Sound is the first manifestation of the absolute. Super charged with transcendent soul force, sound is the one powerful principle in all creation that widely influences and effectively brings under control all other manifestations. Many examples can be quoted to bear testimony to this claim of sound regarding both the individual and the cosmos.
Music fills the mind with sattwa. Music generates harmony in the heart. Music melts the hardest heart. It softens the brutal nature. Music comforts, soothes and cheers the afflicted. It comforts the lonely and the distressed. Music removes worries, cares and anxieties. It makes you forget the world. Music relaxes and elevates.
Music is not an instrument for titillation of the nerves or satisfaction of the senses. It is a yoga sadhana which enables you to attain Self-realization. Music should be treated as yoga. True music can be tasted only by one who has freed himself from all taints of worldliness, and who practises music as a sadhana for Self-realization.
Music is nada yoga. The various musical notes have their own corresponding nadis or subtle channels in the kundalini chakras. Music vibrates these nadis, purifies them and awakens the psychic and spiritual power dormant in them. Purification of the nadis not only ensures peace and happiness of mind, but goes a long way in yoga sadhana and helps the aspirant to reach the goal of life very easily.
The rishis of yore have invariably written their inspiring works either in the form of poetry or in the form of songs. The vedas, smritis, puranas etc. are all set to music, and are metrical compositions. There is rhythm, metre and melody in them. The Sama Veda, especially, is unrivalled in its music. Music is an aid in the treatment of diseases. The sages affirm that many diseases can be cured by the melodious sound of a flute or violin, a veena or a sarangi. Harmonious rhythm caused by sweet music draws out disease. The disease comes out to encounter the music wave. The two blend together and vanish in space.
Like the unique Vedanta philosophy, the ancient yet vibrant Sanskrit language, the all-encompassing system of Yoga, Indian music is yet another exercise of the Indian mind in its path of exploration into the mysteries of Nature and of Ultimate Truth.
The word Bharata (India) – which is condensed out of the musical expression Bhava, Raga and Tala, rightly emphasises the inalienable relationship between the thoughts, words and actions of human life, and music in India. On one side, it can be said that it is the music within, the Sat-Chit-Ananda (Existence-Knowledge- Bliss Absolute) that finds manifold expressions outside in man’s life. Viewed from the other side, it is the sublimation of actions, words and thoughts that lead one to hear the same music within.
Sound as the Source of Creation
In India, music is considered as a subtle divine thread capable of linking the Jeevatman (individual soul) with the Parmatman (Supreme Soul), a concept originating in the Tantric idea of Sabdabrahman, the primeval source of creation. This idea finds expression in the eloquent words of the renowned violinist Yehudi Menuhin, ‘Indian music reflects Indian life having no predetermined beginning or end but flowing without interruption through the fingers of the composer-performer.’
To fully understand the beauty, depth and elevating qualities of Indian music, one must therefore understand, if not experience, these concepts at least to some extent.
It is believed that the Supreme Being is of the nature of Sabdabrahman or Nadabrahman. This Ultimate Sound Principle gets manifested as its vibrations. Through the Samyoga and Viyoga i.e. the union and separation of these vibrations, Sabdabrahman creates the world of ‘forms’, from the sub-atomic to the biggest and the mightiest! The entire cosmos is the manifestation of Sabdabrahman. That being so, in uniting the entire creation, lies ‘Naada’. As the Naada evolves, differentiates and expands from the subtle to the gross, it gives rise to articulate sounds- ‘Varnas’, ‘Srutis’ and ‘Swaras’ – and moves on to create ‘Ragas’, capturing the ‘Bhavas’ (moods) of the mind. From Varnas arise by permutations and combinations, the world of ‘forms’.
Today scientific substantiation of these concepts has been forthcoming through the experimental demonstration that different geometrical figures can be produced by manipulating sound! That means it is possible to reduce all ‘physical forms’ to ‘sound forms’ and vice-versa. In other words, form is sound made manifest. According to the Tantras there are 50 basic sounds out of which the world of forms has come into being.
Power of Music:
The effects of music are so profound that the influence is carried through to each and every cell in the body. Music can elate and invigorate a sad person and vice versa. Some musicians have even been able to show how certain music and tone can help alleviate the problems of so called 'incurable' illnesses. Today, in South India, a famous Karnatic musician performs 'music therapy' with great success.
Of course this is a mere side benefit. As the mind and body attain purer and more refined states, the perceptive field of the mind also increases. Music can bring showers of rain, just as it can light a lamp. Thus, the power of music can capture and enrapture the wandering mind and raise it to such a level of concentration that musical ecstasy becomes a meditation. Here there is no difference between the accomplished yogi or musician, because of the realisation that the great force and power pervading all sentient beings is the same. When the individuality of the yogi and musician merges into the ocean of eternal vibration beyond time and space, then there is only:
Poornat, Poornamudachayate
Poornasya, Poornamadaya,
Poornameva, Avasishyate.
