The Healing Power of Sound

Vibrational Medicine: The Healing Power of Sound

Oṁkāra, or the praṇava, is the seed of transcendental realization, and it is composed of the three transcendental letters a-u-m. By its chanting by the mind, in conjunction with the breathing process, which is a transcendental but mechanical way of getting into trance, as devised by the experience of great mystics, one is able to bring the mind, which is materially absorbed, under control. Oṁkāra is the seed of all transcendental sound and it is only the transcendental sound which can bring about the desired change of the mind and the senses. Even a mentally deranged man can be cured by treatment of transcendental sound. (sb/2/1/17)

The Healing Power of Sound

By Simon Heather
BSoc.Sc, MBAcC, MCOH

The astonishing results of sound upon blood, water, cancer cells, neurones and a range of conditions.

The History of Sound Healing
Sound has been used as a healing force for thousands of years. All ancient civilizations used sound for healing. Traditional cultures still surviving today understand the remarkable healing power that lies in sound.
In the Bible we are told that David played his harp to lift King Saul’s depression. Egyptian papyri over 2,600 years old refer to incantations as cures for infertility and rheumatic pain.
The ancient Greeks believed music had the power to heal body and soul. They used the flute and the lyre for treating illnesses such as gout and sciatica. It is reported that Alexander the Great’s sanity was restored by music played on the lyre. There is an ancient Greek saying, ‘Men have song as a physician for pain.’
Pythagoras used special songs and incantations with particular melodies and rhythms, to cure diseases of the body and mind.1

What is Sound Healing?
Sound healing is the therapeutic application of sound frequencies to the body/mind of a person with the intention of bringing them into a state of harmony and health. The dictionary defines ‘harmony’ as ‘congruity of parts to their whole or to one another’. ‘Health’ is defined as ‘the state of being bodily and mentally vigorous and free of disease’.
The French ear, nose and throat specialist Dr Alfred Tomatis has devoted the last 50 years to understanding the ear and its function. He believes that the ear is the most important of all our sense organs. The ear controls the body’s sense of balance, rhythm and movement and is the conductor of the entire nervous system.

Through the medulla, the auditory nerve connects with all the muscles of the body. Hence, muscle tone, equilibrium, flexibility and vision are affected by sound. Through the vagus nerve, the inner ear connects with the larynx, heart, lungs, stomach, liver, bladder, kidneys, small intestine and large intestine.
Tomatis believes that high frequency sounds (3,000Hz and above) activate the brain and affect cognitive functions such as thinking, spatial perception and memory. Listening to these sounds increases our attentiveness and concentration.2

Resonance
When an opera singer vibrates a glass with their voice, they have matched the resonant frequency of the glass. As the singer increases the volume of their sound, the resonance becomes too great for the forces that hold the glass together and it shatters. Modern medicine now uses sound waves to break up kidney stones and gallstones.
Every organ, every bone, every cell in the body has its own resonant frequency. Together they make up a composite frequency like the instruments of an orchestra. When one organ in the body is out of tune it will affect the whole body. Through sound healing it may be possible to bring the diseased organ into harmony with the rest of the body, hence avoiding the need for drugs or surgery.
The principle of entrainment states that powerful rhythmic vibrations from one source will cause the less powerful vibrations of another source to lock into the vibration of the first source. Nature always seeks the most efficient state; it takes less energy to pulse in co-operation that in opposition.

Scientific Research into Sound
In the 18th century Ernest Chladni, a German physicist, found that when a violin bow was drawn vertically across the rim of a metal plate the sound waves produced created patterns in sand sprinkled on the plate. Different musical tones would cause the sand particles to move into geometric patterns.
In the 1960s Hans Jenny, a Swiss scientist, spent over ten years conducting experiments to discover the effects of sound waves on materials placed on metal plates vibrated with sound. Materials such as glycerine, mercury, gel, powder and iron fillings were used. He photographed the patterns created.
He found that low frequency sounds produced simple geometric shapes in the materials. As the sound frequency was increased, these simple forms would break up and more complex patterns would appear. The sound ‘OH’ would produce a perfect circle. The sound ‘OM’ produced a pattern that resembles the Shri Yantra; the ancient mandala for ‘OM’ used in India for thousands of years.
Jenny came to the conclusion that sound creates form and that the entire human body had its own sound made up of all the sounds of its cells, tissues and organs.3

