Part 1 of the article discussed how Vedic metaphysics explains that sound is the origin of all objects in the universe and how different types of vani or speech influence a seeker’s consciousness. The entire material manifestation begins from sound, and sound can also end material entanglement if it has a particular potency generated by a sadhak. There are four types of sounds. So far, in Part 1 of the article, we have discussed two, Vaikahari and Madhyama. This article explores two other types of sounds, Pashyanti and Para.

Pashyanti in Sanskrit means ‘seeing’ or ‘perceiving.’ It denotes the ‘visual sound’ or ‘that which can be seen or visualized.’ A sage whose consciousness is concentrated in the causal body can perceive or witness the truth in a vision or as a revelation. Such knowledge is acquired in the inner mind simply by sight or in flashes; it is seen without the use of the reasoning faculty or sensory data. Pashyanti voice denotes the stage when one can visualize the reality in one’s heart without even applying thought or expression; it finds expression only in colour and form. It is when one thinks on a subconscious level.

Pashyanti is such a nascent and subtle kind of voice that it can be experienced only by yogis who have a subtle inner vision to see a state of reality not in any verbal description. It is to experience a state of reality beyond language and thought! Yogis who have inner vision can perceive these qualities in sound as this sound is intuitive and situated beyond rigidly defined concepts.

In Sunderkand, the fifth chapter of Ramayan, we see so many instances where Hanuman, a supreme devotee of Ram, is able to gauge the situations and people in seconds when he crosses Mainak mountain and other hurdles and reaches Lanka with his superior intelligence. With his profound prowess, he is able to come up with a strategy in no time and act upon it, be it increasing and decreasing his size or his tail on his way to Lanka and later or be it the time when he had to look for the right people and seek help from them. He did not take time, to recognize that Vibhishan would be the right person to connect. This ability to comprehend reality even before one connects mentally exemplifies Pashyanti.

Pashyanti is a state of that inner voice where one can perceive anything and everything in creation instantly as it is or in its true form. When you know the reality, you can summon it, change it, and bend it to your will. Only a few great sages had the privilege and skill of Pashyanti vak and they used it to change reality by giving boons and banes, as needed. They could instantly know something, transform it, make or mar it with their instant insight and revelation.

We have heard of so many instances of ‘darshan’ of Bhagwan by a devotee. We find several other evidence of pashyanti vak in our scriptures like Ramayan and Mahabharat. While searching for Sita in the forest when Ram meets Shabari, he could immediately sense the immense devotion of Shabri and see that she was a divine soul. This was because of his ability to see reality without it being described to him in any way.

Pashyanti is visual sound, beyond what the eyes and senses can perceive. Pashyanti is the mode of vibration where words and objects are identical, and where any apparent division between subject and object does not exist. Pashyanti is a blissfully ecstatic consciousness in its peak state. When it flows it transforms a seeker or the surroundings.  This is the concentrated will of a seeker that becomes refined to such a degree that it can penetrate anything, see anything and know anything.

Pashyanti can be equated with some sign language, which is understood by those who do not communicate through the medium of language or any kind of verbal communication because there is no external source for sound. It is a sound heard in the heart of a seeker. When you chant the name of Krishna or Ram silently within yourself while visualizing him in colour and form, that visualization in the chant is Pashyanti. At this level, there is no temporal sequence. It is the seed of all thoughts, speech, and actions.

Pashyanti is a single-minded speech; it is the vehicle for the power of will and a deep desire to know the nature of reality or the truth. So, while describing dimensions of sound, when a seeker says the name of his God, it will be called vaikhari, but when he silently recalls his favourite God in his mental space, it is Madhyama, and simply visualizing one’s God with the inner eye is known as pashyanti. When the word or sound is heard in a sphere where one is not aware of the outer surroundings, it is called pashyanti. When every outer sound is extinct and you hear a new sound altogether unlike the nature of audible sounds, know it as a special sound or the nada of pashyanti.

At the level of Pashyanti vak, there is no temporal sequence. In other words, Pashyanti is the direct experience of the meaning as a whole of what is intended. In Pashyanti state, words are unmanifested, yet one is completely aligned with reality, one can see and discern reality clearly without intervening rationality and sentiment. “At the stage of Pashyanti, the mind is set up as a witness, an onlooker. But even this is not needed when there is yet further refinement. If the desired name is just imprinted on memory, its melody will be heard spontaneously”.[i]

Once a man was driving through the countryside and suddenly, at midnight, his car stopped. He looked around and saw a monastery. He went inside and asked for help. He was told by a monk that he could rest for the night and someone might be able to help the next day. During the night the man heard some beautiful sounds. He asked the monk what it was. Where was the sound coming from? The monk said, “Ah…you heard it? I cannot tell you the source of that sound as you are not a monk.”  Upon insistence, the monk suggested the man go around the world three times, do 36 rounds of puja, and do certain sadhana for 12 years. The man did all this for 20 years. He returns to the monk. The monk takes the man through a long tunnel, gives him a key, and asks him to begin his next journey. The man begins his search to unlock the next door. Finally, when he opened the 7th door, he saw the most amazing thing which was the source of that sound…you know what it was?

