Theos-Talk Archives (January 2006 Message tt00068)

1/5/2006 4:01 AM







Dear Friends:







"With us OM has a signification. It represents the constant undercurrent
of meditation, which ought to be carried on by every man, even while engaged
in the necessary duties of this life. There is for every conditioned being
a target at which the aim is constantly directed. Even the very animal
kingdom we do not except, for it, below us, awaits its evolution into a
higher state; it unconsciously perhaps, but nevertheless actually, aims at
the same target.





"Having taken the bow, the great weapon, let him place on it the arrow,
sharpened by devotion. Then, having drawn it with a thought directed to
that which is, hit the mark, O friend - the Indestructible. 



OM is the bow, the Self is the arrow, Brahman is called its aim. 



It is to be hit by a man who is not thoughtless; and then as the arrow
becomes one with the target, he will become one with Brahman. Know him
alone as the Self, and leave off other words. He is the bridge of the
Immortal. Meditate on the Self as O M . Hail to you that you may cross
beyond the sea of darkness." 

- Mundaka Upanishad. (THE PATH, vol. I, p. 4)







Now we may consider that there is pervading the whole universe a single
homogeneous resonance, sound, or tone, which acts, so to speak, as the
awakener or vivifying power, stirring all the molecules into action. This
is what is represented in all languages by the vowel a , which takes
precedence of all others. This is the word, the verbum, the Logos of St.
John of the Christians, who says: "In the beginning was the Word, and Word
was with God, and the word was God." 



This is creation, for without this resonance or motion among the quiescent
particles, there would be no visible universe. That is to say, upon sound,
or as the Aryans called it, Nada

Brahma (divine resonance), depends the evolution of the visible from the
invisible.



But this sound a , being produced, at once alters itself into au, so
that the second sound u, is that one made by the first in continuing its
existence. The vowel u, which in itself is a compound one, therefore
represents preservation. And the idea of preservation is contained also in
creation, or evolution, for there could not be anything to preserve, unless
it had first come into existence.



If these two sounds, so compounded into one, were to proceed indefinitely,
there would be of course no destruction of them. But it is not possible to
continue the utterance further than the breath, and whether the lips are
compressed, or the tongue pressed against the roof of the mouth, or the
organs behind that used, there will be in the finishing of the utterance the
closure or m sound, which among the Aryans had the meaning of stoppage. In
this last letter there is found the destruction of the whole word or letter.




To reproduce it a slight experiment will show that by no possibility can it
be begun with m , but that au invariably commences even the utterance of m
itself. Without fear of successful contradiction, it can be asserted that
all speech begins with au, and the ending, or destruction of speech, is in
m .



The word "tone" is derived from the Latin and Greek words meaning sound and
tone. In the Greek word "tonos" means a stretching or straining. As to the
character of the sound, the word "tone" is used to express all varieties,
such as high, low, grave, acute, sweet and harsh sounds. 



In music it gives the peculiar quality of the sound produced, and also
distinguishes one instrument from another; as rich tone, reedy tone, and so
on. In medicine, it designates the state of the body, but is there used
more in the signification of strength, and refers to strength or tension. 



It is not difficult to connect the use of the word in medicine with the
divine resonance of which we spoke, because we may consider tension to be
the vibration, or quantity of vibration, by which sound is apprehended by
the ear, and if the whole system goes down so that its tone is lowered
without stoppage, the result will at last be dissolution for that collection
of molecules. 



In painting, the tone also shows the general drift of the picture, just as
it indicates the same thing in morals and manners. We say, "a low tone of
morals, an elevated tone of sentiment, a courtly tone of manners," so that
tone has a signification which is applied universally to either good or bad,
high or low. And the only letter which we can use to express it, or
symbolize it, is the a sound, in its various changes, long, short and
medium. 



And just as the tone of manners, of morals, of painting, of music, means the
real character of each, in the same way the tones of the various creatures,
including man himself, mean or express the real character; and all together
joined in the deep murmur of nature, go to swell the Nada Brahma, or Divine
resonance, which at last is heard in the music of the spheres.



Meditation on tone, as expressed in this Sanskrit word OM , will lead us to
a knowledge of the secret Doctrine. 



We find expressed in the merely mortal music the seven divisions of the
divine essence, for as the microcosm is the little copy of the macrocosm,
even the halting measures of man contain the little copy of the whole, in
the seven tones of the octave. 



>From that we are led to the seven colors, and so forward and upward to the
Divine radiance which is the Aum.



For the Divine Resonance, spoken of above, is not the Divine Light itself. 



The Resonance is only the out-breathing of the first sound of the entire
Aum. This goes on during what the Hindus call a Day of Brahma, which,
according to them, lasts a thousand ages. It manifests itself not only as
the power which stirs up and animates the particles of the Universe, but
also in the evolution and dissolution of man, of animal and mineral kingdom,
and of solar systems. 



Among the Aryans it was represented in the planetary system by Mercury, who
has always been said to govern the intellectual faculties, and to be the
universal stimulator. Some old writers have said that it is shown through
Mercury, amongst mankind, by the universal talking of women.



And wherever this divine resonance is closed or stopped by death or other
change, the Aum has been uttered there. These utterances of Aum are only
the numerous microcosmic enunciations of the Word, which is uttered or
completely ended, to use the Hermetic or mystical style of language, only
when the great Brahm stops the outbreathing, closes the vocalization, by the
m sound, and thus causes the universal dissolution. 



This universal dissolution is known in the Sanskrit and in the secret
Doctrine, as the Maha Pralaya; Maha being "the great," and Pralaya
"dissolution." And so, after thus arguing, the ancient Rishees of India
said: "Nothing is begun or ended; everything is changed, and that which we
call death is only a transformation." In thus speaking they wished to be
understood as referring to the manifested universe, the so-called death of a
sentient creature being only a transformation of energy, or a change of the
mode and place of manifestation of the Divine Resonance. 



Thus early in the history of the race the doctrine of the conservation of
energy was known and applied. The Divine Resonance, or the au sound, is
the universal energy, which is conserved during each Day of Brahma, and at
the coming on of the great Night is absorbed again into the great whole.
Continually appearing and disappearing it transforms itself again and again,
covered from time to time by a veil of matter called its visible
manifestation, and never lost, but always changing itself from one form to
another. And herein can be seen the use and beauty of the Sanskrit. 



Nada Brahma is Divine Resonance; that is, after saying Nada, if we stopped
with Brahm, logically we must infer that the m sound at the end of Brahm
signified the Pralaya, thus confuting the position that the Divine Resonance
existed, for if it had stopped it could not be resounding. So they added an
a at the end of the Brahm, making it possible to understand that as Brahma
the sound was still manifesting itself."



----------------------------------------------------



This is a collation from various Theosophical texts.



Best wishes,





Dallas



======================



-----Original Message-----
From: Pundit Sunil Dev 

Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 4:55 PM
To: 

Subject: Lord's Prayer



A particular Prayer [Gayatri] in Sanskrit goes this way:



Om! Bhur Bhuva Svah, Tat Savitur Vareniyam. Bhargo Devasya Dhi-mahi,
Dhi-vyo Vyo naha Pracho-Dayat. Rig-Veda



Which means:



Oh God! the giver of life, 

remover of pains and sorrows, bestower of happiness, 

and the creator of the Universe. 

Thou art most luminous, pure and adorable. 

We meditate upon thee. 

May you inspire and guide our intellect in the right direction.





Namaste.



Pundit Sunil Dev 



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