Why you like what you like.
Sand, Sanskrit and the science of sound.
I’m grateful to one of my students for his excellent question this week, which I realized this morning would make a relevant topic in this format.
Q: What is the significance of sound as it relates to our practice? From the sound of our bija mantra to the onomatopoetic sounds of Sanskrit, and the sound of the shruti… why sound? As a side question, can deaf people learn VM?
A: Sound and form are infinitely correlated. Sound is the basis of all matter, and all that we’ve come to call reality. At the deepest layer, everything is vibration. Not in a ~vibes~ kind of way, but in a way that science has long acknowledged is a fundamental truth. There is much more that can be said about this, but that knowledge is reserved for advanced Vedic studies.
Sanskrit Sounds
Whereas English, Italian, Chinese, etc. are symbolic languages, Sanskrit is an onomatopoetic language. The English word “cup” has no relationship to the essence of the cup—it is simply a word we’ve agreed will represent that form. Sanskrit is not a symbolic or conversational language, but a language which imitates the language of nature, which is sound. In Sanskrit, 100% of the words have a form that can be caused to manifest, if the sound is imitated from the simplest form of Being.
If you’ve ever been deep in meditation, or just deeply de-excited, you may have heard that very faint, high-pitched sort of ringing sound. That’s called the shruti, and everything in existence issues forth from it. It’s the sound of all of creation. The aum mantra, which should only ever be used by monks and monastics wishing to rid themselves of all materiality, is descriptive of the shruti.
Vedic bija mantras used for transcendence are Sanskrit sound vibrations; they are not words, and they have no meaning. They have been passed down through an oral (read: sound-based) tradition for millennia. Different mantras are given to different people by qualified teachers who have been trained in determining which will be most resonant with that person in terms of vibrational frequency match. This is why the bija mantra is so effective, and why other techniques, even those which use other words or sounds as mantras, cannot compare. The mantra does not function on an aesthetic level. Embedded within it is a certain frequency, which, when repeated subtly by the correct person, will cause certain effects to manifest.
Why We Like What We Like
The concept of sympathetic vibrational resonance extends beyond mantra-giving. Everyone has their own unique vibration, which gives rise to a unique psycho-physiology, which has unique proclivities, and responds differently to different stimuli. It’s why we naturally favor or disfavor certain smells, flavors, sounds, or people.
As my teacher’s teacher, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, explained on national American television: sometimes, you meet someone, and you just naturally feel drawn to or repelled by them, though they may have done nothing at the surface level to elicit this response. This is vibrational dissonance at play. This is also the reason we’d never want to use a mantra other than the one prescribed to us by a qualified teacher—it could actually have a disorienting or even harmful effect.
Sympathetic Sound Vibration
As the various instruments of an orchestral ensemble tune to the pure, stable, and all-pervading tone of the oboe in order to maximize their performance capabilities, when the right sound is matched with the right person at the right time and in the right way, it creates a powerful tuning effect. In a sense, each person’s mantra is their own personal oboe, which contains the perfect frequencies to locate and engage with the subtle frequencies of their own mind and body and bring any dissonant frequencies back into harmony.
Inner Sound
As for deaf people receiving Vedic mantras, the transmission works on a subtle vibrational level. In the same way that a deaf person can feel the bass of a subwoofer at a concert, they can feel the subtle vibration of the mantra from inside.
Let’s discuss these and other ideas during Collective Effervescence, our online group meditation series, this Sunday February 22nd at 12PM ET. Drop in for meditation only (first 30 min) or stay for discussion + Q&A on this and other life topics from the Vedic perspective. Join the WhatsApp group to receive reminders 24 hours before each session, or click Subscribe on this page to have all upcoming dates automatically sync to your preferred calendar.
Been listening to a lot of The Cure this week while riding my bike around Miami.
Great one, and The Cure - cherry on top.