The Inner Music

The Lord is the Shabd in form and various kinds of unending Music are always resounding at His door.

The creation came into being through the Shabd. In it there are several regions. In these regions Shabds, which are special to each region, are heard. The Saints have given details of all the sounds. In the Gurbani also there is a pointed reference to them.

We find that bells are rung in Hindu temples. They are also tolled in Christian churches. In the Sikh Gurdwaras shell horns, conch and bells are used, and drums are beaten even today. By research, it can be learned that the outer musical instruments are imitations of the inner ones. Ponder deeply and you will find that Hindu temples have domes and a bell hangs in the middle. Whoever enters the temple rings the bell. In the human head, which also is like a dome, a devotee hears the Shabd at the seat of the soul. In the same manner, Christian churches have high steeples in which a bell is hung. These are based on the shape of the nose. In the human body at the root of the nose, when the soul is concentrated at a place between the two eyebrows, one hears the sound of the bell.

Khwaja Hafiz of Iran said of this bell:

Nobody knows where the home of the Beloved is, but there is a region where the sound of the bell is always ringing.

Hafiz

The Gurbani also says:

You hear the ringing of His bells in all the four directions.

M5 Asa 393-8

Bells are also found in Buddhist temples. The ringing of bells, in fact, is mentioned in the scriptures of all the religions. The fact is, that when one goes within the body, the temple of the living God, one hears a sound which is like the ringing of a bell. Similarly, various other sounds are heard in the inner regions. Of these, five Sounds are the principal ones. These inner Sounds are inter-related. After receiving instructions from an adept in the Sound-Current technique and carrying out spiritual practices, one can reach the region from where the melody of the Five Sounds is emanating. This is the abode of the Supreme Lord. The musical sounds are, in a way, milestones on the way that leads to the country of our Lord and which tell us how far we have come.

Bhai Gurdas mentions the inner Music in his verses:

The soul played the music of the conch shell horn.

Bhai Gurdas, Var 20 Pauri 11

When the unending Music is played on the horn, the Light appears.

Bhai Gurdas, Var 22 Pauri 13

Oh! hear the ringing of the bells, the unending Music divine, beyond the tenth door.

Kabir 29

Those who enjoy a natural trance and see the inner light, contemplate on the unending Melody of the ringing of the bell.

Kabir 222

Khwaja Hafiz also mentions these inner musical sounds. He says:

Oh! listen to the singers in the garden. How harmoniously they play, on harp, lute, guitar, pipe, flute and reed.

He mentions many different sounds ranging from the chirping of sparrows to the music of the harp, lute, guitar, pipe, flute, and so on.

By listening to the Melody of the inner music, the soul is elevated. The secret of this can be obtained from a Master. A disciple becomes a Gurumukh by listening to this Music and gains access to his original Home.

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