Theos-Talk Archives (April 1995 Message tl00187)

     Namaste, Astrea!

> I think this is a valid tool, and certainly tried and true
> amongst most monastic traditions (that i know of.) Have you heard
> Hoomi chanting? (aka overtone chanting.) Developed in Mongolia
> and practiced in Central Asia, it produces a shift in
> consciousness very quickly indeed.  David Hykes and his choir
> from NY are excellent exponents of the art.
> - Astrea

     Yes I've heard, and it is really powerful.  The effect you
     mention I do feel when listening the CDs "Sacred
     Ceremonies", I and II, "Ritual Music of Tibetan Buddhi" and
     "Tantric Hymns & Music of Tibet", from Fortuna Records, with
     the Tibetan Monks of Dharamsala.  They lift us to the top
     very quickly.

     David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir are the best, and my
     favorite, I must say.  Did you know other singers or groups
     who work with this kind of chanting? The "Hallelujah" in the
     "Harmonic Meetings" album, with the overtone chanting
     technique, is something "epiphanic".

 A> Radha's approach seems very austere at times, and may not suit
 A> everyone.

     I agree with you.  But I must to recognize she is a great
     mantra singer.  Until now I never met another person who
     chants the "AUM" and the "GAYATRI" the way she sounds.

 A> Sure, why not? I find a good live performance of Beethoven's
 A> Ninth Symphony really does things for me!

     I believe nothing compares to live classic music.  The
     "Gandarva" Devas must play a pervasive role here.

     This recalled me the "Note on Mantras", from the "Light of
     the Sanctuary", from Geoffrey Hodson, where he states:

     "*Mantras* saturates the physical and superphysical bodies
     with the thought and power of God.  Eliminate all other
     thoughts; render the personal vehicles and consciousness
     working in them subservient ad responsive to thoughts of the
     deity and the influence of the Ego; unify all vehicles into
     a inter-harmonized organism, physical and superphisysical;
     reduce the resistance of both the personality to the Ego and
     the *tamas guna* to the Monad-Ego.  It is like tuning the
     string of a musical instrument so that it produces exactly
     the true note on the true pitch." (p.194)

 A> Don't forget the Silence, though

     Silence is the answer.

     Shanti! Shanti! Shanti!

     Osmar *|)

.. Never underestimate the power of a good cup of tea.  (Picard)

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