Om Shantih, Shantih, Shantih.
Classification of Sabda or Sound
Nowhere in the world has the science of Sound and Music been studied so deeply and exhaustively as in ancient India. Panini, Patanjali, Bhartruhari, Nandikeswara, Anjaneya and Bharata are outstanding among those who have contributed to the unravelling of the mystery of sound, music and creation. The ‘Sabda’ itself is classified into Para, Pashyanti, Madhyama and Vaikhari.
1.The grossest of these four is Vaikhari, the dense audible sound.
2. Madhyama is the stage where thought takes the form of sound or word.
3. Pashyanti is the preceding stage where ‘thought’ assumes a ‘form’ where sound vibration becomes ‘visible’ in the mind. At that stage, there is no impress of language on the form. That is, here the barrier of language has no meaning.
4. Beyond it lies the subtlest, highest and most transcendental stage of Para where neither thought, nor names nor forms find a place, as there are neither waves nor wavelengths there. It is the ultimate unifying substratum – the undifferentiated, yet potential sound of Sabdabrahman. This is the stage of Godhead – sans thought, sound or form, the goal of deep meditation.
No wonder that such a concept and understanding of music developed into a form of worship (Nadopasana) and has carried many on its wings to self-unfoldment and merger with the Ultimate Truth or Parabrahman. From the unmanifest to the manifest, from the manifest to the unmanifest, thus goes the cycle of Naada (sound), stretching from Eternity to Eternity – linking everything without any distinction of desa-kala-nama-roopa (place, time, name, form). Only in the land of Nataraja (cosmic dancer; Shiva), Saraswati (goddess of learning), the Veena (stringed musical instrument), Murali (flute), could such a sublime concept have been conceived, creating a vibrant life, science and tradition in music.
Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa had beautiful visions bearing on this principle. He used to see a long white thread proceeding out of himself.
‘This mass would open and within it he would see the Mother with a Veena. Then, she would begin to play and as she played he would see the music turning into birds and animals and worlds and arrange themselves. Then she would stop playing and they would all disappear. The light would grow less and less distinct till it was just a luminous mass, the string would grow shorter and shorter and the whole world would be absorbed into himself again.’
What an incomparable vision! A condensed drop of the entire philosophy of sound and music.
Origins of Indian Music:
Our ancient seers living in communion with Nature must have ‘seen’ and heard the music in myriad ways and forms. In the rising sun, in the light of the stars, in the heights of the snow-clad Himalayas, in the thick forests, in the thundering clouds, in the gurgling Ganges – in the cries of birds and animals, in the blooming of flowers, dropping of petals, ripening and sweetening of fruit, in birth, growth and decay of created beings, anywhere and everywhere, they would have felt the resonance of the one Naada. Capturing this music in Nature, they must have felt their souls ringing in harmony with them and instinctively realised the same Naada vibrating within them. With joy and thrill, they must have picked up the basic notes and built around them their grand repertoire:
SA -from the cry of the peacock with its two sounds of lower and higher pitches
RE -from the cry of the bull
GA-from that of a goat
MA-from the cry of the Krauncha bird
PA-from the voice of the Koel in spring
DHA- from the neighing of the horse, and
NE-from the cry of the elephant.
It is said that Lord Shiva in his cosmic dance produced from his Damaru various types of sounds and the great saint, Patanjali, grasped them in his Maheshwara Sutras and explained the formation of the universe. According to this view, the origin of the 7 basic notes can be traced back to Shiva.
According to some others, the 7 keynotes, which form the units of music all over the world, personify 7 levels of human consciousness. Out of this consciousness springs forth the stream of life, essentially consisting of one’s aspirations to reach that sanctum of happiness, bliss and fulfilment within. In a particular direction, it is called music, in another, dance, in a third, painting, in a fourth, poetry. But among all the fine arts, the finest is indeed music. One, who has understood Naada as the very basis of music, realises it as the subtlest of vibrations, which forms the life-current in each and every cell in his body. It is this omnipresent Naada, which, following particular rhythms, curves and waves, flows through our life, enriching us with experiences. If one tries to discover it within and manifest it without, it becomes the fittest musical instrument in the hands of the Supreme and his life itself turns into a music with a rare melody of tune and rhythm.
