THE MONSOON NIGHT

                                                              THE NIGHT

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                  THAT NIGHT WAS THE NEW MOON. PITCH DARK. A MILD BREEZE RUSTLED THE LEAVES. THE FREQUENT BARKING OF A DOG IN SOME CORNER OF THE CREMATION GROUND INTERRUPTED THE AWESOME SELENCE OF THE LONELY NIGHT.

                 AMIDST A GROVE OF THICK TREES LAY THE MUD AND STRAW HUT SATYAKAM HAD OCCUPIED, ENGULFED IN THE DARK SHADE. ON THE EARTHERN FLOOR A SMALL WOOD FIRE WAS BURNING, AND ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF IT SAT KAPALAK AND SATYAKAM FACING EACH OTHER. WEARING ONLY LOINCLOTHS, THEY HAD SMEARED THEIR BODIES WITH WOOD ASHES, BOTH SAT MOTIONLESS.

                KAPALAK BEGAN, WHATEVER I TEACH YOU IS THE BLESSING OF OUR MASTER, I AM SIMPLY AN INSTRUMENT, A FLAME, KINDLED BY THE MASTER, AND IN TURN KINDLING OTHER INTRUMENTS. I AM PARTICULARLY GLAD YOU ARE ALREADY AND ADVANCED YOGI SO I CAN DIRECTLY IMPACT ADVANCED COURSES TO YOU.

              BUT BEFORE I START THE FIRST TECHNIQUE, I WOULD LIKE TO FEEL SURE THAT YOU UNDERSTAND THE FAITH REQUIRED. THE GREATER THE FAITH, THE BETTER THE RESULTS. FAITH INSTILLS COURAGE, WHICH IS ESPECIALLY REQUIRED IN TANTRA FOR PRACTICING THE SO-CALLED SUPERNATURAL TECHNIQUES. SUPERNATURAL, BECAUSE THEY ARE DIFFERENT THAN ORDINARY, NATURAL DIMENSIONS. THUS THE NEED OF FAITH IN AN UNKNOWN PHENOMENON, 

              WOULD YOU CALL FAITH A FLIGHT OF IMAGINATION? INQUIRED SATYAKAM.

                EVEN IF WE CALL IT IMAGINAYTION, IT REQUIRES A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF CONCENTRATION OF OBJECTIFY IT. AND CONCENTRATION CANNOT DEVELOP WITHOUT A CORRESPONDINGLY SUFFICIENT FAITH IN THE REALITY OF AN OBJECT. IT IS ONLY, A SEMANTIC PROBLEM. PERHAPS THE ONLY DIFFERENCE MA SEEM THE FAITH INVOLVES DEVOTION, WHEREAS IMAGINATION DOES NOT. BUT THIS IS ONLY A SUPERFICIAL VIEW. AS YOU SCRUTINIZE IMAGINATION MORE AND MORE, YOU'LL CLEARLY SEE THAT INTERENT IN IT IS ATTITUDE OF DEVOTION, THOUGH IT MAY BE ONLY VERY FAINTLY PERCEPTIBLE. IN SHORT, WHAT YOU CALL IMAGINATION, I CALL FAITH.

              SATYAKAM, APPROVING OF THE EXPLANATION, WAITED FOR THE TECHNIQUE.

              KAPALAK SEEMEE SATISFIED AND CONTINUED, WE'LL START WITH NADA YOGA. IT IS ONE OF THE PATHS OF CONCENTRATION THROUGH SOUNDS. THESE SOUNDS RING WITHIN YOU AND AS YOU GO DEEP, THE GROSS SOUNDS GO ON TERMINATING INTO SUBTLE AND MORE SUBTLE SOUNDS, TILL THE CONCENTRATION CULMINATES INTO THE LAST ONE WHICH IS TRANSCENDENTAL.

  

                          THERE ARE SEVEN MAJOR SOUNDS, OF WHICH THE FIRST TWO ARE THE SHORT AND LONG SOUNDS OF A CRICKET. THE OTHER FIVE ARE, THOSE OF DRUMBEATS, THE RUMBLING OF DARK CLOUNDS, CONCH SHELL, BELL AND FLUTE. AT TIMES THESE SOUNDS WILL SEEM AS IF THEY ARE COMING FROM OUTSIDE YOU, BUT IF YOU'LL OPEN YOUR EYES THE SOUNDS WILL BE GONE.

