What happens when I hear a sound during deep meditation?

Beloved Osho, whenever I am in a silent space I hear a sound -- something like `aum' or humming. I love this rhythmic, sweet, unending sound. In certain activities too, when I am total and silent, this listening happens. Is it okay to listen and enjoy this sound, or is it a projection or daydreaming?

First thing to remember: you should not repeat any sound as a mantra, as a chanting, because when you repeat you create -- then it is your mental projection. If you are simply silent and you hear a certain humming, then it is the sound of existence. That humming has been heard for centuries by meditators. That humming has been given a special name in the East, OM. It is not exactly OM but it is something similar. It has to be remembered that in Sanskrit -- which is the oldest language in the world, the mother language of all civilized languages in existence -- they don't write OM in letters. They have made a special symbol for it just to create a distinction, to indicate that it is not something to do with language, it is beyond language, and it is not part of the Sanskrit alphabet. The way…

Beloved Osho, in the last two years, while in deep meditation I have been hearing a sound. It's a sort of ocean sound, like distant ocean waves. I call this noise my tone and enjoy it as a sign of the beginning of silence. But the other night I heard you say that we can hear our blood circulating. Is this what I am hearing? Can you give me any insights other than just watching, which is what I have been doing when I hear this sound?

Bodhinavar, it is not the sound of your blood circulating. The sound of your blood circulating can be heard only in an absolutely soundproof room; there is no other way to hear it. The sound that you are hearing is far more significant. It is the sound which the ancients in the East have called the sound of the universe, the sound of existence itself. They have named it omkar. It is the sound of Om, and if you listen carefully you will find exactly the word Om repeated again and again in the sound. Om is not part of any alphabet -- it is the only word in the world which does not belong to any alphabet -- neither does it mean anything. It simply resembles the sound of existence. When you are utterly silent you can hear it. The ancient seers and modern physics are very close on…

Beloved Osho, when I close my eyes I often hear the sound of a tiny bell ringing within. Can you please tell us about hearing, meditation, sound and silence?

It is possible that hearing inside you a tiny bell when you enter into meditation may be related to your past life, particularly as a Tibetan, because for centuries in Tibet this has been the conditioning of the mind -- that when you enter meditation, you hear tiny bells. And if a conditioning has been continued too long, it is carried into new lives. But hearing the tiny bell is not meditation; it is just a conditioning. When you start entering into total silence where no bells are ringing, then meditation begins. The tiny bell rings in the mind, and meditation is a state of no-mind. Tiny or not tiny, no bell can ring there; it is utter silence. But many religions, particularly in the East... and the most prominent is the Tibetan religion which has used tiny bells. It is a significant technique but dangerous, as all techniques are:…

Some friends come to me and say, Osho, we keep hearing all sorts of sounds. When will this stop?

It is never going to stop. You are not to become unconscious so that you don’t hear sounds. No—meditation will not come by the stopping of sounds. Sounds are there, and within you no reaction, no response arises—meditation is concerned only with this much. A man is shouting next door; nothing happens to you: you hear, and nothing happens. A sister came to me today and said that in the last fifteen minutes of the afternoon silence her heartbeat increased a lot. So many sounds became audible that she got frightened; she felt like getting up and running away. Not hearing sounds would be a swoon. Hearing sounds and reacting by running away—that is the ordinary state. Hearing sounds and simply listening, remaining only the witness, the watcher—that is meditation. You are not to become stupefied. Whatever is happening, you will know it all—but it will become dreamlike. As long…

Thus there are two ways to say it: either call it the soundless Word—the tone that is not born of collision, not born of the impact of two—or the saints have chosen another precious term: Anahata Nada. Anahata means: not produced by striking, not produced by collision. Is there such a sound that is Anahata? Is there a sound born without striking? If there is such a sound, that alone is the fundamental note of life. Several points need to be understood. Whatever is produced by collision will perish. For collision generates a quantity of energy, but how long will that energy last? I clap my hands; the impact of my hands releases a limited force. How long will it resound? Whatever has been produced will be destroyed. Whatever is made will be unmade. Buddha said: that which is compounded cannot be eternal, cannot be Sanatana. How could it be?