THE MEANING OF SO’HAM

So ‘ham is the first mentioned in the Upanishads, ancient text written in Sanskrit, and in that language so ‘ham means “I AM THAT” It has come to us through revelation. All mantras belong to the universal language. Its phonemes, words, and groups of words were revealed to the seers in their deep SAMADHI, and eventually they were compiled in the form of the Vedas. 

This realization simultaneously led him to experience the other component of the truth; I exist because of that; I am because of that. This experience is even more vivid when we notice that the sound so with our inhalation immediately merged into the sound ham as we exhales- and with this sound ham the sage felt himself merging into the cosmos. 

So for him the sound ham meant “I.” As this process continued, his experience was; I am that that I am, I am that, that I am……… The sound of the inhalation was a flat sah with a little aspirate sound at the end. The sound of inhalation is as heard as so only if the exhalation, the sound a ham appears in the outgoing breath. 

Thus, if inhalation and exhalation are disconnected from each other, they contain two distinct sounds—sah and a ham- but the moment the breath flows without interruption or pause, each merging into the other; Sah= That Aham= I Sah + Aham= so ‘ham Meditating on so ‘ham yields remarkable results. So’ ham is a mantra of the fundamental life- force, prana. It pulls together all the pieces of our mind, senses, and body, removing our scatteredness, bringing a sense of wholeness, and most important, quieting our mind. 

But once this has happened, this quieter and more concentrated mind tells us that there are deeper and more subtle problems beneath the surface. The meditative mind does not create these problems; it simply reveals them: the hidden facts in our personality that must be faced and conquered.