WHAT IS THE MYSTERY OF ANAHATA NADA?
Anahata nada is the name given in yogic philosophy to the cosmic sound or the so-called “white noise” that is present everywhere, without being actively made in a way that can be perceived. From Sanskrit, anahata means "un-struck" or "unbeaten," and nada means "to flow."
Sometimes, this sound is also known as the “unmade sound.” This concept is sometimes linked to the famous Zen question, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” The idea is that anahata nada is this sound, because it is omnipresent and is all-pervasive, even when nothing is happening to create any other sound. Some say that anahata nada, or the sound of silence, is perfection. According to yogic teachings, this sound is necessary for all other sound to exist because it is the canvas upon which other sounds are manifest.
In yoga, it is taught that the sound of anahata nada can be represented as Aum or Om, the sacred syllable and revered bija mantra. This is the sound from which the whole universe emanated and represents the fundamental oneness of all creation.
In Kundalini yoga, it is said that the goddess of kundalini shakti embodies anahata nada. She is portrayed as a serene goddess, centered on her selfless spiritual devotion. Her energy, and that of anahata nada, is upward moving.
The Four Kinds of Sound There are four kinds of sounds. The first type of sound is vaikari. This is the sound that I speak and you hear – the physical sound. The second form of sound is madhyama, which means “the middle one.” Suppose I say “chocolate” or if I show you something that looks like it, and your mind thinks, “Oh, chocolate.” It is a sound that comes from a dimension of your mind. It is not just an abstraction or a vibration of thought. “Hot chocolate” is a voice, a sound. This is the middle sound.
The third dimension of sound is referred to as pashyanthi. Pashyanthi is your mind’s ability to think it up. Suppose I did not show you anything or shout “Chocolate,” but without any input from outside, from within, from some deep recess in your mind – “Chocolate.” It is not a reflection or rebound of what I said; somewhere from within, your mind can create it. This is the pashyanthi dimension of sound. The fourth dimension of sound is referred to as para vak. “Vak” means “voice,” “para” means “the divine” or the source of creation. You hear the voice of the Creator.Since ancient times, every scatter-brain in the world has been hearing God speak. I am not talking about those things – either made up or imagined according to people’s convenience. So much nonsense has been done in the name of the divine, the spiritual process, and of hearing sounds and voices, to a point where today, if you say you hear voices, you need psychiatry.
“The Word is God” We are talking about the reverberation that is the basis of creation and Creator. Even the Bible says, “First there was a Word and the Word was with God and the Word is God.” Perhaps no one through the centuries thought it was of any consequence, so they did not change or erase it, but that is the most significant thing that has ever been said in that part of the world. All the other stories that you made up should evaporate with just those three sentences.
That sound, which is the core of the soundless, utterly still consciousness, is para vak. A word is a human interpretation of a sound. There is no word anywhere in the universe. There are only sounds. When you speak, you do not throw out words, you make sounds. The person listening interprets the sounds as words. When they said “word,” they were referring to the sound – a sound that is more than whatever forms of gods you have imagined. About that sound, the yogi says, “One who has heard that sound, his life is absolutely fulfilled.”
That sound, which is the core of the soundless, utterly still consciousness, is para vak. If we go about educating you about the different dimensions of life, creation, perception, experience and expression, it will be an endless story because it is an endless universe. Not because the tale is tall, but because the creation is such. But if you hear this one sound which is anaadhi – beginning-less – then it is all here. It is no longer stretching into an endless scape.
Anahata – The Unstruck Sound There is something called Anahat. Anahata means “the unstruck sound.” Normally, if a sound has to happen, something has to strike something else. Anahata means the unstruck sound – two things have met, not by colliding but by intersecting. That is why Anahata is symbolized as two intersecting triangles. This symbol is present almost everywhere in the world with various types of interpretations. What is physical and what is beyond, they meet, not in collision but in intersection. This is very important because there is no conflict between the spiritual and the physical. They met each other like the hands of two lovers. The physical and the dimension of the beyond have met within every being in a certain way, otherwise one would not be here.
This is the unstruck sound. If you hear that, tears of love and joy will flow from you, and life becomes blissful and beautiful. But then you get bored of blissfulness. Everything is fantastic, you will be blissed out, but still not fulfilled. So the yogi said, “Unless you hear the beginning-less sound, that which is basis of not only the creation but the Creator also, till you hear that sound you will not know fulfillment.” Anaadhi means beginning-less. Both the creation and the Creator have a beginning. Anaadhi means that which is beginning-less – that cannot be seen, that cannot be held, that cannot be conquered or captured. That can only be heard.
