Kundalini Yoga Glossary
Naad
The sound current beneath the sound, reached through the practice of mantra.
Meaning
What Naad Means
Naad is the sound current: a vibration reached through the practice of mantra, where hearing and thought settle into a single point of focus. It is about hearing the sound within the sound, listening past the surface of a word to what it points toward.
Mantra is the sound chanted out loud. Naad is the sound heard deep within, the experience mantra is used to reach. Practicing mantra is how most people access Naad; the two are closely linked but not identical.
In Practice
How It’s Used
Students reach Naad through repeated mantra practice, most directly through Sa Ta Na Ma, where each of the four sounds points to a stage of life: infinity, life itself, the ego's death and renewal, and rebirth.
Chanting occupies the conscious mind, so day to day thought falls away. Over time this is described as a merger through rhythm and Naad into anahat, the unstruck sound of the heart, which changes the structure of consciousness itself.