Sound used in Spiritual Practice or Upasana
The study of Indian music has its own practical lessons to impart to our every day life. To learn music is a discipline in itself, controlling one’s body, breath, voice, one’s very nature itself. In childhood, learning music helps one to develop a rhythm and order in his daily activities. Through Upasana of naada, he catches glimpses of the unity in diversity. In the second stage, by enriching the Bhavana (feeling) in the music, one can control and sublimate the emotions of the mind. As the evening of life approaches, music turns into a source of peace and joy. Equanimity and tranquillity of mind come as by-products of an advanced musical mind. If one is a true Upasaka (earnest student), before long, from the outer music he will turn towards the inner and start enjoying the subtlest of music – the Anahata Naada, the soundless sound – in the innermost chamber of one’s heart. Thus, music can truly form the vehicle to take man from the gross to the subtle, from the finite to the infinite. As his life’s vibrations become attuned to the divine, his soul’s music reveals to him the music in the creation and of the creation. He finds the entire universe resounding with the Eternal notes – Soham Soham.
The chords of life can be tuned properly as in a musical instrument with self-effort. If one masters this art of tuning, and brings out the best of Swaras without any Apaswaras, then his life becomes attuned to the Supreme Music and he would sing the soul-stirring music of love, compassion and understanding.
Veenaavaadana tatwajnaha;
swarajnaana vishaaradah;
Talajnachaaprayatnena;
param brahmaadhigacchati
“One who plays the Veena with full knowledge of the basic principles of sound, the science of tune evolution and the beat of music could attain Parabrahman without much effort.”
There is no aspect of life where music cannot play its role. The soothing of the nerves and the calming of the mind that music brings about are marvellous. Just as a mother can sing her child to sleep through her lullabies, at every context in life, whether in the farms or factories, in games or studies, music can bring in a sense of unity and harmony. In India, we have established long long back, that through proper combinations of Swaras we can create Ragas, which have the capacity to call forth forces of Nature such as the rain, fire, etc. Stones can be melted, glass can be broken, and lamps can be lighted. Trees and plants can respond to the music of one who has attuned himself to the Eternal vibrations.
The Glory of Indian Music
According to classical music the number of ragas is equal to the number of nerves in the human body. These ragas were discovered by great musicians like Thyagaraja and Swathithirunal, who lived during different times. However, only a limited number of ragas were known even to such great musicians. Nowhere in history can we find a single musician who could master the entire range of classical music, or whose mastery of ragas exceeded more than seventy thousand (equivalent to the number of nerves in the body). This just goes to prove the infinitude of the classical musical world.
Today, Indian music has caught the attention of musicologists, scientists and other learned men. With more and more research in the field of Indian musicology, more and more hidden treasures are surfacing. In spite of all the ups and downs it has gone through the several centuries of its growth, Indian music has retained its highly aesthetic and elevating spirit and its unique individuality.
Rightly has Shakespeare said of music:
“The man that has no music in himself, nor is moved with sweet concord of sweet sound, is fit for treason, stratagems and spoils.”
Nearer home, we have the Lord Himself proclaiming:
Naaham vasaami Vaikunthe,
Na yogi hriday gaavati
Madbhakta yatra gaayanti
Tatra tishthami Naarada
“I dwell not in Vaikunth (heaven), nor in the hearts of Yogins, nor in the sun; but where my devotees sing, there, O Narada, do I reside.”
That is the uniqueness of Indian music. May that all-pervading Nadbrahman, remove all the Apaswaras (discordant tunes) from our lives and fill it with pleasing, unifying and harmonising Swaras so that the music of our lives may flow melodiously, taking us from untruth to Truth, from darkness to Light, from death to Immortality.
From the Mahabharata, Santi Parva, Section CLXXXIV
I shall now tell thee the different kinds of sound. They are the seven original notes called Shadja, Rishabha, Gandhara, Mahdhyama, Panchama, Dhaivata and Nishada. these are the seven kinds of the property that appertains to space. Sound inheres like the Supreme Being in all space though attached especially to drums and other instruments. Whatever sound is heard from drums small and large, and conchs, and clouds, and cars, and animate and inanimate creatures, are all included in these seven kinds of sound already enumerated. Thus, sound, which is the property of space, is of various kinds. The learned have said sound to be born of space. When raised by the different kinds of touch, which is the property of the wind, it may be heard. It cannot, however, be heard, when the different kinds of touch are inceptive. The elements, mingling with their counterparts in the body, increase and grow. Water, fire, wind are always awake in the bodies of living creatures. They are the roots of the body. Pervading the five life-breaths (already mentioned) they reside in the body.
