Transcendental sound vibration

Expressions researched:
"transcendental sound vibration"

Notes from the compiler: G35

BG Chapters 1 - 6

BG 4.26, Purport:

The brahmacārīs, or students under the care of a bona fide spiritual master, control the mind by abstaining from sense gratification. A brahmacārī hears only words concerning Kṛṣṇa consciousness; hearing is the basic principle for understanding, and therefore the pure brahmacārī engages fully in harer nāmānukīrtanam—chanting and hearing the glories of the Lord. He restrains himself from the vibrations of material sounds, and his hearing is engaged in the transcendental sound vibration of Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, the householders, who have some license for sense gratification, perform such acts with great restraint. Sex life, intoxication and meat-eating are general tendencies of human society, but a regulated householder does not indulge in unrestricted sex life and other sense gratification.

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 9.17, Purport:

Actually any living entity, being part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, is Kṛṣṇa. All the Vedas, therefore, aim only toward Kṛṣṇa. Whatever we want to know through the Vedas is but a progressive step toward understanding Kṛṣṇa. That subject matter which helps us purify our constitutional position is especially Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, the living entity who is inquisitive to understand all Vedic principles is also part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa and as such is also Kṛṣṇa. In all the Vedic mantras the word oṁ, called praṇava, is a transcendental sound vibration and is also Kṛṣṇa. And because in all the hymns of the four Vedas-Sāma, Yajur, Ṛg and Atharva-the praṇava, or oṁkāra, is very prominent, it is understood to be Kṛṣṇa.

SB Canto 3

SB 3.21.45-47, Purport:

The word vidyotamānam indicates that the brahmacārī feature showed in his body. That is the certificate that one has undergone great austerity in yoga. A drunkard or smoker or sex-monger can never be eligible to practice yoga. Generally yogīs look very skinny because of their not being comfortably situated, but Kardama Muni was not emaciated, for he had seen the Supreme Personality of Godhead face to face. Here the word snigdhāpāṅgāvalokanāt means that he was fortunate enough to see the Supreme Lord face to face. He looked healthy because he had directly received the nectarean sound vibrations from the lotus lips of the Personality of Godhead. Similarly, one who hears the transcendental sound vibration of the holy name of the Lord, Hare Kṛṣṇa, also improves in health. We have actually seen that many brahmacārīs and gṛhasthas connected with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness have improved in health, and a luster has come to their faces. It is essential that a brahmacārī engaged in spiritual advancement look very healthy and lustrous. The comparison of the sage to an unpolished gem is very appropriate. Even if a gem just taken from a mine looks unpolished, the luster of the gem cannot be stopped. Similarly, although Kardama was not properly dressed and his body was not properly cleansed, his overall appearance was gemlike.

SB Canto 4

SB 4.4.6, Purport:

When learned sages and brāhmaṇas assemble to chant Vedic mantras, some of them also engage in arguing about the conclusion of the scriptures. Thus some of the sages and brāhmaṇas were arguing, and some of them were chanting the Vedic mantras, so the entire atmosphere was surcharged with transcendental sound vibration. This transcendental sound vibration has been simplified in the transcendental vibration Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. In this age, no one is expected to be highly educated in the Vedic ways of understanding because people are very slow, lazy and unfortunate. Therefore Lord Caitanya has recommended the sound vibration Hare Kṛṣṇa, and in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (11.5.32) it is also recommended: yajñaiḥ saṅkīrtana-prāyair yajanti hi sumedhasaḥ. At the present moment it is impossible to gather sacrificial necessities because of the poverty of the population and their lack of knowledge in Vedic mantras. Therefore for this age it is recommended that people gather together and chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra to satisfy the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is accompanied by His associates. Indirectly this indicates Lord Caitanya, who is accompanied by His associates Nityānanda, Advaita and others. That is the process of performing yajña in this age.

SB Canto 7

SB 7.4.24, Translation:

Then there appeared before them a transcendental sound vibration, emanating from a personality not visible to material eyes. The voice was as grave as the sound of a cloud, and it was very encouraging, driving away all fear.

SB Cantos 10.14 to 12 (Translations Only)

SB 11.21.43, Translation:

I am the ritualistic sacrifice enjoined by the Vedas, and I am the worshipable Deity. It is I who am presented as various philosophical hypotheses, and it is I alone who am then refuted by philosophical analysis. The transcendental sound vibration thus establishes Me as the essential meaning of all Vedic knowledge. The Vedas, elaborately analyzing all material duality as nothing but My illusory potency, ultimately completely negate this duality and achieve their own satisfaction.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 18:

Generally a human being is interested in religion, economic development, sense gratification and liberation, but love of God is above all these. A bona fide spiritual master chants the holy names—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare—and the transcendental sound vibration enters into the ear of the disciple, and if a disciple follows in the footsteps of his spiritual master and chants the holy name with similar respect, he actually comes to worship the transcendental name. When the transcendental name is worshiped by the devotee, the name Himself spreads His glories within the heart of a devotee. When a devotee is perfectly qualified in chanting the transcendental vibration of the holy name, he is quite fit to become a spiritual master and to deliver all the people of the world. The chanting of the holy name is so powerful that it gradually establishes its supremacy above everything in the world. The devotee who chants it becomes transcendentally situated in ecstasy and sometimes laughs, cries and dances in his ecstasy. Sometimes the unintelligent put hindrances in the path of chanting this mahā-mantra, but one who is situated on the platform of love of Godhead chants the holy name loudly for all concerned. As a result, everyone becomes initiated in the chanting of the holy names—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. By chanting and hearing the holy names of Kṛṣṇa, a person can remember the forms and qualities of Kṛṣṇa.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 20:

