Question: When one chants AUM aloud fifty, sixty or a hundred times and then stops, is the AUM that continues up above the head in the silence related to the turiya state of consciousness?

Sri Chinmoy: No, the turiya consciousness is far, far above the head. The Sahasrara chakra is at the crown of the head, in the subtle body. When you stop chanting AUM, if AUM starts vibrating above your head, it is not functioning or vibrating in the turiya state.

The soul does chant AUM and if you can hear it and identify yourself with the soul's chanting, then you can come to the turiya state. But no matter how powerfully you yourself chant AUM, your chanting will not approach the turiya consciousness.