July 26, 2013
Boone, North Carolina
Gurudev, can you please talk a little more about the
sound/alphabet meditation?
Sri Sri: That is the meditation that we did today, where you can’t go to Ka without Aa.
So, you went to the very source where the sound arose, right? What happened at
that time? Stillness! The mind became totally still at that moment. Thus, we
went to the source from where thought came, we found 25 minutes passed in no
time. When you know all this, you can go deep inside.
These things are not found in any books; it has to come from experience, which
is very important.
There
is a beautiful ancient saying by a rishi (seer) about how
sound is generated; atma budhya samethyukta.
When the soul connects with the intellect, and conjoins with the mind, then
heat or energy is produced in the body. This energy moves the air through the
voice box, and slowly, sound gets generated. To understand how this mechanism
works requires a lot of introspection, and stillness, to go to the source of
the sound, to find out how it is generated. It is fascinating.
There
was a yogi who lived to the age of 103 or 104, and passed away about seven or
eight years ago. He was given the title of Nada Brahman, because he
could make a sound from any part of his body. Even, I visited him once. He
could make particular sounds from different parts of his body.
He also went to USA, and the scientists were so amazed, they put electrodes and
did a lot of experiments on him. He lived in Rishikesh, in the Himalayas, and
practiced this for a very long time. He had a hefty, muscular body, and could
make sounds like Ka, Cha, Pa from different parts of the body.
It was interesting.
He was a very nice gentleman, but I don’t think he taught this knowledge to
anybody; it left with him.
This world is full of wonders. At one point, when I was about 22 or 25, I
thought maybe I should learn this from him, but then I had many other things to
do.
Knowledge is endless on this planet, especially mystic knowledge.
I
was invited to CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva.
The scientists there received me, and showed me the God particle,
and how they found it.
One of the senior scientists there said that he had been working on matter for
the last 40 years, only to find that it doesn’t exist. He had been working on
sub-atomic particles, neutrons, electrons, protons, etc., only to realize that
they simply don’t exist!
This
is very akin to what the ancient philosophers used to say, i.e., all this is
Nothing. Everything is Nothing and Nothing is Everything.
All that you see as form is nothing, and what you see as nothing, is what is
making everything.
It is a beautiful thing when science and spirituality realize that they are not
different. Those who think they are different, are fools; they are living a
hundred years back, but in today’s age, they are the same thing.
I
spoke to the scientists about the three types of space:
1. Chittakasha, the intermediate space or inner space, where
all thoughts and emotions float.
2. Chidakasha, the space of pure consciousness or energy,
which here and there appears to have consolidated and appears to be matter.
3. Bhootakasha, the outer space, in which we see all the
matter that exists.
What appears to be matter is really not matter, it is all One energy, and that
One field is called Brahman, and that is what everybody is,
that is what everything is.
The scientists were so intrigued. It is so beautiful that this knowledge is
available to us in this generation. It is as good as having a laptop.
Just
imagine, a few generations back, there was no Google. If you had to learn
something, you had to go to a library and look through the Index and the pages.
It would take two hours to search in the index in a library. Today, at the
press of a button, you can get anything in the world on your laptop.
It
is such a fortunate thing for this generation that all the knowledge in the
world is available in no time. You don’t have to order books from across
continents and wait for months to receive it. If you had been in America back
then and you wanted Narada Bhakti Sutras, you would need to order
the book from India and wait for months to receive it, but today, everything
pops up at the tip of your fingers.
Similarly,
we are so fortunate that in this age, science is speaking the same language as
spirituality. It is authenticating spirituality, which means that no generation
is deprived of this highest spiritual knowledge.
Dearest Gurudev, today you said that truth is hidden between the
consonant and the vowel, which is so beautiful. Can you please speak a little
more about it?
Sri Sri: Different letters affect different parts of the body. Our
body is like a garland of letters, it is called akshara maalika (garland
of letters). You are a mala or rosary yourself; different letters affect
different centers.
Sanskrit,
the oldest of languages, is organized in such a way that it fits Darwin’s
theory of Evolution.
The
first letter of Sanskrit language is A, which is what every child
says. The last of the vowels is Aha. What is the sound that comes
when you laugh? Aha ha ha! So, in laughter, the entire language is present,
from A to Aha.
In Sanskrit, Aha is used for wonder and for laughter. You
cannot laugh without Aa and Ha in it, even if
you try.
