In2-MeC

IBSA (ISKCON Bhaktivedanta Sadhana Asrama), Govardhana, India
27 December 2003

svarah sapta viharena
bhavanti sma prajapateh

. . . Brahma's sensual activities were manifested as the seven notes of music [svaras].

The musical notes are sa, ra, ga, ma, dha, and ni. All these sound vibrations are originally called sabda-brahma, or spiritual sound. It is said, therefore, that Brahma was created in the Maha-kalpa as the incarnation of spiritual sound. The Vedas are spiritual sound, and therefore there is no need of material interpretation as they are, although they are symbolically represented with letters which are known to us materially. In the ultimate issue there is nothing material because everything has its origin in the spiritual world. The material manifestation is therefore called illusion in the proper sense of the term. For those who are realized souls there is nothing but spirit. [From Srimad-Bhagavatam 3. 12. 47 and the Purport]

From Krsna, the srutis became known in this world. He sang songs that related the srutis with His beloved in the Rasa dance. O Srinivasa, in the rasa-mandala all the types of music became personified. Krsna most humorously manifested sruti from nada. Nada transformed into 22 srutis with the help of air. These 22 nadis have taken refuge in the heart. Those srutis gradually manifested themselves in in the vina and other instruments, because they cannot manifest themselves in voices that are stricken with cold and diseases. . . O Srinivasa, who knows the real entity of sruti? It has been expressed only in the songs sung in the Rasa dance, wherein Krsnacandra Himself introduced sruti. Sruti is accurately vocalized by Sri Radha only; Lalita and the others used to take great pleasure in hearing this. The srutis had to thank their own great fortune, for the devas used to shower flowers while hearing them appear in this way. Thus sruti together with svara used to please everyone. That which gives pleasure to the heart is called svara, for it is pleasing to all listeners. Svara is of seven kinds: sadaja, rishaba, gandhara, madhyama, panchama, dhaivata and nishada (sa, ri, ga, ma, pa, dha and ni). [From Bhakti Ratnakara, Fifth Wave by Narahari Cakravarti]

The most vivid example in this connection is those saintly personalities known as srutis, who presented the Upanisads. These srutis understand that without serving Krsna and following in the footsteps of the gopis, there is no possibility of entering the kingdom of God. Therefore they engage in spontaneous loving service unto Krsna and follow in the footsteps of the gopis. [Cc Madhya 8. 223p]

Of the asta-sakhis (the eight principle gopis) Tungavidya is mainly responsible for providing musical background for the pastimes of Sri Sri Radha-Krsna. Tungavidya has hundreds and thousands of sakhis and manjaris to assist her in her service. Tungavidya's Vedic scholarship is unparalleled. She is a reservoir of wisdom. Thoroughly learned in eighteen branches of knowledge, there is no topic that she is not in full knowledge of. She is the acarya of all sciences beginning with the rasa-sastras niti-sastras, natya-sastra and gandharva-vidya.

Anatomy of Vedic Sound

What is Vedic sound? Srila Prabhupada explains in Srimad-Bhagavatam 2. 4. 22p:

Before the creation the Lord was there (narayanah paro 'vyaktat), and therefore the words spoken by the Lord are vibrations of transcendental sound. There is a gulf of difference between the two qualities of sound, namely prakrta and aprakrta. The physicist can deal only with the prakrta sound, or sound vibrated in the material sky, and therefore we must know that the Vedic sounds recorded in symbolic expressions cannot be understood by anyone within the universe unless and until one is inspired by the vibration of supernatural (aprakrta) sound, which descends in the chain of disciplic succession from the Lord to Brahma, from Brahma to Narada, from Narada to Vyasa and so on.

Sound, both transcendental and material, have the same source: the Lord Himself. But the effect of prakrta sound is material. From that sound, the first mahabhuta (gross material element) is generated, akasa (ether). The material mind, intelligence and false ego operate within akasa. From ether, air develops; from air comes fire; water comes from fire; and earth comes from water. The vibration of prakrta sound in ether sustains the subtle body's perceptions and conceptions of the material elements. The vibration of aprakrta sound releases consciousness from the effect of prakrta sound: the thrall of material perceptions and conceptions.