Fabien Maman
In 1974, Fabien Maman was working as a professional jazz musician. He noticed that certain musical keys had an energizing effect on both the musicians and the audience.
Fabien worked with the French physicist Joel Sternheimer. Sternheimer had discovered that elementary particles vibrate at frequencies in accordance with musical laws. They found that body tissue, organs and acupuncture meridians each have a musical note.
A few years later, Fabien met Hélène Grimal, a senior researcher at the National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris. They devoted a year-and-a-half to study the effects of sound on normal and malignant cells. Using drums, gongs, flutes, guitar, bass and a xylophone, they investigated the effects of sound on healthy blood cells, haemoglobin, and the ‘Hela’ cancer cell from the uterus.
They found that even at 30-40 decibels the sound always produced noticeable changes in the cells. As the sounds progressed up the musical scale there would be an ‘explosion’ of the cancer cells at a certain frequency as the sound travelled outward from the centre of the cell to its outer membrane. The experiment yielded the most dramatic results when the human voice was used.
Fabien says, ‘Near the end of the scale, usually around the seventh interval, the cancer cells exploded. It appears that the cancer cells were not able to support a progressive accumulation of frequencies.’4 ‘The healthy cells appeared supple and able to freely receive, absorb and return the energy. In contrast, the cancer cells appeared inflexible and immutable in their structure.’5

Hela cancer cells being broken up by the musical scale played on a xylophone6

In experimental sessions on actual cancer patients, the music produced equally astonishing results. Female volunteers with breast cancer were taught to tone the whole scale, using a violin to keep a base note for 21 minutes at a time. They spent 31/₂ hours a day doing this for a month. One woman’s tumour disappeared completely.7
Fabien Maman took healthy blood cells and played a xylophone to them. He photographed the changes in the electromagnetic fields around the cells using Kirlian photography. Subjected to a chromatic scale of frequencies, the slight difference of a half tone would produce a completely different shape and colour in the energy field of the cell. He found that the note ‘C’ made them longer, ‘D’ produced a variety of colours, ‘E’ made them spherical and ‘A’ (440Hz) changed the colour of their energy field from red to pink.
In his next experiment, Fabien took a sample of blood from a person’s finger. He then asked the person to sing the seven notes of the major scale to their own blood cell. With each note, the cell’s energy field changed its shape and colour. When the person sang an ‘F’ to their own blood cells, the cells resonated perfectly with the voice, producing a balanced, round shape and vibrant colours of magenta and turquoise.
He says, ‘The cells are completely bathed in light and alive with full resonance, clear evidence that this ‘F’ is the fundamental sound of the singer… Fundamental sound can be very helpful for the physical body through its harmonising and regenerating effect at the cellular level.’8

Blood cells responding to the sound of a person’s voice9

From his experiments, Fabien concluded that, ‘In the human voice there is an added element which cannot be found in any other instrument… The human voice carries its own spiritual resonance… This difference, evident from the photographs, is what makes the voice the most powerful healing instrument – particularly when the person needing the healing produced the sounds with his or her own voice.’10
Jim Oliver says that the body responds to sounds that we cannot hear. He says, ‘We put the selected sounds exclusively into a pair of headphones and put them on a client’s ankles. They responded to the sound even though their ears could not hear the sound. Once you vibrate a part of the body the blood cells carry this resonance to the whole body very quickly.’11

Masaru Emoto
A Japanese scientist, Masaru Emoto, wanted to find a way of scientifically evaluating water quality. He decided to freeze samples of water taken from different sources to compare their crystalline structure. When pure water crystallizes it forms a pure crystal; would contaminated water also form a pure crystal?
Water was placed in petri dishes in a freezer for two hours, then placed under a microscope and photographed at a magnification of 200-500 times. Although the crystals that formed were all unique, the crystals from water of the same source were all similar in shape. Over a four-year period his team took 10,000 photographs.
Tap water from Japanese cities generally would not form complete crystals. Tap water from London formed no crystals at all. Spring water generally produced the most beautiful crystals, as did water from holy places such as Lourdes.
Masaru Emoto’s next experiment was playing music to water. He placed distilled water in between two speakers and played one piece of music fully at normal volume. Then he froze the water.
Classical music produced beautiful crystals of slightly different colours. Healing music, a Tibetan mantra and folk music also produced beautiful crystals. Heavy metal music produced a pattern that looked like a crystal that had exploded into a thousand pieces. Japanese pop music produced ugly square-shaped crystals rather then the normal hexagonal ones.12
Since our body is made up of 70% water, Masaru Emoto’s work demonstrates that we are constantly being influenced by the sounds around us and by the information stored in the water we consume.

Water crystals formed when distilled water was frozen after being played Bach’s ‘Air on a G String’

Water crystals produced when distilled water was frozen after being played heavy metal music13

