The Amazing Power of Chant!

By James Perry

About thirty seconds into the chant, "The Litany of the Saints," the tears began rolling down my checks. As a non-Catholic watching the procession carrying Pope John-Paul’s body towards Saint Peter’s Basilica, my emotions surprised me. Up to this point, I had been detached from the proceedings. I certainly did not understand the Latin words: Sancta Trinitas, unus Deus. Miserére nobis. Sancta María. Ora pro nobis.

Something inherent in music, not the occasion, worked its spell on me. The rhythmic cadence of the chant, the sound and repetition of the words with their hypnotic affect, and the intonation of the cantor’s voice, with the choir’s response, all combined into one powerful effect. Watching the crowd, I could see I was not the only one affected.  

What is this power of chant to affect us so? What would happen if we consciously incorporated the power of chant into our daily lives?

Chant restores Benedictine monks
For centuries, Benedictine monks have followed a rigorous daily routine: hard work, a Spartan diet, about four hours of sleep, prayer and six to eight hours of Gregorian chant. Harold Klemp, in "The Book of ECK Parables, Volume III," tells the following true story about a Benedictine Monastery in Southern France in the late 1960’s.

“This particular monastery got a new abbot. While trying to bring in the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, he made a study of the chanting the monks did. Eventually the abbot told the monks, ‘We’re chanting from six to eight hours a day. This time could be better spent for something else.’ He asked them to stop chanting.

“In just a few weeks, the abbot noticed that the monks looked very fatigued. All were so tired that they could barely continue with their daily schedule. Some thought that maybe their fatigue was from working such long hours and getting so little sleep. So the abbot gave them eight instead of four hours of sleep and reduced their work load. 

“When the fatigue persisted, a medical specialists and dietician were called in. They prescribed more meat and potatoes instead of the monk’s centuries old diet of fish and vegetables. Now they not only felt more fatigued, but many of the monks became ill. 

“Seeing that none of this was working, the abbot called in a man who studied sound. Since this man knew that certain sounds were very beneficial, he told the monks, ‘Go back to chanting six to eight hours a day. Chanting is what heals you and gives you the strength to keep up your schedule.’

“The monks began chanting again. They resumed their simple diet and got only four hours of sleep. Within six months, most of them were back on their rigorous schedule, fit as ever,” Harold concludes.    

In our fast-paced Western world, few of us have time for hours of chant or meditation. Nevertheless, we can benefit from chanting for as little as twenty or thirty minutes daily.

How does chant work?
Musicologist Don Campbell, in his best seller, "The Mozart Effect," defines toning as "making sounds with sustained, elongated vowels for an extended time period." Campbell advocates toning daily for 10, 20 or 30- minute intervals while contemplating, walking, driving, cooking or any number of daily routines and tasks.

With chant, it is important to tone the words and sounds, rather than simply speak them. We create vowel sounds when our throat is completely open, with no obstruction or limitation to the sound. Had we the breath, we could sustain the sound forever HUUUUU).

Consonant sounds, especially hard consonants, impede or stop the airflow and thus the sound - sometimes immediately (Ohm). Vowels give energy, color and emotion to sound, whereas consonants define shape, duration and meaning.

Campbell finds no other form of vocalization rivals toning. Toning charges the sound, causing it to vibrate with musical resonance. Chanting opens our energy centers (chakras), especially the heart center, the seat of love, affecting us on many levels, allowing healing to occur.

Can chant help us lose weight or treat disease?
Campbell relates how one therapist incorporated toning and singing as therapy for a group of women with eating disorders. All had failed with previous therapy and continued to fixate on food, weight and body image.

After ten weeks of two-hour group meetings, significant changes began to occur for the women. They were able to speak more freely of their emotions. Their interests in creative pursuits revived. At the same time, their eating habits improved. They expressed renewed interest in cooking healthy food, exercising more and resisting overwork. Chanting had brought about a change in their consciousness – raising them to a higher level.

Heart disease pioneer Dr. Dean Ornish encourages chant and sound meditation as therapy. "Different sounds can alter our state of mind in powerful ways. Some sounds, like military music on the battlefield or chants led by cheerleaders at football games, make us agitated or aggressive. Other sounds, like a waterfall or lullaby, are relaxing."

