''Soham or Sohum'' ( ') is a

Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

mantra A mantra ( Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ...

, meaning "I am He/She/That" in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

.Mariasusai Dhavamony (1999), Hindu Spirituality, GB Press, , page 129 In Vedic philosophy it means identifying oneself with the universe or ultimate reality. The mantra is also inverted from ' (the

sandhi Sandhi ( sa, सन्धि ' , "joining") is a cover term for a wide variety of sound changes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries. Examples include fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of one sound depending on near ...

of ') to '. The combination of ' has also been interpreted as "I myself am the Swan", where the swan symbolizes the Atman.

Etymology

An etymology of ' "swan, goose" as from ' "I am that" is found in the 14th century commentary on the Vedas by Sayana (14th century). The term ' is related to , and the phrase translates to "I that very person", according to Monier-Williams. Interpreted as a

nominal sentence Nominal sentence (also known as equational sentence) is a linguistic term that refers to a nonverbal sentence (i.e. a sentence without a finite verb). As a nominal sentence does not have a verbal predicate, it may contain a nominal predicate, an ...

, it can also be read as "I am She/He" or "It/She/He is I". The term is found in Vedic literature, and is a phrase that identifies "oneself with the universe or ultimate reality".

History

This phrase is found in

Principal Upanishads Principal Upanishads, also known as Mukhya Upanishads, are the most ancient and widely studied Upanishads of Hinduism. Composed between 800 BCE to the start of common era, these texts are connected to the Vedic tradition. Content The Principal U ...

such as the Isha Upanishad (verse 16), which ends: : (...) तेजो यत्ते रूपं कल्याणतमं तत्ते पश्यामि योऽसावसौ पुरुषः सोऽहमस्मि ॥१६॥ : ' : "The light which is thy fairest form, I see it. I am what She/He is" (trans.

Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born philologist and Orientalist, who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic disciplines of Indian ...

) Soham, or "I am She/He", is very common in ancient and medieval literature. Some examples include:

Upanishads The Upanishads (; sa, उपनिषद् ) are late Vedic Sanskrit texts that supplied the basis of later Hindu philosophy.Wendy Doniger (1990), ''Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism'', 1st Edition, University of Chicago Press, , ...

* Sannyasa Upanishads such as Naradaparivrajaka Upanishad,

Nirvana Upanishad The ''Nirvana Upanishad'' ( sa, निर्वाण उपनिषत्, IAST: Nirvāṇa Upaniṣad) is an ancient sutra-style Sanskrit text and a minor Upanishad of Hinduism. The text is attached to the Rig Veda, and is one of the 20 Sannya ...

, Ashrama Upanishad, Maitreya Upanishad and Satyayaniya Upanishad. * Yoga Upanishads such as '' Dhyanabindu Upanishad'' and '' Yogashikha Upanishad'' * ''

Hamsa Upanishad The ''Hamsa Upanishad'' ( sa, हंसोपनिषद्) is a Sanskrit text and a minor Upanishad of Hinduism. It is classified as one of the twenty Yoga Upanishads, and attached to the ''Shukla Yajurveda''. The text or parts of the text is a ...

Tantras Tantras ("''doctrine''" or "''framework''" or "''system''" ) refers to numerous and varied scriptures pertaining to any of several esoteric traditions rooted in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy. The religious culture of the Tantras is essentially ...

* ''Gandharva Tantra'' * ''Kali Tantra'' * ''Kularnava Tantra'' * ''Mahanirvana Tantra'' * ''Niruttara Tantra'' Stotras * ''Bhaja Gaureesam'' * ''Gowresa Ashtakam'' * ''Shakthi Mahimnah Stotram'' * ''Tripurasundari Vijaya Sthava'' Adi Shankara's '' Vakya Vritti'' subsequent works in the

Nath Nath, also called Natha, are a Shaiva sub-tradition within Hinduism in India and Nepal. A medieval movement, it combined ideas from Buddhism, Shaivism and Yoga traditions in India.Hatha yoga. * Matsyendranath's ''Yogavishaya'' * Gorakshanath's ''Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati'' * Gorakshanath's ''Yoga Bija'' * Gorakshanath's ''Goraksha Shataka'' * Jñāndev's ''Lakhota'' * Jñāndev's ''Yogapar Abhangamala'' *foundational for Swara yoga the original script ''Shiva Svarodaya'' as well as the classical yoga treatises '' Gheranda Samhita'' and ''

Shiva Samhita ''Shiva Samhita'' (IAST: śivasaṃhitā, also ''Siva Samhita'', meaning "Shiva's Compendium") is a Sanskrit text on yoga, written by an unknown author. The text is addressed by the Hindu god Shiva to his consort Parvati. The text consists of fiv ...

'' all make mention of ''soham'' and ''hamsa'' describing its significance and when teaching uniformly teaches ''So'' on inhalation and ''ham'' on exhalation. This traditional practice in its several forms and its background is described in numerous other books.

Hamsa

Swami Muktananda - although teaching the traditional ''So'' on inhalation and ''ham'' on exhalation as a letter from 1968 to Franklin Jones reveals - later published a book teaching ''Ham'' on inhalation and ''sa'' on exhalation. This practice is described in several later books all referring to Muktananda. The teaching of ''Ham'' on inhalation and ''sa'' on exhalation is allegedly alluded to in a text of Kaśmir Śaivism, the '' Vijnana Bhairava'': However, this verse 155b is not found in the ''Vijnana Bhairava'' first published in 1918 in the Kashmir Series of Text and Studies but is quoted from a commentary by the

Abhinavagupta Abhinavagupta (c. 950 – 1016 CE) was a philosopher, mystic and aesthetician from Kashmir. He was also considered an influential musician, poet, dramatist, exegete, theologian, and logicianRe-accessing Abhinavagupta, Navjivan Rastogi, ...

disciple Kṣemarāja in his ''Shiva Sutra Vimarshini'' (commentary on the Shiva Sutras) in later editions of ''Vijnana Bhairava''.

Yoga

When used for meditation, "Sohum" acts as a

natural Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

to control one's breathing pattern, to help achieve deep breath, and to gain concentration. * ''Sooooo...'' is the sound of inhalation, and is remembered in the mind along with that inhalation. * ''Hummmm...'' is the sound of exhalation, and is remembered in the mind along with that exhalation. Soham is also considered a

Tantrism Tantra (; sa, तन्त्र, lit=loom, weave, warp) are the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed on the Indian subcontinent from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards. The term ''tantra'', in the Indian ...

and Kriya Yoga, known also as ''Ajapa mantra'', ''Ajapa Gayatri'', ''Hamsa Gayatri'', ''Hamsa mantra'', ''prana mantra'', ''Shri Paraprasada mantra'', ''paramatma-mantra'', and as such used notably on its own, in the

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

practice ajapa japa and in the kriya practice shabda sanchalana.

References

Bibliography