The wonders of sound
Ancient Hindu sages or ‘rishis’ used sound to achieve higher status. They have understood the power of sound and have used it effectively to cure various mental and physical illnesses.
Mantras, which are basically sound waves aligned and arranged in a mysterious way, resulted in bestowing what one wants. In order for it to rain, the God of rain was invoked through mantras, which is called ‘Varuna Japa’. Similarly, each and every mantra, when recited correctly for a particular result, results in the specific benefit desired.
The wonders of sound have been scientifically investigated for the past two hundred years. Ernst Florens Friderich Chladni, (born 11-30-1755 died 3-4-1823) a German physicist and musician carried out many experiments.
When a violin bow was drawn vertically across the edge of a metal plate, the sound waves produced certain patterns in the sand splattered on the plate. Different musical tones would make the sand particles move in geometric patterns.
In recent years, Fabien, a musician, together with the French scientist Joel Sternheimer, carried out more research in this regard. He discovered that elementary particles vibrate according to the laws of music.
The vibration of sound creates shapes. These musical vibrations, as well as the shapes produced by them, can be made visible to the eye through ingenious experiments, throwing the images onto the screen.
Sound is defined as any variation in pressure in air, water, or some other medium that the human ear can detect.
The number of pressure variations per second is called the frequency of the sound. This is measured in cycles per second or Hertz (Hz).
The range of human hearing extends from approximately 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Just for comparison, it can be seen that the range from the lowest to the highest note on a piano is 27.5 Hz to 4186 Hz.
The speed of sound is 340 meters per second. There is one more scale that is used to measure sound: the decibel. An average man can hear zero decibels and constant noise above 80-90 decibels in an 8 hour workday is considered dangerous.
Sound can build shapes and it can also destroy or disintegrate them.
The ancient sages of India have very clearly analyzed each and every letter and the corresponding sound. They have given the color, shape and specific characteristics of the 51 basic letters in the books of Tantra.
For example, the text ‘Kamadhenu Tantra’ gives the description of the letter A.
‘A’ means Krishna, Siva, Brahma, Indra, Soma, Vayu, Agni, a happy man, a turtle, a courtyard, etc.
By lining up the letters correctly and assigning the correct intonation, there are many benefits to be gained. These sonic wonders were given in the form of hymns to humanity by the sages. Hindus recite these mantras to this day.
Science also sheds more light on sonic wonders.
Sound therapy is now recommended to speed healing. Dr. Jason W. Busse from Ontario has found that the use of ultrasound waves will speed up the healing process.
The Wonders of Sound is an interesting subject and a lot could be learned by studying it in depth.