Sound exists in two ways. As anahata nada (unstruck sound), it is everpresent in subtle form, vibrating within ether as the unperceived background of the material manifestation. As nada (sound in air or even in grosser mediums like water or earth), it seems to appear and disappear as a sensory experience within the material manifestation. But the only real difference between the two is the medium through which the sound travels.

In the modern world we are all readily familiar with these two types of sound. In a radio broadcast, the announcer speaks the nada type of sound into a microphone. His voice is converted electronically into anahata nada. It is transmitted a long distance to a man listening to his radio set at home. The radio set reconverts anahata nada into the audible nada that enters the listener's ears.

Whether it is subtle or gross, sound flows in this world as waves. Even anahata nada is conceived of as a "frequency", which is the number of repetitions per second of a waveform in the ether. Such frequency, though subtle, can be made visible to the human eye by a device called an oscilloscope. Gross sound moves as waveforms too, but these appear in terms of atmospheric pressure. The wave of nada compresses air and then rarefacts it (the opposite of compression is rarefaction). This compression and rarefaction occurs at a certain frequency, which is picked by the physical structures inside the ear as a certain tone. The human ear can hear tones within a range of 20 to 20 000 vibrations per second.

A basic waveform, or ripple of sound-energy, is called an oscillation. The word oscillation is very close in meaning to the world vibration. A vibration, however, is composed of more than one oscillation. For example, the human voice creates a vibration in the air. But that vibration, being made up of a range of oscillations, is complex. Each individual voice is rich with its own specific set of oscillatory waves. Thus we can tell one voice from another. Even when two people vibrate the same sound "ah" at the same pitch (i. e. the same note on the musical scale), their voices sound different from one another. This is due to the individual signature, or complex set, of oscillations within the vibration.

Now, people do not simply speak the same sound at the same pitch all the time. A human voice, while retaining its signature vibration, moves up and down the scale of tones. This is called modulation. In this word, you can see the root word "mode. "

The tri-guna, three modes of material nature, are represented as colors. Srila Prabhupada explains in Life Comes From Life:

The three modes of material nature are sattva-guna [goodness], rajo-guna [passion] and tamo-guna [ignorance]. With these three qualities, all the different objects of the material world are made, just as one might mix the three primary colors (blue, red and yellow) to make millions of hues.

The modes of nature and the modes of sound are the same.

Srimad-Bhagavatam 12. 6. 42:

tasya hy asams trayo varna
a-karadya bhrgudvaha
dharyante yais trayo bhava
guna-namartha-vrttayah

Omkara exhibited the three original sounds of the alphabet--A, U and M. These three, O most eminent descendant of Bhrgu, sustain all the different threefold aspects of material existence, including the three modes of nature, the names of the Rg, Yajur and Sama Vedas, the goals known as the Bhur, Bhuvar and Svar planetary systems, and the three functional platforms called waking consciousness, sleep and deep sleep.

The sound aum seems a simple vibration to the ear, but it is actually complex. This vibration carries the potency of all other vibrations. Indeed, it conveys all manifest and unmanifest states of material nature. Similarly, white light seems simple to the eye, but it carries the potency of all other colors. Passing through a prism, clear light divides into a spectrum of seven colors. Similarly, aum, the pranava that conveys the unitary knowledge of Brahman--the subject of the sruti--divides into the sapta svara, the seven sounds sa, ra, ga, ma, dha, ni and sa. And similarly, there are seven cakras in the subtle body. Each of these seven--sounds, colors, cakras--are multiple modes of the oneness expressed as aum.

Thus modulation means the audible manifestation of the potency that is transmitted by a sound. In technical terms, the basic vibration--again, take for example the vibration aum--is called the carrier. The modulating vibration--the three modes of nature, for example, or the sapta-svara--is the signal. We hear the signal but we do not necessarily hear the carrier.