“They hear me” At one point, when Adiyogi was transmitting yoga to the Saptarishis, his first seven disciples, he taught them all kinds of intricate things, but he never spoke. He simply sat there in an intoxicated stupor with his eyeballs rolled up. They sat there, seven of them receiving seven different dimensions of yoga, and this happened continuously for many months and years. All he did was sit there, seemingly disinterested in them.
Parvati asked him, “They are here, they are great sages. Why don’t you say something? It will be appropriate.” He said, “Ah, they hear me.” What he is telling her is, “Because of your intimacy, you don’t hear me, so I have to speak to you. They hear me.” He does not mean, “They hear what is happening in my mind.” He is saying, “The basis of my consciousness, they hear that, and that is all.” I am not your destination, just an open doorway. A doorway to all that Adiyogi stands for – all his knowing and all the possibilities. ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; Anahata – The Unstruck Sound
The word anahata means a sound without reverb. It is called anahata or “unstruck sound” because the first manifestation of the anahata is the occurrence of sounds. Most of the sounds on the planet happen because something strikes something. This is an unstruck sound – if you simply sit in silence, all kinds of sounds will happen – one hundred and eight different varieties of such sounds have been identified. Based on this, different deities in this culture have been associated with different sounds. For example, if you say “Shiva,” it is a damaru. For those of you who have no cultural exposure to these things, a damaru is a drum in the form of two equilateral triangles meeting at their tips.
When you come to the anahata, or when your energy is dominant in the anahata, you will start to hear sounds that you could not hear till now. The sound of a bell, a drum, or a wind instrument like a flute – these kinds of things may begin to happen. You will start to hear or perceive the language of the birds, the animals, the earth, and the atmosphere. Hearing these things comes from the anahata.
Hearing things is otherwise considered as a sign of psychological imbalance, and it is. Those who are psychologically imbalanced in one way may become perceptive in some other way. One dislocation enables them in another way, but this kind of enabling is not good for you. It is like putting a child, who has just began to walk, in a marathon race – for sure he would damage himself. Too much of a good thing turns bad if you are not prepared and ready for it.
This is why before you hear anything, your discernment must be crystal clear and your emotion must be sweet. Without a constant sense of sweetness of emotion within you, there are many things you cannot do; you are truly disabled. Without sweetness of emotion, you are denying yourself the universe, including everything here on this planet. Only if you master your emotion to become very sweet no matter what, can you go into different explorations and be fine. Otherwise, if you go into the anahata and see or hear something that you do not know, you may be terrified.
It is like watching what is considered a horror movie. From the bits I have seen, these movies are pathetic. They do not horrify me. For example, blood will suddenly come out of the eyes. Blood is always flowing in the body. If a little leak happens, what is so horrifying about it? What does it matter from where it leaks? This is only supposed to be horror because a whole lot of people are not aware that blood is flowing in their body. Similarly, for people who are ignorant, touching the anahata – where suddenly something from within happens and images come up – can be an absolutely terrifying experience.
Fierce Deities and the Anahata
In the yogic science, there is a dimension of yoga called tantra yoga. One important aspect of tantra is that the yogis create their own deities – they create a certain energy form and make it alive. That form – either he or she or whatever it is – walks with the yogi all the time. This is why he needs no company and does not get married, because he has constant company. Generally, these yogis created female forms with terrible attributes.
You may have seen images of Rakini, Dakini, Chinnamasta, Kali – these are all terrible feminine manifestations. One reason why they created these kinds of images is because they wanted them to be like that. They wanted someone next to them whom they cannot be drawn to for their physical beauty or whatever else. Another reason is, let us say we gave you a lump of clay and said, “Make an image of Adiyogi,” you know how it would turn out – not by choice; simply because you are clumsy with your hands.
For whatever reason, they created these kinds of forms. The yogis who created them are gone long ago. They fulfilled the purpose for which they created these deities, and they let them loose. Many of these forms are still around, and there are people who are still making use of them. If you hit your anahata, these forms think a welcome bell has been struck, and they tend to come to you. If they come, you will not play with them – you will be terrified, simply because they do not look like you.
