From the lips part 2

from tHe liPs PArt 2
Levels of Sound
In Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (11.12.17), Krishna explains the various types of sound and the difference between gross and subtle forms of sound:
sa eṣa jīvo vivara-prasūtiḥ
prāṇena ghoṣeṇa guhāṁ praviṣṭaḥ
mano-mayaṁ sūkṣmam upetya rūpaṁ mātrā svaro varṇa iti sthaviṣṭhaḥ
The Supreme Lord said: I am the Lord who gives life to every living being. Manifesting in the various cakras, I enter the mulādhāra-cakra of Brahma along with prāṇa phase of subtle parā sound. I then rise to the maṇipūra-cakra in the mental phase as paśyantī and to (the anāhata–cakra, the intellectual phase) in subtle form as madhyamā. I then take the gross form of short and longs sounds, different intonations, and the syllables of the alphabet.
In his Bhāvārtha-dīpikā commentary on this verse, Srila Sridhar Swami quotes Ṛg Veda (1.164.45):
catvāri vāk-parimitā padāni
tāni vidur brāhmaṇā ye manīṣiṇaḥ
guhāyāṁ trīṇi nihitāni neṅgayanti turīyaṁ vāco manuṣyā vadanti
Learned Brahmins know that there are four stages in the evolution of sound. Three of these remain hidden within the heart as imperceptible vibrations, while the fourth stage is what people ordinarily understand as speech or words.
In his Sārārtha-darśini commentary on Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (11.12.19), Srila Vishwanath Chakravarti Thakur further explains these stages of sound:
Speech is measured in four phases. Three of the phases are called parā (or highest degree). They are situated in prāṇa at the base of the spine, paśyantī, in the mind in the navel, and madhyamā situated in intelligence in the heart. The sages do not reveal their forms. The fourth, called vaikharī, is [external] speech in the vocal organ.
When a pure devotee speaks, all the levels of sound are present and according to the level of receptivity of the listeners they purify on different levels. That purification only takes place when the sound is vibrated by the transcendental prāna, mind, intelligence and senses of the pure devotee. When the sound is recorded, the machine captures only an imitation of vaikharī (gross sound) because a machine has no prāna, no mind, and no intelligence capable of recording the deeper levels of the vibration. The vibration may also be symbolically recorded in the form of letters on a page. Yet, again, the actual vibration is absent.
For this reason, in Bhakti Sandarbha (262) Srila Jiva Gosvami has explained that there are different degrees of power and benefit in different types of hearing.
atraiva vivecanīyam – śrī-bhagavan-nāmādeḥ śravaṇaṁ tāvat paramaṁ śreyaḥ. tatrāpi mahad-āvirbhāvita-prabandhādeḥ. tatra mahat-kīrtyamānasya tato ’pi śrī-bhāgavatasya.
Regarding hearing, the following should be considered: Hearing the names, forms, qualities, and pastimes of the Lord by one’s own strength is the greatest benefit. Even in such hearing, there is even greater benefit in hearing the literature composed by great devotees. If these very literatures are sung by their respective authors, then that is even more beneficial. Compared to hearing literature composed by great devotees, there is even greater benefit in hearing Śrīmad Bhāgavatam from such great devotees.
Srila Prabhupada also made a distinction between the efficacy of hearing via a recording, phone, or a “gramophone speaker”; and hearing from an authorized person:
We have to hear not from a telephone but from an authorized person, for it is he who has real knowledge. (Purport to Cc. ādi 7.107.)
The separated energy can be understood from a practical example. I compose books by speaking into a dictaphone, and when the dictaphone is replayed, it appears that I am speaking personally, but actually I am not. (Purport to Cc ādi 7.119.)
Unless one is svānubhavam, self-realized, [unless his] life is Bhāgavat, he cannot preach Bhāgavat. That will not be effective. A gramophone will not help. … A gramophone will not help. If you want to read Śrīmad Bhāgavatam you must approach a person who is living Bhāgavat. (Lecture in Rome. 27 May 1974.)
When you play back it will speak just like I am speaking, but I am not there. (Room conversation in London. 10 August 1971.)
If you simply become a gramophone speaker, then it will not be effective. Gramophone or tape recorder speaker, that will not be. You must be a live speaker. Your living condition should be spiritually what is called “surcharged”. So that means you must be trained up how to rise early in the morning, take your bath, cleanse yourself, chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Then you will be spiritually strong. When you are spiritually strong, if you speak something on spiritual subject matter, then it wil l be effective. Otherwise it will be just like a tape recorder playing. So this is required. (Room Conversation in Mauritius. 5 October 1975.) — MD
(To be continued)

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