NADA BRAHMA: The Sound is the Teacher
Part 2: Further Gleanings
By Paul Temple – with guidance and insight from Althor
This is the second in a two-part blog about sound and vibration. The first part was a presentation for the Shift Network Sound Healing Retreat and Globe Sound Healing Conference and is posted as a separate blog. This second portion offers further gleanings. The introduction is included again here for those who have not read the first segment.
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Let’s open into the topic NADA BRAHMA: The Sound is the Teacher with
a quote from the great Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan
“One who knows the secrets of sound
knows the mystery of the whole universe”.
To truly understand this concept we need to shift into the mystic, into the
“meta-physical”: that which is beyond the constructs of the physical world. I
ask you suspend your sense of normality so we may move into the “para-
normal”: that which is outside the boundaries of your normal reality.
So what is the mystic?
The mystic path is the path of the heart. This is not the anatomical heart,
nor even the heart chakra, but the energy center of the heart we know as
the place of love, spiritual connection and soul-wisdom. The seed of divine
light in your heart centers – we call it the Pearl of Light – is the seat of the
soul. The mystic path takes you through the heart to the soul.
The mystic is coming to know the greater reality of the soul that is beyond
the veil: the multi-dimensional realms that are difficult to access from the
density and restrictions of your current human mental perception.
The mystic realms are not accessible through mental awareness. These
realms are accessible through the heart. Most indigenous cultures still hold
this expanded reality, knowing all things are connected and it is through the
heart that this connection happens. It is through the heart you can connect
with the mystical, multi-dimensional realms.
As you learn – or re-learn – to activate your heart centers and cognate
through the heart, you can begin to connect with these mystic realms and
universal wisdom.
Music and sound are special vibrational media that facilitate access into the
mystic. Music and sound open and activate the heart center – and since they
are vibrational media, they can connect you directly with the most powerful
forces in the universe.
A succinct Earthly explanation of this phenomenon is the Sanskrit phrase
Nada Brahma, with which many of you may be familiar.
I (Paul) had the privilege of hearing an explanation of this phrase from a
Hindu swami which deepened its meaning for me. I have heard western
musicians explain it with the translation “Sound is God”, but the swami
expanded its meaning for me.
“Nada” translates from the Sanskrit as “pulse” or “vibration” which expands
to sound and music – which are vibration. But the deeper meaning of Nada –
or the Naad – as explained by the swami, refers to the “primordial pulse of
creation” – the ancient, original expansion of the creative force in the
conscious universe. My teacher, Venerable Dhyani Ywahoo calls this “The
original song of creation”. It correlates with the Christian mythology of “In
the beginning was the Word….” – the word being sound infused with
meaning. It could well correlate with what modern science calls the “Big
Bang” as well.
“Brahma”, as many know in the Hindu pantheon, is the supreme creator and
the purveyor of knowledge and spiritual wisdom. Brahma is the embodiment
of the supreme divine creative force. What takes Brahma 10 million years to
create, Shiva can destroy in an instant.
So Nada Brahma together is the simple but profound recognition that
sound, vibration and music are the same as the primordial pulse of creation,
are the same as the divine creative force and are the same as the source of
universal knowledge and wisdom: Nada Brahma, the unified vibrational field,
the master teacher.
Nada Yoga is the body of Vedic practices encompassing sound and
vibration: mantra, kirtan, devotional chanting and Bija seed sounds. These
practices all catalyze evolutionary and awakening experiences that activate
our higher consciousness. They provide access to mystic realms. Some say
mantras are ancient vibrational codes, like passwords, that open portals and
activate archetypal energies in our deep, soul-level memory.
So, with a little help from the sound itself, we can tap into this field of
primordial awareness and journey into the mystic, into the timeless source
of all being. We can expand beyond the mental-emotional constructs of
earthly reality into the sacred heart, into multi-dimensional realms. We can
connect with our own higher soul wisdom and akashic memory, which
includes who we can become in this life.
It is here we realize that the sound – the vibrational field itself – is infused
with infinite knowledge, it is the teacher, it is the source, it is the wisdom, it
is the One.
The sound is the teacher: through accessing our higher awareness through
this vibrational field we come to learn, to intuit, to receive, the wisdom that
is needed for our souls in this time. Through the sound our consciousness
can access expanded levels of wisdom and insight about our soul, our path
and the true nature of what is.
