Soham, “I am That”

Soham or Sohum (सो ऽहम् so ‘ham or so ‘Hum) meaning “I am He/That”

It means identifying oneself with the universe or ultimate reality.

Breathing both physical and subtle, is made up of inspiration and expiration. The air that is driven out of lungs during expiration makes the sound HAM and the inhaled air during inspiration produces the sound SAH.

The two words together makes the Sanskrit word HAMSAH (GOOSE, SWAN), synonym for the supreme spirit.

The HAM sound, the seed mantra (bij mantra) of Shiva symbolises the creative principle of consciousness. The SAH sound, the seed mantra of shakti, represents the feminine creative principle of dynamic energy.

If we reverse word HAMSA, it spells SOHAM in Sanskrit and specify the identity of the individual soul (aham-I) and the supreme spirit (SAH-That).

SOHAM is made up of following vowels and consonants: s-o-h-a-m, when the consonants `s` and `h` are removed from soham, we are left with OM. 

This sacred mantra covers the entire range of articulate sound and is the symbol of cosmic order.