Vedas: Sound and Creation

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This is a continuation of the chapter Vedas from

" Hindu Dharma " , which is a book that contains English

translation of certain invaluable and engrossing

speeches of Sri Sri Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi

MahaSwamiji.

 

Sound and Creation

 

What is sound? According to modern science, it is

vibration. " If you examine the core of an atom you

will realise that all matter is one. " This Advaitic

conclusion is arrived at according to nuclear science

and the concepts of Einstein. All this world is one

flood of energy (sakti); everything is an

electromagnetic flow. But how do we account for the

manifestation of different objects? It is to be

attributed to different type of vibrations.

 

Where there is vibration there is a sound. Conversely,

to produce a sound the vibration corresponding to it

must also be created. The scientific concept that the

different vibrations of the same energy are the cause

of creation is the same as the belief that world was

created with the breath of the Paramatman manifesting

itself as the sound of the Vedas.

 

Consider human beings and other creatures. What is it

that determines their health and feelings? The breath

that passes through our nadis, blood vessels, during

respiration produces vibrations and on them depends

the state of our health. Those who keep their

breathing under control through the practice of yoga

are healthy to an amazing degree. They do not bleed

even if their veins are cut. They are able to remain

buried in the earth in samadhi stopping their pulse

and heartbeat. They are not poisoned even if they are

bitten by a snake or stung by a scorpion. The reason

is that they keep the vibrations of the nadis under

control during breathing.

 

Breath is vital not only to the body but also to the

mind. The mind which is the source of thought and the

vital(pranik) energy that is the source of breath are

the same. Healthy or unhealthy thoughts are to be

attributed to different vibrations of the nadis. You

may test this for youself. See for yourself how you

breathe when you are at peace before the sanctum of a

deity or in the presence of a great and wise person

and how you breathe when your mind is quickened by

desire or anger. The happiness you experience when you

take part in something divine, like a bhajan or

atemple festival, must be different from the pleasure

that sensual gratification gives you: the vibrations

of the nadis concerned will also be correspondingly

different.

 

When you experience joy of an elevated kind the

passage of breath will be through the right nostril,

but when you are enjoying sensual pleasure it will be

through the left. When you meditate, with increasing

concentration, on the Reality Serene which is the

source of all your urges and feelings, the breath will

pass through both nostrils slowly, evenly and

rhythmically. When you are absorbed in the object of

your meditation breathing itself will cease, but there

will still be life. The great awareness called jnana

will then be in bloom as it were.

 

The inert body of a man and the awareness that is the

vital essence of his life are both dependent on the

course of his breathing. They grow or decay according

to it. The course of a man's breath keeps his inner

vibrations in order.

 

Is it not from the Paramatman that so many countless

inert objects and so many sentient beings have

originated and grown? The movements appropriate to

these should have also occured in the Ultimate Object

that is the Paramatman.

 

Even according to non-dualism, the Brahman that is

utterly still and is unconditioned and has no

attributes (nirguna) manifests itself in the countless

disguises of this cosmos with the power of Maya, Maya

that cannot be described. Disguises or no disguises,

we have to concede the existence, in a mundane sense,

of the inert world and of the sentient beings. But we

must remember that even Maya has its source in Isvara

who is " Mayin " . But the power of Maya apart, all that

we see have arisen from the vibrations in the Object

called the Parabrahman. At the same time, with all

these vibrations, this Object remains still and

tranquil inwardly. This stillness not withstanding,

there are movements that are apparent to our

perception. They are not disorderly movements but

constitute a system embracing vast heavenly bodies

like the sun at one end and the tiniest of insects on

the other or even something as humble as a blade of

glass.

 

It is this orderliness that goes to make worldly life

happy. The Paramatmam has created this by bringing all

powers of nature within an orderly system. But if you

sometimes see flaws in it and the natural forces going

against us, it is because he likes to be playful now

and then.

 

The human mind can go astray to any length. Indeed it

keeps wandering aimlessly like a globin or an imp.

Whatever the extent to which cosmic life is orderly,

it (the human mind) breaks free from all control and

runs about like a mad dog.

 

When the powers of nature are unfavourable to us, is

there a way to change their behaviour and make them

favourable to us? Is there also a means by which our

mind could be brought under control when it goes

haywire? If everything is caused by vibration, by

sound, there must be a way of making the forces of

nature favourable to us and of purifying our mind and

bringing it under control through this very sound. The

Vedas constitute such sound.

 

By controlling our breath through the practice of

yoga, it is possible to gain access to the breath of

the Paramatman and by this means perform such actions

as can uplift our own Self as well as mankind. Here

the vibrations of the nadis do not produce the sound

that is audible to us. Science tells us that there are

sounds outside the range of human hearing in the same

way as there is light that does not pass through the

lens of the human eye.

 

However, it is possible to bring within us (within our

reach) that which is without. When a musician sings on

the radio, the sound of his music is converted into

electromagnetic waves which travel through space. But

how do we hear music? The receiving set captures the

electromagnetic waves and reconverts them into sound

waves.

 

(Science is not opposed to religion. It seems to me

that it even helps in the growth of religion. A

century ago, before the radio and the telephone were

invented, it would not have been easy to counter the

arguments of an atheist who dismisses claims made on

behalf of the sound of the Vedas as absurd. Now the

discoveries of science have come to our rescue. )

 

It is possible for humans to earn the power of energy

possessed by such an inert object as the radio set.

