Vibration

Chatgpt edited

We often hear devotees speak about the vibrations they experience in the sanctum sanctorum inside temples or when visiting famous pilgrimage places.

Since Vedic times, there has been a concept of mutual dependence or transaction between gods and human beings. “Deme dhadhame”—”give me as I give you”—is a famous Vedic mantra. By performing yajnas, we feed the gods, and in return, they provide us with rain and sunshine to grow crops. It is unclear if this concept existed in primitive societies, where humans found food by hunting and gathering from nature.

Ever since temples came into existence, at least in India, this concept has been echoed in our relationship with the temple and particularly with the deity that dwells there—either with or without forms (images). By performing pujas and chanting mantras, we also increase the power of that particular deity. Similarly, when people take time and effort to reach pilgrimage places, they may also extend this power there.

How can we provide a rational explanation for this? Several people have never experienced any kind of similar vibration in any temple or pilgrimage centers. The simple answer is: beauty is in the beholder’s eyes.

Let me explain this with a real-life experience I had. When I stayed in an ashram back in the late 1980s, I used to go for evening walks. As only one or two people lived in the ashram, which is situated in the Himalayas, there was rarely any outside disturbance. There was a favorite spot with a small rock where I would sit and spend some quiet time, experiencing the silence in nature.

One time, three more people came to visit the ashram, and they joined me on my walk. We went to my favorite place and sat quietly. After some time, I asked them about their feelings regarding the place. Below the road was a beautiful lake with clean water. The lake, always green due to the grass growing beneath it and reflecting the surrounding trees, had earned the name ‘Panna lake’ (green lake).

The first person said, “What a beautiful scene. Green lake, clear water, blue sky, cool climate, and a full moon. I have never seen such beauty in my life.” The next person said he experienced complete pin-drop silence and could feel the vibrations in the atmosphere. The third person said, “Yes, it is a beautiful place, but I am very scared of this narrow, dangerous mud road leading to the ashram. I would prefer to leave my car on the main road and walk rather than take the risky drive.”

I hope these three different experiences explain the point clearly. There is no need for further explanation. However, the question remains: what is special about the temple, particularly inside the dark and silent garbhagriha?

Another illustration may help. When we gathered for meetings in our ashram, I saw people taking out their mobile phones and hunting for proper places to get a clear signal. As I lived in the ashram, I would tell them, “For Jio, go that side; for Vodafone, this side; Airtel on the first floor. But for BSNL, you have to go outside the ashram and stand under the BSNL tower. If you’re lucky, you might get a signal.”

I am not a scientist, but I still cannot understand why the signals sent from the same tower are clear in some places and not in others. The same vibration might be everywhere, as the signal is carried in the atmosphere. Why is there a difference among various towers sending the same kinds of signals? This could help us understand why one feels the vibration inside the temple, particularly in the garbhagriha, and not in other places. In the past, we also faced similar problems with the radio. Unless we finely tuned it, we could not catch the broadcast of a particular station. Even a slight difference could result in hearing another broadcast either in the background or side by side.

Beauty is in the beholder’s eye. There is no inherent beauty, silence, or danger in nature. I still cannot understand why we call the natural abode of forest life a ‘wildlife sanctuary’ when we separate certain parts of the earth for us to enjoy in their natural habitation. There is no wildness in the forest for any animal in the forest. Of course, there exists a ‘wild west’ for the east and east for the west. They remain what they are. Only we superimpose our perception on them and give them names that do not actually represent them. Before we went there, they remained as they were. For example, the so-called ‘wild forest’ will remain in its natural state and only become wild when we visit. After we leave, it will remain as it is. So, the beauty, silence, and danger are our own experiences that we superimpose on nature. For example, there is no inherently dangerous mountain road or path, rough sea voyage, or risky journey. When we make a road on the mountain, we create the dangerous travel, but the mountain did not create any dangerous path. The same applies to voyages, journeys, and travel. 

When humans lived with nature, remaining a part of it, they probably did not experience any beauty, silence, vibration, or danger in it. When they created an artificial separation from nature, establishing their own boundaries, they began to see these experiences in nature, imposing their own perceptions on it.

Long ago, when I visited the Andamans, I saw the Jarawas on my way back from Mayabandar to Port Blair. Now that they have begun to contact us, they risk losing their original life along with nature. Then I wrote a song about it, quoting only a few lines here:

Jarawas, the Janinies (wise ones)

Who live mingling with nature

Will now become ignorant (akjani)

As they begin to contact us

When humans invented new things against the laws of nature, they began to experience danger and fear. This sense of fear could have helped them realize another kind of experience within them to overcome fear and frustration. Then the theory of “beauty is in the beholder’s eye” emerged.