Music as Medicine
Don Campbell, in his book The Mozart Effect, shows how music, particularly Mozart’s, has all kinds of beneficial effects for human health. Scientists suggest that listening to Mozart helps us to improve our powers of concentration and enhances our ability to make intuitive leaps, by organizing the firing pattern of neurones in the cerebral cortex.14
The foetus prefers Mozart and Vivaldi to other composers. When pregnant mothers listened to Mozart and Vivaldi, the babies’ heart rates invariably steadied and kicking declined. Rock music ‘drove most foetuses to distraction’ and they ‘kicked violently’ when it was played to their pregnant mothers.15
Slower tempo music slows our breathing rate. The human heartbeat will tend to match the rhythm of music. Listening to Pacabel’s Cannon, for instance, at around 64 beats per minute, the rate of a resting heart beat, will slow our breathing rate and heart rate and change our brain wave pattern from beta to alpha. Music will also calm our nervous system and affect metabolism.
The pitch and rhythm of music influence the limbic system, affecting our emotions. Scientists concluded that preferred music ‘may elicit a profound positive emotional experience that can trigger the release of hormones, which can contribute to a lessening of those factors which enhance the disease process’.16
Music is now used to reduce the pain and anxiety of patients undergoing dental treatment and surgical operations. In a study of 59,000 patients, 97% of patients stated that music really helped them to relax in the post-operative situation and during surgery in regional anaesthesia.17
In his research, Dr Mike Lewis found that classical music works on the whole brain, whereas pop music affects only one side of the brain. He says, ‘I recommend that those who are looking for a peak experience try classical. Mozart is a great place to start, but it is a question of trial and error, find what works for you.’18

Singing/Toning
Dr Tomatis found that a child traumatized by an enraged or screaming adult learns to survive by shutting out these noises. Once the hearing shuts down the child will find it hard to learn.19
This explains why some people can sing in tune while others consider themselves ‘tone deaf’. It is impossible for us to make a sound unless we have heard that sound or note before. I have found from experience in teaching voice work that once a person’s hearing is reawakened then they can begin to hear what is sung to them and can then accurately copy this sound.
Toning is defined as – ‘to make sound with an elongated vowel for an extended period’. Toning with other people creates a feeling of unity. It also helps us to release stress and repressed emotions. Regular toning and humming helps to re-energize the body and restore health to the mind, body and spirit.
Toning has a neurochemical effect on the body, boosting the immune system and causing the release of endorphins. Toning assists in good breathing and posture. The muscles of the digestive system are massaged and stimulated by regular toning. Toning has also been effective in relieving insomnia.20

Wolfson
Alfred Wolfson was a German-born singing teacher who was plagued by the sounds of artillery and human agony that he experienced as a soldier in the trenches in World War I. Wolfson cured himself of aural hallucinations by singing the terrible sounds that haunted him. He went on to develop a therapeutic method that was based on using the voice. He taught his students to make spontaneous noises, including those of animals, birds and even machines.
Using Jung’s concept of the anima and animus, Wolfson taught that by extending the vocal range through singing exercises, one could contact the opposite polarity within oneself, thereby integrating the psyche and healing a variety of psychological and physical conditions.21
Laurel Elizabeth Keys, in her book Toning the Creative Power of the Voice, says, ‘A whiny weak voice will suck in negativity, attracting lingering illness like cancer, asthma, allergies, tumors, rheumatism and arthritis. No healing will be possible until the person reverses their tonal pattern.’22
Laurel discovered toning by accident. One day her body became filled with a sound so great that she had to express it. ‘Each time I toned, my body felt exhilarated, alive as it had never felt before, a feeling of wholeness and extreme well-being.’22

Chant
Dr Tomatis discovered the power of chant after visiting a monastery in France. The new abbot had stopped the monks chanting. The Benedictine monks normally chant for six to eight hours a day. The abbot believed that the Gregorian chant served no useful purpose and that without it they could recapture that time for other things.
The monks had been chanting in order to ‘charge up’ themselves, but they hadn’t realized what they were doing. As the days passed they became more and more tired. A procession of doctors came to the monastery over a period of several months. They changed the monks’ diet and sleep patterns but the monks became more tired than ever.
When the abbot called in Dr Tomatis in February 1967, Tomatis found 70 out of the 90 monks ‘slumping in their cells like wet dishrags’. He reintroduced their chanting immediately. By November, almost all of them had gone back to their normal activities, their prayer, their few hours of sleep, and their arduous work schedule.23

Principles of Sound Healing

Entrainment
The principle of entrainment explains how sound healing works. A harmonious sound projected at a person who is in a state of disharmony will eventually bring them into resonance with the harmonious sound. Our atoms, molecules, cells, glands and organs all have a vibrational frequency. Sounds from outside our body will stimulate sympathetic vibration in the molecules and cells of our body.

Intention
The sound wave created by a person singing or playing an instrument will carry information to the receiver of the sound. We all know that a song can be sung with a loving intention or an aggressive intention. When a mother sings a lullaby to her child, the child feels the love in the mother’s voice and is rocked to sleep. At a football match, fans sing aggressive chants directed at the opposing supporters and their team. Here the intention is to intimidate.

Sympathetic Resonance
When two objects have similar vibratory characteristics that allow them to vibrate at the same frequency, they form a resonant system. When a ‘C’ tuning fork is struck, another ‘C’ tuning fork close by will also begin to vibrate. For healing to occur there must be a resonance or rapport between healer and patient.

