Anahata Nada

Dr satish k kapoor

Nada, sound, is both vyakta, expressible, and avyakta, inexpressible. The former emerges in thought-form in ajna chakra, stationed between eyebrows, and finds expression in vishuddha chakra at the base of throat. The latter is unmanifest, and is called anahata nada (anahad, anahad dhun), the unstruck sound, word or melody. While ahata nada  is produced by the acoustics of friction, anahata nada is spontaneous, perennial and abiding. It is music of the heavenly sphere, that reverberates in everyone, irrespective of whether one is conscious of it or not. It is shabda brahma, the Word as divine sound, perceived by evolved souls in the nirvikalpa samadhi, ‘seedless meditation’, that renders the bliss of unitary consciousness. 

Anahata nada emanates from sahasrara chakra, the thousand-petalled lotus in the crown of head, with the awakening of kundalini shakti, serpent power, and is heard at anahata chakra, the heart centre.     The cosmos is a subtle projection of sound waveforms which create specific images in the inner consciousness. Prana is the link between sound, the human soul and the world of phenomena. As universal consciousness is a modification of sound, one can arrive at the source of sound by repeating or ruminating over Om (AUM, Omkara), the origin and repository of all forms  of sound at the mundane and  mystic levels.   Om is also called udgitha, ‘song from above’, and pranava, because it resounds, being the first and finest expression of infinity. From it emerged life and consciousness — five primal elements, three gunas or modes of nature, five organs each of perception and of action, and the mind in its fourfold state. From it were born 52 matrika-s –‘little mothers of communication’. Of them, 50 matrika-s constitute letters of   the Sanskrit alphabet, and the remaining two represent light both as motion and form. 

Sound, being energy, the vibration of Om envelopes everything. Chanting of Om forges a link between the microcosmic and macrocosmic levels of sound. Anahata nada manifests when each of the three million pores on the human body resonates with the primal sound, and the mind ponders over shabda brahma alone.  

      To prepare oneself for listening to anahata nada, one should  first undergo  sharira shuddhi, purification of  body, by shat karma, six actions or ablutions mentioned in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (II, 22), followed by chitta shuddhi,  purification of  the mind and consciousness, by  observance of moral and spiritual disciplines, inner silence,  prayer and contemplation on the divine.  Obstacles on the spiritual pathway, like lethargy, attachment, sensuality and mental distraction, need to be removed so that prana can flow freely through sushumna, the central pathway of life-force made up of the ether element. Nadi shodhana pranayama, in which alternate breathing is practiced, is useful in purifying 72,000 astral tubes that carry life-energy.             After the body and the mind have been purified, one should practice  siddhasana,  ‘accomplished pose’,  or muktasana, ‘free pose’, in silent hours. To shut out distractions, one should close one’s mouth, plug ears and eyes with thumbs and fingers of hands respectively, and try to hear the sound inside one’s right ear, coming through the sushumna channel.  

 The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (IV.84-85)says: ‘In the first stage the sounds are surging, thundering, like the beating of kettle drums and jingling ones. In the intermediate stage, they are like those produced by conch, mridanga or bells. In the last stage, the sounds resemble those from tinklets, flute, vina, humming of bees, etc…’  

The  Hamsa Upanishad (verse 16), enumerates ten types of  sound, that one hears during practice: chini, chini-chini,  ghanta, bell, shankha, conch, tantri, lute, tala, cymbals, venu, flute, mridanga, double-ended drum, bheri, wind instrument, and  megha-garjana, the thunder of clouds. Although the Shiva Purana, Nada-bindu Upanishad, and other texts provide a  different description and sequential order of sounds, they  almost agree  that one should move from the grossest to the subtlest forms of sound (and vice versa), to annihilate the mind, so as to  prepare the ground for ascension of the soul  to the higher levels of existence. 

With practice, inner sounds become refined and translucent. In the process, the three knots in sushumna — brahma granthi, vishnu granthi and rudra granthi, stationed  at  muladhara, anahata and ajna chakras respectively, in the subtle body, are pierced. The vital airs, prana and apana coalesce to flow through the central channel, bringing the mind, the heart and the intellect into perfect rhythm. It is a journey to mahashunya, the Great Void, and beyond.

When the brahmarandhra at the top end of sushumna, opens of itself, anahata nada is heard and imbibed by the whole being.  Time and space vanish as one perceives the Light divine. ‘The sky seems to have tongues’, that continuously chant, Om, Om, Om. 

(Dr Satish K Kapoor, former British Council Scholar and former Registrar, DAV University, is a noted author, educationist and spiritualist based in Jalandhar city.)