Stillness · “Stillness Reveals”
Antar Mouna
Reach ‘inner silence’ by progressively witnessing sense-perceptions and thoughts — first watching them, then consciously raising and dropping them, then letting the mind empty — until awareness rests beyond thought.
Sit still and witness, in stages:
(1) watch sounds and sensations without reacting; (2) watch thoughts come and go; (3) deliberately raise a thought, see it fully, let it go; (4) catch a spontaneous thought and drop it at will; (5) let the mind empty, rejecting each thought as it appears; (6) rest in inner space. Always the unattached witness — never forcing, never suppressing.
What it is
Antar Mouna (Sanskrit, “inner silence”) is a staged meditation on the activity of the mind itself, systematised by Swami Satyananda Saraswati of the Bihar School of Yoga.
It is classed as a pratyahara (sense-withdrawal) and dharana (concentration) practice. Rather than fixing on a single object, you work through a sequence: become aware of sense-perceptions, then of thoughts, then learn to deliberately raise and dispose of thoughts at will, and finally let the mind empty into silence.
It is one of Satyananda’s two signature meditative contributions (the other being Yoga Nidra), and it differs from generic mindfulness by its explicit, trainable stages — including the unusual step of consciously inviting thoughts in order to master them.
The Method
Satyananda lays out six stages (worked through gradually over many sessions):
- Awareness of sense perceptions. Sit still; instead of fighting sounds, smells, sensations, witness them without reaction until external impressions no longer pull you. (Becoming the unaffected observer.)
- Awareness of spontaneous thoughts. Watch thoughts arise and pass without engaging or suppressing them — pure witnessing of the mind’s traffic.
- Conscious thought raising and disposal. Deliberately call up a chosen thought (often a charged or troubling one), look at it fully, then consciously let it go. By voluntarily raising and dropping thoughts, you gain mastery over them rather than being driven by them.
- Awareness of a spontaneous thought, then disposal at will. Combine: let a thought arise on its own, recognise it, and consciously dismiss it — building effortless control and a growing “mental vacuum.”
- Emptiness / no thought. Aim to empty the mind; the moment any thought appears, gently reject it. Awareness rests in the gaps — the experience of inner silence beyond thought.
- Awareness of the psychic symbol (chidakasha). Hold awareness of one’s inner symbol/space, used to stay conscious while moving into deeper subconscious states. Throughout, the stance is the relaxed, unattached witness (drashta).
Source & Lineage
Antar Mouna comes from tantric and yogic tradition and was brought into systematic, teachable form by Swami Satyananda Saraswati (1923–2009), founder of the Bihar School of Yoga, who taught it prominently from the school’s first international teacher-training course in 1967 and documented it in Meditations from the Tantras (Yoga Publications Trust). → suggested node.
Common refinements
Rushing to stage 5. “Empty mind” only works once witnessing (1–2) is stable; forcing silence early just creates strain.
- Suppressing instead of witnessing. In stages 1–2 you watch, you don’t push thoughts away — suppression backfires.
- Wrestling with the raised thought (stage 3). Look at it and let it go; don’t ruminate or analyse endlessly.
- Losing the witness. If you get absorbed/identified, gently step back to “I am the one watching this.”