Pure Tone
Jonathan Goldman in his book Healing Sounds says, “When we have learned techniques for harmonic toning, the human voice is able to create nearly every frequency, at least within the bandwidth of audible frequency.” Jonathan offers the simple formula, “Frequency plus Intention equals Healing.” If we can find a pure sound frequency coupled with a pure intention then healing will occur. When our body receives a pure tone our muscles will relax and tension will be released.24

Sound Healing
When working with a person in a sound healing session I use my voice to scan over their body. I find that my voice will ‘break up’ over areas of their body where there is pain, disease or poor function. I then administer sound healing through my voice using different tones, vowel sounds and harmonics until the imbalance is cleared. I use healing songs, prayers and mantras. I will also help a person find their fundamental sound.
I use a wide range of sound healing techniques to treat all conditions. These include combining my voice with instruments, using sound in combination with bodywork, encouraging the person to express their pain through sound, using tuning forks and different musical intervals.
Dissonant intervals can be used in sound healing to help a person to get in touch with painful emotions. When the dissonance is resolved by sounding the interval above, the person listening will experience a feeling of release, lightness and joy. If the person has experienced deep trauma, I will often chant the person’s name to call back their spirit.
Sound healing can be combined with other healing therapies such as massage and bodywork. After a sound healing treatment most people report a feeling of deep relaxation and an improvement in the function of mind and body. Structural imbalances in the body will often correct themselves during the sound treatment.

References
1. Goldman Jonathan. Healing Sounds. Element Books. Shaftesbury. p30. ISBN 1-85230-314-X. 1992.
2. Tomatis Alfred. The Conscious Ear. Station Hill Press. New York. ISBN 0-88268-108-7. 1991.
3. Jenny Hans. Cymatics, Volumes I and II. Basilius Presse AG. Basel. 1974.
4. Maman Fabien. The Role of Music in the Twenty-First Century. Tama-Do Press. California. p61. ISBN 0-9657714-0-7. 1997.
5. Maman Fabien. ibid. p90.
6. Maman Fabien. ibid. p56. Photograph reproduced with permission from Fabien Maman.
7. Campbell Don. The Mozart Effect. Avon Books. New York. pp242-243. ISBN 0-380-97418-5. 1997.
8. Maman Fabien. ibid. p20.
9. Maman Fabien. ibid. p80. Photograph reproduced with permission from Fabien Maman.
10. Maman Fabien. ibid. p81.
11. Oliver Jim. Notes from CD Harmonic Resonance. The Relaxation Company. New York. 1995.
12. Emoto Masaru. The Message from Water. HADO Kyoikusha. Tokyo. ISBN 4-939098-00-1. 1999.
13. Emoto Masaru. ibid. pp77,87. Photographs reproduced with permission from Masaru Emoto.
14. Campbell Don. ibid. p23.
15. Campbell Don. ibid. p15.
16. Campbell Don. ibid. p73.
17. Harvey Arthur. Music in Attitudinal Medicine. in Campbell Don ed. Music: Physician for Times to Come. Quest Books. Illinois. p189. ISBN 0-8356-0668-6. 1991.
18. Lewis Mike. Why Music Heals Your Mind. Interview. Sunday Express. p51.21 May 2000.
19. Joudry Patricia. Sound Therapy for the Walkman. Steele and Steele. Dolmen. Canada. p7. ISBN 0-9691687-0-5. 1984.
20. Campbell Don. ibid. pp92-93.
21. Campbell Don. ibid. pp102-103.
22. Keys Laurel Elizabeth. Toning the Creative Power of the Voice. DeVorss and Co. California. pp10-12. ISBN 0-87516-176-6. 1973.
23. Wilson Tim. Chant the Healing Powers of Voice and Ear. in Campbell Don ed. Music: Physician for Times to Come. Quest Books. Illinois. pp12-14. ISBN 0-8356-0668-6. 1991.
24. Goldman Jonathan. ibid. p94.

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A Summary listed below of the above information–

The French ear, nose and throat specialist Dr Alfred Tomatis has devoted the last 50 years to understanding the ear and its function. He believes that the ear is the most important of all our sense organs. The ear controls the body’s sense of balance, rhythm and movement and is the conductor of the entire nervous system.

Through the medulla, the auditory nerve connects with all the muscles of the body. Hence, muscle tone, equilibrium, flexibility and vision are affected by sound. Through the vagus nerve, the inner ear connects with the larynx, heart, lungs, stomach, liver, bladder, kidneys, small intestine and large intestine.

The principle of entrainment states that powerful rhythmic vibrations from one source will cause the less powerful vibrations of another source to lock into the vibration of the first source. Nature always seeks the most efficient state; it takes less energy to pulse in co-operation that in opposition.

He found that low frequency sounds produced simple geometric shapes in the materials. As the sound frequency was increased, these simple forms would break up and more complex patterns would appear. The sound ‘OH’ would produce a perfect circle. The sound ‘OM’ produced a pattern that resembles the Shri Yantra; the ancient mandala for ‘OM’ used in India for thousands of years.
Jenny came to the conclusion that sound creates form and that the entire human body had its own sound made up of all the sounds of its cells, tissues and organs.3

A few years later, Fabien met Hélène Grimal, a senior researcher at the National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris. They devoted a year-and-a-half to study the effects of sound on normal and malignant cells. Using drums, gongs, flutes, guitar, bass and a xylophone, they investigated the effects of sound on healthy blood cells, haemoglobin, and the ‘Hela’ cancer cell from the uterus.
They found that even at 30-40 decibels the sound always produced noticeable changes in the cells. As the sounds progressed up the musical scale there would be an ‘explosion’ of the cancer cells at a certain frequency as the sound travelled outward from the centre of the cell to its outer membrane. The experiment yielded the most dramatic results when the human voice was used.