That the sound vibration of the Supreme Lord is identical with the Supreme Lord is a fact. This is confirmed in the Nārada-pañcarātra:

vyaktaṁ hi bhagavān eva

sākṣān-nārāyaṇaḥ svayam

aṣṭākṣara-svarūpena

mukheṣu parivartate

"When the transcendental sound vibration is practiced by a conditioned soul, the Supreme Lord is present on his tongue." In the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad it is said that when oṁkāra is chanted, whatever is seen as material is seen perfectly as spiritual. In the spiritual world or in spiritual vision there is nothing but oṁkāra, or the one alternate, om. Unfortunately, Śaṅkara has abandoned this chief word, oṁkāra, and has whimsically accepted tat tvam asi as the supreme vibration of the Vedas. By accepting such a secondary word and leaving aside the principal vibration, he has given up a direct interpretation of the scripture in favor of his own indirect interpretation.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 4.7-9 -- New York, July 22, 1966:

This

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare

Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

(My dear Lord, and the spiritual energy of the Lord, kindly engage me in Your service. I am now embarrassed with this material service. Please engage me in Your service.)

This is transcendental sound vibration. This is transcendental sound vibration, and this will help us to cleanse the dust on the mirror of our mind. On the mind we have accumulated material dust. Just like on the Second Avenue, due to the constant traffic of motor car, there is always a creation of dusting over everything, similarly, by our manipulation of materialistic activities, there are some material dusts which are accumulated on the mind, and therefore we are unable to see things in true perspective. So this process, this vibration of transcendental sound, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare, will cleanse the dust. And, as soon as the dust is cleared, then, as you can see on the mirror the nice face of yours, similarly we can see our real, I mean to say, constitutional position, "what I am." And as soon as I understand that "I am not this body, I am spirit soul, and my symptom is consciousness," and that consciousness, as it is purified by this process, the whole material miseries will be over.

Lecture on BG 4.9-11 -- New York, July 25, 1966:

Just like this tape recorder. It is being recorded. My words or my songs are being recorded. But they are different from me. This is dual, the world of duality. But the absolute world, there is no such difference. Just like we are chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare. This name Kṛṣṇa and the personality Kṛṣṇa is the same. Is the same. Hare Kṛṣṇa means when I hear the sound, the transcendental sound vibration Kṛṣṇa, that means Kṛṣṇa is on my tongue, on my ear. Therefore, if we chant this vibration of transcendental sound with devotion and with attention, that is the highest type of meditation and yoga. And very easy. The process is that you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, and exactly the same sound you hear. So your mind is concentrated on this Kṛṣṇa, and Kṛṣṇa is not different. This sound Kṛṣṇa is not different from person Kṛṣṇa. Therefore when we chant...

Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare

Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare

(My dear Lord, and the spiritual energy of the Lord, kindly engage me in Your service. I am now embarrassed with this material service. Please engage me in Your service.)

Lecture on BG 6.4-12 -- New York, September 4, 1966:

You always remember that ātmā means this body, ātmā means the mind, ātmā means the soul. So purifying these things. So yoga system is made not that cheaply I want some power. Sometimes the yogis they achieve very wonderful power. Aṣṭa-siddhi-yoga. Aṣṭa-siddhi, eight kinds of perfect, material perfection, they can attain. Not for that purpose yoga sys... Although they attain that power, real yogis, they do not exhibit it. They do not exhibit it. They have got the powers, so many wonderful powers, but he doesn't... His only aim is ātma-viśuddhaye: "I am now contaminated by this material atmosphere; so I have to purify myself." So that purification process we shall discuss next day. But I may say in this connection that so much difficult process for purifying the ātmā is very easily done, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12), by chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. Because the sound, this transcendental sound vibration, is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is absolute. His name is not different from Him. So when you chant His name with devotion, that means Kṛṣṇa is with you. And Kṛṣṇa, when Kṛṣṇa is with you, how you can remain impure? You become pure. The purest. That is the whole system.

Lecture on BG 9.2 -- New York, November 22, 1966:

So we should take advantage of these scriptures, especially the Bhagavad-gītā, which is accepted as the prime scripture in the modern world, and you'll find everything nicely. You can put your arguments, you can try to understand with your knowledge, with your intelligence. Everything will be clear. So we should take advantage of this Bhagavad-gītā and our power of intaking will be increased if we begin with this transcendental sound vibration, Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.

Lecture on BG 9.22-23 -- New York, December 8, 1966:

We don't say that you change your life. We simply say that in whatever position you are, you please chant. That's all. You please chant. You will be happy. You will be prosperous. Kṛṣṇa will be pleased upon you, and you will be never in scarcity. Is it not a very nice thing? You will never be unhappy, you will never be in scarcity. That... It is guaranteed here. Teṣāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yoga-kṣemaṁ vahāmy aham: (BG 9.22) "Those who are thus engaged always in thinking of Me..." Well, you can do your business and think of Kṛṣṇa, and what is your harm? And that thinking may be, I mean to, divert your attention, but if you chant Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa, you will practice. And Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare, Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare. But you will not be deviated what you are doing, but at the same time, you will be able to hear this sound, transcendental sound vibration. So this is the formula given by the Lord Himself. Please try to follow it. Ananyāś cintayanto mām. Always, always chant Hare Kṛṣṇa. There is no rule, no regulation. Never mind what you are, what you are doing. Simply chant and hear.