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Vāk, Om/Aum, Nāda, কীর্তন, Shabd

Thursday, April 2, 2015 Category : , , Off

Vāk or Vāc (Sanskrit: वाक्, stem vāc-, nominative vāk) is the Sanskrit word for "speech", from a verbal root vac- "speak, tell, utter".
Personified, Vāk is a goddess; in the Veda she is also represented as created by Prajapati and married to him; in other places she is called the "mother of the Vedas" and associate of Indra.[1][2]In Hinduism, she is identified with Sarasvati.

Rigveda[edit]

In the early Rigveda (books 2 to 7), vāc- refers to the voice, in particularly the voice of the priest raised in sacrifice. She is personified only RV 8 and RV 10, in RV 10.125.5 speaking in the first person (trans. Griffith),
ahám evá svayám idáṃ vadāmi / júṣṭaṃ devébhir utá mânuṣebhiḥ
yáṃ kāmáye táṃ-tam ugráṃ kṛṇomi / tám brahmâṇaṃ tám ŕṣiṃ táṃ sumedhâm
"I, verily, myself announce and utter the word that Gods and men alike shall welcome.
I make the man I love exceeding mighty, make him a sage, a Rsi, and a Brahman."
The intimate connection of speech, sacrifice and creation in (late) Rigvedic thought is expressed in RV 10.71.1-4:
1. bŕhaspate prathamáṃ vācó ágraṃ / yát praírata nāmadhéyaṃ dádhānāḥ
yád eṣāṃ śréṣṭhaṃ yád ariprám âsīt / preṇâ tád eṣāṃ níhitaṃ gúhāvíḥ
2. sáktum iva títa'unā punánto / yátra dhîrā mánasā vâcam ákrata
yátrā sákhāyaḥ sakhyâni jānate / bhadraíṣāṃ lakṣmîr níhitâdhi vācí
3. yajñéna vācáḥ padavîyam āyan / tâm ánv avindann ŕṣiṣu práviṣṭām
tâm ābhŕtyā vy àdadhuḥ purutrâ / tâṃ saptá rebhâ abhí sáṃ navante
4. utá tvaḥ páśyan ná dadarśa vâcam / utá tvaḥ śṛṇván ná śṛṇoty enām
utó tvasmai tanvàṃ ví sasre / jāyéva pátya uśatî suvâsāḥ
"When men, Brhaspati!, giving names to objects, sent out Vak's first and earliest utterances
All that was excellent and spotless, treasured within them, was disclosed through their affection."
"Where, like men cleansing corn-flour in a cribble, the wise in spirit have created language,
Friends see and recognize the marks of friendship: their speech retains the blessed sign imprinted."
"With sacrifice the trace of Vak they followed, and found her harbouring within the Rsis.
They brought her, dealt her forth in many places: seven singers make her tones resound in concert."
"One man hath ne'er seen Vak, and yet he seeth: one man hath hearing but hath never heard her.
But to another hath she shown her beauty as a fond well-dressed woman to her husband."
Vak also speaks, and is described as a goddess, in RV 8.100:
10. yád vâg vádanty avicetanâni / râṣṭrī devânāṃ niṣasâda mandrâ
cátasra ûrjaṃ duduhe páyāṃsi / kvà svid asyāḥ paramáṃ jagāma
11. devîṃ vâcam ajanayanta devâs / tâṃ viśvárūpāḥ paśávo vadanti
sâ no mandréṣam ûrjaṃ dúhānā / dhenúr vâg asmân úpa súṣṭutaítu
"When, uttering words which no one comprehended, Vak, Queen of Gods, the Gladdener, was seated,
The heaven's four regions drew forth drink and vigour: now whither hath her noblest portion vanished?"
"The Deities generated Vak the Goddess, and animals of every figure speak her.
May she, the Gladdener, yielding food and vigour, the Milch-cow Vak, approach us meetly lauded."
RV 1.164.45 has:
catvâri vâk párimitā padâni / tâni vidur brāhmaṇâ yé manīṣíṇaḥ
gúhā trîṇi níhitā néṅgayanti / turîyaṃ vācó manuṣyā̀ vadanti
"Speech hath been measured out in four divisions, the Brahmans who have understanding know them.
Three kept in close concealment cause no motion; of speech, men speak only the fourth division."

See also[edit]

Śábda is the Sanskrit word for "speech sound". In Sanskrit grammar, the term refers to an utterance in the sense of linguistic performance.

