Kriya of Five Sounds
Sa-Ta-Na-Ma

This wonderful Kriya washes the mind, adjusts the elemental balance in the body, gradually develops a relationship with your presence above the head and increases projection, presence and healing ability.

For all these benefits, it is a simple practice, but must be done daily for the accumulative effect. Practice for a minimum of forty days. Some days it is heaven, others, not much at all seems to happen. Take heart that during the not-much-happening-days, if you can keep the sincerity of focus at this time it is perhaps doing the greatest good, literally penetrating through subtle resistance and rewiring the brain.

Sit with a straight spine, in a meditative composure. Eyes are marginally open looking downward, keeping the tip of the nose in view. Do not strain the eyes, as it is a subtle connection. This downward glance helps your centering in the body, at the same time stimulating the region between the eyes and keeping you internal.

Feel, activate, or simply imagine a continual beam of light-presence from above your head entering the body. For this particular Kriya, direct most of the light to the center of the head (pineal gland) and then turn it ninety degrees and let it project out through the forehead, into infinity. Keep this visualization going throughout the practice.

Rest your hands on knees and begin chanting:

As you chant:

Saa Press thumb and first finger together.

Taa Press thumb and second finger together.

Naa Press thumb and third finger together.

Maa Press thumb and little finger together.

All the sounds are pronounced as in “ma.” Keep going in this cycle, letting the breath adjust itself automatically. Every once in a while, sense that the energy required to touch the thumbs and fingers together originates from the navel region. Create a disk of light around the waist and sense it traveling up through the body, out the arms and to the fingers.

Chant in the following format of three voices:

5 Minutes Normal voice

5 Minutes Whisper

11 Minutes Silent (continuing inwardly)

5 Minutes Whisper

5 Minutes Vocal

for a total of 31 Minutes

During the silent part, keep the mantra inwardly going, along with the visualization and movement of the fingers. Switching through the different voices helps the penetration of your wakeful state into the subtle realms and back again with full recollection and integration. The whispering has a sense of etheric penetration, a voice of longing, of lovers. During the silence keep the mind on the mantra, going deeper into your soul.

When finished, inhale deeply and hold the breath, channeling presence up the spine. Be particularly sure to keep the neck straight, chin slightly tucked in and the mind focused. Hold as long as comfortable. As you release the breath be sure to keep the neck lock, as there can be a real rush of energy. If so, tighten muscles around the spine and neck to contain the energy so you do not get dizzy. Sit quietly for a few minutes, then stretch the hands overhead for a few seconds.

Additional Refinements

Feel the mantra originating on a current of light from above the head. As you say each syllable, it descends into the head and exits through the forehead into infinity. Do not follow the sound; rather let it go.

If you are able to hear the internal tones, then try feeling the current of light also as this current of sound. As you say each syllable, let its sound originate from the sound current, again a few inches to a foot above the head, then down and out through the forehead. When this happens you will be listening to the chant as much as you are saying it.

Meaning of the Mantra

It is advisable to simply focus on the sounds in their vibratory quality. Do not let the mind move around too much in intellectual meaning. This helps you to simply be present in a deep way with the practice. As you are able to hold this, then you can bring in an additional richness through understanding the meaning of each syllable, letting the mantra become the embodiment of that quality.

Saa is the infinite sea of our light presence, radiant emptiness.

Taa is bringing forth an image, a definition, or a point of focus within that light. It also means “yes,” and is a reference to the Goddess and the light at the third eye.

Naa is purification, alignment and elevating our vibratory consciousness to accept and integrate this light being brought forth into our life.

Maa is the birth, the manifestation of this light into our world.

Together Sat is our god-head, the eternal radiant presence, or simply truth. Naam translates as our identity. Together Sat Naam means “I Know my Eternal Self-Radiant Identity,” or “I AM Radiant,” or “Emptiness and Form,” traditionally simplified as “I AM Truth.”

This meditation tells the story of the eternally radiating light of the sea of emptiness being consciously qualified into identity, the preparation for that light to be integrated into existing creation and finally the joy of manifest creation. In Buddhist terms, Saa is the universal grounds of the dharmakaya. Taa is for lack of a better word, our soul within the dharmakaya coming into sambhogakaya. Naa is our sambhogakaya image coming into nirmanakaya (physicality). Maa is the bliss of the continuum, the mother of creation in oneness (emptiness).