Letters are basically Sound ( Technique from Vigyan Bhairav Tantra )

Letters are basically Sound

( Technique from Vigyan Bhairav Tantra )

– Anant Sri

Today we shall take up a new meditation technique from Vigyan Bhairav Tantra. This technique is based on sound, the नाद. This dialogue between Shiva and Devi is, all the more, beautiful because it is not merely a discourse between a Guru and a Shishya but also a conversation between a lover and a beloved, so it is gentle and caring, full of love. In this technique Shiva says that you see the letters of the Sanskrit language with affection ( मधुरता से )  and seeing them you begin to listen to their sound and then leaving behind the form and its echo, enter into its feeling and then discard the feeling and enter into your being, your consciousness and become free.

Man has invented language for communication; animals, birds etc communicate but they don’t have words, so they communicate with sounds. Man is superior to all other beings as he has discovered letters, अक्षर and using various combinations of these letters, he has formed words and these words have a meaning, understood by all familiar with that and thus developed a language. Then a group of words arranged in a particular manner form thoughts that convey a particular information. And then from these thoughts come out philosophies and scriptures defining our way of life. Our mind is nothing but a flow of thoughts.

This is the journey of letters; but if you go backwards, then these letters were discovered by the sounds they have. Each letter has a different sound, and then when you go further back then you will find that sounds have feelings. This is not difficult, for you can see that in your different moods you produce different types of sounds. The same things spoken by a calm person and an irritated person, will be spoken in different ways, producing different sounds and having different effects.

Even science has been debating that whether sound is primary, or the energy and they say that first it is the sound and from that the energy waves are created. Every happening in the cosmos has a sound hidden in it. Those who can relate to that sound can know a lot about the happenings they are indicating to.

And then sound and feelings are like waves in the ocean of consciousness. Therefore, the journey begins with sound and goes right up to creating philosophies and shaping our lives.

At the consciousness level and the body level there are no issues. The mind comes in between. When we come to the language, the letters have no meanings, they are just sounds written in a script that is their form. But as soon the words are formed and meanings given to them, they become our bondage. Words are like empty vessels. We give them meanings. If we remove the meaning from them, then they are just sounds and then there is no bondage, we can be free.

This meditation is based on retracing our steps to the sound and then taking a leap into the consciousness.

Shiva has mentioned the technique with Sanskrit as the language, as may be, that is the language they were using for communication at that time; but you can experiment with any language you are comfortable with. In fact, I would suggest that you can experiment with your name. In no time you shall see that your attachment to your name is leaving you. It is just a word, or we can say just a sound.

Now the way you see makes a difference, so you are advised to see it with affection, see it lovingly, then the letters will unfold their secrets to you. Seeing with love and affection can do wonders, it is magical. So, you see the letter with love and gradually leaving their forms dive into the sound that they are made of. As you become sensitive to the sound you will begin to get a feel of the feelings they carry. Enter into that feeling and then leaving it outside as dropping of a shell, enter into your being and become free. Now when it is said enter into your being, it does not mean you need to do anything, it is indicating to the happening that will take place as a result that you will enter into your consciousness because it is already there, you have just removed the extraneous matter. And then you are free, you are pure consciousness.