Deivathin Kural # 28 of (Vol 2) of 26 Sept 2007.

Om Namah Sivaya.Deivathin Kural # 28 of (Vol 2) of 26 Sept 2007.(continued from DK # 27 of 25 Sept 2007.)Sound and Creation.27. What is sound? Sound is a vibration in air, says science. Pulsation. Atomic science and Einstein's theory says, both in the micro cosmic and macro cosmic worlds, there is pulsation of stars and galaxies and sub-atomic particles. Everything is one and only Adwaitam. Every thing is a flow of electro-magnetic energy. But, why do they seem to be different? All the seeming difference is due to differences in the vibrations, says modern science. 28. When there is vibration, there is sound. That sentence can be reworded to say that, for a particular sound to be created the corresponding vibration has to be there. In one Energy field, when there are different vibrations, different animate and inanimate, life forms and substances are created; says science. The religion says that, the whole world has come into being from God's breath, that is, Veda Mantras!29. There are human beings and animals. How is their health and feelings and sensations, influenced? By their breath only. The breath affects every cell in the body. Every cell is consuming oxygen and exhaling carbon-di-oxide. The vibrations of the movement of breath affects the health of the system. Those who regulate the breath suitably through Yoga and Pranayama, maintain surprisingly healthy bodies. They can and do control their pulse and heart rate to such an extent that they can bring the whole sequence to a stand still, when needed. They can control the blood flow in such a manner, that they can stem the blood flow, even when the arteries are cut. They can stay in Samadhi, without a breath, even when buried under ground. The poison of a scorpion or snake bite fails to affect them, because of their breath control and control over the vibrations in the 'Nadis' or channels through which the breath passes. 30. Not only for the body, even for the mind and its health, breath is important. The mind and its thoughts, breath and 'Prana Sakthi' or life-force; are all mutually inter dependent. This is so due to the fact that, the mind and prana or life-force, arise from the same source. Healthy and unhealthy thoughts thus are also dependent on the vibrations of the 'nadi'. If you observe your own breath in the sanctum sanctorum of a temple or in the presence of a Saint, you will notice that it is orderly and even; while simultaneously the thoughts are also quiet and peaceful. Compare this with how your breath is uneven, when affected by anger or lust. Thus our breath and thoughts are mutually interdependent and controllable.31. The 'Nadi vibration', will be different even between the happiness arising out of an activity of religious significance; as against the happiness of sensual pleasures. Generally, the breath will be seen to be based on the Right nostrils, when the sense of elation is due to, say singing of Bhajans or Psalms; while an erotic song is likely to activate breath through the Left nostril! When we sit down to meditate, we will notice that as the mind is slowly settling down and as the oscillations of the mind are calming, the breath will be slow, steady and balanced in both the nostrils. When the mind gets totally absorbed the breath may even come to a stand still, while the individual continues to be alive with complete bliss of awareness. The gross body, subtle mind, intellect and awareness; all depend on the flow of breath for birth, growth and degradation. The proper 'Swasa-gathi' or 'Flow of breath' depends on how well we manage to control the inner vibrations.32. After all, these animate living things and inanimate matter come from the same source called God. So for their birth, growth and end, the necessary vibrations have to happen in that Paramatma only, is it not so? Brhmam is Adwaitam, non differentiating, unchanging, non vibrating, non pulsating; and all that. Let it be. With the indescribable, unmentionable 'anirvachaneeyam' that is Maya Sakthi, this Brhmam, is said to transform, transmute, metamorphasise, seemingly into so many life forms and non-living things. For the Maya Sakthi, He is the 'Mayavi'. So all this has to be based on the vibrations on the Parabrhmam only; though despite all the apparent changes, It remains ever unaffected!33. Still, in our view of the apparent relative world, vibrations are a reality. Randomly the truth may remain unaffected by the seeming changes. You look at the movement of the Sun and Star galaxies to that of the planets and that of the growth of a grass or the play of the seasons; or the life cycle of a mosquito; you wonder at so much order. Even the seemingly serious aberrations are only plays of entertainment value! (If Man is also part of the self same nature, even global warming and such man-caused aberrations; should be within the over-all control of the powers that be; though, that is no licence for errat behaviour on the part of humanity!)34. It is this 'order', that is instrumental in controlling all the conflicting forces of nature, to co-operate for the welfare of living things. God seems to take some pleasure in letting some aberrations happen. Some times somewhere the rain fails. Elsewhere there are floods or Tsunami or some other catastrophe! In the enormous scale of dimenstions; even these aberrations seem to be within limits.35. What does not seem to be within limits; are the aberrations that the human mind is capable of. It goes hither and thither like the devil that it is. Though there is a lot of order and discipline in the entire length and breadth of the whole Universe; the human mind alone behaves or rather misbehaves; like a mad dog with no control whatsoever!36. Is there some method by which we could control the forces of Nature, when they are going astray? Is there some way that this human mind can be brought under some control? If all things, materials and living things; have come into being as a result of the vibrations of sound waves, the errant nature including our minds, can be brought under