From his experiments, Fabien concluded that, ‘In the human voice there is an added element which cannot be found in any other instrument… The human voice carries its own spiritual resonance… This difference, evident from the photographs, is what makes the voice the most powerful healing instrument – particularly when the person needing the healing produced the sounds with his or her own voice.’10

Jim Oliver says that the body responds to sounds that we cannot hear. He says, ‘We put the selected sounds exclusively into a pair of headphones and put them on a client’s ankles. They responded to the sound even though their ears could not hear the sound. Once you vibrate a part of the body the blood cells carry this resonance to the whole body very quickly.’1

Masaru Emoto’s next experiment was playing music to water. He placed distilled water in between two speakers and played one piece of music fully at normal volume. Then he froze the water.
Classical music produced beautiful crystals of slightly different colours. Healing music, a Tibetan mantra and folk music also produced beautiful crystals. Heavy metal music produced a pattern that looked like a crystal that had exploded into a thousand pieces. Japanese pop music produced ugly square-shaped crystals rather then the normal hexagonal ones.12
Since our body is made up of 70% water, Masaru Emoto’s work demonstrates that we are constantly being influenced by the sounds around us and by the information stored in the water we consume.

Chant
Dr Tomatis discovered the power of chant after visiting a monastery in France. The new abbot had stopped the monks chanting. The Benedictine monks normally chant for six to eight hours a day. The abbot believed that the Gregorian chant served no useful purpose and that without it they could recapture that time for other things.
The monks had been chanting in order to ‘charge up’ themselves, but they hadn’t realized what they were doing. As the days passed they became more and more tired. A procession of doctors came to the monastery over a period of several months. They changed the monks’ diet and sleep patterns but the monks became more tired than ever.
When the abbot called in Dr Tomatis in February 1967, Tomatis found 70 out of the 90 monks ‘slumping in their cells like wet dishrags’. He reintroduced their chanting immediately. By November, almost all of them had gone back to their normal activities, their prayer, their few hours of sleep, and their arduous work schedule.23

Pure Tone
Jonathan Goldman in his book Healing Sounds says, “When we have learned techniques for harmonic toning, the human voice is able to create nearly every frequency, at least within the bandwidth of audible frequency.” Jonathan offers the simple formula, “Frequency plus Intention equals Healing.” If we can find a pure sound frequency coupled with a pure intention then healing will occur. When our body receives a pure tone our muscles will relax and tension will be released.24

Praṇava (oṁkāra)
In the Bhagavad-gītā, the praṇava (oṁkāra) has been accepted as the direct, literal representation of the Supreme Absolute Truth. One who is not able to chant directly the holy name of the Lord, as recommended above, can easily chant the praṇava (oṁkāra). This oṁkāra is a note of address, such as “O my Lord,” just as oṁ hari om means “O my Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” As we have explained before, the Lord’s holy name is identical with the Lord Himself. So also is oṁkāra. But persons who are unable to realize the transcendental personal form or name of the Lord on account of their imperfect senses (in other words, the neophytes) are trained to the practice of self-realization by this mechanical process of regulating the breathing function and simultaneously repeating the praṇava (oṁkāra) within the mind. As we have several times expressed, since the transcendental name, form, attributes, pastimes, etc., of the Personality of Godhead are impossible to understand with the present material senses, it is necessary that through the mind, the center of sensual activities, such transcendental realization be set into motion. The devotees directly fix their minds on the Person of the Absolute Truth. But one who is unable to accommodate such personal features of the Absolute is disciplined in impersonality to train the mind to make further progress. (sb/2/1/17)

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Vedic Conception of Sound in Four Features
By Jāhnavā Nitāi Das

Originally published in “Tattva Prakasha” Volume 1, Issue 7

In the Vedantic traditions sound is considered one of the most important principles of existence, as it is both the source of matter and the key to become free from it. One who can thoroughly understand the four stages of sound as explained in the Vedic texts can utilize this science to become free from the bondage of matter.

When trying to understand the four levels of sound, we must first understand what is “sound” as defined in the scriptures. In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (3.26.33) we find an interesting definition for sound (shabda) as follows:

arthāśrayatvaṁ śabdasya
draṣṭur liṅgatvam eva ca
tan-mātratvaṁ ca nabhaso
lakṣaṇaṁ kavayo viduḥ

“Persons who are learned and who have true knowledge define sound as that which conveys the idea of an object, indicates the presence of a speaker screened from our view and constitutes the subtle form of ether.”

