Voice Commands: The Gateway to the Secret Shastras

                                For Illustrative Purpose Only

SMARTPHONES are common these days. Most of the smartphone have the capability to take voice commands to do normal tasks or search for info. Google itself has a search feature where instead of typing we can just speak the words for the search to get activated.  Hollywood has always shown security systems that work on a combination of facial recognition and voice pattern analysis to open doors and access data in various movies. Voice commands are a reality in today’s world.

It is said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic! Perhaps the most underrated instance of a voice command in ancient days is the voice command “Open Sesame” used to open the treasure cave in the classic children’s tale of “Ali Baba and 40 thieves”. But ancient India has a rich history of understanding the nuances of voice and the power that its holds. We need to understand that voice is nothing but a series of vibration that are produced in matter that the sound waves pass through and when used in the right way, they can have tremendous effects.

One of the basic properties of sound is its frequency. In a landmark article titled “Frequencies that can kill, heal and transcend” the author Stephen Knapp observes that, “The science of vibrations and frequencies and how they affect people is something that has been around for thousands of years. We can still find evidence of this in the ancient Vedic texts of India. These explain not only the results of using the frequencies of words and mantras, but also supply instructions in some cases. The sages of ancient India used it to produce various results in the rituals they performed, and from the mantras they would recite. If the mantras were recited in particular ways, certain amazing results would take place, including changing the weather, producing certain types of living beings, or even palaces. Others used it to produce weapons, like the brahmashtra weapon, which was equal to the modern nuclear bombs. Specific mantras could be attached to arrows, with the sound causing powerful explosions when the arrow reached its target. Others used the science of vibrations to bring their consciousness to higher levels of perception, or to enter spiritual reality.”

Siddhis as defined most commonly, are supernatural powers that can be used to achieve various effects. These include ability to change one’s shape or size at will, to obtain riches and what one wills and also to control and influence the minds of other people. How to get the Siddhis? The ancient texts refer to 5 ways: by birth, by using drugs/medicines, by using incantations, by penance and by taking Samadhi. Incantations or series of words and sounds when uttered in the pitch perfect manner have the power to physically influence the ways the world works and how you interact with the world. Essentially, a voice command would give the chanter powers.

The legendary Bramhastra or the most powerful weapon ever used was supposed to be invoked by the chanting of the gayatri mantra in a very specific manner by people who were trained in it. It was said that in the hands of the skilled warrior, even a blade of grass would transform into the destructive Bramhastra. The sound waves that the warrior using the astra generates would create vibrations at a molecular level that transforms normal matter into a weapon. This can be one of the earliest examples recognizing the power of sound waves.

One of the contemporary debates centered on usage of voice commands is that of opening a vault of the famed Sri Padmanabha Swamy temple at Thiruvananthapuram. The temple got instant fame when a committee constituted by the Supreme Court of India opened one of the temple vaults and found billions worth of treasure in it. There is a second vault called as vault B in the court records that is yet to be opened. The vault has two large cobras engraved on its iron doors and is believed to have been closed by a “Naga Bandhanam”  a mantra used as a security measure by Siddha Purushas in the 16^th century. Only a “Garuda Mantra” chanted by an accomplished siddha can be used to unlock. Any use of force is expected to result in catastrophic consequences on the temple and the opener.

Another area of voice command influence is in the continued secrecy attached to the nine ancient sciences that are supposed to be written down and hidden across temples in India. It is believed that only the right voice command will cause the sciences to reveal themselves. Also, the voice commands are the key to opening and closing the knowledge of the sciences for an individual. 

How Chanakya, the master of occult sciences recognized the potential of voice commands and enabled ‘Rudra’, the key protagonist to decode the mysterious ancient sciences and much more…..Grab the crime thriller set in the historic era, “The Indus Challenge” soon to hit the stands!!