Suppose somebody just had two holes instead of a nose – looking at him, you would be terrified. When you are in such a state, you should not go into anahata, because it will draw different types of subtle forms. The anahata has the power of creation; this is where a human being can create. Once you touch this dimension, such forms will be attracted to you. Before art, music, and other things, these subtle forms of creation will come to you, because they are the lightest forms in existence – they have least inertia. Kali will come to you. Some people spend their entire lives wanting to see Kali, but if she comes in your sleep, we will have to wash your bed tomorrow! It has happened to many people, people who thought they are perfectly normal and brave enough to explore different things – one little something and they are finished, for life.
If you leave the anahata, you will naturally end up in the vishuddhi. The vishuddhi is the center of occult. If you want to master the occult, you must first come to terms with other kinds of beings who do not look like you. Anybody who does not look like you seems weird to you. Kali, Chinnamasta, Dakini, Lankini will start coming in. It is a wonderful opportunity, but if you have not maintained the necessary sweetness of emotion and sharpness of intellect, this can become a terrible experience that may break your mind.
Predicament of the Times
If every day, something weird appeared in their dream, not even in reality, a whole lot of people would lose their mind because they do not have much of a mind anyway. I am not saying this to be sarcastic. Particularly the modern education systems have done humanity a huge disservice by not working on the mind but only on the memory. The focus of modern education systems is on producing a product that will fit somewhere into our economic engine, not on trying to produce a great human being. Society is not interested in great human beings because they may not follow instructions. They may not fit into the social milieu. Most of those who showed any sign of greatness were slaughtered in the past because the mediocre is safe, but greatness may turn things upside down.
Right now, the human mind is not being developed to handle both sweetness of emotion and sharpness of intellect together. Most commonly, people who have a reasonably sharp mind are in a bitter emotional state within themselves. You will see very few people with a sharp mind and sweetness of emotion. Those who have a sharp mind think they have to cut everyone. Those who have sweetness of emotion are considered as fools. This is almost a given in the world: If you are intellectually sharp, you will not be emotionally sweet. If you are emotionally sweet, you are considered a fool. This kind of categorization is happening in the world, which is not a good thing at all. The anahata is a fantastic place, but I find in today’s world, getting people to sharpen their mind and turn their emotion sweet is quite a job.
Anahata Sadhana Takes Balance
Certain traditions see the entering of the anahata as the meeting of two dimensions of yourself. Others, who are more tantric in nature, see it as a human being meeting his divine potential in the anahata. The anahata is a tremendous place, but it can become terrible if you are not ready for it. The core of the universe must be a tremendous place, but are you ready to go to that place? Your system needs to be equipped to go there.
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Anahata Sounds Anahata sounds (or the melody) are the mystic sounds heard by the Yogi at the beginning of his cycle of meditation. This subject is termed Nada-Anusandhana or an enquiry into the mystic sounds. This is a sign of purification of the Nadis or astral currents, due to Pranayama. The sounds can also be heard after the uttering of the Ajapa Gayatri Mantra, "Hamsah Soham," a lakh of times. The sounds are heard through the right ear with or without closing the ears. The sounds are distinct when heard through closed ears. The ears can be closed by introducing the two thumbs into the ears through the process of Yoni Mudra. Sit in Padma or Siddha Asana, close the ears with right and left thumbs, and hear the sounds very attentively. Occasionally, you can hear the sounds through the left ear also. Practise to hear from the right ear only. Why do you hear through the right ear only or hear distinctly through the right ear? Because of the solar Nadi (Pingala) which is on the right side of the nose. The Anahata sound is also called Omkara Dhvani. It is due to the vibration of Prana in the heart.
TEN KINDS OF SOUNDS
Nada that is heard is of 10 kinds. The first is Chini (like the sound of the word Chini); the second is Chini-Chini; the third is the sound of bell; the fourth is that of conch; the fifth is that of Tantri (lute); the sixth is that of Tala (cymbals); the seventh is that of flute; the eighth is that of Bheri (drum); the ninth is that of Mridanga (double drum) and the tenth is that of clouds, viz., thunder.
Before thou settest the foot upon the ladder's upper rung, the ladder of the mystic sounds, thou hast to hear the voice of thy inner God (Highest Self) in 7 manners. The first is like the nightingale's sweet voice chanting a song of parting to its mate. The second comes as the sound of a silver cymbal of the Dhyanis, awakening the twinkling stars. The next is as the melodious plaint of the ocean-sprite imprisoned in its shell. And that is followed by the chant of Veena. The fifth 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. The seventh swallows all the other sounds. They die, and then are heard no more.