Going back to the example of radio, the powerful electromagnetic waves emitted by the radio station's transmitter are the carrier. The carrier wave brings with it the signal of the announcer's voice, which is what you hear on your radio. Sarvam khalv idam brahma, the Upanisads inform us: "Everything is Brahman. " Hence everything in this world is aum and/or the clear jyoti of Sri Krsna's prabha (effulgence). But what we perceive around us is not the carrier-Brahman as pranava omkara and/or brahmajyoti. Our set of senses renders evident the three modes of material nature (and their further modulations). The modes are the signal, which is the modulation of the carrier.

Or is it? Does Brahman have modes? The Vedas describe Brahman as nirguna. And so it is a fact that something very subtle separates Brahman (the carrier) from the three modes (the signal). This is pradhana. Srila Sukadeva Gosvami describes pradhana thus:

na yatra vaco na mano na sattvam
tamo rajo va mahad-adayo 'mi
na prana-buddhindriya-devata va
na sannivesah khalu loka-kalpah
na svapna-jagran na ca tat susuptam
na kham jalam bhur anilo 'gnir arkah
samsupta-vac chunya-vad apratarkyam
tan mula-bhutam padam amananti

In the unmanifest stage of material nature, called pradhana, there is no expression of words, no mind and no manifestation of the subtle elements beginning from the mahat, nor are there the modes of goodness, passion and ignorance. There is no life air or intelligence, nor any senses or demigods. There is no definite arrangement of planetary systems, nor are there present the different stages of consciousness--sleep, wakefulness and deep sleep. There is no ether, water, earth, air, fire or sun. The situation is just like that of complete sleep, or of voidness. Indeed, it is indescribable. Authorities in spiritual science explain, however, that since pradhana is the original substance, it is the actual basis of material creation. [Bhag. 12. 4. 20-21]

The Buddhists are fascinated with pradhana. The Mayavadis are fascinated with Brahman. How are these two states to be understood? They are abstractions, or impersonal representations (re-presentations), of Sri-Sri Radha-Krsna. Brahman is saktiman, the bearer of potency, and pradhana is sakti, the potency. But when sakti is being carried by nirguna Brahman, it is "only" potential. Potential is unmanifest. Radio waves moving through ether are sound in potential, but if we do not have a radio set by which we can tune into these sounds, we remain unaffected by those sounds, even though they pervade everywhere. When potential manifests as potency and affects us, it is known as guna-prakrti. Thus pradhana and guna-prakrti are features of the same sakti: Mahamaya. Srila Prabhupada said Mahamaya is "another phase of Srimati Radharani. "

mayam to prakrtim vidyat
mayinam tu mahesvaram
tasyavayavabhutaistu vyaptam
sarvam idam jagat

Know then that prakrti is maya and the wielder of maya is the great Lord. The whole universe is pervaded by beings (jivas) that are parts and parcels of Him. [Svetasvatara Upanisad]

If guna-prakrti does not manifest within nirguna Brahman, where does it manifest? In the mind of the jiva. To return to the radio analogy, the message conveyed by the radio announcer's voice affects us only when it is registered in the mind.

Srimad-Bhagavatam 12. 3. 26:

sattvam rajas tama iti
drsyante puruse gunah
kala-sancoditas te vai
parivartanta atmani

The material modes--goodness, passion and ignorance--whose permutations are observed within a person's mind, are set into motion by the power of time.

And what is time in the radio analogy? The radio announcer is a man of many different sides to his personality. When he sits before the microphone, a particular side of the man becomes prominent--his "news personality. " That side's power is projected into the microphone as his words. It is rendered into electromagnetic waves that are transmitted to our radios. Vibrating from the radio speaker, the power of the announcer's "news personality" manifests in our minds. This sets into motion the effect of his message. If he informs us that our national soccer team won the World Cup, we jump up and shout for joy. If he informs us that a beloved leader of the nation died today, we weep in grief. Kala, time, is a person described in the Vedic scriptures, most famously in Chapter Eleven of Bhagavad-gita. Time is Krsna. But he is not purna-bhagavan Krsna; time is a specific aspect of Krsna's total personality. Kala's message is that specific vibration that sets into motion the creation, maintenance and destruction of this material world.

