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The Sound Of Creation

Creation arises from and is sustained by divine sound. Rāgas are the chapters of the Gāndharva Veda, the scripture of resonance. All manifestation occurred through primordial sound, which is the Supreme itself. This vibration unites consciousness and matter. The Gāndharva Veda exists within every creature and plant. Our body contains ten sounds corresponding to the ten senses of action and knowledge. Each organ functions with a specific resonance. Life persists as long as this cellular sound exists. An eleventh sound is the Ātmā, the sound of the self. Nāda is expressed as 'so'haṁ,' declaring non-duality with the Supreme. We are energy vibration; its absence causes dissolution. Rāgas represent the foundational language of all creatures, enabling harmonious movement. These sounds maintain cosmic balance and harmony, which is positive energy or love. The term rāga also denotes attachment, the source of suffering, from which detachment arises. True rāga as musical resonance is created to bring harmony to all systems.

"All creation in the whole universe took place through resonance, through sound."

"That sound, that resonance, is the Supreme."

Yes, I can play. I will play Rāghavayamana, which is an evening rāga. In Europe, it is morning, so it doesn't matter; we can have a morning rāga. But wait, can we have a morning rāga in the morning? No, no, that is against the rules—against the rules of the Gāndharva Veda. There are many evening rāgas. Since it is around seven o'clock—twenty past seven—there is a very nice rāga, Mārwa, that I can present. What is Mārwa? It is for either sunset or very early afternoon. What is its message? I do not really know the message for this one. What is interesting about this rāga is that the beginning tone, called Sa, which is present in every rāga, is not dominant here. It is omitted, creating a feeling that it is neither day nor night. It is a transition between the two—half sunset, with half the light still out. Evening dusk. I am not a musician, so please do not ask me to play the flute. I could play it, but then you would just say, "Thank you, Swamijī, it was very nice." Now Madhuram should do his job. Many of you may know about rāgas, and many may not because it is a Sanskrit word. If we use the word "melody," you might understand, but a melody is different from a rāga. We may say it is the tune or the resonance. This rāga, with flute and tānpurā, is one of the ancient melodies. We have five Vedas, the oldest scriptures in the world. The Vedas were spoken at the very beginning by God Brahmā, the creator. Brahmā has four heads and four hands, and in each hand he holds one of the Vedas—these are the four Vedas. Beyond these four, there is one more Veda called the Gāndharva Veda. Rāgas are the chapters of the Gāndharva Veda. All creation in the whole universe took place through resonance, through sound. Sound is known as Nādarūpa Parabrahma. That sound, that resonance, is the Supreme. It is that vibration which evokes consciousness in the universe. It is that resonance which brought together consciousness and matter, which brought cosmic consciousness and divine Śakti together. It is that through which the elements are created and manifestation takes place. The Gāndharva Veda exists in every creature and in every plant. In our body, according to Nāḍī Yoga, there are ten different sounds. Nāda is the sound that comes from the resonance of the rāga. These ten sounds in our body belong to the five karmendriya (senses of action) and the five jñānendriya (senses of knowledge). Every organ's function in our body has a sound. When you go to a cardiologist and they perform an ECG or ultrasound, you hear your heart pumping blood. Similarly, there is a sound of the pancreas, a sound of the kidneys, a sound of each and every blood cell. When what we call death comes, the sound resonance is no longer there. That is the declaration that life is gone. As long as there is life in even one cell, you are not dead. The function becomes slow, the heartbeat becomes slow, but there is still life—some cells still have resonance. We came through sound, and through sound we exist. It is that resonance which keeps balance, harmonizing our five elements. Finally, there is the eleventh sound, and that one is called Ātmā—the sound of the self, the sound of the soul. It is what we call listening, the sound of my heart. My heart speaks, not only my brain, and it is our heart which blesses us. When you send someone a message from a far distance, writing a postcard, you say, "I send you much love and blessings from my heart. I wish you all the best from the bottom of my heart." No one writes, and I never receive such a message, "I send you blessings and good wishes from my heart." So the presence of that supreme light, the sound, is there. In yoga, we say that nāda is called so'haṁ. 'So' means 'that,' and 'haṁ' means 'I.' "I am that, and that I am." That means the Supreme; I am the light of that God, and that God is in me as a light, and I am in Him as a light. There is no duality. Nāḍī Yoga is a very interesting subject, involving meditation, mantras, and everything. We are nothing but a kind of energy vibration here. And when this energy, this vibration, is gone, then everything will fall apart. It is like a magnet and iron. As long as there is an effect of the magnet, there is attraction. But when the distance is too far, the iron will fall apart. From this point of view, the rāgas, as music, descended on this planet as the language of every creature. Every fish in the water—sometimes you see hundreds or thousands of small fish moving like waves—none of them has an accident. They have their language; we may call it vibration. Sometimes we see hundreds of birds fly at once, but we do not see any bird's wings crashing together. If we humans, with our technology, had hundreds of flights begin to fly at the same time, there would definitely be a problem. That is resonance, that frequency which we have developed in our wireless telephones, remote controls, and everything. That again comes from that rāga, that sound. These sounds were created for creation and for maintaining balance and harmony. That is called positive vibration, positive energy—what we call love. When there is no love, things fall apart. So, nādarūpa parabrahma: balanced, beautiful sound is God itself. If you want to see how God looks, then listen to some beautiful sound. That is put into the instrument; only the master can awaken that. Madhuram has a beautiful flute, and when he blows a little air inside, a beautiful resonance comes. There is also a negative meaning: rāga and dveṣa, meaning duality and jealousy. Rāga means you envy someone. So rāga and dveṣa mean quarreling, dualities. One must be above rāga and dveṣa. Here, rāga means attachment. Where there is attachment, there is suffering. Where there is love, there is freedom and no suffering. Where there is only emotional love, then there are doubts and suffering. From the word rāga (attachment) comes another word: vairāgya (detachment). According to this, it goes with the sun's ray. When the sun rises, the first ray is called uṣṇā. The name of the first sun ray is called uṣṇe. That light—some very great person with immense concentration can catch that ray and, by directing it onto cotton, make a beautiful, small diamond. It is not a job for everyone. That first ray is called uṣṇā. At that time, if you drink water in quantity, it becomes like nectar. Yogīs call this Uṣā Pāna. Uṣā means the early morning, the Brahma Muhūrta. That first ray gives immense energy and light to vegetation. That sun is alive. From this, the rāga—the sound—is developed, along with the concepts of attachment and detachment. But this rāga is a resonance created to bring harmony and happiness to vegetation and to our systems. Now, this rāga which is going to be played is called Gauḍhulī. Go dhuli—it is very ancient, from the time when cows and our animals would go to the field in the morning. You see the dust of the goats, the sheep, or the cows when they are walking or going, and also in the evening when they are returning. So this is Rāghavata that you will play now. Okay? I thank you. Yes, this is the same as what you said.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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