I can’t tell you the source of that sound, as you are not a monk!”

Such is the nature of Para vani! 

So far, we have talked about three types of speech- Vaikhari, Madhyama, and Pashyanti. The fourth one is para, the highest manifestation of sound energy, the divine voice! ‘Para’ literally means, ‘beyond.’ Para is pure intention—pure because it is a direct expression of the will of reality, unadulterated by any personal preference. It is beyond all objects of any sort, motionless, eternally equipoised, so subtle that it is commonly perceptible only to those who are highly evolved.

Sant Kabir says in one of his couplets-

Laali mere laal ki, jitt dekhun tit laal
Laali dekhan main gayi, main bhi ho gayi laal

Such all-pervading is the light of my divine, that when I went looking for it, I got coloured too, completely soaked in Her charisma!

When one goes into deeper levels of consciousness, the five senses dissolve and become one, then that state is the state of pure Consciousness. That is the speech of Para vani. It represents the state of a yogi where one who is deeply devoted to Brahman and becomes Brahman himself. In such a state, the ‘lover’, the ‘beloved’, and the ‘love’ are not separate from one another. They all dissolve and become one.

From a seeker’s perspective, “If only memory of the name is firmly set up in the mind, recitation begins to flow through it like a perennial stream. This spontaneous recitation is named ajapa and this is the recitation by transcendental articulation (paravani).”[ii] Para, a wordless communication is beyond the frame of time-space metrics. It is divine communion, and it occurs in the state of absolute consciousness in a state of enlightenment.

In Vedic tradition, we call it a Shabda Brahman or Naad Brahma. Para Vani is divine which can be heard in a void state of mind. Para means ‘transcendental, ‘beyond’ or ‘the other side’. It is beyond the reach of the indriyas, or sense organs, and the mind and other means of cognition. Hence para nada is a cosmic, transcendental sound. Its nature is light. It is different from all sounds usually heard or conceived.

Para is that one eternal sound which has created all five elements, five sense organs, five work organs, the fourfold mind, and the three gunas. Therefore, a single divine sound is the creator of every seen and unseen things. The entire cosmos is a creation of that sound.

In the Upanishads, the sound of Om is said to be the manifestation of para. It should not be confused with the audible chant of Om which we produce while saying it out loud. The human ear can only hear sounds that fall within the 20-20,000 Hz frequency range. Being able to experience sounds that go above or beyond this range is being aware of Para Nada. A sound at its maximum pitch is subject to a sudden startling stillness. It is at this moment that the sound is at Para Nada. Para has eternal cosmic vibrations.  On the stage of para-vak there is no distinction between the object and the sound. The sound contains within it all the qualities of the object.

To conclude, these four levels of sound correspond to four states of consciousness. In manifestation, the subtle is always the source of the gross, and thus from para-vak manifests the other three forms of sound.

In Vaikhari the stage of the seeker practicing chanting is preliminary. In Madhyama the stage of the seeker practicing chanting is intermediate as a mental task. In Pashyanti the stage of the seeker practicing chanting is advanced and chanting occurs automatically at its own pace. In Para the stage of the seeker’s chanting is absent since the one chanting and the Name chanted blend into one.

As the Bhagavad Gita says, ‘One who thoroughly understands the four modes of sound can utilize this science to become free from the bondage of matter.’  This becoming ‘free from the bondage of matter,’ means a seeker does not remain bound to the body and the laws of our space-time universe. One can experience how matter is made of vibrations, which can be experienced at different levels, and one has the ability to change the vibratory rate of any object through meditation. To experience speech at different levels is to vibrate in and out of different dimensions of existence, as many stories about evolved beings in many traditions have shown in Hindu scriptures.

It can be concluded, based on the description of four types of sound that sound is so basic to explain any kind of conscious awareness. Without sound vibration, there are no objects. Sound vibration gives rise to the form of every object. Every sound has a form, and every form has a sound. The Pranava or the syllable “om”, is the complete representation of the four stages of sound and their existential counterparts. Sadhana can bring about a manifestation of any sound. Vaikhari is expressed through the throat, and Madhyama is experienced within the mind. Pashyanti finds manifestation in the heart and Para finds manifestation in prana. The first is audible and the other three are inaudible.

Bibliography

• Alain Danielou. The Relationships Between Music and Language According to Hindu Theory The World of Music, 1975, Vol. 17, No. 1 (1975), pp. 14-23 Published by: Schott Music GmbH & Co. KG
• Jahnava Nitai Das. Vedic Conception of Sound in Four Features
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• http://www.yogamag.net/archives/2000s/2009/0906/0906stsd.html​
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