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SOUNDING SANSKRIT SVARA AUDIO
Recording 1 SANSKRIT ASIA – POSITIONS
OF THE TONGUE AND LIPS FOR PRONUNCIATION The sanskrit alphabet (vowels and consonants) are divided into five different places
of articulation (asia). For all sound the mouth is comfortably wide open to allow the movement of prana
in it, the talu energy. Sitting in a comfortable upright position with heart and mind open, simply having the desire to hear.
Listen to the sound arising, resonating in your physical being and continue listening to the fine resonances as the
sound dissolves back into the silence from which it came. Finding the five asias:
Gutteral (kanta) - ‘a’ – from
the throat, tongue relaxed in the bottom of the mouth Palatal (talu) - ‘i’ – from the ‘a’ raise the tongue to be level with lower teeth Cerebral (murdhnya) - ‘r’ - from the
‘i’ curl tip of tongue towards roof of the mouth Dental (danta) - ‘lr’ - from the ‘r’ drop the tongue behind the top teeth Labial (oshthau) – ‘ u’ - still
keeping a spacious mouth move lips as though blowing out
a candle, ‘ooo’ sound This exercise is to give you a feel of the five asias, in sanskrit pronunciation
you would go straight to asia. The practice involves each svara in their pluta (prolonged) form, whilst
normally they are used in short (hrasva) or long (dirgha) form.
LISTEN TO YAJUR VEDA SANTI PATHA
May that one being protect us both
May that
one being delight in us both
May we grow in strength together
May our study together give rise
to the light of intellience
May there be no discord between us
I instantly knew
it would be special to me and to many others who will hear it.
Sound regenerates and energises Being
We are so used to sound as an expression of ourselves
through speech and as an inner mode of conversation with our thoughts and memories. Just for a moment wipe the mind clean,
you know nothing. It is only when the mind is completely empty that it can act as a reflector without a
mental commentary.
Open your mouth wide and from the
throat sound a long ‘a’ (aaaaaa). There are three things you should remember when doing this
No effort
Do not change the sound (make it pretty)
Do not think about it
More
importantly stay in touch with the sound, feel the vibration it makes in the physical body – be aware of the silence
from which the sound emanates.
Listen carefully, can you hear where silence and sound meet?
Sound travels through three dimensions the gross sound in the throat, the subtle realm
of vibration and then back into the causal from which all sound emanates – the para. With the sacred sound A-U-M (Om) start with the ‘a’ from the throat, physical realm; move to the ‘u’
(lips pursed oooo) – subtle realm; then taking the ‘u’ into the back of the nostril creates the final ‘m’,
which leads back into the causal realm. That is why the Om is the sacred sound because sounding it correctly
leads you back into the Unmanifest.
Correct positioning of the
tongue in the mouth allows each sanskrit vowel or consonant to produce their individual aspect of being. That
is why sanskrit is so special, it is a way of accessing Being directly through sound. If is self evident and direct to perception
but the mind has to be free of preconceptions, judgement or expectations.
The citta is the open awareness we can contact, it is our essential nature and if it remains clear, the mind is able
to reflect back Being from that openness. Sound will bring about union with the Divine, just as it does
with meditation – there is no intermarry.
Sound resonants
in space and we have the physical apparatus to connect to it (see Space). The mind can reflect Being in
the moment and is directly perceptible. Sounding the sanskrit vowels (svarah) correctly is therapeutic
and energising, clearing energy blockages that exist within our energy field.
Useful sites for learning
sanskrit
The Omkarananda website is helpful and free for sanskrit purposes www.omkarananda-ashram.org You can download a free translator, as well as the sanskrit
and URW Palladio fonts, which are necessary to use it. This also facilitates using these fonts
on your own computer. www.omkarananda-ashram.org/Sanskrit/itranslator99.htm Sanskrit lessons which are easy to follow and free of charge
are at www.chitrapurmath.net/sanskrit/sanskrit.asp
My thanks go to my teacher Peter Harrison for the knowledge and wisdom he has imparted.
I have been helping my teacher to start his own website see www.selfinsoundandsilence.com
THE TEACHINGS The ancient vedic texts (Upanisads,
Patanjali's Sutras, Bhagavad Gita) were written in sanskrit thousands of years ago, before then it was an oral tradition
whereby it was passed by word of mouth from teacher to pupil. The teachings are immortal and are just a relevant today
as they were long ago. Their beauty transends time and I feel priviledged to have come into contact with them.
I was pleased to find the sanskrit font for my computer and I wonder if the sages of long ago could have forseen this.
SOUNDING
Besides sanskrit being beautiful to look at and being meditative to write down. Its essense
lies in its sound. I have been very fortunate to have an expert to teach me and I have been quite entranced by its sound.
As when it is pronounced properly the sound carries its meaning. Often I have been deeply touched on hearing a particular
word and when it is translated for me it has a special meaning that I can relate to. It is as though an inner knowing
has heard it before.
I asked my sanskrit teacher who has been a sanskrit scholar for thirty five years to
do a short introduction of the subject for me. My thanks go to Peter Harrison.
SOUND AND VOICE
In
the beginning was the Word”, and, in one form or another, all the great traditions of the world agree with this statement,
so clearly it has some importance, but what is its importance to us?
Our voice is our very first principle of our
Self expression. Even body language, facial expression, movements and whatever else you can think of, are shaped and moved
by the resonances of our mental processes. Sound reflects Being with Absolute accuracy.
Furthermore, every sound
that we make resonates in every cell of our bodies, affecting us, whether we realize it or not. Indeed it is better if we
are aware of the effect of the sounds we make, physically or mentally, both within ourselves and in the environment around
us.
Ancient Traditions, more in touch with the basics of Being and less reliant on technology, knew this well and
made some effort to preserve this knowledge. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Vedic/Sanskrit Tradition, which
developed Sciences to protect the Wisdom of the Veda which began with simple sound. Here every sound phoneme available to
the human instrument was analyzed and observed to generate, from its resonance, its own particular form of energy. The pure
articulation of the sound was examined, and the effects of distortions observed. The syntax by which the sounds flowed together
in harmony came next, the science of rhythm and metre, the interplay of sound and silence, the efforts involves and the relationship
with the flowing patterns of human breath and energy. All this comprised the science of Chandas, from which we derive
the English Chant and the (seductive) French chanteuse. This reflects Sama Veda, the Veda of Peace and Harmony
which is echoed in the Old Testament Psalms.
Precise syntax gives rise to Grammar, which in Vedic/Sanskrit Tradition
is the Self evident explanation for all activity in creation. This takes us in to the next science which, from the foregoing,
determines meaning. With some understanding of meaning comes the possibility of Self Examination and Self awareness, which,
naturally leads to Liberation in Joy, which is the highest purpose of Human existence.All this can be made available through
the careful and intelligent connection with your own voice.
I gave regular sanskrit classes at satsang at the Patanjali Yoga Centre in Battle Comment given: I thought your exposition and explanation of the Varnamala sanskrit
alphabet was one of the most lucid I have ever heard and the way the letters and sounds work together. Jai sankriti ma. Swami
Premananda visit www.patanjali-centre.org.uk
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