Sound as Karma and the power of speech
Sadhguru: The word “kriya” means internal action. For most human beings, the expression of sound or nada is not a kriya but a Karma – an external action.
Sound is the very basis of existence – it is the very foundation of the cosmic structure. And still, the sounds we use in speech, music, and everything else function as external action, as a Karmic process.
There is a wonderful saying in southern India: whatever Karma someone else does, just by talking about it, it becomes yours. If someone committed murder, whatever the Karmic impact of such a violent act, simply by talking about it, it could become yours. It is from this context that society was cultured to speak of that which is pleasant for oneself and everyone around.
Sound is the very basis of existence – it is the very foundation of the cosmic structure.
The difference between morality and consciousness
Unpleasant things are not being brushed under the carpet – one remains conscious of them – but life need not be an act of avoiding these things. Life should be a pursuit of the pleasant, not a pursuit of avoiding the unpleasant.
This is the fundamental difference between consciousness and morality. Morality means “thou shall not” – how to avoid the unpleasant. Consciousness means not even pursuing the pleasant – it is about creating the pleasant. If you do certain things, a pleasant structure forms within you and around you. If you do certain other things, structures and patterns of unpleasantness will manifest within you and around you.
Kriya as the architecture of the innermost core
Kriya is an action to consciously manifest the innermost structure of one’s being – beyond the physical and psychological. This is what kriya means: to perform that act which impacts the innermost core, or to perform that act which impacts who you really are, not what you have gathered.
The psychological structure is formed by what you have gathered. The physiological structure is formed by what you have gathered from the outside. But the innermost core – life itself, the being – consciously giving this the right kind of structure is the work of kriya.
Kriya is an action to consciously manifest the innermost structure of one’s being – beyond the physical and psychological.
And what would be the ultimate structure? The only structure that is meaningful for the innermost core is the one that leads to ultimate liberation, because all the distortions of life have come from the external layer we have gathered, not from the inner core of who we are.
The mathematical citadel of sound
When you ask whether we can perform Kriya Yoga by uttering or listening to sounds, we are talking about sound, not music. Music is simply a certain arrangement of sounds. The notes themselves are not changing; it is only their arrangement that is constantly being played with, in various permutations and combinations.
There are twenty-two shrutis. A shruti is a micro-note. Of the seven notes most people know – which are related to the seven colors and the seven chakras within the system – the twenty-two shrutis are the micro-notes that exist between those notes.
The numbers that make up the ratios on the string are multiples of the prime numbers one, two, three, and five, which also represent the four elements, leaving out space. These twenty-two shrutis, unified by these prime numbers, form a pattern that is a citadel by itself.
The whole of creation is a citadel of sound.
To understand this further: an Indian classical musician is not singing set pieces. They begin with a raga – a basic pattern – and over that, depending on the skill of the musician, they build an entire citadel. This citadel has a mathematical basis. Modern science tells us that everything in the universe can be reduced to a mathematical structure – mathematics is the backbone, the blueprint of existence.
This is why, when Indian classical music is performed, you will see people counting numbers on their fingers, trying to follow the structure the musician is building. It is not only the aesthetic of it; it is the mathematics of it.
Sound structures that transform the human system
What this kind of music builds are existential structures. In other words, by using music in a particular way, you can change the very structure of who you are. The physiological and psychological structure can be transformed.
For instance, if we create a mathematical structure of love, compassion, ecstasy, or grief by uttering the right sounds – even without any words, simply through the use of sound, tears of love, compassion, ecstasy, or grief arise in a person.
There are phenomenal legends from the past – stories of sages and seers of this country. For example, Tirunavukkarasar is said to have unlocked a temple door by singing certain chants. By uttering the right sounds, he opened the temple gates.
Similarly, there are legendary accounts of Tansen and his Guru Haridas, who could light lamps by singing a particular raga. They could generate heat in the system through sound – something we know is possible through Yogic practice. Irrespective of the weather, simply by uttering a sound, one can begin sweating.
Sweating is just a physical manifestation. The deeper reality is that both ushna and sheeta – heat and coolness – can be generated in the system through sound. English does not quite capture this distinction, so “heat” and “coolness” are used as approximations.
By using music in a particular way, you can change the very structure of who you are.
Different sounds represent different seasons. In the Tamil calendar, there are six seasons, each of two months’ duration, and for each season there is a corresponding raga.
So, can uttering sounds, listening to music, or engaging with music in a certain way become Kriya Yoga? Right now, you are uttering sounds as Karma – as an external manifestation. The same thing can become an internal manifestation, creating an inner format for your own liberation.
Vairagya chants and going beyond Karma
The Vairagya chants are five manifestations of this. They are based on an attempt to categorize humanity into roughly five types, reflecting the five elements, the five dhatus, and many other aspects or parameters upon which creation is built. The whole of creation is a citadel of sound.
When you listen to these five mantras, see which pattern of sounds your system responds to best, and then allow your system to be soaked in it. These sounds have been incubated to a certain level of integrity. Instead of “incubation,” we could also say “consecration.”
These consecrated sounds naturally create a powerful pattern. If this pattern becomes your pattern, you develop an integrated physiological and psychological structure with a very porous Karmic structure.
With a porous Karmic structure, your memory of the past can be used selectively – it does not interfere with or color your perception. That is why it is called vairagya. The word “raga” essentially means color, and “vairagya” means that which is beyond color. To go beyond color is also to go beyond Karma, because Karma is a kind of color.
When you bring yourself to a state where your vision is not colored – when your intelligence is transparent – that is when your intelligence will take you toward liberation. That is what vairagya means.
With a porous Karmic structure, your memory of the past can be used selectively.
Listening with the whole body
So, can music be Kriya Yoga? It can definitely be transformed into a kriya if the listener has a certain quality. The quality of the music does not only depend on the musician – it also depends on the audience, on how keenly they listen. If your listening becomes very keen, then not just your eardrums – every cell in your body will reverberate.
The cobra is seen as the height of perception because it keeps its “ears” to the ground. A snake is tone-deaf and has no conventional hearing mechanism, but it hears everything because it places its whole body against the ground and listens. Anything that happens on this planet, the snake perceives – at least to the extent necessary for its survival – because its entire body is listening.
If your whole body can listen in that same way, what is merely entertainment can definitely become Kriya Yoga.
