Question: Can we hear AUM inwardly if we can't say it out loud?

Sri Chinmoy: It is quite possible to utter the word AUM silently or to hear it inwardly without actually saying it. Wherever we are, the sound of AUM is already there. We have only to enter into the sound. If we know how to enter into the original source of the sound, which is inside the heart, then we need not chant aloud. We chant AUM aloud because when the outer mind is convinced, we get greater joy and a greater sense of achievement. We can very often hear the sound of AUM without chanting it ourselves, but we do not know whether it is coming from our heart or from the atmosphere.

Sometimes during our meditation seekers hear the sound of AUM although nobody is chanting it aloud. This means that inwardly somebody has chanted or is chanting AUM and the meditation room has preserved the sound. If we are conscious during sleep, we will hear the sound. It is not the heartbeat we will hear, but the soundless sound. We will hear and feel it most convincingly.

If you want to meditate while you are in some public place where there are all kinds of noise, what can you do? If you go deep within, from inside either you can bring to the fore just a drop of infinite Peace, or you can bring forward a louder sound. That louder sound is not a destructive sound, but a sound that contains indomitable power. It gives us the feeling of how potentially great and divine we are. If you can bring your indomitable power to the fore and become one with the force which is coming from your heart, you will see that the outer noises of the world are no match for your inner sound.

When you are surrounded by outer noises, try to enter into your own inner sound itself. To your surprise, you will see that the sounds which disturbed you one minute ago do not bother you now. On the contrary, you will get a sense of achievement because instead of hearing noise, you will hear divine music, and that divine music is produced within you.