Nada Brahma reveals the mystery of why people “love” music: because it
connects us with the universe, with the universal field, with universal love
and universal intelligence. It helps us feel whole and divine, energized and
powerful. The complexity of how humans have stylized, monetized and
digitized music is another tale for another time, but as the Doobie Brothers
say:
“Give me a beat, boys, to free my soul,
I want to get lost on your rockin roll
and drift away, and drift away.”
GLEANINGS FROM THE TEACHER
When I received this information from Althor there were four gleanings
offered from the Master Teacher on the mysteries of sound. The fourth
gleaning on harmonic overtones is covered in Part One of these two blogs.
The other three are discussed in more detail here. Some knowledge of music
theory will be helpful to absorb these points, but much can also be gleaned
without. The four gleanings are:
- Sympathetic Resonance: The Vibrational Connection
- Subjective Relativity: Notes, Chords, Scales & Keys
- The music is the News: Catching the New Generation’s Evolutionary
Message
- Harmonic Overtones: All in the One & One in the All
- Sympathetic Resonance: The Vibrational Connection:
I suspect you understand the basic phenomenon of sympathetic resonance:
when I pluck a string tuned to the note A – other strings in the area tuned to
A will start to vibrate through resonance and sympathetic connection.
Similarly, when we encounter a being with a bright luminous heart, the
vibrational field of that heart begins to resonate the light in the hearts of
people around that person. Such was the heart of Jesus, the Buddha,
Mohammed, Yogananda and other luminous teachers. Our hearts feel and
vibrate with the resonant field of these awakened beings.
I have been told the pure vibrational field of the Tibetan bowls and
Vajrayana mantras I work with also sympathetically resonate the pure light
in our hearts: the Vajra – diamond – radiance that is our pure essential
nature. The focus of Tibetan Vajrayana practice is to awaken the Vajra –
diamond- light.
We experience sympathetic resonance around us all the time – as our
thoughts, words and actions are quite commonly in synchrony with the
energy fields around us. Sympathetic resonance can occur on the psychic,
mental, emotional and physical planes. The phenomenon of “group think” is
sympathetic resonance on the mental plane. Feeling someone else’s
emotions – like a welling up of tears when someone starts to cry – is
resonance on the emotional plane. It is said that when a group of women
live together that their bio-rhythms and menstrual cycles synchronize. Some
of you may have seen the video where a hundred swinging metronomes are
started at different times, and after an hour they are have all synchronized
together.
This expanded understanding of sympathetic resonance is why rock concerts
and music festivals are such powerful experiences: you have a large mass of
people vibrating together in the same vibrational field. Whether it is angry
rap or an inspirational choir – the vibrational field brings people into a
sympathetic resonance – creating a super-charged collective entrainment.
This is also why we deify rock stars: they are the central generator of this
vibrational field: they are the Brahma in this field of Nada.
So sympathetic resonance is simply the recognition that as vibrational
beings, our vibrations affect each other.
- Subjective Relativity: Notes, Scales & Keys
Presuming that the conscious uni-verse (one sound) is a vibrational field, it
is reasonable to that the harmonic and mathematical relationships explained
in music theory provide one of the few models in Western knowledge that
reflect the vibrational nature of universal conscious. This is the mystery of
Nada Brahma: the conscious universe is a vibrational system that is a
macrocosm of our musical pedagogy.
The underlying harmonic relationships of a simple linear scale – like a C
major scale – are actually non-linear and non-intuitive. The harmonic
relationships move in what we call the Circle of 5ths, which moves in 4ths
when going counter clockwise. These musical systems, including the
overtone series, the dynamics of intervals, scales and chords, offer spiralic
reflections on the nature and structure of our vibrational conscious universe.
The phrase subjective relativity was revealed by Althor in working on this
piece. It is a concept of harmonic relationship quite easily understood in
music, but a bit harder to perceive in the relationship dynamics of our
collective consciousness.
Musically, subjective relativity is experienced when we sound a single note
on the piano; say the A below middle C. Upon hearing that note, all other
ensuing notes will sound relative to it. If we play the E above, it will sound
as the strong, majestic interval of the Fifth, strengthening the A as the tonal
root and center.
But if we were to play the E first and the A second, then the relationship
changes entirely. Now the E is the root and the A is defined by the harmonic
interval of the fourth from E. Playing the A first, the ear establishes we are
in the “key” of A – and then all the other notes and chords played after
relate back to A as the root and home key. When we play the E first, the ear
perceives we are in the key of E and all other musical activity relates back to
the home tone of E.
