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A is Aether
Aether is the first element according to the Five Great Elements of Ayurveda. The order of these five elements is the order of creation, as they are the building blocks for everything that exists in the universe. So where there is matter, it was aether that came first. It is the container for the remaining four elements (air, fire, water and earth). It is the space behind everything; the quantum gravitational field that surrounds us. It is vast and empty and therefore full of potential, this potential is potent and it creates the field for all else that exists in the world.
Sound
Each element has a tanmatra behind it, tanmatra is the Sanskrit word for the subtle element that forms the Great Element. It is the potential behind the element. The tanmatra of aether is shabda, and shabda means sound.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
So begins St John’s Gospel in The Bible.
The Mandukya Upanishad, one of the 108 Upanishads (the texts that form the bridge between Vedic philosophy and Hindu philosophy as we know it) also talks of this primordial sound forming the the back drop of all that is:
Om ityetadaksharam idam sarvam, tasyopavyakhyanam bhutam bhavat bhavishyaditi sarvam omkara Eva. “This Imperishable Word is the whole of this visible universe, everything else that is, has been and will be is a commentary on this imperishable Om”
The Primordial Sound
The earth revolves around the sun and each moment of movement creates a vibration or hum, as US based Live Science journal noted in 2008, “Earth gives off a relentless hum of countless notes completely imperceptible to the human ear, like a giant, exceptionally quiet symphony, but the origin of this sound remains a mystery”. This hum, was what the sages of the Vedic period of ancient India were able to perceive through their intense meditation and abilities to expand their minds. Through tuning into these waves they came up with the Sanskrit language.
Each hum and different vibration became a vowel, these are called the mother sounds, and the consonants are like interruptions to these long form vowels, which are called the father sounds. Together they form sentences.
The Mandukya Upanishad explains how the word Om or Aum symbolises the four states of consciousness. The A represents the waking state, the U the dream state, the Ma the deep rest and the Aum in its entirety, Turya, the state of pure consciousness and bliss.
The mind and mantra
A vacuum wants to be filled, so where there is vast space, there is vulnerability. The mind, could be seen to be the ultimate chasm that is ripe to be filled with worry, fear, anxiety, depression and intrusive thoughts. If all the world is made up of vibration: there is that which everything originates from, and then all that has deviated from the divine source. One could argue that the source of mind ailments is the distance between the origin and where they are now; how far they have deviated.
So what if we were to use these primordial harmonious sounds to bring a mind back to its origin?
Mantra cikitsa, is the name of the Ayurvedic treatment that uses mantra as its medicine. Understanding the mind’s vulnerability as well as knowing its quality of emptiness and subtlety. This form of treatment has worked out how to meet the mind with positivity; via a careful weaving together of vowels and consonants (aka primordial sounds).
Durga Goddess and The Mind
I have been taught that the Hindu gods and goddesses represent energies, a bit like physics, but with stories and characters so we can understand it more easily.
Aether is represented by Durga Ma, the great female primordial energy. She, like the aether, pervades time and space, and has the capacity to bring positivity into a potentially negative empty space. I will let you look up her legend, but suffice to say she is a legend who can bring order to chaos. When I am working with people who have anxiety, intrusive thoughts and wild minds, I suggest they chant the mantra of Durga, to bring order and support to this disorder.
Dust to dust
If we connect to the sounds that surround us, the buzzing, murmuring of our everyday, as well as the pieces of music we choose to fill our lives and car journeys with, we are connecting to that which fills the backdrop
We can also sit in the backdrop, in the empty space of awareness: in the aether. The vast field of pure bliss and love that is always there, always supporting us, a never-ending source of rest and relief. From dust we come and to dust we eventually return, so find ways of being in this here and now and its utter everythingness.
Image: Transverse Wave Permeation by Cal Bain → @cal.bain
A is Aether
Aether is the first element according to the Five Great Elements of Ayurveda. The order of these five elements is the order of creation, as they are the building blocks for everything that exists in the universe. So where there is matter, it was aether that came first. It is the container for the remaining four elements (air, fire, water and earth). It is the space behind everything; the quantum gravitational field that surrounds us. It is vast and empty and therefore full of potential, this potential is potent and it creates the field for all else that exists in the world.
Sound
Each element has a tanmatra behind it, tanmatra is the Sanskrit word for the subtle element that forms the Great Element. It is the potential behind the element. The tanmatra of aether is shabda, and shabda means sound.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
So begins St John’s Gospel in The Bible.
The Mandukya Upanishad, one of the 108 Upanishads (the texts that form the bridge between Vedic philosophy and Hindu philosophy as we know it) also talks of this primordial sound forming the the back drop of all that is:
Om ityetadaksharam idam sarvam, tasyopavyakhyanam bhutam bhavat bhavishyaditi sarvam omkara Eva. “This Imperishable Word is the whole of this visible universe, everything else that is, has been and will be is a commentary on this imperishable Om”
The Primordial Sound
The earth revolves around the sun and each moment of movement creates a vibration or hum, as US based Live Science journal noted in 2008, “Earth gives off a relentless hum of countless notes completely imperceptible to the human ear, like a giant, exceptionally quiet symphony, but the origin of this sound remains a mystery”. This hum, was what the sages of the Vedic period of ancient India were able to perceive through their intense meditation and abilities to expand their minds. Through tuning into these waves they came up with the Sanskrit language.
Each hum and different vibration became a vowel, these are called the mother sounds, and the consonants are like interruptions to these long form vowels, which are called the father sounds. Together they form sentences.
The Mandukya Upanishad explains how the word Om or Aum symbolises the four states of consciousness. The A represents the waking state, the U the dream state, the Ma the deep rest and the Aum in its entirety, Turya, the state of pure consciousness and bliss.
The mind and mantra
A vacuum wants to be filled, so where there is vast space, there is vulnerability. The mind, could be seen to be the ultimate chasm that is ripe to be filled with worry, fear, anxiety, depression and intrusive thoughts. If all the world is made up of vibration: there is that which everything originates from, and then all that has deviated from the divine source. One could argue that the source of mind ailments is the distance between the origin and where they are now; how far they have deviated.
So what if we were to use these primordial harmonious sounds to bring a mind back to its origin?
Mantra cikitsa, is the name of the Ayurvedic treatment that uses mantra as its medicine. Understanding the mind’s vulnerability as well as knowing its quality of emptiness and subtlety. This form of treatment has worked out how to meet the mind with positivity; via a careful weaving together of vowels and consonants (aka primordial sounds).
Durga Goddess and The Mind
I have been taught that the Hindu gods and goddesses represent energies, a bit like physics, but with stories and characters so we can understand it more easily.
Aether is represented by Durga Ma, the great female primordial energy. She, like the aether, pervades time and space, and has the capacity to bring positivity into a potentially negative empty space. I will let you look up her legend, but suffice to say she is a legend who can bring order to chaos. When I am working with people who have anxiety, intrusive thoughts and wild minds, I suggest they chant the mantra of Durga, to bring order and support to this disorder.
Dust to dust
If we connect to the sounds that surround us, the buzzing, murmuring of our everyday, as well as the pieces of music we choose to fill our lives and car journeys with, we are connecting to that which fills the backdrop
We can also sit in the backdrop, in the empty space of awareness: in the aether. The vast field of pure bliss and love that is always there, always supporting us, a never-ending source of rest and relief. From dust we come and to dust we eventually return, so find ways of being in this here and now and its utter everythingness.
Image: Transverse Wave Permeation by Cal Bain → @cal.bain