control, to a modicum of discipline, by use of the same sounds or Mantras, that is the, Vedas.37. Through our breath, we can tune into the wave-length of Paramatma, by way of Yoga and get Universal and personal benefits. There are sound waves beyond the hearing capabilities of the human ear, in the lower and higher frequencies. But these waves can be amplified and made audible. The Radio Waves are an example. At the radio station, the audio waves are converted into radio waves, for propogation through air and are reconverted in to audible waves in the reciever sets. When I talk of this, it seems that, modern science is not anti religion. It is rather helpful in making abstract ideas easier to comprehend. Say a few decades back, if some agnostic had objected to 'Veda Sabda and the sound waves of the vibrations of the Nadi', we would not have been able to give any sensible reply.38. What the Radio Reciever can do, we can do one better. This can be done only by concentrated, one-minded, serious effort of 'Tapasya'. To leave all diversions, distractions and proclivities with the clarity of purpose that, "I shall Know at all costs, the Truth!", is the requirement, without the flimsiest element of self pride. However much we may persevere, if we have to understand; it can only be by the grace of God! The great Rishis who are the 'Mantra Drashtas' or 'Seers'; are those who have gone through extreme throes of Tapasya and reached the soaring heights of pinnacles of excellence.39. Rishis could hear all the vibrations existing in nature. They could tune into specific frequencies, filtering all other unwanted emissions and static. Not only that, they could convert the vibrations into corresponding audio frequencies, discernible by the human ear. Thus the vibrations of the breath of the Parmatma could be interpreted into Veda Mantras!40. One point occurs to me. Vedam is also known as 'Sruthi'. Sruthi is what is audible or heard. Srotham is the ear. Vedas were conveyed from generation to generation over millennia, by way of mouth of the Guru to the ear of the Sishya and repetition by the mouth of the Sishya; to the ear of the Guru for correction; if need be! The rule was that, these sounds were not to be written and read; mainly so as to avoid errors due to the intricacies and nuances of pronounciation. There are many sounds in the Vedas that cannot be correctly represented by the written script. They have to be heard and uttered. With that, each word or portions of the word are to be under or over emphasised or raised in pitch, called, 'udattam', 'anudattam' or 'swaritam'. However much one may try to indicate these by 'diacritical marks', there can always be errors in pronounciation and there can be printing errors too. If there is a mistake in pronounciation, the meaning and effect can go totally awry.41. What can go wrong when the pronounciation goes awry is amply brought out by a story in Taitreeya Samhita in Veda itself. There was a carpentor by the name of 'Thvashta'. He wanted to get a son who could be powerful enough to destroy 'Indra'. Due to an unintented error in pronounciation, his prayer had a totally opposite effect of begetting, 'a son who could be destroyed by Indra!'. So that is what happened.42. You might have noticed that a slight deviation in tuning the vawelength could mean an entirely different radio station or simply noice. Similarly Veda's correct effect is dependent upon the correct pronounciation. That is why the 'fine tuning' of the student was done by the Guru, by repeated attentive hearing. These are the reasons why, learning and practice of Vedas was not reduced to writing and reading. What is known as 'sruthi' or 'heard' in Sanskrit; came to be referred as, 'ezhudaak kilavi' or unwritten text in Tamil.43. There is one more reason why, Vedas are referred as, 'sruthi', in Sanskrit. These sacred sounds that are not heard by the common man, were first heard by the Rishis. They did not hear about them from anyone else. They did not read about them. Since they heard them first, it is in the rightness of things that the Vedas were called the 'Sruthis'. Those Rishis were the first to hear and see the Vedas. 'Seer'in Tamil can be translated as, 'parppan', which is a name for the Brahmin caste.44. OK, now the question arises, as to whether they originaly saw or heard the Vedas? If they saw it, then what language was it written in? These things are supposed to have happened much before the scripts such as, Devanagiri or Grantham or Brahmi could have been evolved!The answer to all these questions is that, it is not just simply seeing or hearing; but a matter of perception! When they were much beyond the physical awareness level, their ears may not have heard anything; their eyes may not have seen anything; but in a 'flash', they have the inner revelation. When we talk about someone who has had much experience, we say that 'he has seen much of life', 'don't we?'.45. To be able to do this 'hearing and seeing', evidently the Rishis had risen much above the humdrum ordinary levels of existance! Arjuna wanted to see the 'Viswa Roopa' of Krishna. At that time Krishna Paramatma grants him the 'holistic vision', "....divyam dadami te chakshu:..." So, the Rishis as Mantra Drashtas evidently had devine hearing capabilities.46. It is not that, Vedas are purely beneficial for life in the world only, but, they have mantras of infinitely immence value. As a man deligently retraces his way back, he can go back to his source. Similarly, we can all return to our source through the Vedas! As we keep going back to our origins of how we came into being; it will efficiently take us back to the spring of our being. The Maha Vakyas, the Pranavam, and the Mantras such as, "...asato ma sat gamaya...tamasor ma jyotir gamaya...mrutyor ma amrutam gamaya...", are all such mantras.47. I came to say all this to underline the fact that, Vedas have not been written by anyone; they were not the works of the Rishis; Paramatma Himself did not sit down and write the Vedas on any paper or Palm-leaf!(To be continued.)Sambhomahadeva.