correct thinking.
You should be able to fulfil any future plan within a few months or
years after practicing this third exercise. It depends on the
individual. But future planning should be controlled; it should not
be spontaneous. You must form a definite pattern to follow. The
point is that you should only include the item of the future planning
after you have gained a certain control over your psychic
dimensions. Then the mind will lead you to the right point. You
cannot practice this without having attained perfection in the
previous exercises; they are interdependent.

The first stage is to be practiced until an undisturbed attitude to

outer objects has developed. The second stage should be practiced
until the horrible dimensions of the psyche have appeared. Then
and only then should you proceed to the third stage.

The third stage is very important. It is one of the meditations

techniques that can be found in a different expressed way in
Buddhist meditation (vipassana). Remember that all the Buddha’s
were practicing Yoga!! This stage is constant self-analysis; we call
it “atma vichara”. This third exercise is the preliminary stage of
atma vichara. Modern psychology has something similar, but I
believe that when this particular technique is introduced into the
psychological field, it will be much better. Some scholars from both
the East and the West have assimilated some of it, but of course
not in total.

This method is only helpful for those having an independent

psychic system; that is, having their psyche and thinking system
under their control. It is not for those who are unable to direct the
thinking process or are suffering from neurosis. It is only when you
have developed the power of imagination and become aware of
your difficulties and when you come to know that there must be a
method that will help you. Diary writing is an important method
that can be added to this practice.

Sometimes you will find (if you are realistic, of course) that you are
thinking about a thought that came spontaneously. The
spontaneous thought gets mixed up with your conscious posing of
thoughts. Therefore, it is better if you choose more than one
thought and then pick out a certain thought with which you will
develop a theme. In this manner you will make sure that you will
not select a spontaneous thought. For instance, you may say
mentally, “Now I am going to think about this trip or that trip or
my friend,” etc. You must also remember that you must choose the
thought that is the most difficult for you to get rid of. It is no use
choosing an easy thought.

During the practice of antar mouna you will find yourself, for a
short time, engrossed in a state of momentary depression because
the mind revolts against analysis. Every mind does not like to be
analyzed. The more you try to practice the more resistance you will
meet. Minds that are attached to worldly pleasures do not like to
be analyzed. Therefore, it is best if you practice this exercise simply
and as naturally as you can.

You will also come across the experience of rejecting a thought

without completely analyzing it. This may take place for any
number of reasons, depending on what your thought was about.
Here part of the thought becomes suppressed. It will remain
unexpressed in your subconscious mind. You will not be able to
help it, as you know that vasanas (Sanskrit) desires are endless. If
you think that you should think of a thought completely, you can
be sure that you can never finish it in this life. There is no end to
it; one thought leads to another and that thought to another and
so on. What I am trying to explain is that it is better to think a
thought two-thirds through and then get rid of it, rather than brood
over the same thing day in and out.

If you continue brooding, the thought will only embed itself further
and further or deeper and deeper in your subconscious. You must
think then that a thought must be checked at a particular stage
and not be allowed to continue further. The third practice of antar
mouna is now over.

Stages 4, 5 and 6 are at a much more advanced level, and

it will be a waste of time to attempt them if the first three
stages have not been practiced extensively first.

STAGE 4: awareness of spontaneous thought and disposal

of thought at will
Stage 4, awareness and disposal of spontaneous thoughts, is a
refinement of previous stages.
After you have practiced the first three stages of antar mouna you
will find that after the third stage, before you are able to pose a
thought, thoughts will spontaneously come to your mind. Their
frequency, that is, the number of thoughts coming one after
another, will create so much pressure that you will find it difficult
to pose any thought at all. It is at this stage that the fourth stage
should come in.

In the fourth stage you must learn to become a witness of the

spontaneous thoughts. Sometimes you do not know which
thoughts you have seen and which thoughts you have not. There
are so many thoughts, you do not know whether you are thinking
or not. At this time, you should just remain an impartial witness to
all the confusion. It is something like shankhaprakshalana (full
digestive system cleansing). In the beginning, undigested food
comes out and later the mixed material comes. You do not know
which is rice, bread, fruit, etc. This is what the psychic confusion
should be like at the end of the third stage and at the beginning of
the fourth stage of your practice. You are aware that you are
thinking, but you do not know what you are thinking of.

