PRANAVA TIME

 

The treasure house of precious Indian ancient literature/knowledge has virtually, over the period, vanished/disappeared. Some due to vandalism of invading tribes, others due to secrecy of the possessors or such other causes. And for that reason, a genuine enquirer is perplexed while attempting to interpret the available ancient texts as to the real or intended meanings of words/expressions. One of such texts is the “Pranava Vada” by Gargayana. The surfacing of this book has an interesting story behind it.

The presenter, Bhagwan Das, claims that a person called Pandit Dhanaraj, despite being blind, was able to recite from memory, millions of verses from the, now extant, Sanskrit Texts. Bhagwan Das made an effort to write down some of those and at least one book “Pranava Vada” got completed. The complete story as well as Pranava Vada can be read at: http://www.makara.us/05ref/01books/pranavavada/pv_toc.htm The original dictations taken are believed to be preserved at the International Headquarters of The Theosophical Society, Adyar, Chennai.

Pranava Vada is defined as the science of the sacred word; “OM or AUM”. The word has a special prominence in the spiritual scenario; more so to Hinduism with wide ranging claims as a sound at the time of creation (Big Bang Perhaps) to and/or the secret formula for all creation to having mystical powers to achieve almost anything. Yet few possess either the authentic knowledge or the faculty to explain exactly what those powers are and how the word is relevant. Most only repeat what they have heard or read.

In the contrary, Pranava Vada proposes the concept & expounding the word and then goes on to explain all the phenomena, including creation. The principle being that A represents I or self or I am this, U represents Not Self or what is not I, and M represents the relation of negation that exists between them. “The AUM thus, is equivalent to the Idea or Consciousness I-This-Not-Am.” This difference between I (Self) and U (Not-Self) represented by M, causes a succession of movements, just as potential difference between anode and cathode causes electricity to flow. To quote the text,” The “This” by opposition to the un-limitedness of the “I” is limited. Owing to the impossibility in the limited “This”, of the contemporeity of the union (Of the I and the This) contained in the “I (am) This” and the separation involved in the “ (I am) This Not”, results the (succession of the) movement (motion or cyclic moving) of Assumption and Renunciation, Creation and Destruction, Hypothesis and Refutation (Manifestation and Absorption, Evolution and Involution, Life and Death etc.etc.). This succession itself is TIME. The possibility of the Existence of many (in and at one) TIME is SPACE.

This is perhaps the only explanation describing the process of Creation originating from the principle of AUM. Helena Blavatsky comes close in “The Secret Doctrine” when she mentions “Absolute Abstract Space” and “Absolute Abstract Motion”, but does not give reason for their manifestation out of the unmanifest.

PRANAVA, then is not only the science of the sacred word but also the science of sacred TIME.

DOPPLER TIME

 

It has been a while since the last posting. Mainly due to the fact that scarce new thoughts came to the mind. However, the duration was not entirely devoid of thinking. Then suddenly a few pieces seem to connect.

We have, in a previous post hypothesized that TIME may appear to follow a wave form. Wave form is the essential expression of all energies in the universe. There are numerous references in the Indian and Western systems of thoughts describing the universe and the many manifestations of either matter or energies contained within it as Vibrations. Most of us however, rarely connect the Vibrations as waves, yet all Vibrations are waves in classical Newtonian Physics.

Let us look at some connections. Sound, Light, Electromagnetism and Heat are the most common energies we experience with our senses. Each has a wave form. As Quantum physics relates every particle to a wave and obliterates the difference between matter and energy, and that could easily connote  entire universe to be composed of waves.  Some physicists are also studying if Gravity has a wave form which may eventually lead to the discovery of the Gravity Particle – the Graviton. 

It is not that the ancients were not aware of this. Amongst the most esoteric text in India, dealing with this study of vibrations comes from the Kashmir Shaivism branch of Hinduism – The Spanda Karika. This doctrine of vibrations deals with reality of the universe from the point of view of vibrations. It is amazing. But let us look at some simple facts first. The classical physics attributes frequency, wavelength and amplitude as a measurement of waves. And, it has a very peculiar phenomena related to waves called the “The Doppler Effect”, which deals with change in the frequency of waves as they travel, which is duration or TIME. Another peculiar property of waves is the “Resonance” where the waves having similar physical attributes of frequency, wavelength and amplitude merge to result in a larger waveform.

One of the most common example of resonance given in the school textbooks is that “Soldiers, while marching across a bridge are asked to break their steps else the resonance produced by their synchronized footsteps may result in such a large wave that destroys the bridge itself”. Resonance and synchronization have such huge power that mere footsteps of soldier’s march has the potential to destroy a bridge made of concrete and steel. Is there a message in it?

The Doppler Effect results in change in the frequency of waves with time. The difference in frequency over a period of time is called the Doppler Shift. Most of us are familiar with several practical application of The Doppler Shift.The GPS system works by measuring the frequency shift. The measurement of distances of various celestial objects like stars, galaxies etc. are measured by the Doppler Shift in waves received from them. But, what’s the relevance here?

All original Indian knowledge – including the Vedas, was in the form of SHRUTI, i.e. pronounced text delivered from generation to generation. These texts, when pronounced correctly, generated defined vibrations or waves producing certain effects. But subsequently as they were transcribed into text, the pronunciations began to deviate and could not produce the same frequencies. Gradually, the effects required different frequencies to be produced or experienced due to Doppler Shift.  If we want to truly experience the effect of those vibrations, maybe we will need to calculate & apply the Doppler Shift.