There is a state in meditation when the sounds you hear disappear !
People generally think meditation is concentration or focusing your mind on something. This is one method of yoga but it is a slow process.
The mind cannot reach the divine. The soul, which is a ray of the divine can. The soul can concentrate on the divine. So, for spiritual progress, the first step is to realize you are not the mind. This step means not to use the mind to concentrate but to merely expand your consciousness, observe the mind. Once you realize that you are the soul, you have the option at this point to choose between observing the divine or the maya. This is the beginning of meditation. The soul can naturally and constantly remain submerged in the divine but it takes years of practice to be constantly aware or realize you are not the mind but you are the soul.
Everyone has desires. It is our attachment to desires that is binding us. Learn to let go of the attachment of the deisre and God will get rid of the desire. We enjoy our desires and are unwilling to let go of it. eg. if someone were to come and say, “I can bless you and from now on you will never have sexual desires or enjoy eating food anymore” we will immediately object to that blessing.
According to Patanjali, Sayama is the ability to merge all 3 things (eg. observer, observation and object) merge into one within a second! Gurudev could do this at all times!.
According to Aurobindo, Nigraha is suppression or not fulfilling the desire. In this case, the attachement to the deisre is still there. In Sayama, you not only do not fulfil your desire, you also let go of the attachment to the desire. You deny the desire it self (not suppress it). For eg. if you like Pizza, in Nigraha you choose not to fulfil the desire. In Sayama, not only do you not eat the pizza but you let go of the desire for pizza itself. Be careful, that you do not delude yourself into believing you are practising Sayama out of ego. To practice Sayama, requires a total surrender to the Divine
Bhavin