A lot of Guru Siyag's disciples experience the Anahat Nad.

We have been asked a

number of times what the it is and what its experience implies. Below is a brief
note on this topic (courtesy GSY disciple Jui Pagedar).
Nad in the ordinary sense means sound of any kind. It is created when one object
touches, strikes, ruffles or hits another object. Thunder in the sky, rustling
of the wind, chirping of birds, strains of instrumental vocal music, whirring of
machines, blast of guns, and many other natural or man-made sounds fall in this
category of physical sound.
The term Nad however has a different and special connotation in Yogic literature
and practice. Nad in spiritual sense is an unstruck sound
a sound which has not
been created by the friction between any objects. It is a ceaseless sound which
pervades the entire universe. According to ancient scriptures like the Vedas an
d the Upanishads, it is from this Anahat (eternal / endless) sound that the enti
re universe came into being. In fact it is also said that Nad is the manifestati
on of the divine absolute itself in the form of sound, Om . It is this divine sound
that connects the seeker with higher planes of consciousness.
Many Guru Siyag s Yoga practitioners, after experiencing the Ajapa Japa (involunta
ry chanting) stage begin to hear a peculiar non-stop sound in one of the ears. T
his sound resembles any one of the limitless varieties of natural or manmade sou
nds. Some of the commonly experienced sounds are: chirping of crickets, buzzing
of bumble-bees, notes of a flute, strumming of Veena (a stringed Indian musical
instrument), pealing of bells, clash of cymbals etc. This sound that the practit
ioner hears is called the Anahat Nad (endless sound). Though this Nad resembles
sounds commonly heard in our physical world, it is actually a subtle version of
the divine sound that the mantra given by Gurudev represents (Vaikhari Vani or t
he articulated word is the grossest form of divine sound energy).
So the practitioner actually becomes aware of (or senses) rather than hears the
Nad. As the Nad is a subtler form of Gurudev s mantra, and it is always the seeker s
endeavor to ascend to subtler planes of consciousness, the practitioner must st
op chanting once the Anahat Nad begins. Before one stops chanting, it is importa
nt to ensure that the Nad can indeed be heard ceaselessly and is not a brief exp
erience. Listen to the sound carefully for a couple of days. If the intensity of
sound grows and can be even in a noisy environment, then know that what you hea
r is the Anahat Nad.
Gurudev advises disciples to listen to this Nad intently as much as possible. By
listening to the Nad with concentration for long periods, the practitioner s wave
ring mind gets attuned to the divine sound and eventually becomes one with it. D
uring meditation, the human body acts as the medium for receiving and experienci
ng vibrations from subtle planes that lie far beyond our physical world. Therefo
re, Nad that a seeker hears in his ear is not a physical sound but a subtle soun
d emanating from its original divine source.
The significance of Nad can be seen in the context of Gurudev s lucid explanation
of how an individual s spiritual evolution is directly linked to the descent of th
e divine into matter when the universe was created through Om , the unstruck sound.
The creation of the physical universe happened through five sequential stages w
hen Om, the divine itself, descended from Akash (sky/ ether), the highest plane,
through Vayu (wind), Agni (fire) and Jal (water) onto Prithvi (earth). Each one
of the five descending elements represented a grosser form of the divine than t
he previous one. Prithvi represents the grossest form of matter where the divine
settles down and assumes myriad forms from human to the tiniest of insects and
germs.
There is a subtle element called Tanmatra behind each natural element. These Tan
matras give us our five physical senses. Thus sky has Shabd (speech), the divine
word or sound as a subtle element; wind has Sparsh (touch); fire has perception

(seeing); water has Swad (taste) and earth has Gandh (smell). These physical se
nses tie us down to the material plane as a result of which we forget our true d
ivine self and get mired in the illusion of joys and sorrows.
We can get out of this trap, says Gurudev, by reversing the process of divine de
scent into matter. When we practice the mantra-meditation, our awakened Kundalin
i helps us to rise in consciousness by conquering each element along with its ph
ysical sense and ultimately reach the pinnacle of spiritual evolution in Sahasra
ra. The Nad then is the divine sound from which we descended and it is to this d
ivine sound we return, to our original home.