YOGA OF SOUND-TEXT 1/18/06 12:31 PM Page 122 122 of cultivating a larger ear has never been more necessary than it is now; it will result in a proportionately larger heart, facilitating an authentic acceptance of other cultures and their vibrations. The Unstruck Sound MANY TREATISES on the practice of Nada Yoga describe various stages of listening to the body via the right ear. For instance, the Nada-Bindu Upanishad describes a process of yogic meditation in which the aspirant listens to eleven different internal sounds with successive degrees of subtlety: The yogis should always listen to the sound [nada] in the interior of the right ear. This sound, when constantly practiced, will drown every external sound [dhvani] from the outside.... By persisting... the sound will be heard subtler and subtler.at first, it will be like what is produced by the ocean, the cloud, the kettledrum, and the waterfall.... A little later it will be like the sound produced by a small drum, a big bell, and a military drum; and finally like the sound of a tinkling bell, the bamboo flute, the harp, and the bee. 6 The point of the exercise is to keep the yogi listening, because as we get closer to the inner experience of sound in our body, the sound starts to change. Another scripture, the Darsana Upanishad, describes the perception of sounds in the highest position or chakra in the body, referred to here as the Brahma-randa, located at the crown of the head. When air [ prana] enters the Brahma-randa, nada [sound] is also produced there, resembling at first the sound of a conch-blast and then like the thunder-clap in the middle; and when the air has reached the middle of the head, like the roaring of a mountain cataract. Thereafter, O great wise one! The Atman [indwelling Divine Presence], mightily pleased, will actually appear in front of thee. Then there will be the ripeness of the knowledge of the Spirit from yoga and the disowning by the yogi of worldly existence. 7 While many of these passages seem esoteric, or even fanciful on occasion, they all point to a sonic universe that reveals itself to us as we become increasingly attuned to it. About twenty years ago, I read The Prophet, 8 by Lebanese mystic Kahlil Gibran; you are no doubt familiar
YOGA OF SOUND-TEXT 1/18/06 12:31 PM Page 123 nada yoga 123 with this extraordinary mystical treatise. I was just beginning to explore the Yoga of Sound at that time, and I was profoundly struck by this statement: A seeker of silences am I,and what treasure have I found in silences that I may dispense with confidence? Earlier, he also wrote, Then the gates of his heart were flung open, and his joy flew far over the sea.and he closed his eyes and prayed in the silences of his soul. Notice, Gibran does not say silence, which is typical of such writings, but he uses the plural, silences. The difference helps us understand Nada Yoga meditation. Silence, generally speaking, is the absence of noise. For most of us, living a busy life in the world, noise refers to external sounds that we re not in control of: traffic, generators, the humming of appliances. We take a trip into the countryside to gain some peace and quiet, away from these sounds, where we discover that a remarkable quiet pervades nature. What precisely enables the ear to hear sounds? Physically and biologically, the process is described in terms of sound waves, produced by various oscillating structures, traveling through the medium of air. The ear receives these waves, processes them, and sends them on as impulses to the brain. Just as the ear recognizes individual sounds that register in its field of perception, we also know that it can recognize silence.what is silence? Does it have its own sound? Mystics of the ancient world perceived all individual sounds as taking place against a background of unheard silence behind the sounds. In Nada Yoga, this background is called anahata nada, meaning the unstruck sound. Anahata is the name for the heart chakra in Kundalini or Shakti Yoga. As Nada yogis, we are therefore urged to listen with the ear of the heart, a phrase also used in the Benedictine way of monastic life. What, then, is unstruck sound? The friction of objects generally causes explicit sounds, but the constant backdrop of silence is not a struck sound; it is the sound of space. Space is the unseen medium in which we experience the movement of all energy.and silence the sound of this space is as vast, pervasive, and indestructible as the space itself. Sounds and vibrations magically arise from and disappear back into it. Quantum physicists call it the field of indeterminate particles, because we cannot predict exactly where particles will show up next. Sufis refer to this silent space as Zat, meaning the silent life from which all
YOGA OF SOUND-TEXT 1/18/06 12:31 PM Page 124 124 vibrations arise and into which all vibrations dissolve; an exact parallel to the findings of quantum physicists. Buddhists call this space sunnyata, the void, and Hindus call it Nada Brahman, the soundless sound that is God.When compared to the Shabda Brahman of the Vedas, we can say that Shabda Brahman is the eternal Word that issues forth from the Divine mouth, and Nada Brahman is the eternal music that is sounding in the Divine heart. Hindu mystics, especially Nada yogis, identify many levels of silence. The first level is the immediate backdrop that makes it possible to hear the sounds we hear. As we begin to listen to this silence, we realize that we can hear it only because another backdrop exists behind it. In exploring these unfolding layers of silence, we become, like Gibran, seekers of silences, with each level registering its own unique vibratory signal. Thus we may hear frequencies analogous to kettledrums and ocean waves, thunder