Suddenly, during all this psychic confusion a very clear and

prominent thought arises from nowhere. It is so clear that you are
able to pick it up easily. You must follow this thought. It is a
projection of your deeper consciousness. It arises from the deepest
sphere of the subconscious. Unfortunately, this thought that arises
is almost always related to a bad event or experience. Because it
comes from the deepest sphere of the subconscious it may be a
thought from the past, or perhaps a future thought. It is a
precognitive thought and is therefore spontaneous and as such, it
must be got rid of. This thought should not be recognized; it should
not be accepted. It is a very clear thought, but it is somewhere
beyond thought dimensions.

So, in the fourth exercise we must become aware of the

spontaneous thought and then dispose of it immediately. The
emergence of a spontaneous thought from the confusion and
pandemonium of many thoughts is in many cases precognitive and
premonitory. We can safely attribute this particular thought which
has arisen from the confusing system of thinking to the deeper
layers of the subconscious mind. As you probably know, the deeper
you penetrate your subconscious personality, the clearer and more
realistic are the thoughts that appear. But the intellectual and
emotional levels of your thought will become impractical. They are
idealistic and not always true.
These thoughts which come up from the deeper layers of the
subconscious belong to the dimensions of truth, vision and the
lower class or a lower quality of prophecy. It is in this context that
you should look upon and understand the psychological
background of the different kinds of prophecies made by occultists,
astrologers and fortune-tellers. These people have at their disposal
their own method of reaching into the subconscious mind.

When you develop such clear spontaneous thoughts in the

beginning of the fourth exercise, you will find that it always informs
you of an imminent accident or of some difficulties that you will
encounter shortly. Aspirants who want to go still further in this
practice should immediately dispose of these thoughts at will. But
those who wish to immerse themselves in such spontaneous
thoughts and keep on thinking about them for a longer period will
find their spontaneous thoughts coming through unknown areas of
the past. They will be surprised. But with that the depth of the
experience will end and they will have to begin their practice all
over again.

For instance, the spontaneous thought of a snake arises, and it

comes into your room to bite you. It is the type of thought that will
make you wonder, ‘Did the snake bite me or did it escape?’ If you
keep on thinking about this, you may be able to know more details
of the thought, but you may not be able to find the meaning for
yourself. In due course you will find that your psychic system is
disturbed. You must then start the practice from the beginning.

At this stage the awareness of spontaneous thoughts, however

precognitive or premonitory, and however prophetic, will only
prove to be an obstacle. There are many psychic mediums and
psychic individuals stranded at this point, unable to go beyond. If
you are able to wait and resist these temptations, you will be able
to go deeper and deeper into your subconscious mind. You will go
deeper within the self.

Now, there will come a stage where the spontaneous thoughts will
cease; there will be no more thoughts. There is a state of mental
vacuum. In the case of the aspirants who can get rid of the
previously mentioned temptations, this state of vacuum will come.
While in this vacuum state you should have the constant awareness
that ‘I am practicing antar mouna.’ You are aware of yourself –
ahamkara (Sanskrit) – ego - remains and there is the feeling and
perception of external things from time to time. You become so
quiet internally that you are unable to see any thought and at the
same time you hear, for example, a train passing, the clock chiming
and then you may not hear them. It is an off and on type of
experience. It is a state when sometimes your faculties of
perception are turned inward and sometimes turned outward. It is
similar to what is experienced during the first part of sleep. You
call it drowsiness, when you are aware of everything and then for
a few moments you lose the awareness of what has happened
around you. Certain types of experiences come to you and others
are blocked.

You might be awake at three in the morning just lying in bed

thinking about something. You must have experienced this
condition. You may be thinking about anything, spiritual or non-
spiritual. While you are thinking, a train, car, etc. may pass and
you do not hear them even though you are not sleeping. Then,
simultaneously, there is a bell ringing off in the distance and
someone is banging your door – you hear the bell but you do not
hear the banging. In Sanskrit, this condition is called antar mukha
vritti. It means ‘modification of internal mind’ – when the mind is
looking inside. It is inert or dead to some of the experiences of the
senses but is capable or receiving certain sensations.

When your mind becomes free from any kind of thought and when
it is aware of only some sense experiences, then pratyahara is
completed. The fifth limb of raja yoga known as pratyahara ends
here. After this it becomes dharana. And so, the fourth stage of
antar mouna, which is the practice of pratyahara, opens the door
to dharana.
STAGE 5: thought-freeness
The fifth practice of antar mouna does not require much effort on
your part. It becomes an automatic development of your
consciousness which was prepared by the practices of the four
previous stages. You cannot practise the fifth stage without having
perfected the first four. Each stage must lead into the other; each
must prepare you for the next.

