Yogananda’s Cosmic Chants have the power not only to uplift and inspire, but also to heal. Concerning the above-mentioned chanting experience at the Carnegie Hall, he adds in his Autobiography of a Yogi: “Divine healings had taken place that evening among the devotees chanting with love the Lord’s blessed name.”
In fact, in his Praecepta Lessons, he describes chanting as a powerful tool for healing:
“In connection with singing, chanting, or intoning away physical disease or worry, or spiritual ignorance, one must know the law of intonation from high to low, low to whisper, whisper to mental, subconscious to superconscious, chanting.
This is the method of converting loud words full of meaning into realized experiences, assimilating the truth of a word or words by chanting loudly and mentally until they become a part of the soul’s realization.
Or one must induce the superconscious, peaceful state first, and from that state chant mentally or in whispers, or loudly as one pleases. Mental chanting is best for individuals. Loud chanting, ranging from low to high, or vice versa, is good in congregations.
Before chanting, the law of repetition should be understood or explained. Western minds often fail to grasp the [life-] changing depths of conviction in Hindu chantings and see only a monotonous repetition of a word, or words.
Of course, repetition of words without understanding their meaning with deep and deeper feelings and realization is useless. It is better to repeat just one phrase as: ‘O Father, heal me,’ or ‘I am well, for Thou art in me’ extemporaneously (as it comes), repeating it vigorously from low to high, or high to whisper, and lastly from a whisper to mental affirmations, until one feels what he is saying, that is, repeating a phrase with varying depth of soul feeling until one realizes the meaning of his utterance in every fiber of his being.
This is ‘At-one-ment’ with one’s own affirmations through loud and mental chanting. The moment the phrase reaches the superconsciousness and the inner conviction, a volley of energy will shoot down and vibrate and heal the diseased tissues of the body, mind, and soul, electrocuting physical bacteria, paralyzing mental fears, and conflagrating ignorance into ashes.”