The Ancient Path of Sacred Sound

To understand the beginnings of mantra in yoga, we need to travel back beyond the familiar chants and āsana of modern yoga classes, back even before the tantric teachings of cakras and kuṇḍalinī, before the earliest surviving texts that systematically describe yoga as a discipline, there was sound practices that was yoga.  

A sacred utterance carried on the breath. A vibration entrusted to memory and passed from teacher to student, generation after generation. To explore the earliest mantra (mind tool) practices, we travel back in time into the ancient Vedic world of India, where sacred words were not simply spoken, but carefully preserved, recited and honoured. Their sounds, accents, rhythms and meanings were integral to their transmission. (the more I am delving into Sanskrit I completely appreciate this nuance is everything) The Vedas preserve some of the oldest known sacred sound traditions of India. Although their origins reach into a distant oral past, the precise beginnings of mantra cannot be traced to one moment. But is the earliest yogic tradition that we are aware of. These practices evolved over centuries (1000’s of 1000’s of years), from ritual invocation and praise towards increasingly inward forms of contemplation.

Let us follow  the trail and see what unfolds.

Sound was not treated casually like it is today it was revered as the passing forward of wisdom through generations. One of my teacher’s gifted me with a truth that all the teachings are hidden in plain sight, the trick is seeing with new eyes, hearing with new ears. His teaching opened a doorway within for a journey I am still walking. The Vedic teachings were clear on the precise pronunciation of a word, its pitch accent, rhythm and sequence as it mattered profoundly. The teachings were entrusted to an oral lineage in which the teacher's voice became the student's living source of knowledge for their own experimentation. And on and on. Throughout the generations until it is here today ready for us to experience ourselves.

Three terms help us understand these early practices:

पाठ pāṭha - recitation, the disciplined transmission of sacred text.

जप japa - repetition of a mantra or sacred utterance.

गान gāna - singing or melodic chanting.

These practices have overlapping histories, but they are not identical. We should not assume that every Vedic hymn was originally intended for silent meditation, or that the later techniques of yoga were already present in their familiar forms.

What we can recognise is an ancient reverence for sound: for its precise expression, its ritual significance, and its power to hold the attention, so the mind can be trained and like a wild horse it needs the frequent practice. Thus, it lives up to its name mantra (mind tool). And the more I am learning about Sanskrit the more of this unlocks within me, and that I am in service to pass on through my held sessions with you.

I have a profound love of mantra and kirtan. There is something that calls to me, sings to me, like a siren beckoning me closer so she may show me the knowledge. The wisdom that I now know is our birthright. 

1. The Vedic beginnings — mantra as sacred utterance

The Vedic Saṃhitās are traditions extending back into the second millennium BCE

In the earliest Vedic traditions, mantra was woven into the living fabric of sacred life.

The Ṛgveda (oldest Vedic writing we know of) preserves hymns to Agni, the sacred fire; Sūrya, the Sun; Uṣas, the dawn; and other divine powers. (No longer do we utter these archetypes, but perhaps we shall once again, through our deepening of our own practice). Through these verses, the practitioner enters into relationship with the forces of existence, expressing reverence, seeking blessings and participating in sacred ritual. From a lineage that believes everything is living spirit, not just those talking beings!

An ancient reverence for sound: for its precise expression, its ritual significance and its power to hold the attention. Just sit in the morning and listen to the bird to understand how powerful sound is for us.

2. ॐ Oṃ is the journey from sacred sound, through manifestation and back towards inner contemplation

The Chāndogya Upaniṣad · Kaṭha Upaniṣad · Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad

As we move into the Upaniṣadic traditions, we encounter a remarkable development. The sacred sound is no longer explored only through its place in ritual; it becomes a doorway into contemplation and the search for ultimate understanding.

At the heart of this unfolding is:

ॐ Oṃ प्रणवः (praṇavaḥ) The sacred syllable, contemplated as a means of approaching the deepest truth. The Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.15–17 associates Oṃ with the supreme goal proclaimed by the Vedas and pursued through spiritual discipline.

The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad 2.2.3–4 offers one of the most evocative images in the history of contemplative practice:

ॐ Oṃ is the bow.

The self, Ātman, is the arrow.

Brahman, the ultimate reality, is the target.

The practitioner is invited to gather the mind, take aim with unwavering attention and direct the whole of their being towards that imperishable reality.

What a beautiful image for our inward journey: sound becomes the bow through which attention is gathered and directed.

Here, mantra is not merely something we utter. It becomes a means of turning towards what lies beyond the passing movements of the mind, deep, deep within ourselves.

3. The gāyatrī — contemplating the radiance of savitṛ (ṛgveda 3.62.10)

Among the most enduring of the Vedic mantras is the Sāvitrī, widely known as the Gāyatrī mantra. It invokes the divine radiance of Savitṛ, associated with the life-giving and impelling power of the Sun, and asks that our understanding be inspired.