This may not be an absolute definition of sound, as there are various levels of sound to define, but it provides us with a solid foundation to begin our study of this topic. This definition, as given in Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, is very interesting in that it differs completely from western and modern views of defining sound.

First, those who are learned and who have true knowledge define sound as that which conveys the idea of an object. Sound is not just the vibration created by the meeting of two objects. Sound is that which conveys the idea of an object. The exact word used in this connection is “artha-ashraya” or “the shelter of the meaning”. In the Vedic conception the aksharas (letters) are bījas, or seeds of existence. The audible sound is categorized into 50 alphabets of Sanskrit starting from “a” and ending with “ksha”. Hence the alphabet is called “akshara”, which literally means “infallible” or “supreme”. Akshara is also a synonym for praṇava (Oṁ), the sum of all syllables and source of all vedic hymns. The Bhagavad Gītā confirms this as follows:

karma brahmodbhavaṁ viddhi
brahmākṣara-samudbhavam
tasmāt sarva-gataṁ brahma
nityaṁ yajñe pratiṣṭhitam
[Bg. 3.15]

“Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly manifested from akshara, the sacred syllable Oṁ. Consequently the all-pervading Transcendence (praṇava or the syllable ‘Oṁ’) is eternally situated in acts of sacrifice.”

Karma, or duty, is manifested from the Vedas. This manifestation is not exactly direct, for one is spiritual and the other is material. This is indicated by the word udbhavam. On the other hand, the manifestation of the Vedas from the praṇava (Oṁ) is direct, and thus the word used to describe it is sam-udbhavam, and not just udbhavam.

In the Tantras the aksharas are traced back to their material source level which is a particular deity of Shakti. Each of her stages of manifestation are phases in the evolution of the universe. Thus the aksharas are potent sound, constitutionally connected to objects as sound (śabda) and its meaning (artha).

This is interesting in that it draws a distinction between sound and noise. Noise, as distinct from sound, is not the artha-ashraya, or the shelter of meaning.

Śrī Baladeva Vidyabhushana in his commentary to Vedānta Sūtra 1.3.28 says that the creation of all living entities proceeds from the remembrance of their form and characteristics by Lord Brahmā reciting the corresponding words. From this we can begin to understand to potency of sound and its meaning.

The second aspect of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam’s definition of sound that is unique from modern thought is that sound is defined as “that which indicates the presence of a speaker”. Thus sound must be a product of consciousness. In this senses, sound is sometimes referred to as vak, or speech, throughout the Vedic texts.

In the tantra system the pūrva mīmāṁsaka’s theory of the eternality of shabda (sound) and artha (meaning) is accepted. They go a little further to assert that shabda and artha are the embodiment of Shiva and Shakti as the universe itself. They name their original source as shabdartha-brahman instead of a mere shabda-brahman. For, that is the source of both the objects and their descriptions. Words and their meanings – what they denote in the objective world – are the variety of manifestations of shakti.

As sound is of the nature of the varṇas (syllables) composing it, the tantra affirms that the creative force of the universe resides in all the letters of the alphabet. The different letters symbolize the different functions of that creative force, and their totality is designated as matrika or the “mother in essence”.

Thus Tantra sees the mantras as not just a mere combination of whimsical sounds but as the subtle form of the presiding deity; and the real purpose of one’s meditation through the mantra is to communicate with the deity of that particular mantra.

Just as a saṅkalpa – a pure thought – has to pass through several stages before it actually manifests as concrete creative force, the sound of a particular mantra also has to pass through several stages before it is fully experienced by the listener in perfection. These stages are termed as para, pashyanti, madhyama and vaikhari.

Each level of sound corresponds to a level of existence, and one’s experience of sound depends upon the refinement of one’s consciousness.

It takes a realized consciousness to experience the full range of sound, the full range of existence. The seers who can comprehend the four stages of sound are known as Manishis.

The higher three forms of shabda are described in the Rig Veda as hidden in “guhā”, or within the self, whereas the forth is the external manifested speech, known as laukika bhasha.

These four levels of sound correspond to four states of consciousness. Para represents the transcendental consciousness. Paśyanti represents the intellectual consciousness. Madhyama represents the mental consciousness. And Vaikhari represents the physical consciousness. These states of consciousness correspond with the four states known technically as jāgrat, svapna, suṣupti, and turīya – or the wakeful state, the dreaming state, the dreamless state, and the transcendental state.

Shabda-brahman in its absolute nature is called para. In manifestation the subtle is always the source of the gross, and thus from para-vak manifests the other three forms of sound.

Though the manifestation of sound takes place from para-vak down to vaikhari-vak (or fine to gross), in explaining these stages we will begin from the external vaikhari-vak, as that is the sound we all have most experience of.

Vaikhari-vak is the grossest level of speech, and it is heard through the external senses. When sound comes out through the mouth as spoken syllables it is called as vaikhari.

