12. Relation of Vocal Sound with the Panca Tatvas

Prof. Dobson and some other linguists have hypothesized that the primary speech of human race must have originated in the form of a verse because rhythm and accent of the vocal presentations seem to be universal vis-à-vis their implications in any language. Prof. Dobson had got this idea after observing that - if he would recite a French poesy before his German students and German poesy in front of French-speaking students, both the groups of students were able to get the central idea and feels of the poems. Whereas, the prose in the same foreign languages were non-comprehensible to these students.

That phonemes (and sound in general) would have a relation with matter (which belongs to the prathvi tatva) is obvious from the fact that when any kind of material from is beaten it produces vibrations. The type of vibrations (and hence the quality of sound generated by them ……) produced by the same impact of beating would be different for different types and shapes of matter. For example the sound produced by a thin wire of sitara is different from that of the leather-sheet of dholaka …., etc.

The role of air (which belongs to the vayu tatva in the group of the five basic elements) as a medium for the realization and propagatin of sound is well known. The controlling effect of air in maintaining the quality and type of sound is also obvious k- as seen in Whistling or in playing of the musical instruments like flute. The use of water as a medium for communication by several  marine species and also in some musical instruments (like the jal Taranga) similarly explains the relationship of sound with the jal tatva.

The physical relationship of sound with heat and light constituents of the Agni tatva can be seen/measured with the help of the scientific instruments like the retro meter, spectrometer and the tonoscope. The implications of their subtle relationship are well experienced  by most of us in our day to day life; for example, 'the heated exchange of words  in quarreling…' or 'the enlightenment of mid by an inspiring lecture …..' etc. That sound reflected in the form of music affects our sentiments - is an evidence of its relationship with the subtlest, the cosmic element - akasa tatva.

As the universe in general, and the individual being- i.e. the body, mind and the manifestation of consciousness in it, in particular, is constituted by the panca tatvas, its intimate relationship with sound is quite natural.

In fact, our body as a whole and especially the vocal cord is like a sophisticated musical instrument. Its thin muscles, membranes and other particles get vibrations from the apatatva; when we speak, the currents of apatatva are received from the omnipresent sonic power of Nada around us. When we think, this sublime element is generated by the Sabda, which is indwelling in the conscious core of our mind. This is the reason why our mind talks to itself while in the thought process….

The infinite dimensional apatatva is imminent in the akasa tatva. This is also regarded as the source of the physical existence of sound in our space. However, the presence of other four basic tatvas affects its realization in the eternal form. The human mind has so far experienced/recognized about forty-nine different kinds of natural phonemes swars - seven of which are regarded as the basic vowels and the others are komal (soft) and tivra (high notes) configurations of them. Various combinations of these swaras have been compiled into eight basic ragas (classical tunes of shastriya music) and son on….. The gamuts of phonemes and varieties of sounds (musical or otherwise) have been generated thereby.

The panca tatvas existing in these varieties of sound do affect our body and mind according to their own natural properties. Excessive presence of Agni tatva in the sound heard or produced by us enlightens our prana by a subtle red color and gives physical effects like that of the thermal energy and the psychological stimulation…. Similarly, the jal and the vayu tatva offer blue and white colors of prana, prathvi tatva induces yellow color and the akas tatvas absolute black…. Each generates associated impulses in the physical and emotional environments.

What is important for us to understand from the above descriptions is - the significance of immense power of Sabda and its intimate eternal relationship with our life. With this, we must begin to make our speech and thoughts as pure and true as possible. This would be our first step towards the realization of the paramount significance of sound as a manifestation of Sabda.