SOUND THIS WAY AND SOUND THAT WAY

SOUND THIS WAY AND SOUND THAT WAY

Sound is the greatest distraction to concentration. The tranquillity of the mind is best attained in silence. So, the rishis retired to the Himalayas, hermits lived on the outskirts of forests and, so, all of sentience goes into the silence of sleep when their sore nerves are tired and need rest. Meditation leads to the silence of the mind and so does deep reflection as in scientific thinking. So does uplifting music induce tranquillity but in, as if, contradictory terms, for it is sound gone harmonic that music is but it is sound, nonetheless.

When Sri Ramakrishna used to pass into a deep samadhi, he would be summoned to normal consciousness by sounding a mantra in his ear by a close associate. This mantra, taught to the attendant by the Master himself, would work the wonder of bringing him back to external awareness which in turn proves the thesis that sound, indeed, is a distraction to spiritual concentration.

However, the persistent chanting of the mantra, which is a sound symbol of the Divine, is a help to concentration instead of being a hindrance. The mantra in repetitive terms concentrates the mind on the Chosen Deity/Ideal or the object of focus. Gradually, the mind deepens in concentration and the mantra, live and luminous, dissolves into the blissful perception of the Divine.

Thus, we see that discordant sound distracts while harmonic, melodic sound concentrates the distracted mind. It is as if sound beating sound to convey the mind to its inner recesses of solitude and silence. Swamiji used to say that music instantly helps focus the soul. He was an adept at both music and concentration, and he would have known.

The universe, yogis say, -- and it is the pronouncement of the Vedas as well -- originates and terminates in sound. It is the primal and the final sound but it is of a different character. Ordinary sound, material and perceptible by the ears and the auditory centres of the brain, is produced by mechanical vibrations in matter. But the divine sound, which is the source and estuary of phenomenal existence, is not caused by any such material vibration. Hence, it is termed the unvibrated sound or the 'Om' in Sanskrit. The universe, originating in sound, therefore, releases us through its original sound symbol which is the symbol of God. The Om is the alpha and the omega of the universe, its primal seed, its dispersing intermediate range and its final gateway to the beyond unto absolute freedom.

Written by

Sugata Bose

6Sharmistha Chatterjee, Riya Bhattacharya and 4 others