Shabda yoga (Yoga)

, using sound as the means for transforming consciousness, as practised in the Sikh religion. It includes the practice of [simran]

, internal repetition, of "five names", the names of the five internal spiritual regions of ascent in mystical experience: Jyoti Niranjan; Onkar; Rarang; Sohang; Sat Nam. Names of God or yogic mantras may also be used, all with the aim of focusing the attention inwards and upwards and ultimately transcendence of body and mind in [nirvikalpa samadhi]

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The difference between shabda and mantra yoga is that here one does not start with a mantram but sets out to discover the inner sound and to identify one's self with the universal sound current. This may at first be perceived by the inner ear in a variety of forms - bells and other instruments, animal and human voices, water, thunder. It may be in systematic sequence and refer to the energy centres in the body where the sounds seem to occur as practice proceeds. Some sounds are not of this world and bring ineffable states, some represent the action of vast cosmic voices into which the small self is absorbed. It is an exploration of the states known to Jewish and Muslim mystics but more particularly in the aural mode.