chandamsi yajnah kratavo vratani
bhutam bhavyam vacca veda vadanti
asman mayi srjate visvam etat tasmins
canyo mayaya sanniruddhaha

The Vedas, the sacrifices, the rituals (kratu), the observances (vrata), the past, the future and what the Vedas declare, all these the Mayin (wielder of maya) creates out of this; in this the other (the jiva) is bound by maya. [Svetasvatara Upanisad]

Krsna tells Arjuna that the Vedas are mainly concerned with the three modes of nature--which in terms of time mean creation (rajo-guna), maintenance (sattva-guna) and destruction (tamo-guna). But just as the news announcer is not limited by his "news personality" nor is radio limited to news broadcasts, in the same way Krsna is not limited to His feature as Kala, nor is the Vedic sound limited to stimulating pratyaksa (perceptions) and anumana (conceptions) of the material world in the human mind.

pratyaksanumanabhyam bhagavata
siddhanta eva gariyan
vijnanamayatvat sarvasiddhantasrayatvacca

The siddhanta (essential conclusion) of Srimad-Bhagavatam surpasses pratyaksa and anumana because it is scientific and is the shelter of all other Vedic siddhantas. [Sri Tattva-sutram 48]

We now return where we started from in our discussion of sruti, the Vedic scripture. There is an original form of sound that appears in the midst of the rasa-lila of Sri-Sri Radha-Krsna. This sound's message is that very rasa shared by the Divine Couple.

nigama-kalpa-taror galitam phalam
suka-mukhad amrta-drava-samyutam
pibata bhagavatam rasam alayam
muhur aho rasika bhuvi bhavukah

O expert and thoughtful men, relish Srimad-Bhagavatam, the mature fruit of the desire tree of Vedic literatures. It emanated from the lips of Sri Sukadeva Gosvami. Therefore this fruit has become even more tasteful, although its nectarean juice was already relishable for all, including liberated souls. [Bhag. 1. 1. 3]

As Krsna is His holy name, so too is Krsna Srimad-Bhagavatam. There are many names of God but the Hare Krsna maha-mantra is madhurya-nama, the names of transcendental nectar. As the maha-mantra manifests, Akhila Rasamrta Murti Himself, Sri Krsna, manifests. Srimad-Bhagavatam is of the identical madhurya nature as the Hare Krsna maha-mantra.

Now, it is true that Vedic sound in general is transcendental, but that transcendence manifests in three ways.

Srimad-Bhagavatam 1. 2. 11:

vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvam yaj jnanam advayam
brahmeti paramatmeti
bhagavan iti sabdyate

Iti sabdyate, the verse concludes: "thus it is so sounded" in sastra by the learned personalities that nondual Vedic knowledge may be understood as Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan.

When transcendental knowledge is understood as Brahman, sabda is impersonally re-presenting Krsna as the eternal background of the cycle of time that turns the creation, maintenance and destruction of the material world. When transcendental knowledge is understood as Paramatma, sabda is personally re-presenting Krsna as the Lord (isvara) who is the eternal background of the same cycle. These re-presentations are relished by jnanis and yogis. But when Krsna Himself is understood, there is no re-presentation. Then the rasa of Bhagavan's own name, form, quality, pastimes and relationships comes to the fore. That is what is relished by the rasika transcendentalists, the pure devotees. That relishing of Krsna-rasa is the fullest appreciation of Vedic knowledge (vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedya), and in this the knowledge of the material world stands in the background.

vilajjamanaya yasya
sthatum iksa-pathe 'muya
vimohita vikatthante
mamaham iti durdhiyah

The illusory energy of the Lord cannot take precedence, being ashamed of her position, but those who are bewildered by her always talk nonsense, being absorbed in thoughts of "It is I" and "It is mine. " [Bhag. 2. 5. 12]

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