Science of Knowledge & Wisdom

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 sadh...

Any practice or technique of meditation that brings about complete cessation of consciousness is called laya yoga. There are many sadhanas recommended in laya yoga and nada yoga is one. The word nada is derived from the Sanskrit root nad, meaning 'to flow'. Hence the etymological meaning of nada should be a process or a flow of consciousness. Ordinarily the word nada means sound. There are four stages of manifestation of sound according to frequency and subtlety or grossness. The four stages are: (i) para, (ii) pashyanti, (iii) madhyama and (iv) vaikhari. These four stages of sound should be understood scientifically. Para Nada: Para means 'transcendental, 'beyond' or 'the other side'. It is beyond the reach of the indriyas, or sense organs, and the mind and other means of cognition. Hence para nada is the transcendental sound. It is indicative of a truth that there is a sphere of super-consciousness where the sound is heard in different dimensions...

Ritual is like a vast deep ocean. It is not possible to give a definitive description in this article, so this will be a glimpse of the potential of ritual, but there will still be much mystery, which is the very nature of ritual. Rituals of religion, like the husk of a seed preserve its life and make it germinate. Philosophy without religion becomes meaningless. Religion without rituals becomes insipid. The rituals of a religion, like the husk of a seed, preserves its life and make it germinate. It is only when the rituals are separated from the faith and assume an independent existence that they become mechanical and lifeless. Human beings have not yet reached those heights where they can dispense with all sorts of symbols and rituals and devote themselves to purely abstract principles. Rituals give a concrete shape to the abstract spiritual ideals and add color and zest to life. Worship of God through symbols and images, offering oblations into specially cons...