Music within

Soak in the musical sounds of water, wind and birds. Connect with the music inside to find peace and true wellness

blankThe ancient books on music mention two kinds of sounds: noise and sound. Sounds make music and noises create sickness. But have you noticed how natural noises never create stress? Imagine the sound of a cascading waterfall, or the roar of tidal waves or the noise of a battalion of birds holding a twilight meeting on a tree. These don’t disturb because they are in harmony with nature.

If you observe closely, natural sounds create their own music. They soothe tired nerves. Listening to them is important to our wellness because it connects with our inner being.

In a very interesting study, Spanish scientists have found that sound affects us not only because it has vibrations, but because it is an integral part of our genes. Our DNA actually reflects the musical relation between sounds. Somewhere deep inside we all have always felt the connection, and now there is scientific proof.

Find music within

It is not only the outer nature but we have to get closer to our inner nature as well. If you want peace and relaxation, you have to ponder: what are my true aspirations, what are my real emotions? Am I putting on a mask to fit into the social structure? To find peace, you need to be your natural self.

Just imagine relaxing with the flow of nature, letting everything come naturally, listening to the musical sounds of water, wind and birds, and becoming aware of the feeling of peace they bring about inside. You can feel your eyes close by themselves, as the relaxation seeps in and the tranquillity penetrates every pore of your body.

Then, the word enjoyment will take on a new, softer and more personal meaning. The joy will bloom in the heart. You will sense that the natural sounds you are listening to are really inside of you, part of you in a very intimate way. They create a lightness within, a spontaneous relaxation that remains with you. Just pause for a few moments and allow yourselves to resonate with them.

Be lonely in a crowd

The great thing is that this experience is there for you whether you are old or young, fat or thin, hardworking or lazy. Moreover, once you know how it feels, you can recall this feeling of relaxation and exquisite wakefulness anywhere in the world. First, amid nature and later even on a crowded city street. Relaxing in a market place is the most ‘other worldly’ experience one can have. It is called meditation.

This way of enjoying the natural music around you can help you find true wellness, which has to do with what you feel inside, not with how others say you should feel. And discovering yourself like this can be full of fun, lightness and joy.

“Anything that can help from the outside will have some music in it, only then can it help. The sound of running water in the hills can help, because it has its own music. The roaring waves of the ocean can help, because they have their own music. The singing of the birds in the morning can help, or the sound of insects in the silent night, or the rain falling on the rooftop — anything that creates music can also create meditation,” Osho had said.

Osho Nadabrahma Meditation

Osho’s meditation technique, Nadabrahma Meditation, helps you regain your balance of body and mind. Nadabrahma is the cosmic sound that fills the universe.

The meditation has three stages
blank 1.[30 minutes]: Sit in a relaxed position with eyes closed. With lips together, start humming, loud enough to be heard by others. This will create a vibration in your body. You can visualise a hollow tube or vessel filled only with the vibrations of the humming. A point will come when the humming continues by itself and you become the listener. There is no special breathing, and you can alter the pitch, and move your body smoothly and slowly, if you feel.
blank2. [15 minutes]: Bring your hands up to your navel, palm upwards. Starting at the navel slowly, move both the hands forward and then divide to make two large circles mirroring each other left and right. The movement should be outwards and should be so slow that at times there will appear to be no movement at all. Imagine that you are giving energy outwards to the universe. After seven and a half minutes, turn your palm downwards, and start moving them in the opposite direction. Now the hands will come together towards the navel and divide outwards towards the side of the body. Feel that you are taking energy in. Don’t inhibit any soft, slow movements of the rest of your body.
blank3. [15 minutes]: Sit absolutely quiet and still.

How it works

“When you start chanting a sound, if you start resounding inside, the body starts responding. Sooner or later, a moment comes when the body and the mind are both together in one direction for the first time. When body and mind are both together, you are free from the body and the mind—you are not torn apart. Then the third element, which you are in reality—call it soul, spirit, anything—that third element is at ease because it is not being pulled in different directions.

The body and the mind are so much engrossed in chanting that the soul can slip out of them very easily, unobserved, and can become a witness. It is such a beautiful rhythm that the mind and body never become aware that the soul has slipped out.

So, in Nadabrahma remember this: let the body and mind be totally together, but remember that you have to become a witness. Get out of them, easily, slowly, with no fight, with no struggle. This is the meaning of the English word ecstasy—to stand out. Stand out and watch from there—and it is tremendously peaceful. It is silence, it is bliss, it is benediction.” Osho

[A music CD of Nadbrahma Meditation can be ordered online at www.osho.com]

Amrit Sadhana
Amrit Sadhana, a long time Osho meditator, is editor Osho Times International. A member of the management team, she also writes for various magazines propagating the Osho vision, and conducts workshops and self-development courses. She lives in the Osho International Meditation Resort, Pune.