                     AS YOU ARE ALREADY WELL ADVANCED IN CONCENTRATION, IT WON'T TAKE YOU LONG TIME TO ACCOMPLISH IT. FIRST, CONCENTRATE ON THE SOUNDS OF THE CRICKET. JUST KEEP ON THAT AND YOU WILL FIND THAT GRADUALLY ONE SOUND WILL LEAD TO ANOTHER AS YOUR CONCENTRATION DEEPENS.

           

                    SATYAKAM INQUIRED, WHAT IS NADA?

 

                   KAPALAK EXPLAINED, NADA OR SOUNDS IS THE INTRINSIC QUALITY OF SPACE OR SILENCE. IT EXPANDS INTO SPACE AS WAVES DO IN AN OCEAN. SOUNDS HAS THREE STAGES, VERBAL, SUBTLE AND CAUSAL.

                  SUBTLE SOUND, OR NADA, CAN HEARD, BUT BOT NECESSARILY. THE SYLLABLE VANISHES WITH THE SOUND. CAUSAL SOUND IS WITHOUT VIBRATION ANS IS SOMETIMES CALLED SILENT SOUND.

              

               THE WILL THAT IS INHERENT IN NATURE CREATES VIBRATION CALLED NADA OR SOUND. NADA CONTAINS ALL POSSIBILITIES OF BECOMING. EVERYTHING FROM THE SUBTLE TO THE GROSS IS A MANIFESTATION OF VARIOUS COMBINATION OF VIBRATION.

              NADA IS THE NUCLEUS OF CONCENTRATED ENERGY, WHICH PROVIDES THE SOURCE OF CAUSAL SOUND IN THE ECHO ASPECT. THE POINT, THROUGH THE WILL, EXPANDS INTO A WAVE IN THE DYNAMIC ASPECT.

      

              THERE IS NO VACUUM ANYWHERE. THE UNIVERSE IS A CONTINUUM OF VIBRATORY PHENOMENA. AT THE AUDIBLE LEVEL, SOUND MANIFESTS DIFFERENT VIBRATIONS THAT CREATE LIGHT, HEAT, DIMENSIONS, AND SO FORTH, KAPALAK PAUSED BRIEFLY. SATYAKAM WAS LISTENING INTENTLY.

          

             

                     KAP ALAK CONTINUED, I'LL LEAVE YOU HERE TONIGHT TO PRACTICE THE TECHNIQUE. BUT BEFORE I LEAVE I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IF YOU ARE HEARING THE FIRST SOUND. SO CLOSE YOUR EYES AND SEE IF YOU ARE HEARING ANYTHING.

                   

                   SATYAKAM CALMLY CLOED HIS EYES AND WAITED, HE COULDN'T MAKE ANY HEADWAY.

            

                 IT 'LL HAPPEN IF YOU HERE TONIGHT TO PRACTICE THE TECHNIQUE. BUT BEFORE I LEAVE I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IF YOU ARE HARING THE FIRST SOUND. SO CLOSE YOUR EYES AND SEE IF YOU ARE HEARING ANYTHING.

 

                   SATYAKAM CALMLY CLOSED HIS EYES AND WAITED, HE COULDN'T MAKE ANY HEADWAY.

                  IT'LL HAPPEN I YOU WAIT PATIENTLY THE FIRST SHORT RANGE SOUND- THAT OF A CRICKET - RINGS ALL THE TIME IN ANYONE. IT IS A MATTER OF TRAINING YOUR INNER EAR TO CATCH IT AN THEN OF PROLONGED LINKING WITH IT.

                AS KAPALAK WAS STILL TALKING SOFTLY, SATYAKAM WAS LOST WITHIN - THE CONTINUOUS, SOOTHING, PACIFYING SOUND OF THE CRICKET. HIS FACE ASSUMED A MORE SETTLED EXPRESSION OF PEACE AND HE NO LONGER SEEMED AWARE OF OUTER SURROUNDINGS. KAPALAK QUIETLY AROSE FROM HIS SEAT AND LEFT THE HURT.

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