Curtis writes, "It is quite well known in the new quantum physics that the original intention of the composer can imprint on the sound waves directly."

Sound Effects

Practice makes perfect

Today Boing Boing features a video clip of a cymatics experiment involving a mixture of corn starch and water subjected to varying sound frequencies.

At once it called to mind the experiments of Swiss scientist Hans Jenny (1904-1972), who coined the term "cymatics" from the Greek kyma, which means wave. Using crystal oscillators and an invention he called the tonoscope, Jenny studied the effect of sound frequencies on different media with a view to substantiating a theory that sound creates form or matter.

Photo of colored sand particles on a steel plate forming a pattern easily identifiable as the Shri Yantra, or the mystical diagram-representation for the OM sound, said to have been produced through use of electronically enhanced tonoscope like that used by Hans Jenny - source: http://www.healingsounds.com/research/cymatics.asp.

One of Jenny's more famous experiments demonstrated the effect of vibrating the syllable OM by human voice through the tonoscope onto sand particles atop a steel plate. He was able to replicate this experiment and its results repeatedly. On one occasion he invited a group of Tibetan monks to participate in a public demonstration of the experiment.

Over at New Paradigm, David Curtis, B.Hon.Mus.St., notes: "What is not shown here is how the Sri-yantra is NOT formed if the 'Om' is slightly chanted incorrectly."

A very important point.

Curtis writes, "It is quite well known in the new quantum physics that the original intention of the composer can imprint on the sound waves directly."

This applies to the chanting of mantras and hymns as well. The intention or sincerity of the person chanting the mantra affects the vibration. Srila Prabhupada explains:

There are three stages in chanting the holy name of the Lord. In the first stage, one commits ten kinds of offenses while chanting. In the next stage, namabhasa, the offenses have almost stopped, and one is coming to the platform of pure chanting. In the third stage, when one chants the Hare Krishna mantra without offenses, his dormant love for Krishna immediately awakens. This is the perfection. (Srimad-Bhagavatam 5.24.20, purport)

The ten offenses against the holy names of the Lord are as follows: —

1. to blaspheme a devotee of the Lord,
2. to consider the Lord and the demigods to be on the same level or to think that there are many gods,
3. to neglect the orders of the spiritual master,
4. to minimize the authority of scriptures (Vedas),
5. to interpret the holy name of God,
6. to commit sins on the strength of chanting,
7. to instruct the glories of the Lord’s name to the unfaithful,
8. to compare the chanting of the holy name with material piety,
9. to be inattentive while chanting the holy name, and
10. to be attached to material things in spite of chanting the holy name.

Srila Haridas Thakur says:

“If the holy name is chanted just once, though impurely, or if it is simply heard, the sound penetrating within, then the living entity is immediately liberated, regardless of his high or low caste. This is a scriptural fact. And beyond this, when the holy name is chanted in the clearing stage (namabhasa—the stage when impurities are swept from the heart of the chanter), then the highest goal is attained after some delay. All the other auspicious and pious results, including liberation, can be quite easily achieved, but the attainment of love of Godhead is suspended for a while. In the clearing stage of chanting the jiva [living entity] is absolved of all sins, and by following this path he gradually reaches the highest stage of chanting: suddha-nama or the pure name. One obtains love of Krishna only after reaching this stage of pure chanting. When namabhasa is complete, all sins and anarthas (unwanted desires in the heart) are dissipated, and the devotee chants purely. Then suddha-nama offers the devotee the highest spiritual success: love of Krishna. (Sri Harinam Chintamani, "Chanting the Holy Name")

Haridas Thakur spoke thus to Lord Chaitanya:

“The Supreme Lord invested all His potencies in His transcendental name and offered it to the living entities. One who has sufficient faith in the holy name is eligible to chant it. One who chants Lord Krishna's name is properly executing his prescribed duties. The holy name is so potent that chanting is not dependent on conditions of time, place, rules, cleanliness, etc. Pious activities like giving charity, performing sacrifices and ablutions, and chanting of Vedic mantras are all regulated by stringent rules. But the only prerequisite for chanting the holy name is faith. One who takes shelter of the holy name with unflinching faith will attain all perfection. The jiva in Kali-yuga [the present age] must become free from deceit, enroll himself as a member in Lord Krishna's family of devotees, and continuously chant the holy name.