If someone could invent a meter to measure the vibration of our mind or atman, we could determine whether there is any real vibration in a particular place (temple, garbhagriha, or pilgrimage center). Otherwise, we must, learning from examples like the mobile tower, live with the faith that there is a special vibration in the temple, image, and pilgrimage places. I have read and heard even several Hindu gurus who visited Jerusalem saying they experienced the ‘vibration’ of Jesus there. As non-Muslims are not allowed inside Mecca, we cannot comment on that pilgrimage place. However, one scientist who lived in Israel for a few years to do his post-doctoral research also visited Jerusalem. He is a Hindu and a devotee of Mukti Nath. When we were talking, he said he never experienced any special vibration in Jerusalem or any other temple or pilgrimage centers. Probably, as he never sought that outside him in any specific place, he didn’t experience that. Or his rational mind as a scientist refused to believe in such spiritual vibrations. But millions of common people, tired of their everyday life, when they take time to visit any temple, particularly standing before the deity in the darkest and most silent place in the temple, as their atman longed for that need, could have tuned itself and caught that vibration that is everywhere. This could be one reason why several pilgrimage centers were situated in remote places in the past. People needed to take time and show willingness to go there to have that special kind of anubhuti, which is not merely an experience that our brain registers but goes beyond our intellectual understanding. 

The quantum theory might help us understand this cosmic phenomenon and vibration. I am not a scientist to talk about or even understand this subject, but Kalam Baba (our President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam) helps us to understand as he wrote about it as simply as possible: “On the quantum level, all living beings—including human beings—are packets of quantum energy constantly exchanging information with an inexhaustible field of energy.” (“Mind is the Matrix of all Matter,” in A.P.J Abdul Kalam with Arun Tiwari, ‘Transcendence: My Spiritual Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji’, Noida, Harper Element, 2015, pp. 132-137, p. 137). It is important to read the whole chapter to understand this. We can use the modern English word ‘mysticism’ to explain this, though still I don’t know what mysticism actually is as it cannot be translated into the languages that I know well.

Tirupoonthuruthi, 3-9-23

Chatgpt edited

We often hear devotees speak about the vibrations they experience in the sanctum sanctorum inside temples or when visiting famous pilgrimage places.

Since Vedic times, there has been a concept of mutual dependence or transaction between gods and human beings. “Deme dhadhame”—”give me as I give you”—is a famous Vedic mantra. By performing yajnas, we feed the gods, and in return, they provide us with rain and sunshine to grow crops. It is unclear if this concept existed in primitive societies, where humans found food by hunting and gathering from nature.

Ever since temples came into existence, at least in India, this concept has been echoed in our relationship with the temple and particularly with the deity that dwells there—either with or without forms (images). By performing pujas and chanting mantras, we also increase the power of that particular deity. Similarly, when people take time and effort to reach pilgrimage places, they may also extend this power there.

How can we provide a rational explanation for this? Several people have never experienced any kind of similar vibration in any temple or pilgrimage centers. The simple answer is: beauty is in the beholder’s eyes.

Let me explain this with a real-life experience I had. When I stayed in an ashram back in the late 1980s, I used to go for evening walks. As only one or two people lived in the ashram, which is situated in the Himalayas, there was rarely any outside disturbance. There was a favorite spot with a small rock where I would sit and spend some quiet time, experiencing the silence in nature.

One time, three more people came to visit the ashram, and they joined me on my walk. We went to my favorite place and sat quietly. After some time, I asked them about their feelings regarding the place. Below the road was a beautiful lake with clean water. The lake, always green due to the grass growing beneath it and reflecting the surrounding trees, had earned the name ‘Panna lake’ (green lake).

The first person said, “What a beautiful scene. Green lake, clear water, blue sky, cool climate, and a full moon. I have never seen such beauty in my life.” The next person said he experienced complete pin-drop silence and could feel the vibrations in the atmosphere. The third person said, “Yes, it is a beautiful place, but I am very scared of this narrow, dangerous mud road leading to the ashram. I would prefer to leave my car on the main road and walk rather than take the risky drive.”

I hope these three different experiences explain the point clearly. There is no need for further explanation. However, the question remains: what is special about the temple, particularly inside the dark and silent garbhagriha?