Madhyama-vak is the intermediate unexpressed state of sound, whose seat is in the heart. The word Madhyama means “in between” or “the middle”. The middle sound is that sound which exists between the states of suṣupti and jāgrat. Madhyama-vak refers to mental speech, as opposed to external audible speech. It is on this level that we normally experience thought. Some hold that wakeful thought is still on the level of vaikhari.

In the manifestation process, after sound has attained the form of pashyanti-vak, it goes further up to the heart and becomes coupled with the assertive intelligence, being charged with the syllables a, ka, cha, tha, ta, etc. At this point it manifests itself in the form of vibratory nada rūpa madhyama-vak. Only those who are endowed with discriminative intelligence can feel this.

On the levels of madhyama and vaikhari, there is a distinction between the sound and the object. The object is perceived as something different from the sound, and sound is connected to an object mostly by convention.
Pashyanti-vak is the second level of sound, and is less subtle than para-vak. Pashyanti in Sanskrit means “that which can be seen or visualized”.

In the pashyanti stage sound possesses qualities such as color and form. Yogis who have inner vision can perceive these qualities in sound. On this stage the differences between language do not exist, as this sound is intuitive and situated beyond rigidly defined concepts. On the stage of pashyanti-vak, speech is intuitively connected to the object. There is near oneness between the word and the experience described.

Pashyanti-vak is the finest impulse of speech. The seat of pashyanti is in the navel or the Maṇipura Chakra. When sound goes up to the naval with the bodily air in vibratory form without any particular syllable (varṇa), yet connected with the mind, it is known as pashyanti-vak.

Para-vak is the transcendent sound. Para means highest or farthest, and in this connection it indicates that sound which is beyond the perception of the senses.

Para-vak is also known as “rava-shabda” – an unvibratory condition of sound beyond the reach of mind and intelligence (avyakta), only to be realized by great souls, parama-jnanis.

On the stage of para-vak there is no distinction between the object and the sound. The sound contains within it all the qualities of the object.

In terms of the universal cosmology, vaikhari, madhyama and pashyanti correspond respectively to bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ, and svaḥ. The para-shabda ultimately corresponds to the Lord’s tri-pāda-vibhūti.

Within the pashyanti-vak exists the nature’s iccha-shakti, or the power of will. Within the madhyama-vak exists the nature’s jnana-shakti, or the power of knowledge. And within the vaikhari-vak exists the nature’s kriya-shakti, or power of action.

The praṇava, or the syllable “oṁ”, is the complete representation of the four stages of sound and their existential counterparts. The existential realities are the physical (sthūla) which is connected to the vaikhari-shabda, the subtle (sukshma) which is connected to the madhyama-shabda, the causal (kāraṇa) which is connected with the pashyanti-shabda, and the transcendental (para) which is related to the para-shabda. These four existential realities further correspond to the four states of consciousness.

The sthūla śarīra, or physical body, operates in the state of jāgrat (wakeful state). It is in this realm of consciousness, and through this body, that the vaikhari-vak is manifested.

The sukshma-sarira, subtle or psychic body, operates in the state of svapna. It is in this realm of consciousness, and through this body, that the madhyama-vak is manifested.

The karana-sarira, or causal body, operates in the state of suṣupti, or deep sleep. It is in this realm of consciousness, and through this body, that the pashyanti-vak is manifested.

The para-vak is manifested through the fourth state of consciousness, known as turīya.

The sacred syllable “oṁ” is composed of three matras, namely “a”, “u”, and “m”. These three matras correspond respectively to bhūḥ, bhuvaḥ and svaḥ; jāgrat, svapna and suṣupti; sukshma, sthūla and kāraṇa; and vaikhari, madhyama and pashyanti. Besides these three matras, the praṇava (“a-u-m”) is also composed of a forth constituent, namely the a-matra or anahata-dhvani – the non-syllable or unstruck sound. For our practical understanding, this a-matra corresponds to the humming sound after one recites the “oṁ” syllable. The a-matra represents the transcendence, the turīya, the para-vak.

Thus the syllable oṁ contains all elements of existence. It is the reservoir of all energies of the Supreme Lord, and for this reason Lord Krishna states in the Gītā:

oṁ ity ekākṣaraṁ brahma
vyāharan mām anusmaran
yaḥ prayāti tyajan dehaṁ
sa yāti paramāṁ gatim

After being situated in this yoga practice and vibrating the sacred syllable om, the supreme combination of letters, if one thinks of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and quits his body, he will certainly reach the spiritual planets.

Elsewhere the Lord states:

yad akṣaraṁ veda-vido vadanti

“Those knowers of the Vedas recite Oṁ (akshara).”

Why do they do this? Because the syllable oṁ is the Supreme Lord and the potency of all Vedic mantras:

praṇavaḥ sarva-vedeṣu

“Within all the Vedas, I am the symbol Oṁ.”

