Hearing

Diane Ackerman states that “Chant ‘om’ or any other mantra, in a solid, prolonged tone, and you will feel the bones in your head, as well as the cartilage in your sternum, vibrate” (205).  If you close your eyes and chant ‘om’ or simply hum, you feel the sound through your whole body.  These vibrations can even be felt sitting silently in a room, surrounded by the chant of ‘om’.  There is something powerful about the sound, because you can feel it in your heart as the vibrations course through your body.  

In late July 2014, I traveled to Dharmshala and McLeod Ganj in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.  I was on a course to learn about traditional health care practices in Northern India and McLeod Ganj was the last stop of our trip. The town of McLeod Ganj has a high Tibetan population because it is where the Dalai Lama resides, who fled there in 1959.  The Indian Government have a Tibetans in Exile program that was created in 1960.  

Our hotel was directly above the Tsuglagkhang Temple (the Temple of the Dalai Lama) and throughout the day we could hear the deep chanting of monks climbing the steep hill and into our windows.  On our last morning, a classmate and I decided that we would like to spend our final moments at Tsuglagkhang.  We descended the steep hill towards the temple and with every step that we took the chanting became louder.  The morning had brought fresh monsoon rains and with them came the thick clouds that blanket the Dhauladhar mountain range.  As our sight was impaired due to the morning mist, our hearing was heightened and I felt the effects of the chanting before we reached the temple gates. When we were inside we saw hundreds of monks in prayer, together they generated a synchronous tone. My friend and I sat on a bench in silence, eyes closed, absorbing the vibrations of the prayer.  I felt my heart vibrate with each bass tone.  I tried desperately to focus solely on what my body was feeling however my mind was reflecting on the past two months I had spent in India.  This reflection soon brought emotion and I found myself tearing up as I realized that I would soon be leaving and distant from the 12 people that had been with me through highs and lows that comes with experiencing a new culture.

Diane Ackerman explains, “like pure emotions, music surges and sighs, rampages or grows quiet, and, in a sense, it behaves so much like our emotions that seems often to symbolize them” (207).  Her statement was what I was experiencing, the resonant tones to me, signified a reverence and reflection, invoking an emotional response that had been buried somewhere inside of me.