From The Secret Life of Plants, by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird
Mrs. Rattallack ran a series of trials with sweet corn, squash, petunias, zinnias and marigolds. Under controlled experiments, playing of rock music caused some of the plants at first to grow either abnormally tall and put out excessively small leaves, or remain stunted. Within a fortnight all the marigolds had died, but only six feet away identical marigolds, enjoying the classical strains by Hayden, Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert etc., were flowering. More interestingly, Mrs Rattallack found that, even during the first week, the rock music-stimulated plants were using much more water than classically entertained vegetation. Despite this an examination of the roots on the eighteenth day revealed that soil growth was sparse in the well watered group, averaging only about an inch, whereas in the second, it was thick, tangled and about four times as long.
Acid Rock Music
Further experiments in which Mrs. Rattallack submitted her plants to Acid Rock Music, a particularly raucous and percussive type of music that subordinates harmony to volume and tempo, revealed that all the plants leaned away from this cacophony. When she rotated all the pots 180 degrees, the plants leaned decidedly in the opposite direction. The plants were definitely reacting to the sounds of rock music. Mrs.Retallack guessed that it might be the percussive component in the music that so jarred her plants and she therefore started yet another experiment. Selecting the familiar Spanish tune, ‘La Paloma’ she played one version of it played on steel drums to one chamber of plants and another version played on strings to a second. The percussion caused a lean of ten degrees away from the vertical, which was very little in comparison with the rock; but the plants listening to the fiddles leaned fifteen degrees towards the source of the music. At eighteen day repeat of the same experiment using twenty five plants per chamber including squash from seed, and flowering and leafy type plants from green houses, produced largely similar results.
Affects of Music on Plants:
By Chandra Mukhi Neel, USA.
In my project I investigated whether different kinds of music would affect the growth of plants. My prediction was that there would be an effect. Earlier I had heard about plants dancing to music. Before playing music to the plants, I predicted that those that had western classical music played to them would do the best.
For this project I made eight terrariums. In four of the terrariums were plants labelled A, B, C and D. In the other four terrariums were seeds labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4.
• To A and # 1, I played western classical music.
• To B and # 2, I played rock music.
• To C and # 3, I played Indian music, mantras.
• To D and # 4, I played no music.
I took the plants into the house from the deck outside, one at a time, and placed them in my dining room in front of the stereo. Then I played their respective music to them.
Over the weeks I noticed that D, the plant that has had no music played to it, has one to two more flowers than plants A, B and C. It has one new bud less. The leaves are fewer by two to five, and they are not as long as the leaves on plants A, B and C. At first I thought that plant D was doing the best because of its flowers, but really its growth is slower and there are fewer leaves.
However, in the seeds, the results are that the shoots of #3, which had the mantras played to it, are doing the best. The shoots are taller than the shoots of the other seeds by one to five inches. Each shoot also had four to six leaves more than the other individual shoots.
I read some books about experiments being done with plants and found out that I was not the only one who has experimented with the effects of music on plants. Several botanists have carried out this experiment. They found that crops that had music played to them grew stronger, better and more quickly. There was also more crop yield, with more seeds, than the crops that had no music played to them.
In conclusion, I have learned that different kinds of music do have an effect on a plant's growth, especially Indian mantra music. So might it not do the same for human beings?
Affects of Music on Plants:
By Chandra Mukhi Neel, USA.
In my project I investigated whether different kinds of music would affect the growth of plants. My prediction was that there would be an effect. Earlier I had heard about plants dancing to music. Before playing music to the plants, I predicted that those that had western classical music played to them would do the best.
For this project I made eight terrariums. In four of the terrariums were plants labelled A, B, C and D. In the other four terrariums were seeds labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4.
• To A and # 1, I played western classical music.
• To B and # 2, I played rock music.
• To C and # 3, I played Indian music, mantras.
• To D and # 4, I played no music.
I took the plants into the house from the deck outside, one at a time, and placed them in my dining room in front of the stereo. Then I played their respective music to them.
Over the weeks I noticed that D, the plant that has had no music played to it, has one to two more flowers than plants A, B and C. It has one new bud less. The leaves are fewer by two to five, and they are not as long as the leaves on plants A, B and C. At first I thought that plant D was doing the best because of its flowers, but really its growth is slower and there are fewer leaves.
However, in the seeds, the results are that the shoots of #3, which had the mantras played to it, are doing the best. The shoots are taller than the shoots of the other seeds by one to five inches. Each shoot also had four to six leaves more than the other individual shoots.
I read some books about experiments being done with plants and found out that I was not the only one who has experimented with the effects of music on plants. Several botanists have carried out this experiment. They found that crops that had music played to them grew stronger, better and more quickly. There was also more crop yield, with more seeds, than the crops that had no music played to them.
In conclusion, I have learned that different kinds of music do have an effect on a plant's growth, especially Indian mantra music. So might it not do the same for human beings?
Comments
Post a Comment