Man is constantly searching for something. Search has added a new dimension to his life. Thousands of years of succession has lent a dilemma to his life but man perceives it as “progress”. Progress has given birth to modern faculties of knowledge like science, medicine, mathematics, engineering, economics, aesthetics, philosophies, theology and so on. Is man mired into the quagmire of these faculties? One wonders whether man lives off the economy, or he lives for the economy. Whether he invents for living or lives for inventing. Whether he thinks for living or he lives for thinking. Whether liberation will arrive in a fleet of Lamborghinis, private jets, or by being a monk. Whether a palatial bungalow is your salvation point or what if it is not.
Meeting horizon adds another horizon to his misery. Thousands of years of progress has added more lumens of light that lit nights. Man has added more air cool days that comfort in scorching summer. Man has added more kilometres per hour travel that lets him travel faster. Man has added more gigabytes per hour communication that lets him communicate world-wide by not actually being there. All this progress has cost the world destruction of air, water, forest denudation, wildlife near-extinction, hotter climate and threats of pandemic, wars, famine.
But, man continues to be engaged in searching. He has forgotten to live. I remember a beautiful story. One young man went to Buddha and said that he wanted to devote his life to serve humanity. He thought Buddha would be happy. Buddha said compassionately, “Before doing any service, first you find out who wants to do service, who wants to serve the humanity”. This is the problem with all of us.
Man is in a state of deep dilemma. He has been postponing his life in search of a life that he has been postponing in his past. He is creating a future of known out of the known and postponing his present. He thinks as if he is searching for an unknown future for security. In postponement he creates new horizons that he defines in beautiful words as progress, position, prestige, prosperity. This lends him in predicament. Predicament of not living the life. A life lived is lived on the canvas of eternity. A life not lived is thought on the canvas of time. Either you make your life a thought. A thought of becoming somebody, or earning something or possessing something. Or you can live—by being here in existence. Not to be there in future. Being here. To experience life in totality not just by your eyes, ears, smell, touch, feel but by your whole being. Meeting life by being in life.
Someone asked Bhikku how to live life, what is the art of living. Bhikku replied, “Life is to live for right now what you will die for and to do that you have to die for it now what you will live for. That’s a faculty beyond faculties.”
A life not lived is a thought that has no potential to live. A life lived is lived in eternity and is part of the eternal that which is. In that which is there is absolute bliss. Man comes out of eternity and goes back into eternity and between two points man lives in eternity. But, in between, the mind creates a false imaginary man, a by-product of the thought. Between two points man wastes his life in searching. Searching is meaningful if done with awareness and alertness.
Understand, the basic parameter of life lived is bliss. Hindus call it Ananda (bliss). The Upanishads call it Sat-Chitt-Ananda (that which is always beyond is the truth being in the state of bliss). Nanak calls it Naam Khumari (eternal blissfulness). Existence is full of Ananda (bliss). Every atom is dancing. Planets, sun, universe, galaxies are dancing. They are dancing on the drum beat. Upnishads call it Anahad Nada (the beat produced by itself). The sound of all sounds. Ordinarily any sound or Nada is produced by friction between the two objects but Anahad Nada is produced by itself. Hindus call it Aum which is not a word but the symbol sound of that which is. Nanak calls it Ek Omkar Satnam (Truth has only one name, Omkar). The word Amen is also derived from that sound. English words Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient are also derived from the word Aum.
Science says the world is made of electricity, Hindus say that electricity is also a type of sound only. Electricity comes with friction between the two. All sounds of the world and the universe are produced out of the soundless sound Aum. Aum is the total silence and the total sound. The sound that holds all particles together and particles appear as such they are. Sound does the ultimate communication in matter. Quantum biology, which means quantum physics meeting the real world, have recently discovered that subatomic particles converge into each other in acoustics resonance. Photons converge into plant bodies as vibrations. Smell of Jasmine that touches one’s nostrils enters the skin, converging into the body particle cells by hearing the sound of fragrance.
Scientists say that human ears can hear loudness from 0 decibel to 120-130 decibel and pitch from frequency range of 20 to 20,000 hertz. What humans cannot hear could be heard by dogs, cats, and a host of other animals. Dogs can smell afar. Smell travels in sound vibrations.
Hindus perceive God in the soundless sound Aum. Shiva dances on Anahad Naad (the beatless beat) performing Tandava (the dance of all dances) and Shiva is Nataraja (the Lord of dancing). The world was created in this soundless sound of Damru (glass hour-shaped drum) played by Shiva. Theoretical physicists are enamoured with the mystical hum sound of the earth. They argue that sound is first manifested on the planet when bony fishes appeared around 400 million years ago and developed the ability to sense vibrations by adapting the organ they would balance with in water. Later the organ evolved into cochlea.
For sound to be, silence is needed. All sounds are evolved out of soundless silence. Sounds are like vibrations in a sea of soundlessness. Sounds course through the body as vibrations to enter each and every living cell.
In Tibet, they cure critical illnesses cancer, Alzheimer’s and others through sound waves and miracles happen. When you play a guitar, the sound vibrates you. Sound is vibration. Singing Bowls of Tibet emit the sound of void they are known as symbol of unknowable. In India, mantras are used as sound waves to cure energies around. Matter is vibrating energy. Sound of Tibetan Bowls, Hindu Mantras and sound coming from music bring harmony to the vibrating energy. Great musician Tansen would light up lamps by singing. These days they use ultrasound not just for imagery but for changing brain waves and curing.
Silence is the song of emptiness. When vibrating energies meet soundlessness, healing happens. Hindus say everything is held together in sound. Shiva says enter the soundlessness of all sounds to know it. Let’s know it. Carefully listen to all sounds around you. In all sounds you would find a sound that remains constant with or without all the sounds. Focus on it to begin with. That’s the anti-sound of all sounds. That comes out of the silence the soundlessness.
At home listen to Gong music let the gong enter in you. Be the gong, and let it vibrate each cell of your being. On windy days listen to the leafy gongs of trees around. Listen to flowing water enter the silence of the water. You will be blissful.
The author is a spiritual teacher and independent advisor on policy, governance, strategy, and leadership. He can be reached at arunavlokitta@gmail.com.