A sound tradition

http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article3349271.ece?homepage=true




Mantras have been around forever. HARSHINI VAKKALANKA delves into the whys and wherefores of the ancient practice of chanting them

The world, including the human body, is made up of atoms and molecules, which are essentially wave forms. And sounds are vibrations. Does that mean sounds can influence elements in the world? This is the premise that the mantra is based on. But what is a mantra? Many believe it is a sound that has the potential to influence the human body, physically and spiritually.

“Mantras are made up of Sanskrit vowels and consonants,” says Vignesh Subramaniam, a research engineer at the Singapore-MIT alliance. “The written shapes of some of these syllables like ‘Aum' are said to be derived from the way that air moves in the mouth when they are pronounced. These vibrations are also easily absorbed by the body. I learnt that mantras work just like microphones, when sound is converted to electricity.”

Wave theory

According to the online journal “Akhand Jyoti”, these sounds emit vibrations that, when repeated, form a continuous wave. If the momentum is maintained, then a continuous circular movement results. This cyclical motion releases energy, just like a rotating turbine generates energy.

About the kind of energy generated, Vignesh says: “I have seen mantras such as the Rudram has a healing, relaxing effect. Mantras related to the deity Ganesha, whose identity symbologically means the energy that keeps all the atoms together, act as an antidote to Murphy's Law: anything that can be right, will be right.”

“Whether mantras or magical incantations are actually empowered with the abilities they are attributed with, remains a matter of pure conjecture,” says Vikram Parchure, an NID graduate with an interest in Indian scriptures. “Very little serious, non-partisan research with the rigour of scientific experimentation has been conducted in the field.”

Dr. Masaru Emoto, author of the book, “Messages in Water”, explains in an online interview, “Language, the spoken word, has a vibration. Written words also have a vibration. Anything in existence has a vibration. If I were to draw a circle, the vibration of a circle would be created. Drawing a cross would create the vibration of a cross. So if I write the letters L O V E, then these letters put out the vibration of love.”

In his book, Emoto talks about how sounds influence water. Since the human body is made up of 75 per cent water, sounds that influence water influence the body.

Recitation of mantras are known to ensure health, healing, prosperity, abundance, and peace. But ultimately their purpose is to quieten the mind, so that the basic question of existence and purpose can be answered.

“Recent research reveals that hormones and neurotransmitters in our body communicate with each other through distinctive vibrational sympathies,” says Arun Madhavan, theologian, writer and speaker on Indian culture and spirituality.

“When we are physically and mentally fit, it means there is a harmony within our cells which resonate well with each other. When this harmony of empathic music among our cells falls out of tune, we fall ill. Apart from the physical nervous system, our seers classified some 72,000 naadis (channels of energy) as part of the psychic nervous system. When a mantra is chanted, the vibrational energy gets diffused and distributed into the physical nervous system by the naadis through major chakras (centres of energy) in the spinal column.”

A large part of the Vedas, the texts that guide the Sanatana Dharma (literally the everlasting law of nature), can also be considered mantras. Madhavan says these are primordial sounds originally revealed to the ancient rishis in deep state of meditation. The mantra must be chanted in a prescribed melody and metre as well.

According to Madhavan, powerful incantations under proper guidance help to free the consciousness from depression, confusion, jealousy, rage, lingering anger and fear. Mantras offer a time-tested way to cope with the challenge of current times. Their efficacy lies in the practitioner maintaining hygiene at three levels — physical, mental and speech, he explains.

Need to get to the truth

Parchure argues, “The need to get to the truth behind all this is ever so pertinent today as we observe that we, who pride ourselves to be the children of an age of reason, science and technology, are returning with a vengeance to conventional religiosity with all its mumbo-jumbo involving faith and belief. Even a passing glance at events across the country and world will show us that the most significant happenings are those involving perceived threat to traditions, values and beliefs, particularly of the ‘religious' and ‘moral' kind.”

Yet mantras have been handed down over generations. Even if we don't understand what priests chant in temples, it might be worthwhile to find out what they have been meaning to say.


Keywords: mantras, sound tradition, ancient tradition