Thursday 2 July 2015

The science behind chants


Vishnu Sahasranaama means the 1000 names of Maha Vishnu. It is one of the most powerful chants and for a lot of reasons. The Vishnu Sahasranaam is known to activate the 7 chakras of your body and the vibrations cause the stuck energy to be released. This reverses the diseased state of the body and return it to the natural state of resonance. So if someone has told you about miracles happening because of chanting, it has nothing to do with miracles per se, and everything to do with the balancing and alignment of the chakras in your body.  

When we listen to the Vishnu Sahasranaama, the sounds produced by the chants synchronise the left and right hemispheres of the brain and oxygenate the brain. The arrangement of words and the sounds produced by those words is so scientific, that the vocal harmonics stimulate and charge the cortex of the brain and the nervous system. Experiments have been conducted to prove all these changes and it has been realized that sound does affect cellular structure and energy.

Our ancestors were truly a knowledgeable lot! They knew how the chanting process benefits the body. They knew that chanting is not just spiritually but also scientifically beneficially. But it is not always possible to hand down scientific knowledge without dilution and exaggeration. I guess, that is how it acquired the form of superstition rather than convey the actual scientific benefit that could be derived from it.  

Reciting the Vishnu Sahasranaama is even more beneficial than just listening to it, because along with sound that your ears hear, you also use your mouth and tongue to recite it. There are about 72000 nerve endings in our mouth and each nerve ending connects to various parts of our body. 

The words in the chants of the Vishnu Sahasranaama are arranged in such a manner that they are not only meaningful but also touch most of the nerve endings in the mouth and stimulates the acupuncture meridians inside it. It thereby bestows a lot of health benefits to the person who chants it. The outcome of the chanting, therefore includes reduction of heart beat, relaxation and calming of mind, relief from stress and depression, and many other physiological, neurological and physical changes.

Here are a few stanzas from the Phalastuti of the Vishnu Sahasranaama which emphasise these very things-

ya ida śṛṇuyānnitya yaśchāpi parikīrtayet |
nāśhubha prāpnuyāt kiñcit sōmutreha cha mānava || 2 ||

He who hears or sings,
It all without fail,
In all days of the year,
Will never get in to ill being,
In this life and after.

rōgārtō muchyate rōgād baddhō muchyeta bandhanāt |
bhayān muchyeta bhītastu muchyet āpanna āpada || 8 ||

And he who is ill will get cured,
He who is bound will be free,
He who is afraid, will get rid of fear,
He who is in danger, will be safe.

durgāṇya titaratyāśu puruha puruhōttamam |
stuvan nāmasahasrea nitya bhakti samanvita || 9 ||

He who chants these holy thousand names,
With devotion to Purushottama,
Will cross the miseries,
That cannot be crossed
Without fail.

Jai Shri Krishna!


2 comments:

  1. I just felt relaxed reading this post! Your words carry a beautiful vibration of love and bhakti for the Lord. And at the same time there is light of knowledge and reason. Loved it.

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  2. Hi,
    nice post
    http://goo.gl/zcMN7J

    ReplyDelete