The way we hear the note depends on the harmonic context it is in. That A
we played will sound very different in an F# minor chord or in a D major
chord or in a Bb seventh chord than it does when we played it before as the
first, key setting tone. The auditory perception of every note changes
entirely depending on the key or interval or chord in which it is played.
So subjective relativity is the realization that the individual quality of a note
(subjective perception) is dependent on (relative to) the harmonic context in
which is played. The note of A in a Beethoven symphony is very different
from the A played on Keith Richard’s guitar – but it is the same A 220.
So how does this tonal construct of subjective relativity manifest as a
mystical principle in our vibrational consciousness? Let’s start with some
definitions – and these are simplified definitions to help demonstrate a point.
Here are some parallel constructs between music and vibrational thought
patterns:
- Single Tone = Thought-Form: The single tonal note correlates to
what we call a thought-form. Single thought-forms tend to be
communicated in single words or simple phrases like cat, beautiful
day, ocean, bad dog, dance or fantastic. These manifest vibrationally
like single bubbles that can be seen by clairvoyants. They can be sent
and received in telepathic communication. Thought-forms, like single
notes, are the basic building blocks of larger thought and harmonic
constructs.
- Chord = Meme: A group of thought-forms, called a meme, roughly
correlates to a musical chord which is a collection of single tones
crystallized into a larger harmonic sound. The word meme has taken
new meaning in the social media world, but in this context, a meme is
a grouping of thought-forms that magnetize into a cultural collective.
We tend to perceive these in social and political frames like liberal
progressives, radical Islamists and conservative evangelicals. Memes
also exist in groups affiliated with musical life-styles like country music
fans, hip-hip culture, goth punks and psychedelic hippie-rockers.
Memes are also present in the belief systems of religious groups and
tribal cultures.
- Harmonic Key = Paradigm: A macro-thought pattern – like a
musical key – or even the full musical gamut – is called a paradigm,
which word, too, has taken on new application in our current world. In
this context, however, a paradigm is a dominant thought-construct
engaged as reality by millions and billions of people. We, again, tend
to view these in terms of political systems like democratic capitalism,
dictatorial socialism and patriarchal monarchy.
So as an example of subjective relativity in this context, just like we
sounded the single note A above, let’s sound the single thought-form
“woman”. “Woman” in Afghani Taliban culture resonates very differently
from “woman” in progressive American culture. The single note thought-
form of “woman” is the same, like our note A, but the cultural setting – the
chordal context – sets the thought-form in very different modes of subjective
relativity. Woman in America is a strong, vibrant powerful possibility. In the
meme of Taliban Afghanistan it is a dark, repressed minor chord. Societal
cultures are like different chord structures creating different perceptions of
the human tone.
Take the thought-form “abortion rights” – and it takes on very different
harmonic implication between the memes of progressive feminists and
conservative evangelicals. This is not about right or wrong – it is simply
observing the vibrational dynamic of subjective relativity, which is the
awareness that our personal perception of something (our subjective view)
is dependent on (relative to) the thought-constructs we place around it, just
as the single note A sounds very different in an A major chord than it does in
a B minor 7 th chord.
Memes and paradigms are very complex, multi-dimensional constructs that
are perpetually morphing and defy simple definition, so please be aware we
have simplified these concepts here to make a point about subjective
relativity and its parallel reflection in the world of music and vibration.
However the lesson of subjective relativity is to learn about the presence of
memes and the relativity of our subjective perspectives. Memes become
infused with illusions, glamours and emotions. We are all deeply interwoven
and immersed in multiple memes simultaneously. Many people self-identify
with the qualities of the memes are part of: think progressive feminist,
radical Islamist, conservative evangelical. Memes appear as real, appear as
external reality, but we actually think them real – literally, we generate the
thoughts that think the memes into reality. This is the lesson of subjective
relativity, we can begin to use the power of our thoughts and perception to
extract from the sticky web of memes and begin to observe the larger
nature of mind and awareness. We can drop out of fixed musical styles like
country or hip-hop with their calcified three-chords and 4-4 rhythms to drop
into the sound of Nada Brahma: the primordial vibrational field.
Practices like meditation, yoga and mantra chanting help us unweave our
minds from this cacophony of memes so we can discover the sound of truth,
love and stillness. We are the ocean, we are the universe, we are singing the
song of creation.
