Antar Maoun
inner silence

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Discovering your inner light. Lighting the lamp of self knowledge.

A meditation practise that develops your will power and a prerequisite for pratyahar, Antar Maoun teaches you to silence superficial thoughts in order to hear your inner silence.

The practise of Antar Maoun has multiple stages, and with each sequential and unskippable stage you dive deeper into your inner self. The full practise can take a few hours, and takes years to achieve. Start the stages in order, adding on the next one when you have some mastery over the earlier stages. Begin with a 5 to 10 minutes practise and increase to 15 to 20 minutes in a few weeks.

This practice of Antar Maoun has psychological, physiological and emotional benefits which will become apparent within three months of regular practise.

Prep

Start with taking on a comfortable seated asana with hands on thighs or knees, in chin or gyan mudra. Take a few deep and slow abdominal breaths, about three to seven breaths, depending on how revved up you are when you begin.

Stage 1 - pausing the Jnanendriyas

Become aware of all your senses, noting their inputs with no reaction. Without moving your head, look around you, slowly moving your eyes over and across the full scope of your visual field. Take in these visually observations your immediate surrounding and then gently drop your eyelids over your eyes. No pressure or tightness to be felt on your closed eyes.

Next focus on the sounds streaming in from all around you. Listen to each one, identify it and move on to the next one. Just note the sound without making any judgements about good or bad, pleasantness or irritation. Say goodbye to the external stimuli now, and prepare to move the focus of your senses to inside your body.

Once all the sounds falling on your ears have been acknowledged and let go of, now focus your awareness to what your nose can smell - become aware of, acknowledge and then let go of each nasal input.

Now focus on the taste in your mouth, the lingering flavours on your tongue from the last time you ate, the texture of your tongue moving across the inside of your mouth and its feel on your upper palate.

Next, observe the sensations of hot or cold, breeze or sweat on your skin. Make note of the anbient temperature, of the sensation of the surface you are seated on, and on any movement of air or sensation of heat all over your skin.

Once you have performed these salutations to all five senses (indriyas), when their inputs have been observed, acknowledged and let go of, you are now ready to do the same for the mind. So, consciously say goodbye to your indriyas, telling them to cease calling for your attention to their inputs for a while. Move your focus further inside, past the annamaya kosha, deeper into yourself, to the mind.

Stage 2 - cessation of thoughts

Now focus inward, on your mind, and become aware of all the thoughts that are spontaneously arising in your head. DO NOT try and control these thoughts, just watch your thought processes. Be aware of each thought as it arises, and ponder as to why it arose; then note the thought and let it go. Move past the thought, leaving it behind as you move further into the empty space of your mind.

Sometimes no thoughts may arise for some who are new to this practise.It could take a while before your mind is accustomed to this new practise of throwing up thoughts spontaneously, and that is okay. Keep up with the practise and your mind will become gradually grow habituated to spontaneously throwing up thoughts. This habit of your mind is very helpful during stressful times. Gently witnessing the thoughts your mind throws up at this time clarifies and corrects your perspective.

Stage 3 - Sankalp

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