Soham (Sanskrit)

Soham (सो ऽहम् so 'ham) is a Hindu mantra, meaning "I am He/That" in Sanskrit. (See also: Tat Tvam Asi.)

When it applies to a person's name, according to Vedic philosophy it means identifying oneself with the universe or ultimate reality. Some say that when a child is born it cries Koham-Koham which means Who am I? That is when the universe replies back Sohum. You are the same as I am. It also stems from the Sanskrit word which means, "self pride."

When used for meditation, "Sohum" acts as a natural mantra to control one's breathing pattern, to help achieve deep breath, and to gain concentration.

• Sooooo... is the sound of inhalation, and is remembered in the mind along with that inhalation.
• Hummmm... is the sound of exhalation, and is remembered in the mind along with that exhalation.

Soham is also considered a mantra in Tantrism and Kriya Yoga, known also as Ajapa mantra, Ajapa Gayatri, Hamsa Gayatri, Hamsa mantra, prana mantra, Shri Paraprasada mantra, paramatma-mantra, and as such used notably on its own, in the meditation practice ajapa japa and in the kriya practice shabda sanchalana.

The mantra is also inverted from so 'ham (the sandhi of saḥ + aham) to ham + sa. The combination of so 'haṃ haṃsaḥ has also been interpreted as "I myself am the Swan", where the swan symbolizes the Atman. An etymology of haṃsa "swan, goose" (in fact cognate with English goose) as from ahaṃ sa "I am that" is found in the 14th century commentary on the Vedas by Sayana (14th century).

Soham

so 'ham is an emphatic form of aham, the first-person pronoun ("I"), translating to "I myself". Interpreted as a nominal sentence, it can also be read as "It/He is I". Its use as a mantra emerges in mystical Sanskrit literature of the medieval period. The mantra is sometimes claimed to originate with the Isha Upanishad (verse 16), which ends:

yat te rūpaṃ kalyāṇatamaṃ tat te paśyāmi yo 'sāv [asau puruṣaḥ] so 'ham asmi

"The light which is thy fairest form, I see it. I am [that] what He is (viz. the person in the sun)" (trans. Max Müller)

In several Advaita Vedanta Upanishads

• Dhyana-Bindu Upanishad
• Hamsa Upanishad
• Maha Vakya Upanishad
• Suka Rahasya Upanishad
• Surya Upanishad
• Tripuratapini Upanishad
• Yoga Chudamani Upanishad
• Yoga Sikha Upanishad

Tantras

• Gandharva Tantra
• Kali Tantra
• Kularnava Tantra
• Mahanirvana Tantra
• Niruttara Tantra
• Shri Nathanavaratnamalika

Stotras

• Bhaja Gaureesam
• Gowresa Ashtakam
• Shakthi Mahimnah Stotram
• Tripurasundari Vijaya Sthava

Adi Shankara's Vakya Vritti subsequent works in the Nath tradition foundational for Hatha yoga

• Matsyendranath's Yogavishaya
• Gorakshanath's Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati
• Gorakshanath's Yoga Bija
• Gorakshanath's Goraksha Shataka
• Jñāndev's Lakhota
• Jñāndev's Yogapar Abhangamala

and foundational for Swara yoga the original script Shiva Svarodaya as well as the classical yoga treatises Gheranda Samhita and Shiva Samhita all make mention of soham and hamsa describing its significance and when teaching uniformly teaches So on inhalation and ham on exhalation.

This traditional practice in its several forms and its background is described in numerous other books.

Hamsa

Swami Muktananda - although teaching the traditional So on inhalation and ham on exhalation as a letter from 1968 to Franklin Jones reveals - later published a book teaching Ham on inhalation and sa on exhalation. This practice is described in several later books all referring to Muktananda.

The teaching of Ham on inhalation and sa on exhalation is allegedly alluded to in a text of Kaśmir Śaivism, the Vijnana Bhairava:

Air is exhaled with the sound SA and inhaled with the sound HAM. Then reciting of the mantra HAMSA is continuous

— Vijnana Bhairava, 155a

However, this verse 155a is not found in the Vijnana Bhairava first published in 1918 in the Kashmir Series of Text and Studies but is quoted from a commentary by the Abhinavagupta disciple Kṣemarāja in his Shiva Sutra Vimarshini (commentary on the Shiva Sutras) in later editions of Vijnana Bhairava.

See also

• Tattvam Asi
• Aham Brahmasmi
• "אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה" (I Am that I Am), Biblical name of the God in Judaism
• "كن فيكون" (Kun fayakoonu) (Be, and it is), words of Allah in the Qur'an