The T-angle Arm Rest in the Aum technique:
Chanting the mantra Om is a common fundamental meditation practice (japa yoga) in Indian religions. It is used in many Eastern faiths. It is said to be the first sound. There is a lot about it in the Upanishads.
Now with reference to the body. Let a man meditate on the udgîtha as the breath (in the mouth), for he goes sounding Om
This entry is about the SRF version.
They do not actually chant om but instead plug their ears and listen to the sounds in their right ear.
This T-Angle armrest is a board with a handle used to rest your arms on while listening to the aum sound in your plugged ears. You are supposed to be able to hear it in your Right ear. The aum is a cosmic sound of creation. According to Yogananda it is the "Holy ghost" as in "Father, Son, Holy ghost". This claim does not seem to be supported by the Vedas (or the Bible either but more about that below). If you listen you can hear the om which is kind of like the holy ghost whispering in your ear. Since God didn't make us with a built in arm rest we were compelled to use this board when practicing this technique.
SRF did not want us to bring these boards to Sunday group meditations or use them in public places. Therefore we proudly snuck around with them, to conceal them from public view.
disassembles for easy handlingAs with every technique you first pray to the Gurus of SRF before starting. To do this technique you put your thumbs in your ears and your pinkies on your eyelids, then you hum "om" inwardly without moving your mouth or tongue.
stick your thumbs in your ears, keep your mouth still, pinkie on the eyes and be careful where you position that arm rest handle
All I ever heard was the pressure building up on my eardrum, movement of my fingers, buzzing tinnitus and the pulse in my thumb culminating in a symphony of thumping and ringing that MIGHT have been a ghost for all the popping and racket going on. If I tried harmonizing with it I could imagine it was an om sound. If I really tried and really, really, really believed....
According to the SRF lessons with the "help of your Guru" you will feel the om sound as the rotating of the Earth and all of the feet walking on it and cosmic space! So maybe that is what all the noise was about, I don't know...
Yogananda says it is "the comforter" but I never found the technique very comforting.
Yogananda sites passages from the Biblical book of Revelation as referring to the Aum sound. I'm guessing he never actually read Revelations and possibly not the Upanishads either.
Even the bad review John of Patmos gives the lukewarm Asian Laodicean Church (Revelation 3:14-22) is considered "proof" to Yogananda of the unity of East and West via the om sound.
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.
John sitting on the volcanic island of Patmos writing about what is wrong with every church in the area.
7 Churches of The Revelation
Actual Ruins of the city of Laodicea
Solid Proof that you should put your thumbs in your ears
Ommm....
This is an example of Yogananda taking things out of context and repackaging them. These little 'holy snippets' he presents in the SRF lessons are out of context and his interpretations don't mean squat. There was no Holy Ghost mentioned or even implied in the Upanishads and there was no Om mentioned or even implied in the book of Revelations.
Anyone who takes a minute to read either book can see that there is zero unity between the two.
I do not have an opinion as to what the om is or isn't. Maybe some people can hear it when they stick their thumbs in their ears. I do not have an opinion of what the holy ghost is or isn't, you would have to ask a theologian. I do know that the stuff Yogananda is putting out there in the lessons as "proof" is totally nonsense.
This technique is actually a short term sensory deprivation technique.
People experiencing sensory deprivation often report perceptual disturbances such as hallucinations, especially over extended periods of time. However, there is little evidence concerning short-term sensory deprivation and whether its effects differ depending on the individual concerned, and in particular their proneness to psychosis. This study explored whether perceptual disturbances could be elicited by a brief period of complete isolation from sound and vision in both highly hallucination prone and nonhallucination prone groups. Greater psychotomimetic experiences taking the form of perceptual disturbances, paranoia, and anhedonia were found across both groups when under sensory deprivation. In addition, hallucination-prone individuals experienced more perceptual disturbances when placed in short-term sensory deprivation than nonprone individuals. This result is discussed in terms of difficulties in source monitoring as a possible mechanism involved in proneness to hallucinations.
Peace and Best Wishes,
Katie
