All World
Gayatri Pariwar

The physical world consists of five basic forms of en

white-ergies, viz. sound, light, heat, electricity and magnetism.They are convertible into each other and follow the universal law of conservation of energy.Hence, logically, they all could be regarded as different manifestations of a unique perpetual energy.

The Indian philosophy and science of spirituality describes a unique cosmic energy – the Supreme Consciousness, as immanent in every form of life and physical energy.This omnipresent subliminal energy is said to have generated from Śabda. Its genesis and absolute expansion is known as Śabda Brahṁ –NādaBrahṁ.The eternal source of this cosmic sound is referred as theanāhatnāda of Oaṁ.Enormous manifestations of the powers of sound – including that of refined voice (vāka śakti) are said to be the manifestations of this anāhat swar of Śabda. 

The significance of speech – is experienced by all of us in our day-to-day life in terms of the ‘reactions’ to the ‘spoken words’. This gives us a glimpse of the marvelous role of the gross (physical) manifestation of the sonic energy of Śabda. The history of human society has ample examples illustrating this power of syllables and sound.

Few words (spoken or written) of inspiration can enthuse a soldier to win the losing battle. The terrific effect of Mr. Winston Churchill’s ‘V for Victory’ motto had changed the fate of England in the IInd world war. Similar events were associated with the power of the courageous words of the little Corporal, Napoleon Bonnapart. The power of syllables is electrified by the inner strength and confidence with which they are spoken.The motivating slogans like.....“Tum Mujhe Khūna Do Main Tumhe Āzādī Dūngā”expressed by Mr. Subhash Chandra Bose and “Swarāja Hamārā Janma Siddha Adhikāra Hai” by Lokmanya Tilak....., have installedglorious phase of Indian independence movementand are still alive. 

Mahatma Gandhi’s speeches had a power to hypnotize the listeners; to drive millions of people, even though these speeches would not be outstanding in terms of eloquence or breadth of knowledge. The power of syllables manifests itself according to the intentions and inner force of the speaker (or writer). Few scornful words of Draupadi had triggered the ego of Duryodhana...., and thus resulted in the devastating war of Mahabharata. This last example clearly signifies the calamitous effects of the negative use of the immense power of Śabda. 

In the language of anatomy, the ‘hearing and speech’ (including the speech of thoughts, i.e. thinking and imagination) system gets top priority in the brain and occupies about 50 to 60 % portion of our brain’s active (functioning) area.The functions of the creative activities of the hands get the next priority and so on.....We also should give top priority to controlling the words spoken, written or heard (and hence ‘stored’ in the memory) by us – to avoid the misuse of the precious power of our brain. Spiritual disciplines indeed give crucial importance to the practices of satsaṁga,saṁyam,swadhyāya and manana for enhancing the purity, integrity, austerity and piety of hearing, speaking, reading, writing and thinking.

At higher levels of spiritual refinement, the power of spoken, thought-of or written forms of the gross manifestation of Śabda expresses itself in terms of the effective blessings or curses. The ṛiṣis used to hear, speak and think absolute truth and were therefore endowed with the supernormal talents of using this power at will. The birth of Lord Ram and his brothers by Śringiṛiṣi’s blessings and the death of King Parīkśit due to the curse of Lomesh ṛiṣi – are some of the well-known examples in this context available in the ancient Indian scriptures.

Most importantly, the latent power of Śabda stimulates the subtle nuclei of consciousness inside our body and has significant effect on our mind.The auspicious words – e.g., the prayers offered to divine powers, the holy quotes or the preaching of great saints, create corresponding positive effects on our mind and sentiments. Sacred thoughts and deeds are directly linked with such boons. The practice of uttering and writing the auspicious words before the beginning of any important work is common in almost all religions and seems to have its roots in the realization of the above effects by our ancestors....

The harmful effects of abusive language and dirty words on our conscious mind are obvious. We might utter such words while quarreling or in anguish or when our mind is excited…; the reaction is easily seen in the deformation of the otherwise pleasant face-expressions or almost shaking posture of the limbs.... etc.The ill-intentioned, vulgar or erotic words get latently registered in our subconscious mind and assimilate insidious impact in terms of maligning our samskāras (inherent and intrinsic tendencies) and thus may pervert our character in the long run.

While the serene and inspiring words can touch the inner sentiments of ordinary mortals like Kalidāsa and convert them into great scholars.....,the substandard, abusive words could, with equal potential, turn the innocent children intodreaded criminals....The choice is ours! If we want to see a better future for our society then we must preserve, practice and propagate the righteous teachings of the great saints and social reformers and struggle to eliminate the inciting erotic literature and obscene audio-visual creations from our world for ever....