But The Influence It Has Over The Physiology
Of The Ear Cannot Be So Overpowering After All."
"Quite the contrary.
Only remember what a strong influence
climatic conditions, food and everyday surroundings have on the
complexion, vitality, capacity for reproduction, and so on, and
you will see that you are mistaken. Apply this same law of gradual
modification to the purely psychic element in man, and the results
will be the same. Change the education and you will change the
capacities of a human being.... For instance, you believe in the
powers of gymnastics, you believe that special exercise can almost
transform the human body. We go one step higher. The experience
of centuries shows that gymnastics exist for the soul as well as
for the body. But what the soul's gymnastics are is our secret.
What is it that gives to the sailor the sight of an eagle, that
endows the acrobat with the skill of a monkey, and the wrestler
with muscles of iron? Practice and habit. Then why should not
we suppose the same possibilities in the soul of the man as well
as in his body? Perhaps on the grounds of modern science - which
either dispenses with the soul altogether, or does not acknowledge
in it a life distinct from the life of the body.... "
"Please do not speak in this way, Takur. You, at least, ought to
know that I believe in the soul and in its immortality!"
"We believe in the immortality of spirit, not of soul, following
the triple division of body, soul and spirit. However, this has
nothing to do with the present discussion.... And so you agree
to the proposition that every dormant possibility of the soul may
be led to perfected strength and activity by practice, and also
that if not properly used it may grow numb and even disappear
altogether. Nature is so zealous that all her gifts should be
used properly, that it is in our power to develop or to kill in
our descendants any physical or mental gift. A systematic training
or a total disregard will accomplish both in the lifetime of a
few generations."
"Perfectly true; but that does not explain to me the secret charm
of your melodies...."
"These are details and particulars. Why should I dwell on them
when you must see for yourself that my reasoning gives you the clue,
which will solve many similar problems? Centuries have accustomed
the ear of a Hindu to be receptive only of certain combinations
of atmospheric vibrations; whereas the ear of a European is used
to perfectly different combinations. Hence the soul of the former
will be enraptured where the soul of the latter will be perfectly
indifferent. I hope my explanation has been simple and clear, and
I might have ended it here were it not that I am anxious to give
you something better than the feeling of satisfied curiosity. As
yet I have solved only the physiological aspect of the secret,
which is as easily admitted as the fact that we Hindus eat by the
handful spices which would give you inflammation of the intestines
if you happened to swallow a single grain. Our aural nerves, which,
at the beginning, were identical with yours, have been changed
through different training, and became as distinct from yours as
our complexion and our stomachs. Add to this that the eyes of
the Kashmir weavers, men and women, are able to distinguish three
hundred shades more than the eye of a European.... The force of
habit, the law of atavism, if you like. But things of this kind
practically solve the apparent difficulty. You have come all the
way from America to study the Hindus and their religion; but you
will never understand the latter if you do not realize how closely
all our sciences are related, not to the modern ignorant Brahmanism,
of course, but to the philosophy of our primitive Vedic religion."
"I see. You mean that your music has something to do with the Vedas?"
"Exactly. It has a good deal - almost everything - to do with the
Vedas. All the sounds of nature, and, in consequence, of music,
are directly allied to astronomy and mathematics; that is to say,
to the planets, the signs of the zodiac, the sun and moon, and to
rotation and numbers. Above all, they depend on the Akasha, the
ether of space, of the existence of which your scientists have
not made perfectly sure as yet. This was the teaching of the
ancient Chinese and Egyptians, as well as of ancient Aryans. The
doctrine of the 'music of the spheres' first saw the light here in
India, and not in Greece or Italy, whither it was brought by
Pythagoras after he had studied under the Indian Gymnosophists.
And most certainly this great philosopher - who revealed to the
world the heliocentric system before Copernicus and Galileo - knew
better than anyone else how dependent are the least sounds in
nature on Akasha and its interrelations. One of the four Vedas,
namely, the Sama-Veda, entirely consists of hymns. This is a
collection of mantrams sung during the sacrifices to the gods,
that is to say, to the elements. Our ancient priests were hardly
acquainted with the modern methods of chemistry and physics; but,
to make up for it, they knew a good deal which has not as yet been
thought of by modern scientists. So it is not to be wondered at
that, sometimes, our priests, so perfectly acquainted with natural
sciences as they were, forced the elementary gods, or rather the
blind forces of nature, to answer their prayers by various portents.
Every sound of these mantrams has its meaning, its importance,
and stands exactly where it ought to stand; and, having a raison
d'etre, it does not fail to produce its effect. Remember Professor
Leslie, who says that the science of sound is the most subtle,
the most unseizable and the most complicated of all the series
of physical sciences.
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