If
you observe the Sanskrit vowels, which are A, Aa, E, Eee, Oo, Oou;
observe how the sound is generated. The soundA comes at the root of
the throat, Aa comes more outward. E comes
from the palate, and Eee is more outward. Oocomes
to the lips, and Ruu, the tongue rolls. The rest of the letters are I,
Ai, O, Au, An, Am, Aha.
If
you move to consonants, they start with Ka, Kha, Ga, Gha, Na and
they start from the throat.
Then Ca, Cha, Ja, Jha, Nna, the sound move towards the mouth.
Then come Ta, Tha, Da, Dha, Na, these come with the help of the
dental movement.
The last few come from the lips Pa, Pha, Ba, Bha, Ma.
If you observe, all these sounds move from the base of the throat outwards.
Even
the animal kingdom is taken into consideration here. All birds emit the Ka and Ca sound.
Only two birds, i.e., parrot and mynah can use the sound Ma also.
All other birds only use Ka and Ca.
Amphibians
like frogs, make sounds that sound like Ta, Tha or Tra.
Mammals
like cows, sheep, goats, horses, etc., use Pa, Pha, Ba, Bha, Ma, or
the next set of consonants.
Lastly
come all the other alphabets like Ya, Ra, La, Va, She, Sha.
Therefore,
the alphabets and sounds are arranged in the same order as the theory of
evolution, i.e., birds, animals, mammals and humans. Isn’t that interesting? It
is absolutely fascinating.
There
was some research done in England; scientists found that Sanskrit language is
very suitable for neurolinguistic functions. For about ten years, scientists
were trying to understand why people with a base in Sanskrit are very sharp at
mathematics and calculations.
Do you know about 60% of the English language follows Sanskrit? If you see the
roots of the English words, most of them are Sanskrit based. Svasa is
sister, Brata is brother, Pitha is father and Mata is
Mother. If you draw parallels like these, you will realize that the
base of English is Sanskrit language.
As
we saw this morning, there are four levels of speech -
1. Vaikhari is the level of speech that we are all
using now to communicate.
2. Madhyama is
subtler than Vaikhari, where you don’t need language to
communicate, but just intentions or feelings help to communicate.
It is like you would communicate with people who don’t understand your language
or with babies who throw tantrums to tell you that they are hungry or sleepy,
or communicate through different signs.
Madhyama is subtler than speech, even animals and trees use Madhyama to
communicate.
3. Pashyanti is
where you simply recognize the knowledge without words or language. It is like
deep intuition. Sometimes, when you go deep into meditation, you may hear some
chanting or words, or you might get some ideas. When ideas come without
language, it is called Pashyanti. A seer would recognize a little
bit of that, from somewhere deep. All scientific discoveries happen from the Pashyanti level.
4. Para,
beyond Pashyanti, is the universal language or the source of all
expressions. In deep Samadhi or total stillness, you are connected with Para.
No verbal communication is needed. Actually, real communication happens from
Para, it is just the vibration that communicates.
All the other talking that we do, from the Vaikhari level, is
only to keep the mind engaged. The mind cannot capture communication from the
level of Para, only the soul understands it. Para is
the language of the soul. The mind needs some entertainment; the entertainment
of the mind is Vaikhari, the language that we speak.
Gurudev, it looks like corruption in India is doing lasting damage
to society and the environment. Is it reversible? If yes, then how can expats
like me living in the US help in the endeavor to reverse the damage?
Sri Sri: If you are interested in doing something back home in India, and
want to know how to create awareness, how to use your talents to save the
largest democracy on the planet, then you should definitely meet with the Art
of Living (AOL) volunteers here, they can guide you.
You can do lots of things; create awareness in your hometown, in the villages
with the people around you, and make them understand. India is now moving
between scams and slums, and the Government wants to retain poverty; so they
simply dish out sops to people and buy votes from them.
In
the last few months, AOL volunteers have rejuvenated four rivers that were
dead; one in Karnataka and three in Maharashtra. The rivers had dried out, and
our volunteers worked hard, de-silted, removed all the debris and made these
rivers flow again. What the Government couldn't do with millions of dollars,
AOL volunteers did as seva with a few thousand dollars. Now, there is water in
all these places, and the villagers are so happy. In Karnataka, we have covered
about 230 villages, and in Maharashtra about 300-400 villages with these
rivers.
On
rediff.com, there was an article on how six Yes!+ teachers brought a
transformation when the floods hit the Himalayan region. These girls removed
the debris, made roads and gave food and other materials to the people who were
affected by the worst ever floods.
A lot of things are being done there. The Art of Living is quite active.
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