Book II / VII

Shabd signifies Sound Principle

What is the sound and how is sound produced, are the natural questions in this context. Some say that sound is produced when two things strike, one against the other. Others say that where there is vibration, there is sound. It is, of course, true that sound does follow concussion and vibration. But the Sound of which the Saints speak is different from what we ordinarily mean in common parlance. It is something very subtle and is characterized by Consciousness as exhibited in fecundity and growth principles. It is the very life of life that permeates in all things, visible and invisible. It is an active and live agent of Godhead and may briefly be described as God-in-action. This Sound Principle is Jnana or the real knowledge of the Rishis of old, the Cult of Eternal Life of Zoroaster, Logos of the Greeks, Tao of the Chinese, Buddhi or enlightenment of Gautama and Sphota or Sound-essence of the philosophers.

Dhun or the Sound Current is both true knowledge and true meditation and remains indescribable all the same.

Guru Nanak, Sri Rag M1

This Sound is in Its fullness in everything, though the measure of Its manifestation may vary from one thing to another. It is even in stones and wood, apparently insensate things. The fact is that all things in Nature are of atoms and atoms are full of energy as the Phrase Atomic energy denotes. It is because of this energy that the atoms are always in a state of motion and as they vibrate, a natural rhythmic sound is produced. Recent researches in science testify to this truth.¹ 'Change' is the law of life and it does follow vibration and motion, all of which ultimately depend on the Sound Principle working in space and out of space.

Every second, every minute and every hour, the world is in a state of continuous flux.

Scientists have found that even the mighty Himalayas are growing from age to age. The growth may be imperceptible, but surely it is there – it may be a fraction of an inch in the course of a century or so. Thus all things in Nature are characterized by vibration of rhythmic movement and this in itself implies the presence therein of the Sound Principle, whether the things are moving visibly or not. This Sound Principle is the essence or Jauhar of one life in all things.

Things full or empty are yet filled with Music, see! How the sound comes from out of the drum.

This Sound Principle is all-pervading and is the very soul of all that exists. This current of life-consciousness is so subtle that It cannot be heard unless one acquires transcendental hearing. A mystic has beautifully described It as follows:

Dry are the strings, the wooden body and the stretched leather, how do they give out the divine melodies?

Sound or Word is in fact the Creator of the Universe. All this manifestation is because of Him.

Had not the Nameless assumed a name, the world would not have come into being.

The beloved Lord God has been calling us back from time out of mind, but the pity is that we do not attend to Him.

My friend is ever in converse with thee, what a pity! ye listen not to the ancient call.

Shah Niaz

The Sound of the Friend or Beloved (God) is reverberating everywhere. A Muslim mystic poet says of It:

All the seven heavens are echoing with the Sound, the ignorant do not hear It nor catch the strains.

Hafiz

By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive.

St Matthew 13:14

The Sound is by Itself and of Itself. In the material or physical region and materio-spiritual realms (Pind and Und), It is mixed up with and enclosed by matter. The Master makes It manifest in the Sukhman or Shah Rag in the region of the forehead.

Hear ye the Music in the Sukhman, and get absorbed in the unending song.

Again,

And thine ears shall hear a Word behind thee saying, this is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

Isaiah 30:21

For spiritual knowledge and self-realization, the practice of the Sound Current (Shugal-i-Naghma-i-yazdani) is very necessary, for it is by hearing the Divine Music that the soul is pulled out of the material and mental clogs of the body and is led to higher spiritual regions from where the Sound whose reverberations are heard below in the body emanates. 

It is a continuous and unending Music, of which Maulana Rumi says,

Catch hold of the Music that lasts through eternity, search for the sun that never sets.

Again, the people of the world are quite ignorant of It. A rare individual practices It after It is made manifest by some Master-Soul.

Enter ye the temple of the body and listen to the divine melodies, those sitting around thee, shall not hear them.

Maulana Rumi

In the noisy swirl of the work-a-day hurried life that we lead, we cannot hear the soft and gentle echoes of the Music floating down from afar. All those who practised the Sound Current, in whatever time and in whatever clime, have spoken of these melodies, of course to the extent of their approach and mental apparatus. Even now, those persons, whether young or old, who are put on the Way by some competent Sat Guru with authority from above, do bear testimony to this sempiternal experience. 

In the Upanishads we have an account of these musical notes. These resemble to a certain extent the gentle murmurs of the vast sea, low rumbling thunders of the distant clouds, the continuous splash of a waterfall, and ultimately merge into the sound of a conch, and develop into the blast of a trumpet, a thundering drum, sharp violin and a flute (Nad Bind Upanishad, Shalok 33, 34). 

Mahatma Charan Das, in his book 'Bhakti Sagar,' has described ten types of melodies – the sweet warblings of birds, the chirping of green hoppers, tinkling of bells, sound of the gong, conch, playing of cymbals, thunder of clouds, the roar of a lion, violin and flute.

In Hath-yoga Pradipka we have an account of ten kinds of Nad, like the buzz of flower flies, tinkling of anklets, sound of conch, bell and cymbals, flute, drum-beat and other musical instruments, and the roar of a lion, etc. 

In Sar Bachan (Hidayat Nama), Swami Shiv Dayal Singh Ji gives a wonderful account of the divine orchestra, comprising ten musical notes resembling what has been said above, as one enters into Sahasdal Kanwal or the region of thousand petaled lights.

Madame Blavatsky, a Russian theosophist initiated into theosophy in 1856 while in Tibet, the founder of the Theosophical Society and the author of a controversial work, 'Isis Unveiled,' writes in her book 'The Voice of the Silence:'

The first is like the nightingale's sweet voice chanting a song of parting to its mate. The second comes as the sound of silver cymbals of the Dhyanis awakening the twinkling stars. The next is as the plaint melodies of the ocean spirit imprisoned in its shell. And this is followed by the chant of Vina. The fifth like sound of bamboo flute shrills in thine ear. It changes next into a trumpet blast. The last vibrates like the dull rumbling of a thunder cloud.

Amir Khusro, a great scholar and mystic poet (disciple of Kh. Nizam-ud-Din Chishti), has described these sounds thus:

First is the hum of the bees and the second is the sound of anklets, the third is that of the conch and the fourth that of a gong, the fifth is a trumpet-blast and the sixth that of a flute, the seventh is of a Bhir, the eighth of a mardang (drum beat) and the ninth of a Shahnai (Naferi). And the tenth doth resemble the roar of a lion, such indeed is the Heavenly Orchestra, oh Khusro.

In these ten melodies a yogin gets absorbed, the senses get stilled and so doth the mind, saith Khusro. With the flourish of limitless Music within, all the lusts of the flesh and the deadly sins fly off, the Master too has a wonderful world of his own, Khusro is now fully engrossed within himself.

Tazkra-i-Ghousia

All these melodies come swarming within as the pilgrim soul starts on the Path; but of all these, one must catch the sound of a gong or a conch for these in particular are connected with the higher spiritual realms, the various mansions in the house of our Father,

None knows where the abode of the Beloved is, but sure enough the sound of the gong comes floating therefrom.

Hafiz

Shabd has divine melody in It:

True Word emanates the melodies of Sehaj, and the mind gets absorbed in Truth, Ineffable and wonderful is the Word of the Immaculately Pure, and only a Guru's devotee implants It.

Guru Amar Das, Sarang M3

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Footnote: 1) Cf. Andrews, Donald Hatch, "The Harmonic Dimensions of Nature," Main Currents 'In Modern Thought,' Vol. 11, No 5, May 1955.