You will have the experience similar to that of fainting. You will
have the experience of soaring between the consciousness, sub
consciousness and small parts of the unconsciousness. You will be
in the unconsciousness for a short while, in the consciousness for
a short while, but you will be in the sub consciousness for a greater
period of time. The stage of unconsciousness becomes stronger
and more permanent. The spontaneity of thought has been
checked by cutting the link in the chain of thoughts.

You will now find yourself in a thoughtless and thought-free state,

where you are sometimes aware of external affairs and at other
times not. You will find that for a short while you are conscious, for
a longer while subconscious, and for a very short time unconscious.
The time you spend in the unconscious increases as you progress
in this stage.
If proper methods are not followed in the fifth stage, you will find
that within a few weeks you will be landing yourself in a state of
mind where you become more no conscious, less subconscious and
still less conscious. You may find yourself non-conscious for about
half an hour. For example, when you are practicing you are aware
of your surroundings and then you go to the different planes of
your psyche. Then you find that you have been non-conscious for
half an hour. You do not know how to check this. What will happen
then? I can tell you that if it is not counter-attacked within a few
weeks, you will enter into jada samadhi. Jada means inert, dead or
lifeless. You develop jada samadhi in which your consciousness
enters into an un-manifested state (avyakta). There are hundreds
of spiritual aspirants practicing this jada samadhi, never realizing
that they have made a mistake. The practice of jada samadhi only
leads them astray from the spiritual path and into the kingdom of
“tamas (dullness or Inertia).

We are coming to the last stage of antar mouna now – the stage
where prominent spontaneous thoughts arose from the depths of
the sub-consciousness. They were of a precognitive and
premonitory nature. You were allowing them to arise from the sub-
consciousness and merely observing them, no matter how many
came. You will find that within a few days they will cease. You are
experiencing a state of vacuum, of thought-freeness.

In this stage you will find it very difficult to pose a thought or even
see the manifestation of any thought. This state is known as
nirvichara, and it means no thought, no contemplation, and no
thinking process at all. But it remains only for a short time. It is
always followed by a short period of nonconsciousness lasting five
to ten minutes. When this happens, you must develop an
awareness of the three stages of consciousness. How will this be
done? Through the sixth and final stage of antar mouna.
STAGE 6: awareness of sleep state of consciousness
How do we develop the awareness of the three states of
consciousness? Much depends on the individual. All kinds of
symptoms may be present; physical, mental or psychic. I must then
physically follow the descent of the consciousness. After all, sleep
removes consciousness. It is not a startling event, but it is
something usual. How does it take place? Why, for instance, when
my thought process is suspended, do I see visions and then
become non-conscious for a few moments? You must remain alert
and keep yourself so conscious that the whole process of sleeping
becomes clear.

Sleep is a mental condition where the contents of knowledge,

which contain the objects of experience and thinking, are locked
away from the mind. It is when the mind is free from any object or
knowledge that sleep comes. It is a condition of non-objective
awareness. It should be closely followed through an alert attitude
of awareness. If you blink for a moment you have lost the
awareness for the time it took you to blink.

If you break the continuity of consciousness for one second, it will

take you 15 to 20 minutes to come to your senses. It is like a
person going down into a deep well with the help of a strong rope.
As long as he has hold of the rope he can go into the deepest and
the darkest well without any fear or danger. He is always sure of
coming back up. But suppose he loses his grip on the rope, even
for a second? He will of course fall into the deepest depths. The
same conditions apply to an aspirant. It is very easy to hold a
symbol but to maintain an awareness of it in the sleep state is very
difficult – and this is the ultimate state of antar mouna.
When the inner disturbance and modifications caused by chitta
vritti (modifications of the mind) are quieted, sleep comes. But we
must also control sleep. In antar mouna as in dhyana, the sleep
state of consciousness is not to be eliminated, but the sleep
consciousness should be checked and controlled by the awareness
of sleep. You do not have to escape from yourself in order to find
a method by which you can control sleep. You must be able to
maintain sleep under perfect control of your consciousness. It is
known as a ‘sleepless state’ or ‘sleep awareness’. Therefore, we
have two events taking place simultaneously: sleep and awareness
of sleep.

