The Equinox (Volume I, Number IV)

THE EQUINOX The next is as the plaint melodious of the ocean-sprite imprisoned in its shell, And this is followed by the chant of vina. The fifth like sound of bamboo-flute shrills in thine ear. It changes next into a trumpet-blast. The last vibrates like the dull rumbling of a thunder-cloud. The seventh swallows all the other sounds. They die, and then are heard no more.* The Hatha Yoga Pradipika is a great deal more exact in its description of these sounds than the famous Theosophist; concerning them Swatmaram Swami writes: In the beginning, the sounds resemble those of the ocean, the clouds, the kettledrum, and Zarzara (a sort of drum cymbal); in the middle they resemble those arising from the Mardala, the conch, the bell and the horn. In the end they resemble those of the tinkling bells, the flutes, the vind, and the bees. Thus are heard the various sounds from the middle of the body. Even when the loud sounds of the clouds and the kettledrum are heard, he should try to fix his attention on the subtler sounds. He may change his attention from the lull to the subtle sounds, but should never allow his attention to wander to other extraneous objects. The mind fixes itself upon the Nada to which it is first attracted until it becomes one with it.t Many other passages occur in this little text book on Yoga dealing with these mystical sounds some of them of a combined beauty and wisdom which is hard to rival. Such as: When the mind, divested of its flighty nature, is bound by the cords of the Nada, it attains a state of extreme concentration and remains quiet as a bird that has lost its wings, Nada is like a snare for catching a deer, z.2., the mind. It, like a hunter, kills the deer. The mind, having become unconscious, like a serpent, on hearing the musical sounds, does not run away. * “The Voice of the Silence,” pp. 24, 25. + “Hatha Yoga Pradipika,” iv, 96. For some of these sounds also see Brahmavidy4, 13, Dhyanabindu, 18, and the Hamsa Upanishad, 4. 154