Another illustration may help. When we gathered for meetings in our ashram, I saw people taking out their mobile phones and hunting for proper places to get a clear signal. As I lived in the ashram, I would tell them, “For Jio, go that side; for Vodafone, this side; Airtel on the first floor. But for BSNL, you have to go outside the ashram and stand under the BSNL tower. If you’re lucky, you might get a signal.”

I am not a scientist, but I still cannot understand why the signals sent from the same tower are clear in some places and not in others. The same vibration might be everywhere, as the signal is carried in the atmosphere. Why is there a difference among various towers sending the same kinds of signals? This could help us understand why one feels the vibration inside the temple, particularly in the garbhagriha, and not in other places. In the past, we also faced similar problems with the radio. Unless we finely tuned it, we could not catch the broadcast of a particular station. Even a slight difference could result in hearing another broadcast either in the background or side by side.

Beauty is in the beholder’s eye. There is no inherent beauty, silence, or danger in nature. I still cannot understand why we call the natural abode of forest life a ‘wildlife sanctuary’ when we separate certain parts of the earth for us to enjoy in their natural habitation. There is no wildness in the forest for any animal in the forest. Of course, there exists a ‘wild west’ for the east and east for the west. They remain what they are. Only we superimpose our perception on them and give them names that do not actually represent them. Before we went there, they remained as they were. For example, the so-called ‘wild forest’ will remain in its natural state and only become wild when we visit. After we leave, it will remain as it is. So, the beauty, silence, and danger are our own experiences that we superimpose on nature. For example, there is no inherently dangerous mountain road or path, rough sea voyage, or risky journey. When we make a road on the mountain, we create the dangerous travel, but the mountain did not create any dangerous path. The same applies to voyages, journeys, and travel. 

When humans lived with nature, remaining a part of it, they probably did not experience any beauty, silence, vibration, or danger in it. When they created an artificial separation from nature, establishing their own boundaries, they began to see these experiences in nature, imposing their own perceptions on it.

Long ago, when I visited the Andamans, I saw the Jarawas on my way back from Mayabandar to Port Blair. Now that they have begun to contact us, they risk losing their original life along with nature. Then I wrote a song about it, quoting only a few lines here:

Jarawas, the Janinies (wise ones)

Who live mingling with nature

Will now become ignorant (akjani)

As they begin to contact us

When humans invented new things against the laws of nature, they began to experience danger and fear. This sense of fear could have helped them realize another kind of experience within them to overcome fear and frustration. Then the theory of “beauty is in the beholder’s eye” emerged.

If someone could invent a meter to measure the vibration of our mind or atman, we could determine whether there is any real vibration in a particular place (temple, garbhagriha, or pilgrimage center). Otherwise, we must, learning from examples like the mobile tower, live with the faith that there is a special vibration in the temple, image, and pilgrimage places. I have read and heard even several Hindu gurus who visited Jerusalem saying they experienced the ‘vibration’ of Jesus there. As non-Muslims are not allowed inside Mecca, we cannot comment on that pilgrimage place. However, one scientist who lived in Israel for a few years to do his post-doctoral research also visited Jerusalem. He is a Hindu and a devotee of Mukti Nath. When we were talking, he said he never experienced any special vibration in Jerusalem or any other temple or pilgrimage centers. Probably, as he never sought that outside him in any specific place, he didn’t experience that. Or his rational mind as a scientist refused to believe in such spiritual vibrations. But millions of common people, tired of their everyday life, when they take time to visit any temple, particularly standing before the deity in the darkest and most silent place in the temple, as their atman longed for that need, could have tuned itself and caught that vibration that is everywhere. This could be one reason why several pilgrimage centers were situated in remote places in the past. People needed to take time and show willingness to go there to have that special kind of anubhuti, which is not merely an experience that our brain registers but goes beyond our intellectual understanding. 

The quantum theory might help us understand this cosmic phenomenon and vibration. I am not a scientist to talk about or even understand this subject, but Kalam Baba (our President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam) helps us to understand as he wrote about it as simply as possible: “On the quantum level, all living beings—including human beings—are packets of quantum energy constantly exchanging information with an inexhaustible field of energy.” (“Mind is the Matrix of all Matter,” in A.P.J Abdul Kalam with Arun Tiwari, ‘Transcendence: My Spiritual Experiences with Pramukh Swamiji’, Noida, Harper Element, 2015, pp. 132-137, p. 137). It is important to read the whole chapter to understand this. We can use the modern English word ‘mysticism’ to explain this, though still I don’t know what mysticism actually is as it cannot be translated into the languages that I know well.

Tirupoonthuruthi, 3-9-23