Sound Medicine by Kulreet Chaudhary M.D

Author:Kulreet Chaudhary, M.D.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2020-01-17T16:00:00+00:00

7

The Yoga of Sound

Yoga is like music: the rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind, and the harmony of the soul create the symphony of life.

—B. K. S. IYENGAR

Yoga was not always about flexibility and a good workout. It wasn’t even always a system of physical movements. In the beginning, yoga was simply a word—albeit a compelling one. Meaning “union” in Sanskrit, yoga embodied the nearly timeless concept of a human being encountering the Divine. It was this sense of communing with something larger—call it Brahman, God, or the energy underlying all being—that Vedic philosophers and Siddha masters held in mind when they developed the intricate understanding of the human biofield, with its sheaths, chakras, and doshas. These medical systems, of course, offered ways in which to balance the body and mind, and maintain health, but the ultimate aim of Ayurvedic and Siddha medicine was to help a person open to a universal energy. Merging back into infinite consciousness was an idea infused in the Vedas and Siddha records; it was woven into the hymns and poems and mythologized in stories. Yoga, in the original sense of the word, recognizes that emotions are vital and sacred and can offer access, when a person is able to tap into the vibrational universe, to a healthy and meaningful life.

The first mention of yoga is in one of the oldest surviving texts of any Indo-European language: the Rigveda.1 Historians and linguistic experts speculate that the earliest parts of this collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns, philosophical questions, and commentaries on liturgy, ritual, and mysticism were written in 1500 to 1200 BC.2 Over time, the concept of yoga was refined by the Vedic priests as well as the mystic seers known as rishis; they detailed their practices and beliefs in the Upanishads, which offer many of the central philosophical ideas and concepts of Hinduism. The influential German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, upon reading the Upanishads, translated into English in the nineteenth century, declared that they were “the production of the highest human wisdom.”3 Among the most well known of the yogic scriptures is the Bhagavad-Gîtâ (scholars debate the date it was written, placing it anywhere between the fifth and second centuries BC), which describes four main yogic paths to realize meaning in life and reach enlightenment. These paths, all of which teach us to surrender the ego, are the yoga of action and service (karma), knowledge (jnana), devotion (bhakti), and self-discipline (raja). “Yoga,” as it is described in the Bhagavad-Gîtâ, “is the journey of the Self, through the Self, to the Self.”

Vedic philosophy posits that through a dedicated practice of any one of these four paths, a person can achieve self-realization—the ability to fully accept oneself and others as well as life’s circumstances—and attain yoga. It’s emblematic of the yogic affability that there are four passages to enlightenment to choose from—this is meant to accommodate the differences in people’s natures.

Karma yoga is the path of selfless action, counseling its spiritual seekers to pursue liberation through service and work for the benefit of others.

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