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu established the praṇava as the mahā-vākya of the Vedas, for within it exist all Vedic hymns (and shabda). The world itself is a manifestation of this syllable. It is the sound representation of the Absolute Truth.
The vak is not a manifestation of the material nature, for the Vedānta sūtra 2.4.4 states as follows:

tat-purvakatvad vacaḥ

This indicates that the vak existed before the pradhāna. Pradhāna is the root of the material manifestation – the three qualities non-differentiated in absolute equilibrium. Yet prior to this is the vak. Thus the vak is non-material.
For this reason we find in the Vedānta Sūtras the following statement:

anavriti shabdat

“Liberation by sound.”

Since sound is the non-material source of the material manifestation, it is the key by which we can become free from bondage. It is the thread-like link between the material and spiritual realms.

In describing the four phases of sound, sometimes the descriptions of one will overlap another, or sometimes an aspect of one will seem to be attributed to another. For example sometimes pashyanti is described as “mental sound”, whereas madhyama will be described as “intellectual sound”. This will require a deeper explanation of the intricacies of these stages of sound and their relationships. Such an explanation is not possible here at this time.

To study these concepts in greater depth one may refer to the Nada-bindu Upanishad, Bhartrihari’s Vakyapadadiya, Prashna Upanishad, Muṇḍaka Upanishad, Māṇḍūkya Upanishad, Maitrī Upanishad and Kathā Upanishad, as well as the concepts of shabda, vak, matrikas, hiraṇyagarbha, four states of consciousness, etc., as found in the tantras and throughout the upanishads. One should remember that in Vedic study one will not generally find a book on a particular topic (such as “vaikhari”, etc.) One must study from numerous sources and assimilate a number of apparently diverse concepts. These concepts must then be harmonized internally. This constitutes the meditation and sacrifice of svādhyāya yajña.

For those who have assimilated these topics, they will find all this information contained in detail within nine technical verses of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam beginning from 11.2.35 and ending at 11.2.43. For example, if one sees verses 38 through 40 one will find a complete explanation of sound in four levels and the process of manifestation. One must be trained to see the inner meaning of words, for these topics are discussed in esoteric and confidential manners:

paroksha-vada rishayah
paroksham mama ca priyam

“The Vedic seers speak about these topics indirectly in esoteric terms, and I am pleased by such confidential descriptions.”

When we see such words as prāṇaḥ, manasā, sparsha-rupinah and chandaḥ-mayaḥ as occurring in verses 38 and 39, we should immediately understand the indirect and esoteric nature of the discussion, and thereby conclude the direct meaning being inferred by these words. We must learn the transcendental code of the Vedas. In reality everything is explained in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam in full, but because we generally lack the proper vision to understand the indirect and esoteric discussions, we therefore need to study and refer to other more direct scriptures. Thus the commentaries of the Acharyas will help us to understand these topics.

The science of sound, shabda-vijnana, as explained in the above mentioned verses of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, is also summarily explained in the Pancharatrik text known as Lakshmi-tantra as follows:

mūlam adharam ārabhya dvistkantam upeyuṣi
udita aneka sahasra sūrya vahnindu sannibha
cakravat punar adharāt santa pasyatha madhyama
vaikhari sthānam asadhya tatrasta sthanavartini
varṇānāṁ jananīṁ bhūtvā bhogya prasnoumi gouriva

“Seated in the area starting from the mūlādhāra to the position of dvistkanta with effulgence equal to the rising of millions of suns, fires and moons. Like a wheel from the adhara becoming the sounds known as santa, pashyati, madhyama. Reaching the position of vaikhari, there situated in eight places, viz., the throat etc. Being the mother of all sounds I bestow enjoyments like a cow.”

Creation and the origin of sound
In the beginning there was darkness of pradhāna, the unmanifested material energy. When agitated by Lord Vishnu’s powerful glance in the form of energy of time (kāla-śakti), it was awakened to the stage called mahat (the great matter). Gradually the following elements were generated: ahaṅkāra (false ego), manaḥ (mind) and buddhi (intelligence), tan matras (sense objects) and pañca bhūtas (the five gross material elements). Together they form Karana-sagara or Causal ocean. The Lord then expanded Himself and entered into the Causal ocean. From His body came forth the seeds of millions of universes. The Lord then expanded and laid down within each and every universes. In his navel lake a small transcendental seed was generated, which grew into a lotus flower that contains all the planetary systems. Within that lotus the first created being, Lord Brahmā appeared. He was perplexed about his origin and destiny, but suddenly from nearby he heard two syllables ta – pa (Practice austerities!) Thus initiated by the Supreme Lord, Brahmā underwent severe austerities and was rewarded with Vedic wisdom for his great task of secondary creation. The first living entity that appeared from Lord Brahmā was praṇava, the transcendental sound oṁkāra (oṁ). From oṁ came all the sounds of the alphabet.

Human sound creation
According to traditional phonetics (siksaa), the self (ātmā) formulates intentions by means of intelligence (buddhi) and inspires the mind (mana) to speak. The mind impulses the body fire (kayagni) it in turn sets in motion breath (maruta) that moving in the chest, generates a humming sound (mandra) that again rising to the palate and crown of the head, and rebounding thence, passes to the mouth and produces articulate sounds like vowels and consonants.