and waterfalls. The Sound of Silence ONE PRACTICE of interior silences that we shall explore in Nada Yoga is called Brahmari mudra. The term brahmari derives from the bee-like buzzing sound produced by the yogi during this practice, which is performed using a six-way seal of body apertures known as shanmukhi mudra or yoni mudra. This sealing of apertures involves filtering sound by pressing the thumbs against both ear canals, preventing light from entering the two eyes using the index and middle fingers, and blocking air from entering the nostrils using the two ring fingers. Please see appendix four for a detailed description of this practice. Using sound in yoga practice often means noticing what sound reveals. Mantras and music both reveal something, and this something arises in the stillness and silence that follow the sound. The quiet at the end of a symphony is a good example of the yogic poise produced by the various musical movements. A symphony is like a yoga routine; the essence of the experience is absorbed by the soul at the end of whole performance. Even in Vedic mantras, you will recall that the Veda (shabda) is both sruti and smriti that which is heard and that which is revealed. The Shiva Samhita, an ancient yogic treatise, describes a type of brahmari as follows:
YOGA OF SOUND-TEXT 1/18/06 12:31 PM Page 125 nada yoga 125 Let him [the yogi or yogini] close the ears with his thumbs... this is my most beloved yoga. From practicing this gradually, the yogi begins to hear mystic sounds [nadas].the first is like the hum of the honey-intoxicated bee, next that of a flute, then of a harp; after this, by the gradual practice of yoga, the destroyer of the darkness of the world, he hears the sound of ringing bells; then sounds like the roar of thunder.when one fixes his full attention on this sound, being free from fear, the yogi gets absorption [in Divine Bliss]. 9 The Hatha Yoga-Pradipika declares that the worship of Nada Brahman is an essential practice for Hatha yogis.the text proclaims that the hearing of anahata nada (unstruck sound) is paramount among the millions of trance-inducing practices propounded by Shiva himself: The Yogi should hear the sound inside his right ear, with collected mind.the ears, the eyes, the nose, and the mouth should be closed, and then the clear sound is heard in the passage of the susumna [central channel], which has been cleansed of all its impurities. 10 Harmony: Music As Medicine ALL MUSIC, in one way or another, is therapeutic because it can heal. Behind this healing are the principles of Nada Yoga: the notion that sound is God that sound is holy, and therefore capable of restoring wholeness. Around the world, from Greece to Egypt to India, cultures have used music to restore health and harmony in a system out of balance. We mentioned earlier the temple of Asclepius, to which Hippocrates took his patients to give them music as a form of therapy. Music therapists who continue this noble work have had remarkable results in their healing ministry.the music most used by Western therapists is harmonic music with rhythmic patterns. My hope is that melody and mantra will be included in future medical research and healing. When we understand the three musical aspects of harmony, rhythm, and melody, we can grasp the essential teaching of Nada Yoga, which we can then apply toward our own healing and that of others. The following explanation will help a nonmusician understand how this works. When we hear a certain frequency a note played on an instrument, the hum of a generator, or the prolonged tone of a singer the
YOGA OF SOUND-TEXT 1/18/06 12:31 PM Page 126 126 wavelength of that particular sound moving through the medium of air affects our bodies, causing our cells and tissues to vibrate in unison with the tone of the vibrating body. In other words, our body resonates with that particular tone, which is known as the fundamental tone or, interestingly, the tonic. The tonic can be any frequency. When another tone, different from the fundamental tone, is simultaneously generated, a certain tension is established.this is called a musical interval. Human beings experience some of these intervals as pleasant and enjoyable; we call these consonant intervals. Those that feel uncomfortable and jarring we call dissonant. When you begin with a given frequency and keep increasing it (raising its pitch), the original frequency will eventually double. This new pitch will sound similar to the fundamental tone even though it is vibrating at a different rate. We call the distance between these two frequencies the octave. Between these two frequencies that make up the octave, we have identified eleven other frequencies at specific distances from each other, giving us a total of twelve distances or intervals. These are the tempered intervals equal divisions of the octave I mentioned earlier, which are used in popular music in the West. Seven of these combinations (the fundamental plus one of the eleven frequencies) are considered consonant, while five are considered dissonant. Some are more consonant or dissonant than others. The following chart illustrates how and why these tones range from increased consonance to increased dissonance.you will notice that the ratios (which represent the frequencies in relation to the fundamental) are gradually moving away from wholeness. The human ear seems to prefer whole numbers, and this conveys the experience of increased consonance or dissonance to the rest of the body. Simpler ratios are more harmonious. The broken line divides the upper (consonant) intervals from the lower (dissonant) intervals; the names for these intervals in Western music theory is given beside each ratio: Consonance-to-Dissonance Sequence 1:1 unison 1:2 octave