History[edit]

In classical Indian philosophy of language, the grammarian Katyayana stated that shabda ("speech") is eternal (nitya), as is artha "meaning", and that they share a mutual co-relation. According to Patanjali, the permanent aspect of shabda is sphoṭa ("meaning"), while dhvani ("sound, acoustics") is ephemeral to shabda.
Om , or Aum, a sacred syllable of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, is considered to be the first resonating vibrational sound within an individual being. It also denotes the non-dualistic universe as a whole. In Buddhism, Om corresponds to the crown chakra and white light.
Bhartrihari, on the other hand, held a shabda-advaita position, identifying shabda as indivisible, and unifying the notions of cognition and linguistic performance, which is ultimately identical to Brahman. Bhartrhari recognised two entities, both of which may be referred to as "shabda". One entity is the underlying cause of the articulated sounds, while the other entity is the functionality that is used to express meaning. Bhartrhari thus rejected the difference posited between the ontological and the linguistic by logicians. His concept of shabda-brahman which identified linguistic performance and creation itself ran parallel to the Greek concept of logos.
Language philosophy in Medieval India was dominated by the dispute of the "naturalists" to the Mimamsa school, notably defended by Kumarila, who held that shabda designates the actual phonetic utterance, and the Sphota school, defended by Mandana Mishra, wicho identifies sphota and shabda as a mystical "indivisible word-whole".

In religion[edit]

Hinduism[edit]

Shabd is a Sanskrit word that was first used as a religio-philosophic term in the context of Hinduism religion. It refers to the verbal testimony (of revealed scriptures: shruti) that is indispensable to gaining knowledge of the ultimate reality, brahman.

Sikhism[edit]

In Sikhism the term Shabad has two primary meanings. The first context of the term is to refer to a hymn or paragraph or sections of the Holy Text that appears in Guru Granth Sahib. The main holy scripture of the Sikhs is Sri Guru Granth Sahib (SGGS.) Guru Granth Sahib Ji is organised by chapters of Ragas, with each chapter containing many shabads of that Raga. The first Shabad in Guru Granth Sahib is the Mool Mantar. The script used for the Shabad is Gurmukhi. Shabad is the term also used to refer to hymns within other Sikh scriptures, like Deh Siva Var Mohe'. The second use of the term Shabad within Sikhism is for the holy name of God, Waheguru.

Other faiths and philosophies[edit]

Esoterically, Shabd is the “Sound Current vibrating in all creation. It can be heard by the inner ears.” [1] Variously referred to as the Audible Life Stream, Inner Sound, Sound Current or Wordin English, the Shabd is the esoteric essence of God which is available to all human beings, according to the Shabd path teachings of Eckankar, the Quan Yin Method, Sant Mat, Surat Shabd Yoga, and M.S.I.A. (Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness).
Adherents believe that a Satguru, or Eck Master, who is a human being, has merged with the Shabd in such a manner that he or she is a living manifestation of it at its highest level (the “Word made flesh”). However, not only can the Satguru attain this, but all human beings are inherently privileged in this way. Indeed, in Sant Mat the raison d’être for the human form is to meditate on the Sound Current, and in so doing merge with it until one’s own divinity is ultimately realized.
"Naam" ("Word") has been described in many traditions through the use of several different terms. the following expressions are interpreted as being identical to "Naam":
Sant Baljit Singh, a contemporary Sant Mat Master, uses the term "Light and Sound Current." He describes it as the connecting link between human beings and God.

See also[edit]

Nāda ("Naad", "Akash Bani", Hamd and Naad for explae = song) yoga (नादयोग) is an ancient Indian metaphysical system. It is both a philosophical system, a medicine, and a form of yoga. The system's theoretical and practical aspects are based on the premise that the entire cosmos and all that exists in the cosmos, including human beings, consists of sound vibrations, called nāda. This concept holds that it is the sound energy in motion rather than of matter and particles which form the building blocks of the cosmos.
Nāda yoga is also a way to approach with reverence and respond to sound. Sound and music is in this context, something more than just the sensory properties and sources of sensuous pleasure, sound and music is considered also to play the role as a potential medium to achieve a deeper unity with both the outer and the inner cosmos.
Nāda yoga's use of sound vibrations and resonances are also used to pursue palliative effects on various problematic psychological and spiritual conditions. It is also employed to raise the level of awareness of the postulated energy centers called chakra.
Music has been used by most Indian saints, prophets as an important and powerful tool in the quest for the achievement of nirvana; notable name to be mentioned here include Thyagaraja, Kabir,Meerabai, Namdeo, Purandaradasa and Tukaram.

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