तत्सवितुर्वरेण्यं भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि । धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥

tat savitur vareṇyaṃ bhargo devasya dhīmahi I dhiyo yo naḥ pracodayāt II

tat - That

savituḥ - of Savitṛ, the divine solar power

vareṇyam - excellent, worthy of choosing

bhargaḥ - radiance, splendour

devasya - of the deity

dhīmahi - we meditate upon

dhiyaḥ - thoughts, understanding, intelligence

yaḥ - who, which

naḥ - our

pracodayāt - may inspire or impel

A flowing translation of this is - we meditate upon the excellent radiance of the divine Savitṛ; may this radiance inspire our understanding.

What I love about this is the light of the Sun becomes more than the light that illumines our outer world: it becomes an invocation for the illumination of our inner world too, illuminating our understanding. Modern interpretation has added the three worlds to this chant as an invocation that this encompasses oal three realms of existence with its illuminating pwer.

4. patañjali — the discipline of japa and contemplation. (Yoga Sūtra 1.27–1.29 probably composed in the early centuries CE) By the time of the Yoga Sūtra, whoch is the standard text we all learn as a yoga teacher in the western world) we find a concise and influential teaching that places mantra repetition explicitly within a systematic path of yoga.

patañjali writes: तस्य वाचकः प्रणवः ॥ १.२७ ॥ tasya vācakaḥ praṇavaḥ Oṃ is the verbal designation of Īśvara.

तज्जपस्तदर्थभावनम् ॥ १.२८ ॥ taj-japas tad-artha-bhāvanam Its repetition, together with contemplation of its meaning.

First, there is japa: the repeated utterance, (a returning to the sacred sound being a mind tool). Then there is artha-bhāvanā: contemplating its meaning, allowing understanding to accompany repetition. As we deepen into out mantra practice.

Let repetition become a meeting between sound, attention and understanding.

In Yoga Sūtra 1.29, Patañjali associates this practice with the turning inward of consciousness and the removal of obstacles. Mantra, therefore, is not presented merely as an external ritual. It becomes a disciplined support for the mind, helping the practitioner move towards greater inwardness. And all the benefits this direction of travel brings to the practitioner.

5. The different ways of practising mantra

Across the developing traditions, mantra has been approached through different modes of recitation and attention.

vācika - audible recitation

upāṃśu - quiet, barely audible repetition (whisper)

mānasa - mental repetition

svara - conscious recitation careful preservation of Vedic pitch accents

Sometimes the voice carries the mantra into the space around us. Sometimes it becomes a whisper, almost a recitation just for and on the breath. Sometimes the sound is developed inwardly, without audible expression. And with this mental repetition, the mantra may become a subtle thread of attention, returning the mind to its chosen focus whenever it wanders. Which is what we practice in most of our asana based yoga sessions.

6. From Vedic sound to the embodied traditions of Tantra & Yoga

As the centuries unfold, later tantric and yogic traditions develop increasingly elaborate ways of working with mantra.

In many of these traditions, sacred syllables are connected with deity meditation, initiation, the cakras, nāḍīs and kuṇḍalinī. Practices such as mātṛkā-nyāsa, the ritual placement of Sanskrit phonemes upon the body, explore the relationship between sound, body, and sacred presence.

These are important developments in the history of yoga, but not in the earliest Vedic hymns. The fully developed tantric systems of bīja mantras, phonemic placement and subtle-body visualisation belong to these later historical contexts.

7. A contemplative practice invitation in our own time

Inspired by the Upaniṣadic exploration of Oṃ and Patañjali's teaching on repetition and meaning, we invite a simple introductory practice for this week.

ॐ Oṃ — sound, awareness and silence

Locate yourself somewhere you will not be disturbed for at least five minutes. Find a comfortable seat and arrive into stillness. Allow the breath to settle and become aware of the space you are manifest in.

Listen. Notice the sounds around you. Let them come and go without needing to label, don’t follow, change them or attach a story, just leanr to listen.

Chant Oṃ. Repeat the sacred syllable gently, at a comfortable pitch and volume. Allow each utterance to arise naturally and come to its own conclusion. Feel the effect of the sound in yourself and your space.

Contemplate. Bring attention to the meaning of the practice: the sound of the manifesting of this amazing universe which we are alive in and can act, dance, sound and play.

Rest. Let the sound end. Sit quietly and notice the transition from audible sound to silence.

Enjoy your explorations.

It is worth remembering as we practice, and our practice deepens the more we do, is the thread running through these traditions is the disciplined use of sacred sound: first preserved through exact recitation, then increasingly explored as a means of directing the mind towards deeper understanding of the wisdom that lies within ourselves, not in the temples or the churches, or the news as we may have been led to believe.

ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

Oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ

Om peace peace peace (within, around, and beyond us)

∞