“One must accept everything favorable to performing devotional service and at the same time reject all unfavorable things. He must seek out the association of devotees and utilize his life in constant chanting and remembering of the Lord's holy name. He must forgo all other religious practices and pious activities, and never worship any other person. Nor may he think others to be independent from the Supreme Lord. One who always chants the holy name and serves the devotees will surely obtain love for Lord Krishna.” (Sri Harinam Chintamani, "Chanting the Holy Name")

The potency of the holy names is not affected by material conditions like time, place and circumstances. There are no hard and fast rules for chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra, unlike for other Vedic mantras and hymns. Regardless of a person's situation or predicament, at all times he can chant the holy names of Krishna. Even a deaf and dumb person can calll out these names: Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare — for the holy names of Krishna are transcendental and are not limited to material, physical transmission.

"If a person unaware of the effective potency of a certain medicine takes that medicine or is forced to take it, it will act even without his knowledge because its potency does not depend on the patient's understanding. Similarly, even though one does not know the value of chanting the holy name of the Lord, if one chants knowingly or unknowingly, the chanting will be very effective." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.2.19, text)

By constant practice of chanting the holy names, the devotee progresses from the stage of offenses to the clearing stage and finally to the pure name. Only then will pure love for Krishna awaken in his heart.

Mere mechanical chanting is not in the same category as chanting in ecstasy, calling out the Lord's name with love. In the beginning we may not feel actual attraction for the names, but we continue anyway to chant on faith that eventually we will. It is not possible to artificially induce this pure chanting or pure love for Krishna, but by chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra under the direction of the spiritual master — accepting his instructions, surrendering to his guidance and serving him, all false misconceptions and independence fall away, and attachments loosen, and very quickly one can advance to the stage of offenseless chanting.

How long does it take? Only an instant, but for most of us that instant is an expansive chasm of lifetimes; for a rare, fortunate few, it is only a fraction of a second.

Srila Prabhupada explains that this depends on the mercy of the Supreme Lord and the eagerness of the devotee:

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, in His Shikshashtaka, declares clearly that the holy name of the Lord has all the potencies of the Lord and that He has endowed His innumerable names with the same potency. There is no rigid fixture of time, and anyone can chant the holy name with attention and reverence at his convenience. The Lord is so kind to us that He can be present before us personally in the form of transcendental sound, but unfortunately we have no taste for hearing and glorifying the Lord's name and activities. We have already discussed developing a taste for hearing and chanting the holy sound. It is done through the medium of service to the pure devotee of the Lord.

The Lord is reciprocally respondent to His devotees. When He sees that a devotee is completely sincere in getting admittance to the transcendental service of the Lord and has thus become eager to hear about Him, the Lord acts from within the devotee in such a way that the devotee may easily go back to Him. The Lord is more anxious to take us back into His kingdom than we can desire. Most of us do not desire at all to go back to Godhead. Only a very few men want to go back to Godhead. But anyone who desires to go back to Godhead, Sri Krishna helps in all respects.

One cannot enter into the kingdom of God unless one is perfectly cleared of all sins. The material sins are products of our desires to lord it over material nature. It is very difficult to get rid of such desires. Women and wealth are very difficult problems for the devotee making progress on the path back to Godhead. Many stalwarts in the devotional line fell victim to these allurements and thus retreated from the path of liberation. But when one is helped by the Lord Himself, the whole process becomes as easy as anything by the divine grace of the Lord.

To become restless in the contact of women and wealth is not an astonishment, because every living being is associated with such things from remote time, practically immemorial, and it takes time to recover from this foreign nature. But if one is engaged in hearing the glories of the Lord, gradually he realizes his real position. By the grace of God such a devotee gets sufficient strength to defend himself from the state of disturbances, and gradually all disturbing elements are eliminated from his mind. (SB 1.2.17, purport)