The ultimate goal of the methods is same for all yogis. It may be
antar mouna, kriya yoga, chidakasha vidya, yoga nidra or anything.
The inner awareness is to be evolved and the outer awareness
dissolved. There is to be involution of outer consciousness and
evolution of inner consciousness. That is the way of yoga. You must
find a method which you are able to maintain in order to control
sleep. It is not avoiding sleep. The sleep should continue. It is a
condition where you sleep and remain awake. This must be
practiced.

Usually aspirants of meditation do not want to practice this. They

want to develop concentration but do not know how. They have
quite a particular notion about concentration, and become very
nervous and disappointed when sleep comes. Some of them
complain bitterly that when they sit for meditation, sleep comes. It
is very difficult for me to make them understand that at this time
they can sleep and that this sleep is necessary. The sleep
consciousness is a necessary condition for the development of the
inner awareness, unless the yogi know how to sleep and unless the
yogi know how to remain awake during sleep (but not without
sleep), it will not be possible for you to attain the higher states of
yoga.

We shall now review the whole practice of antar mouna. First we

silence the senses and make a gradual attack on the mind. We give
it complete freedom in spontaneous thinking. Then we gradually
come to control only one part of the mind. Ultimately, we allow the
mind to think whatever it wants, precognitive or premonitory, etc.
Next comes the fifth stage and the controlling of the mental
process. After the fifth stage comes the dangerous stage of the
sleep condition.

Now we will discuss some of the methods of developing sleep

awareness. When sleep comes during the highest stage of
meditation, choose a symbol for yourself. This is very important. It
should be your own symbol and it should not change. If you change
it, it will not come during the moment of sleep consciousness. Your
mental faculties will become so weak that you will not have enough
memory to think of different symbols. The symbol should come
spontaneously. The moment sleep comes the symbol should also
come.

As long as the symbol is there you will not enter into the state of
laya. Laya means total suspension of consciousness. It is a very
dangerous state for spiritual aspirants. This laya samadhi is a very
wonderful samadhi. You can remain in this state for many hours.
The body metabolism soon stops and the breathing may either
continue or you may suspend it. The heart and the circulatory
system go into a state of inactivity. It is all under voluntary control.

It is very easy for some yogis to stop their hearts, but as far as
spiritual awareness is concerned it is not wanted, because once
you come out of this laya samadhi you will be the same person as
before. You will be the same type of person with the same “raga
and dwesha” (likes and dislikes). There will be no spiritual change.

However, once you overcome laya samadhi and get into the
Chaitanya samadhi, Chaitanya means full awareness of the
consciousness, when you come out you will be a polished person.
Many of the samskaras of your previous lives will have dissolved.
It is said by almost all sannyasins and yogis that laya samadhi does
not create any change in the individual’s mental, psychic or spiritual
life. And so, this experience of laya samadhi is to be avoided. There
are also many physical reasons why you should not practice it. The
heart becomes very weak, the lungs suffer and because of the
cessation of the metabolism, toxins are assimilated in the body
instead of being eliminated. These toxins cause premature death
to the yogi. He suffers heavily and thus pays a great penalty.

It is at this stage that we come to know that it is necessary to have

a concrete object for meditation. We agree that God has no form,
but for this stage of meditation form is a must. At this stage, when
sleep is descending, it is a must to have a symbol. It must remain
fixed and shining brightly in your psyche when sleep comes. It
should be distinct from the black colour. The psychic colour during
sleep is black. It is a dense black. You must find out the colour of
your symbol; whether it is yellow, green, brown, etc. You must find
it out yourself. The symbol must not be an intellectual choice. It
must come from the unconscious. The symbols have mostly been
put forth by great seers. Your guru may give it to you or you may
see it in a dream. The symbol is also given by tradition. It is then
called a hereditary symbol. For example, the same family has the
same symbol passed on to it from generation to generation.

How do you know that you slept and for how long? In sleep the
conception of time is lost. Of this you should be careful. The symbol
should be kept and as long as the illumined symbol is before you,
you will remain conscious of sleep. But, if during a certain period
of sleep the symbol is switched off, then you have slept. This
completes the practice of antar mouna. For those who are keen to
pursue meditation to the extent of realization of samadhi, it is
necessary to continue their sadhana under the guidance of a guru.
Only a guru can lead a disciple from one practice to the higher one.