Indeed we can earn much more, do much more. It is

tapas, ascetic endeavour, that will give us such

energy. What is tapas? It is the determination to find

the truth: it is keeping the mind one-pointed in this

search, forsaking food, sleep, home, everything. But

when you are a seeker like this, you must remain

humble and erase the least trace of egoism in you. You

must realise that the truth you seek will be revealed

to you only with the grace of Isvara. The sages

performed austerities in this manner and attained to

the highest plane of yoga. They could perceive the

vibrations in creation, that is the course taken by

the breath of the Supreme Godhead. Besides, they also

knew them as sound capable of being heard by the human

ear in the same manner as electric waves converted

into sound waves. It is these sounds that they have

passed on to us the mantras of the Vedas.

 

The Vedas are called " Sruti. " That which is heard is

Sruti. " Srotra " means the " ear " . The Vedas have been

handed down orally from generation to generation and

have not been taught or learned from any written text.

That is how they got the name of " Sruti " . Why were

these scriptures not permitted to be written down?

Because the sound of the Vedas cannot be properly

transcribed. There are sounds or phonemes that cannot

be accurately represented in any script. For instance,

the one between " zha " and " la " . Such sounds have to be

learned by listening. Besides there are svaras for

Vedic mantras (tonal variations, proper

accentuation): " udatta " (raised syllable),

" anudatta " (lowered syllable) and " svarita " (falling

syllable). Mistakes in enunciation are likely even if

diacritical or some other marks are used in the

printed text. Wrong chanting will not bring the

desired results. There is much difference in the

vibrations caused by pronouncing a syllable laying

stress on it and pronouncing it without any stress.

Correspondingly, there will be changes in our feelings

and urges and the divine forces that rule nature.

There is a story in the Taittiriya Samhita of the

Vedas which illustrates how wrong chanting can produce

results contrary to what is intended. Tvasta, the

divine carpenter, chanted a mantra with the object of

begetting a son who would be the slayer of Indra. But

he went wrong in the intonation of some syllables. So,

unwittingly, he prayed for a son who would be slain by

Indra instead of one who would slay that celestial.

And his prayer (that had gone wrong in the intonation)

was answered. When the wavelength shifts even minutely

on our radio we receive the broadcast of a different

transmitting station. Fine-tuning has to be done to

get the required station. So is the case with the

intonation of Vedic mantras. There should not be the

slightest mistake in the svaras. Just as we receive a

different station on our radio when the wavelength is

changed, so the result is different when we go wrong

in the intonation.

 

This is the reason why it is of the utmost importance

to learn the Vedas by listening - hence the name

" Sruti " , in Tamil " Ezhutakkilavi " (unwritten old

text). Another explanation occurs to me for the name

" Sruti " . The sages heard, did they not, the sound of

the divine vibrations that cannot be perceived by the

common people? Did they read the Vedas in any book or

did they compose them themselves? Sruti is an apt name

for the Vedas since they were made known to the world

after they had been first heard by the sages.

 

The Vedic seers have the name of " mantra-drastas " --a

" drasta " is one who sees. In Tamil it is " parppavan " .

" Parppan " also means the same thing. If the sages

" saw " the mantras it would mean that they did not

" hear " them. Which of the two versions is correct? Did

the sages see the mantras or did they hear them? If

they saw them, in what script did they appear? There

was no script at the time, neither Devanagari nor

Grantha nor Brahmi, the basis of all. But, then, the

sound of Vedas, their svaras, cannot be truly written

down in any script.

 

The answer to this problem is that when the sages were

meditating the mantras of the Vedas appeared to them

in a flash in their hearts. It may be that in this

state of theirs they could neither see nor hear

anything. The mantras must have appeared in a flash in

the inner recesses of their minds.

 

" Seeing " or " looking " does not denote merely what is

perceived by the eye. It is a term that covers a

variety of perceptions and experiences. When we say

that a man has " seen " all sorrows in his life, does

the term " seen " imply only what he " saw " with his

eyes? Does it not mean what he has " experienced " ? The

term " mantra-drasta " also could be taken in a similar

manner as referring to what is perceived through

experience. It is further believed that the sages were

able to hear the Vedas with their divine ears.

 

Arjuna wished to see the Lord's cosmic form

(visvarupa). The Gita has it that Krsna Paramatman

said to him: " You will not be able to see my cosmic

form with this eyes of yours. I will give you a

celestial eye. . . . . "

 

Just as Arjuna was endowed by the Lord with a divine

eye, the sages must have been invested with celestial

ears to grasp the sound emanating from the Paramatman

and pervading the vast space.

 

The vibrations of the Vedas serve the purpose not only

of creation and the conduct of life. There are indeed

Vedic mantras that help us to transcend this life and

become one with the Ultimate Truth. When a man returns

by the same way as he comes, does he not arrive at the

starting point? In the same way when we go seeking how

creation came about, we are led to the point where

there are no vibrations, no movements, where there is

utter stillness. Some mantras that create vibrations

in our nadis accomplish the same noble task of taking

us to such a goal. Such are the Upanisadic mahavakyas

and Pranava.

 

In sum, the Vedas are not anyone's compositions. The

sages did not create them, nor were inscribed by the

Paramatman on palm-leaves.