- The Music is the News: Catching the New Message
When I (Paul) was a song-writer in my twenties I recall the sense that
composing a new song was like fishing: I would cast my line of awareness
into the sea of the collective unconscious to catch a lyric, a riff, an image, a
feeling or a message – and then reel it in. I was not composing the song as
much as translating or transcribing what was coming in on my etheric fishing
line.
I then found that other writers were catching songs with similar themes,
lyrics, images and language. One line I caught then was “There’s an old
world dying and a new being born.” This was NOT something I thought up –
but a message, a news-cast from the other side – and other musicians were
receiving the same news.
When musicians compose new music they are opening as channels to the
sound current, reaching into the mystery, into the sea of consciousness, into
the Nada Brahma and receiving new energies, hearing new sounds, intuiting
new messages from source and the Muses.
Over time, each generation of musicians receives new sounds, new
messages, new themes that reflect the evolving consciousness. We can hear
this historically over several hundred years of European classical music:
going from deep devotional stirrings of Gregorian chants to the ornate
baroque stylings of Bach to the classical “Age of Reason” revealed thru
Mozart to the vast, humanist revelations of Beethoven to the romantic
dreams of Debussy to the dark early 20th Century discord of Stravinsky,
Stockhausen and John Cage .
In the second half of the 20 th Century things shifted and sped up with
popular music becoming more dominant. The core music shifted from the
“entertaining” sounds of big band music to the cosmic messaging of Coltrane
and SunRa, from Sinatra to Elvis to the Beatles, then onto hip-hop, funk,
punk, world-fusion and Electronic Dance Music.
So the real news of what is happening in the evolution of human
consciousness is reported by the new generation of incoming music. The
musical news of the 1960’s revealed a massive, dynamic shift with the
visionary messages of Dylan, The Beatles, Rolling Stones and so many
others. Even over the eight years of the Beatles’ existence, from 1964 to
1972, an amazing evolution took place from the teen-bopper sound of “I
Wanna Hold Your Hand” to transcendent messages of “Let It Be” , “Lucy in
the Sky With Diamonds” and “Imagine all the people living life in peace”.
In the 1980’s and 1990’s, punk, grunge and hip-hop revealed the youth
culture angrily throwing off old modes of social repression, telling the truth
about stagnant societal structures and breaking the old molds. Electronic
dance music opened pathways into deep trance states in flow with new,
transformational understandings of synaptic repatterning, movement and
dance revealed through the music festival scene.
Another important sound evolution that happened in the 1960’s was “Return
to Om”. Through the influence of Indian Gurus, spiritual seekers were able
to extract from the traditional constructs of “music” as we know it and drop
into the unified sound, the sound current, into the infinite awareness in a
single tone: Om as the sound of the Universe, the sound of Nada Brahma,
the sound of returning to source. This is the thread we continue to follow
here.
This tract led to a new wave of musicians who created music not just for
personal expression or social angst, but for spiritual awakening and
expanding consciousness. These musicians extracted themselves from the
glamorous musical styles of the day to drop into streams of pure
consciousness, into deeper states of awareness and express these sonically.
Some of this was called “New Age” or meditation music or sound healing or
space music, as noted in the popular radio show “Hearts of Space”. The
introduction of Sanskrit mantras into Western music was another important
piece of this wave: a re-introduction and remembrance of these ancient
sound codes that open pathways to archetypal spiritual energies.
While the music business today is still dominated by the glamours and
cultural music styles, I am encouraged to be in contact with a new, young
generation of musicians who are highly sensitive to the energetics of the
music they listen to and very intuitively knowledgeable of the relationship
between music and consciousness. They are creating transformative music,
healing music and galactic sounds that express their inherent awareness of
the very phenomenon we are discussing here – that the music is the galactic
messenger — and the master teacher that awakens our hearts and souls.
In conclusion, we can now see how the insight in these gleanings overlap
and interface. The magnetism of sympathetic resonance is part of what
holds memes together. People “feel the vibes” of like-minded souls. Even
within the cellularization of thought-forms and memes, the paradigms
continue to evolve through the infusion of new generation sounds and
musicians. Thought-forms, memes and paradigms are all like harmonic sub-
waves in the larger Nada Brahma pulse of creation.
But then we can return to the Om…. To the one vibration, the one love, that
place in our hearts that knows the oneness of all being in the uni-verse: the
one sound, the Nada Brahma.
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To see Part 1 of this piece on sound and vibration, look for the blog:
NADA BRAHMA: The Sound is the Teacher, Part 1: Harmonic Overtones