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Prana is the breath of the Sun God |
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Written by Sanjay Rath
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Thursday, 17 January 2008 01:00 |
 Sohamsa is the name of the Sun God as addressed to by Sri Ganesha. Soham is a Sanskrit word or mantra which means I am Him (Him refers to the omniscient Brahma) and thus, Soham is the mantra stating ‘aham brahmasmi‘. All the living beings on earth produce this sound ‘So’ while inhaling and ‘Ham’ when they exhale. This mantra which is a constant prayer of every living being proclaims the fact that the creature is a living soul akin to God, its creator. All vedic seers are unanimous that one can attain moksha, or liberation from the cycle of rebirth by meditating on the breath and mentally repeating the mantra ‘soham‘. By doing so, all evil is destroyed and one becomes equal to the devas. Soham is a combination of two words saH + ahaM. The joining of saH + ahaM is governed by the principle of Visarga Sandhi and represents Paramatman/ Absolute. In the reverse, the word ‘hamsa‘ is derived from joining of the words ahaM + saH and represents the Jivatman/ individual soul. These two words sohaM and haMsa are the same with reversed phonemes representing pranayama (breathing process) where one starts with the inhalation and the other with exhalation. Taken together, these words sohaM + haMsa = sohaMsa and refers to the merging of the Jivatman and Paramatman…and that alone is the real goal of Jyotisa or Vedic Astrology. Every other seemingly significant objective is only another milestone for this goal. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 12 February 2008 03:01 )
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