Chant can raise our vibrations
Sound is vibration and every sound has its own frequency. A sound’s frequency can be low and course or high and refined. Words are symbols for sounds that convey conscious and unconscious meaning. When we chant a sound or word repeatedly, we take on the meaning and vibration of that sound or word.

Harmonizing ourselves with the vibration of a particular word or sound through chant brings about a corresponding effect within us. Chanting spiritually charged words and sounds brings about the highest spiritual effect. Ornish encourages Jews to chant words like "Shalom" or "Elohim," Christians "Amen" or "Alleluia," Moslems "Allah," and Buddhists "Ohm" or "Shanti."

"A time honored way of focusing the mind is to meditate by repeating a sound over and over," Ornish writes. "During times of deep meditation, when your body is relaxed and your mind is very quiet and still, you can hear a low pitched, continuous humming sound. According to meditative traditions, all sounds derive from this one (sound). This sound is the manifestation of the essential unity that underlies the diversity of life."

Why is sound so important?
What is this "one sound" Ornish speaks of that all other sounds derive from? According to the teachings of Eckankar, the sound HU (pronounced hue) is the sound within all sounds, which we can hear within all other sounds. HU is an ancient name for God. Chanting or singing HU as a prayer-song for 20-to-30 minutes daily has the power to uplift, transform and heal.

HU not only is a name for God but also a sound of the Audible Sound Current, woven into the language of life. HU is a universal sound descending from the highest levels, charged with the power to spiritually uplift and heal people of any religion.

Modern photographic technology demonstrates that sound waves create light waves as well. The two are inseparable. According to the teachings of Eckankar, a current of spiritual energy, a wave motion of Sound and Light, much like a radio beam, flows forth from the Source of Life (God). This vibrating Sound Current arranges creation into its infinite shapes, varieties and forms. Without the sustaining power of this musical and luminous wave, there would be no life.

This Sound Current, which is the Holy Spirit, flows outward from its Source, then rebounds, much like the ripples and wake caused by a rock dropped into a pond. Within this Sound Current all life truly lives, moves and has its being. Ultimately, it is the source of divine love flowing forth from the Heart of God.

Just as we are unable to see ultraviolet rays or hear a dog whistle with our eyes and ears, neither are we able to hear the inner sounds or see the inner light of the Holy Spirit with physical senses. Chanting, however, opens our inner or spiritual senses and tunes us into the many sounds and light frequencies of this pulsating wave. Tuning into the Sound and Light is like hearing the dog whistle or seeing ultraviolet light for the first time.

While chanting, you may see green, pink, blue, yellow, gold or clear, bright, white light. You may hear musical tones, such as flutes, strings, or woodwinds in combination, or the sounds of nature, like swarming bees, the roaring ocean, clapping thunder, tinkling bells, humming electricity or blowing wind.

Catch the returning Sound Current
Chanting spiritually charged words and sounds - such as HU, Ohm, and Shanti - creates our own vortex of sound energy. This vortex lifts us out of our limited human consciousness into a higher spiritual awareness. This expansion of consciousness is what the teachings of Eckankar refer to as "Soul Travel." By chanting in contemplation, we are able to connect with the returning wave of the Sound Current and Soul Travel back to the Source of Life, where we first began our spiritual journey.

Like a homing beam, the Sound Current is God’s Voice calling all Souls back home to the Source. The Light is a beacon that lights up our way. Riding this wave through Soul Travel is Soul’s most direct path to God and brings about spiritual purification.

To see the inner Light is to see God. To hear the inner Sound is to hear God. To experience both is to feel the transforming power of God’s love. Divine Love is the healing balm of life. Chanting opens us to the healing power of God’s love.

James Perry is a member of the Eckankar Clergy. To learn more about Eckankar, visit www.eckankar.org or call 800-Love-God. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer and not necessarily those of Eckankar or Harold Klemp, the spiritual leader of Eckankar.

Online Exclusive at InnerchangeMag.com August 2007.